Looking for a creative way to put leftover cooked ham to use? Search no further! This ham salad recipe is the perfect addition to your weekly meal plan, especially the night after you’ve made your favorite ham recipe—whether it’s an Easter ham or simple ham steaks.
Served in a sandwich or with crackers, ham salad is an easy yet flavorful recipe that guarantees no leftover ham will be stashed and forgotten in the back of the fridge!
Ingredients for Ham Salad
- Diced ham: Use up leftover ham steaks or slices of baked ham, provided it doesn’t have a super-sweet glaze. Recipes like maple-peach glazed ham or cranberry-glazed ham won’t mix well with the other ingredients in the recipe.
- Mayonnaise: Mayo turns the cubed cooked ham into a “salad,” just like mayo turns chopped cooked eggs into egg salad.
- Spicy brown mustard: Two teaspoons of spicy brown mustard adds just enough kick for the entire batch.
- Honey: Just 1 tablespoon honey provides a little sweetness that balances out the other savory elements like Worcestershire sauce.
- Green onion, celery and chives: These add color, flavor and a little crunch.
- Salt: Be careful with the salt—depending on the leftover ham recipe, the ham salad may not need it. Don’t be afraid to skip the salt.
- Chopped nuts: Chopped toasted pecans or almonds give extra crunch that each bite needs. Stir them in right before serving to make sure the nuts don’t get soggy.
Directions
Step 1: Combine most of the salad ingredients
Mix together the mayonnaise, celery, green onions, chives, honey, spicy brown mustard, Worcestershire sauce and seasoned salt.
Stir in the diced ham. Cover and refrigerate the ham salad until ready to serve.
Step 2: Add the chopped nuts, and serve
Stir the chopped pecans into the ham salad. Serve. If desired, serve on buns.
Ham Salad Variations
- Use yellow mustard: Sometimes, spicy brown mustard is an acquired taste. Feel free to swap out the type of mustard you use, since this particular condiment is more of a background flavor in this ham salad recipe.
- Try a different onion: Chopped white onion would work in the place of green onions, as long as you know that the onion flavor will be more pronounced.
- Use different salty and tangy ingredients: Sub in eggs for the Worcestershire, and pickle relish for the mustard. This will give your salad a different flavor profile while still keeping the salt and tang in balance.
How to Store Ham Salad
You can store ham salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four to five days.
Can you make ham salad ahead of time?
Ham salad is easily prepared in advance. Letting the ham salad sit in the fridge for a few hours before serving will help the flavors meld with the ham—and since it lasts for a few days in the fridge, you could easily make it the day ahead. However, we don’t recommend freezing ham salad because of the mayonnaise.
Ham Salad Tips
What kind of ham should you use to make ham salad?
This ham salad recipe is perfect for the day after you make a dish like honey-glazed ham. If you want to play it safe, cut away the edges (and with it, most of the glaze) of your leftover ham to avoid any potential less-than-desirable flavor combinations.
Can you mince the ham instead of dicing it in this ham salad recipe?
Yes! If you prefer to serve this as a spread instead of a salad, feel free to mince the ham instead of dicing it. You could even put the ham into a food processor to make the job easier!
How else can you serve ham salad?
If you choose to mince the ham, try serving the recipe as a spread with buttery crackers. Otherwise, sandwich it inside a croissant, roll, or biscuit, or even just two thick slices of bread!
