Simple Ham Salad: Quick, Versatile, and Utterly Delicious
A simple ham salad recipe elevated to incredible with the addition of a few unique ingredients. And it’s utterly delicious. Ready in 10 minutes, it’s a salad you’ll make all season!
Using leftover ham, this delicious spread is ready in minutes and is perfect for dips, appetizers, brunch, lunch sandwiches, and even finger sandwiches for afternoon tea.
Simple, easy, and utterly yummy.
What is Ham Salad?
Ham salad is a traditional minced ham spread that closely resembles chicken salad, egg salad, and tuna salad. It’s brought together with a mayo dressing and seasoning.
Much like a chopped salad, Ham Salad combines cooked ham, celery, cucumber relish, and stone-ground mustard. I’ll list the specific ingredients below.
But it’s the seasoning that takes this ever-versatile salad to new levels of delicious.
What I Love About Ham Salad
- It takes between 5 and 10 minutes to make this savory, delicious spread.
- A versatile recipe perfect for outdoor picnics or an afternoon tea.
- An iconic recipe that’s taken to the next level with savory additions.
- It gets even more delicious as the flavors combine while chilling.
How to Serve Ham Salad
Ham Salad is a spread that transforms from casual food to fancy fare. It’s all in how you serve it.
I love it as a dip with crackers and chopped veggies.
It’s beautiful and simple as an appetizer on top of wafer crackers.
And healthy and light as a topping for thinly sliced cucumbers.
But it’s incredibly delicious smeared between two slices of homemade bread, or a soft bun.
However, if you love afternoon tea as much as we do, it makes for one of the most delicious tea sandwiches ever.
Ham Salad Recipe Tips
This recipe is exceedingly easy. Here are a few quick tips:
- Leftover holiday ham, whether freshly cooked or frozen, is perfect for this salad. But ham steaks work great too. What you need is cooked, boneless ham, chopped.
- As hams vary in saltiness, be sure to taste the ham prior to adding additional salt. I very often add no additional salt.
- Using a food processor or blender is the easiest way to make this salad in minutes. If making by hand, be sure to finely mince the ingredients.
Ingredients for Ham Salad
The complete list of ingredients and measurements are in the recipe card below.
- Cooked ham
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Fresh celery
- Sweet pickle relish
- Stone-ground mustard
- Creole or Cajun seasoning
- Fresh dill (or dried)
- Mayonnaise
How to Make Ham Salad
A food processor blender is an easy way to make this salad. If making by hand, be sure to finely mince the ingredients.
Add the ham, hard-boiled eggs, and celery into a food processor with the metal chopping blade. Season with salt and pepper if needed.
Combine the sauce ingredients of relish, mustard, seasoning, dill, and mayonnaise in a small bowl. Fold it into the ham mixture.
Cover and chill until ready to use. The Ham Salad can be refrigerated for 3 to 4 days.
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Simple Ham Salad: Quick and Delicious
A simple ham salad recipe elevated to incredible with the addition of a few unique ingredients. And is utterly delicious. Ready in 10 minutes, it's a salad you'll make all season!
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pound cooked ham (leftover or deli, minced or cubed)
- 2 hard-boiled eggs
- 1 stalk celery, roughly chopped
- 2 teaspoons sweet pickle relish
- 3 teaspoons stone-ground mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon creole or Cajun seasoning
- 1 tablespoon fresh dill fronds, minced (1/2 teaspoon dried)
- 1 /2 cup mayonnaise
Instructions
- If Using a Food Processor: To use a food processor or blender (which makes this process exceedingly quick and easy), add the ham, eggs, and celery. Season with a sprinkling of salt and pepper if needed. Taste the ham for saltiness before adding additional salt.
- Pulse the ingredients until they're minced. For me, this is about 5 to 7 medium pulses. I look for pea-size chunks of ingredients. Scrape the bowl or blender as needed to combine ingredients evenly. This mixture should result in about 3 cups of minced ham.
- In a small bowl, combine the relish, mustard, creole seasoning, fresh dill, and mayonnaise. Fold it into the minced ham.
- If Mixing by Hand: Be sure to finely mince the ham, eggs, and celery. In a small bowl, combine the relish, mustard, creole seasoning, fresh dill, and mayonnaise before folding it into the minced ham.
- Chill: Cover and chill until ready to use.
Notes
Ham
- Leftover ham is perfect in this recipe. But ham steaks also work great. You can even use deli ham, but be sure to get the thickest slices you can. Otherwise, the mixture and resemble pate instead of salad.
- Before adding additional salt to the Ham Salad, be sure to taste for saltiness. Most often, I add no additional salt to the recipe.
Ways to Serve Ham Salad
- Ham Salad is so versatile, that it's delicious served as a dip, or on sandwich bread, buns, or slider buns. They also make incredibly delicious tea sandwiches
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