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Around the Easter holiday, many families prepare ham as the main course for their holiday meal – and that often results in leftovers! Ham Salad is a classic way to enjoy a second meal using some of that leftover ham.
Our Ham Salad recipe is slightly different than most ham salad recipes we’ve seen. Yes – it has all of the traditional ingredients – cooked ham, pickles, relish, mustard, a hard-boiled egg (another great way to use up leftovers!), celery, onion and mayonnaise.
But most versions of this classic salad use bread and butter pickles in the mix, giving the salad a distinctively sweeter flavor. We changed things up a bit and used a combination of dill pickles and sweet pepper relish in our ham salad – so you still get a little bit of sweet in the salad from the relish, but you also get a wonderful savory flavor from the dill pickles – and it’s a great complement to the salty ham!
We are also of the opinion that a good ham salad should taste like ham – and not be so loaded down with mayonnaise or other ingredients that you can’t taste the meat. We think our ham salad strikes the perfect balance of flavors – but of course, if you prefer feel free to adjust the quantities of the ingredients to suit your own tastes!
P.S. Check back tomorrow because we’re sharing another delicious recipe using leftover holiday ham!
We love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Ham Salad
Ingredients
- 12 ounces cooked ham (about 2 cups chopped)
- 1/3 cup dill pickles
- 2 tablespoons sweet pepper relish
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 hard-boiled egg, minced fine (see How to Cook Perfect Hard-Boiled Eggs)
- 2 tablespoons minced celery
- 2 tablespoons minced sweet onion, such as Vidalia
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- Slider rolls for serving, optional
Instructions
- In the bowl of a food processor, place ham and pulse about 10 times to produce a fine chop but not too fine (about the size of a grain of rice).
- Place the chopped ham into a medium bowl.
- Slice the dill pickles into slices if they are not already sliced and pat dry with paper towels. Place on cutting board and dice finely, then add them to the bowl with the ham.
- Add all other ingredients and mix.
- Serve on slider rolls as we show in our photograph or any other way you’d like.
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How to Cook Perfect Hard-Boiled Eggs
I love ham salad as well as tuna salad, and egg salad for sandwich fillings. I don’t wait for leftover ham, however. I often buy a fully cooked center cut slice of ham and use part of it for salad and the rest for breakfast with eggs. I like the idea of using hard cooked egg in the mixture, I’ll have to try it your way.
We hope you enjoy the recipe Barbara!
Recipes look good! Makes my mouth water. I have a date in my kitchen!!!!!
Thanks Anita! (Hope you enjoy the recipe!)
I’ve always been a fan of ham salad. I usually buy it at Honey Baked Ham and snack on it as I stand in line to pay for my holiday ham. Not anymore! Thank you for sharing 🙂
I’m not a pickle fan, but my fiance sure is — I’d be the best fiancee in the world if I made this for him!
I’ve never heard of ham salad! What a tasty way to use the leftover Easter ham!
I LOVE ham salad! It always reminds me of spring mostly because it was a great way to use up all that leftover ham. Love that you added in dill pickle…so good!