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.
Tried and True Southern Ham Salad Recipe
Old school cook's would have run leftover ham through a meat grinder until it's the right consistency. I use my food processor fitted with a steel chopping blade and it works like a charm. My family has always included egg as an ingredient 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. Again, it all comes down to how you were taught to make it and can be adjusted to your personal taste.
How to Make the Best Southern Ham Salad Recipe
So, what is ham salad? It's a vintage refrigerator salad and spread. Just like egg salad and pimento cheese ham salad is a fantastic quick and easy salad to have handy on days there's no time to cook. It's also super nice for keeping the family happy when they want just a little something to hold them over until dinner and for me, that's always a win.
- Ingredients you'll need to make this easy Ham Salad recipe: 2 pounds of coarsely ground ham and hard boiled eggs. For the dressing you'll need real mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, Dijon mustard, diced celery, minced onion, honey, onion powder, lemon pepper, granulated garlic or garlic powder, black pepper and garlic salt.
- To make ham salad, I like to start with the ingredients for the dressing in a large bowl first. Whisk together everything but the ham and chopped boiled eggs. Once everything comes together then add the ground ham and chopped eggs and mix until it's fully combined.
- Serve ham salad on a bed of lettuce or turned into a southern lettuce wrap. You can also use it to stuff inside of croissants, white bread, buttermilk biscuits on yeast rolls or with crackers as a spread. You can even serve ham salad as a dip with celery.
- You can store ham salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. 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:
Southern Ham Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup real mayonnaise
- ⅔ cup sweet pickle relish
- 2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoon minced celery
- 1 tablespoon minced sweet onion
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon lemon pepper
- ½ teaspoon granulated galric or garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic salt
- 2 lb ham coarsely ground
- 3 large hard boiled eggs chopped
- Buns and lettuce crackers or celery ribs for serving
Instructions
- In a medium size mixing bowl whisk together the mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, Dijon, celery, onion, Dijon, honey, onion powder, lemon pepper, garlic powder and garlic salt.
- Fold in the chopped ham and eggs. Mix well.
- Chill for 4 hours or until serving on rolls with lettuce or as a spread for crackers and celery.
Nutrition
My name is Melissa and I'm the Creator of Melissa's Southern Style Kitchen. Cooking, baking, developing recipes and kitchen tips is my passion. I love sharing my dishes and connecting with people through the food that I create.
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Loretta
I remember my grandmother making this and me loving it as a kid. I was looking it up online to try and find a recipe that was similar, and yours looks like the most like what she made. I am excited to try this recipe!
Melissa
That makes me happy, I hope you love it!
Charlene
How much ham do you use for this recipe? Thanks!
Melissa
From the recipe: 2 lb ham, coarsely ground
Mary Alyce
I have made a similar Ham salad for over 50 years but add, as my Grandma and Mother always did, chopped peanuts or chopped dry roasted nuts. This addition always brings great comments.
Melissa
That's a very interesting addition, thanks for sharing!
Heather
How could I measure the ham in cups?
Melissa
I'm not sure I can answer that with certainty as the ham is measured prior to grinding in this recipe. I'm wondering if you mean, how many cups does 2 lbs of ham make? Around 4-5.
Mimee
My MIL and her sister-in-law had a running battle on whose ham salad was better. My preference was always Aunt Suzie's and your recipe couldn't be any closer. Both lovely ladies have been gone for years, so I am looking forward to surprising family with your recipe.
Melissa
Oh my heart, what a sweet thing for you to say. I hope they love it, thank you so much!
DeAnn
I have some left over spiral ham. Would I just chop that up as fine as possible to use for this recipe? It sounds delicious and I would really like to try it.
Melissa
Sure!
Charlie
I made this for Superbowl Sunday and it was great. Will be a keeper recipe.
Melissa
Hi Charlie, so happy you enjoyed this one and thanks so much for taking the time to comment!
Susan
What kind of ham do you use?
Melissa
I've used all sorts of ham for ham salad sometimes Smithfield and at other times a quality ham from my local Costco. Use a good quality ham or deli ham that you enjoy.
Heidi from RI
Just made some yesterday for my husband. It was leftover from a glazed spiral ham, so I didn't add any seasonings. Just Hellman's Light and some sweet relish! I think your seasoning choices are lovely, just a bit more than I have ever needed. The smokey flavor of our own smoked hams would usually overpower anything else but the sweet relish. I've never tried egg in it, and he wouldn't go for that, but maybe just for me some day.
Melissa
As I said in the narrative ham salad ingredients can run the gamut. Of course, we love it this way but as with any dish there's always room for creativity.
Liz
Thank you for the nice recipe.
Melissa
My pleasure Liz, thank you for visiting!