Southern Ham Salad

This creamy Southern Ham Salad recipe is tangy with just a hint of sweetness from the pickle relish. It’s been served as a spread on crackers, celery ribs or turned into a quick sandwich using leftover ham in Southern kitchens for decades. You can bet every version of this simple ham spread is made unique with every Southern cook having their own little twist in flavors to make it their own.

Ingredients to Make Southern Ham Salad Recipe

What is ham salad made of? It’s a vintage refrigerator salad and spread served a lot like egg salad, tuna salad, Southern chicken salad and pimento cheese for light meals and snacking. Ham salad is made with ground ham, mayo, pickles, boiled eggs and seasonings and takes very little prep time. To make it, old school cooks would have run leftover holiday ham from Easter or Christmas through a meat grinder until it’s a fine consistency. I use my food processor fitted with a steel chopping blade and it works like a charm. The ingredients all come down to how you were taught to make it, and they can be adjusted to your personal taste. Skip the canned deviled ham and make your own ham salad. Ingredients to make the best Ham Salad Recipe: (Scroll down for full printable recipe card.)

• Ham – Fully cooked baked ham.
• Whole Eggs – Large hard boiled eggs peeled and chopped.
• Vegetables – Celery and sweet onion for texture.
• Dressing – Real mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish and Dijon mustard.
• Honey – Honey for a hint of sweetness.
• Seasonings – Onion powder, lemon pepper, granulated garlic or garlic powder and garlic salt.
• Serving – Hamburger rolls, sandwich bread, lettuce, crackers or celery ribs for serving.

How to Make the Best Southern Ham Salad Recipe

• Cook the Eggs – Boil and peel the eggs and finely chop.
• Prep the Ham – Cut ham into chunks then pulse in a food processor.
• Make the Dressing – In a medium bowl whisk together one cup mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, Dijon mustard, celery, onion, Dijon, honey, onion powder, lemon pepper, garlic powder and garlic salt.
• Combine – To the dressing add chopped ham and eggs. Stir into the mixture by hand.
• Chill – Cover the ham mixture and refrigerate for the flavor of the salad to fully develop.
• Serve – Serving on rolls with lettuce or as a spread for crackers and celery.

Tips for Making Tried and True Ham Salad

• Kitchen Tools You’ll Need: Medium bowl, sharp knife and chopping board, food processor, measuring cups and spoons, medium pot or saucepan to boil the eggs.
• Use Real Mayonnaise: To make ham salad, I recommend using mayonnaise and not salad dressing like Miracle Whip. You can use any brand that you enjoy, at our house it’s gotta be Duke’s mayo.
• Pulse the Ham in Short Bursts in a Food Processor: I recommend finely chopping the ham by hand for this salad, if you don’t have a food processor. When using a food processor be careful and use the pulse function to prevent from grinding the ham to a pate texture.
• How to Serve Ham Salad: Serve ham salad on a green salad as a main course or turn it into a lettuce wrap. You can also use it to fill croissants, slider rolls, bread, buttermilk biscuits or yeast rolls. For snacking it’s tasty with with crackers or crostini as a spread. You can even serve ham salad as a dip with celery and carrot sticks.

Recipe Variations

• Pickle Relish Substitution: You can use dill pickle relish in place of sweet pickle relish. You can also use finely chopped bread and butter pickles, sweet pickles or dill pickles.
• Herbs: You could also add chives to the dressing.
• Eggs: My family has always included egg as an ingredient in ham salad, so I do the same. If you’re not sure, you may try one or two eggs until you get to your sweet spot in taste.

Storage and Leftovers

• Leftovers: You can store Southern Ham Salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
• Freezer Storage: You can also freeze ham salad for up to 2 months.

More Recipes Using Leftover Ham to Make

Leftover ham is a gift and can easily be transformed into more delicious recipes to enjoy. Other leftover ham recipes to try:

• Bite size Ham and Cheese Puffs.
• Ham and Spinach Quiche will take you from breakfast to supper.
• Use thinly sliced ham to make these Ham Stuffed Cream Biscuits for breakfast, brunch or small bite meals.
• A holiday favorite these Ham and Swiss Poppy Seed Rolls are always a winner.
• Chicken Cordon Bleu Cups with diced ham, a perfect use for leftovers.
• Baked Ham and Cheese Roll-Ups from Yellow Bliss Road.

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Helpful Kitchen Items:

• Mixing Bowls
• Knife and Chopping Board
• Measuring Set
• Colander