Old-Fashioned Ham Salad is an easy and perfect way to use up leftover ham from the holidays. This classic recipe uses a mixture of chopped ham, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, hard-boiled eggs, and flavorful vegetables that come together in less than a minute in a food processor.
This delicious ham salad is at its best when chilled in the refrigerator, allowing the flavors to meld together. If you want rave reviews, serve it on its own, as a sandwich spread on bread or slider buns, as a topping for crackers or crostini, or as a party appetizer. You won’t be disappointed.
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Ingredients: Here’s What You’ll Need
- The Ham: You can’t have ham salad without ham! My leftover holiday ham was a boneless, spiral-cut, lower-sodium Smithfield ham. Unlike many hams, this particular ham didn’t appear to be loaded with water. Its taste was subtle but delicious, which perfectly transferred to the ham salad.
- The Binding and Flavoring Ingredients: I used mayonnaise and Dijon mustard to both flavor the ham salad and bind the ingredients together. I also added some freshly ground black pepper.
- The Flavorful Vegetables: For me, celery is a key ingredient in ham salad. Onions and sweet pickle relish also add flavor.
- Eggs: Finally, I like to add chopped hard-boiled eggs.
Steps to Make the Ham Salad
One of the beauties if this recipe is that the food processor does most of the work!
- First, I chopped the ham in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. This took six or seven pulses.
- Next, I added the mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, and pepper to the food processor. I pulse-processed the ingredients three times.
- Next, I added the celery, onions, and sweet pickle relish. I pulse-processed the ingredients four times.
- Finally, I added the hard-boiled eggs and pulse-processed the ingredients four times.
I transferred this classic ham salad to a dish and refrigerated it covered for several hours to allow the flavors to blend together.
It doesn’t get much quicker or easier than that!
I served this delicious Ham Salad on crackers. However, I could have also spread it on toast, bread, slider buns, or whatever struck my fancy. Yum!
Recipe FAQ
I like the taste of sweet pickle relish in this recipe. However, you could definitely substitute dill pickle relish if that’s your preference.
If you don’t have a food processor, I would recommend cutting the ham, celery, onions, and hard-boiled eggs into small pieces. Then combine everything together in a bowl. The consistency of the ham salad will be chunkier, but will still be delicious.
If the ham salad will last for three to five days if properly stored in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.
Both ham salad and deviled ham are very similar. Deviled ham tends to be more or a spread like this recipe.
I like to use leftover holiday ham in this recipe. However, you can also use deli ham like Black Forest ham.
Recipe Tips and Tricks
- If you want hard-boiled eggs that peel perfectly every time, steam them. No gimmicks are needed!
- When I first started making this recipe, I only used the food processor to chop the ham. After chopping the ham, I transferred it to a bowl and stirred in the other ingredients. This worked well and produced a chunkier ham salad. However, using the food processor is so much easier. You make the choice.
- There is no need to add any salt to this recipe. The ham provides all of the salt needed.
Other Delicious Salad Recipes
If you like this delicious Ham Salad recipe, you should try one of the following:
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Recipe
Old-Fashioned Ham Salad
Equipment
- Food Processor
Ingredients
- 2 cups (12-ounces) leftover ham, cut into cubes (See Tip 1)
- ½ cup (4-ounces) mayonnaise
- 1 Tablespoon (0.6-ounces) Dijon mustard (See Tip 2)
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup (4.5-ounces) finely diced celery, 2 to 3 stalks
- ¼ cup (1.5-ounces) finely minced sweet onion
- ¼ cup (3.5-ounces) sweet pickle relish (See Tip 3)
- 2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
Instructions
- Add ham to the food processor fitted with steel blade. Pulse-process for 6 to 7 times or until finely chopped.
- Add mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, and pepper to the food processor. Pulse-process three times to blend.
- Add celery, onions, and sweet pickle relish to the food processor. Pulse-process four times to blend.
- Add the chopped hard-boiled eggs to the food processor. Pulse-process three times to blend.
- Transfer ham salad to an air-tight container. Refrigerate for several hours to allow the flavors to blend together.
- Serve on crackers, toast, bread, slider buns, etc.
- Yield: 6 servings.
Chula’s Expert Tips
- I used leftover holiday ham in this recipe. You could also use deli ham.
- You could substitute yellow mustard or honey Dijon mustard for the Dijon mustard in this recipe.
- Feel free to substitute dill pickle relish for the sweet pickle relish.
Nutrition
I first posted this delicious salad on March 21, 2017. This repost is the same great recipe with updated photographs and a video!
