Smoky ham, tender noodles, and a super-rich, velvety cream sauce marry together in this winner of a meaty dinner, my (if I do, humbly, say myself!) sensational Ham Casserole! Made all from scratch! Absolutely no cans of soup required.
My Grandma taught me how to make this dish and over the decades I’ve made it, I’ve tweaked and changed it to my family’s taste. It just may be my best casserole recipe everrrr!!!
Easy Ham Casserole Recipe
My ham casserole recipe lets smoky ham mingle with curly ribbons of pasta in a super-rich decadent, I mean seriously decadent, cheesy cream sauce. All your dinner favorites come together at their very best!
More terrific casserole recipes, anyone? This girl loves casseroles and I make and serve them all the time! Here’s a variety you might like to try next.
My tater tot breakfast casserole (one of the most popular recipes on this site for almost 5 consecutive years!), Pioneer Woman mac and cheese, or my family’s favorite, and very often requested, baked ziti with ricotta, and my ultra comforting, hamburger potato casserole!
Let’s make this delicious casserole!
More Leftover Ham Recipes
Got Ham???! I can’t tell you how much I love this protein. It’s relatively inexpensive, super flavorful, wonderfully smoky, and always widely available. Check out all leftover ham recipes. Recipes from all over the web!!
Here are a few of my personal favorites from this list, that I make over and over again! That said, I seriously hope you try them all!
- Ham Salad: I can not tell you how much I love this amazing, Uber-creamy ham salad! If you try one other recipe, of course after this amazing casserole, I pray it will be this one!!!! Spread in on crackers or turn it into a more substantial snack or meal by spreading it on Kings Hawaiian rolls, croissants (mini or regular sized), or just plain old, wonderful white bread.
- Seriously, I really hope you try this recipe, my friend!! Let me know in the comments below or in IG if you do ♥
- Ham and Bean Soup Recipe: Soup is one of my favorite types of food. This combo is really yummy, rib-sticking, and wonderful!
- Scalloped Potatoes and Ham: I’m a potato kinda gal. They’re one of my favorite food items ever. This casserole is comforting, filling, and just the right thing to serve for dinner!
Ingredient You’ll Need To Make Ham And Noodle Casserole
- Panko Crumbs
- Butter
- Pasta options: Let’s talk pasta, the unnamed second leading lady of this dish. So, the most important difference and the distinction between egg noodles and other dried pasta is that “egg noodles” must contain rich and nutritious eggs!
- If you need to substitute for some reason, I’d suggest using fettuccine or linguine, or any “ribbon” shaped noodle.
- Ham
- Yellow Onion
- Celery
- Garlic
- All-Purpose Flour
- Milk: The key to making your homemade cream sauce is, you guessed it, milk! I use whole milk to get a really rich flavor, but you can use any type — skim or 1% for less fat, or even heavy cream to go really decadent!
- Worcestershire Sauce
- Tabasco Sauce
- Salt
- Black Pepper
- Thyme Leaves
- Sage Leaves
- Cheese: My favorite cheese for this recipe is an extra sharp cheddar, but you can substitute a plain Monterey Jack, mozzarella, or even a pepper jack with awesome (and equally cheesy!) results.
- Using pepper jack is another little spin I put on other ham pasta casserole recipes. Jack cheese has a lovely, creamy texture, especially when it’s melted, and the peppers bring a subtle heat that adds that little “something special” to the dish.
- Pea haters: Peas are optional. My family loves the, in fact my SIL, Doug asks for me to add more! Feel free to omit them, if you want. You can actually substitute some chopped broccoli (either blanched or frozen-then-thawed) as a nice, nutritious pop of color.
Tips + Tricks
Reheat + Storing + Freezing Tips
- How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge? This recipe will last up to four days in the fridge after it’s cooked. Any longer and all that dairy will start to separate, ruining the flavor and making the safety questionable.
- Can You Freeze This? One of the many things I love about casseroles is they often freeze well, and this casserole is no exception! You can double the bang-for-your-buck by enjoying half for dinner, then freezing the other half for a quick meal that just needs thawing and reheating.
- The frozen casserole will last in your freezer for up to 2-3 months! To thaw, let it sit in the fridge overnight, or you can just pop the frozen casserole straight into a 350 preheated oven and bake for an hour
- Make-Ahead Tips: My favorite way to speed up this process is to make the casserole right up to the point of baking, then wrap it and store it in the fridge overnight. You can then just pop it in the oven and bake it for dinner without having to worry about cooking!
What to Serve with Ham and Cheese Casserole
Oh, my friends, there are sooo many delicious things to serve with this casserole. Because it’s so rich and cheesy, I often opt for a fresh green salad with my homemade balsamic vinaigrette recipe. 5 minutes and you’ll have a fresh, delicious salad dressing that absolutely nothing store-bought can even begin to touch in the flavor department! If you’d prefer cooked veggies, I’ve got you! My super quick and easy roasted broccoli, fried cabbage and bacon, sweet simple roasted peppers (“bell peppers”of course!), or one of my fav’s sauteed asparagus!
So, my friends, I grew up absolutely hating salad and veggies! That said, I’ve developed these categories of recipes to be the absolute most delicious I know how to do! I could eat each and every one of these recipes 24/7! No joke or exaggeration!! Let me know what you like to serve alongside this yummy casserole in the comments below ♥
How to Make Ham Casserole
-
- Saute aromatics.
-
Add butter and sprinkle flour.
-
Whisk and continue to cook.
-
Remove the skillet from heat and slowly whisk in milk.
-
Return to medium heat and cook until the mixture begins to thicken.
- Add almost all the ingredients.
- Add egg noodles, ham, and sauce. Stir. Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake.
- Sprinkle the topping evenly. Pop back in the oven and broil until golden brown.
-
Sprinkle top with fresh thyme and fresh sage leaves.
See full instructions below.
More Delicious Ham Recipes
- Impossibly Easy Ham And Swiss Pie
- Ham And Cheese Pinwheels
- Mississippi Sin Dip
- Ham Balls
- Ham Tetrazzini
Ham Casserole
Ingredients
Topping:
- 1 1/2 cups panko crumbs
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted
Casserole:
- 12 ounces dried egg noodles
- 1 1/2 pounds ham (about 4 1/2-5 cups cubed) cut into 1/2 cubes
- 1/2 cup, plus 2 tablespoons butter, divided
- 1 cup yellow onion chopped
- 1 cup celery chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 5 1/2 cups whole milk
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves chopped
- 2 teaspoons fresh sage leaves chopped
- 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese shredded
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 cup frozen petites peas thawed and drained
Garnish:
- thyme leaves
- sage leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking dish lightly with nonstick cooking spray.
- Make Topping: In a small mixing bowl combine Panko crumbs (1 1/2 cups), and melted butter (6 tablespoons); set aside.
- Make Casserole: Cook egg noodles (12 ounces) in salted water according to package instructions. Drain.
- Meanwhile, in a high-sided large skillet, melt butter (2 tablespoons). Add onion (1 cup), celery (1 cup), and garlic (4 cloves), and saute over medium heat, until soft, about 8-10 minutes.
- Add the remaining butter (1/2 cup) to the skillet with cooked vegetables and melt. When the butter begins to bubble, sprinkle the flour (1/2 cup) over the top of the vegetables and whisk over medium heat until evenly combined.
- Cook, stirring constantly, for 1-2 minutes.
- Remove skillet from heat and slowly whisk in milk (5 1/2 cups).
- Return to medium heat and cook until the mixture begins to thicken, enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Reduce heat to low and stir in Worcestershire sauce (2 teaspoons), Tabasco (1/4 teaspoon), salt (1 1/2 teaspoons), pepper (1/2 teaspoon), fresh thyme leaves (1 tablespoon), fresh sage leaves (2 teaspoons), 2 cups cheddar cheese, cream cheese (4 ounces), and thawed peas (1 cup).
- Add drain egg noodles back to the empty pot it was cooked in. And ham (1 1/2 pounds) and sauce to the egg noodles and stir to combine well. Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake in the preheated oven until heat through and bubbly, about 25-30 minutes.
- When the casserole is heated through, remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle topping evenly over the surface. Pop back in oven and broil (watching closely so it doesn't burn!) until topping is golden brown, about 3-5 minutes. Sprinkle top with fresh thyme and fresh sage leaves.
Fans Also Made:
Notes
- Pasta options: Let’s talk pasta, the unnamed second leading lady of this dish. So, the most important difference and the distinction between egg noodles and other dried pasta is that “egg noodles” must contain rich and nutritious eggs!
- Whenever I make my own homemade pasta, I add eggs. That said very often commercially available pasta doesn’t contain eggs. I love egg noodles in this dish mainly because the twisty pasta ribbons just make me happy!
- If you need to substitute for some reason, I’d suggest using fettuccine or linguine, or any “ribbon” shaped noodle.
- Milk: The key to making your homemade cream sauce is, you guessed it, milk! I use whole milk to get a really rich flavor, but you can use any type — skim or 1% for less fat, or even heavy cream to go really decadent!
- Cheese: My favorite cheese for this recipe is an extra sharp cheddar, but you can substitute a plain Monterey Jack, mozzarella, or even a pepper jack with awesome (and equally cheesy!) results.
- Using pepper jack is another little spin I put on other ham pasta casserole recipes. Jack cheese has a lovely, creamy texture, especially when it’s melted, and the peppers bring a subtle heat that adds that little “something special” to the dish.
- Pea haters: Peas are optional. My family loves the, in fact my SIL, Doug asks for me to add more! Feel free to omit them, if you want. You can actually substitute some chopped broccoli (either blanched or frozen-then-thawed) as a nice, nutritious pop of color.
Nutrition
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We made this for dinner last night. It was amazing! I live is an area where Hurricane supplies are needed. So needless to say I had a canned ham on hand. It worked beautifully. And while I do love peas, we had fresh asparagus on hand so we chopped it up into bite size pieces and used that instead. The asparagus went perfectly with this dish. What I really like about this recipe Is that it’s very easy to make changes to fit your own tastes. We just loved the results and looking forward to the left overs and to making it again.
So happy you enjoyed this Blanche. The asparagus sounds fabulous!!
Great dish. I use kale instead of peas. Kids love this. Expect about 45 min to get all the steps done before it goes into the oven, cannot be done in 10 as listed.
Hey Alicia. Kale sounds great to add in this casserole. So happy it was good for your family!
To much butter
That is how a roux is made. It’s how you make the base for the sauce.
I love ham and egg noodles, this will absolutely be a regular in my weekly menu
Yay, thank you, Kim! So glad you like this 🙂
i would like to substitute sliced potatoes for the pasta. Do you think they would be as good?
Hi, Robyn. I haven’t tried that, not sure if it’ll work. Would you like scalloped potatoes or hamburger potato casserole instead? 🙂
Hi again. Please disregard my question re cheese choices. I re-read your recipe, but this time I also read your notes. I see cheddar is your preference for this dish, but a variety of cheeses can be used successfully… Thanks again for the recipe. Think I’ll try it today… ☺️ Grateful, Mari
Hey Mari. No worries thanks so much for letting me know. I hope you enjoy the casserole. We are going to be posting a 101 Recipes For Leftover Ham at the end of the month. I hope you check it out and find lots new recipes <3
So good. Took a bit longer to put together than expected but worth it. It’s really filling. I ate about 1½ cups and I’m sooo stuffed! ( But happy ) I added Truff black truffle sauce instead of Tabasco and I didn’t add it until it cooked, just added it at the table. It was great either way. I only had a bit of cream cheese, so I used laughing cow, swiss and cheddar. (Needs must). It was awesome
Wow, that sounds so perfect! Thanks for sharing your tweak, I’ll definitely ty that, especially with truffle sauce!
Hi. Thanks for this recipe. I hope to try it soon. Which cheese is better for making this dish, cheddar or pepper jack? I ask, as the ingredient list says to use sharp cheddar, but the directions say pepper jack… So which is better? Thanks, Mari
I think that this is the BEST casserole I have ever made and at 65, I have made a lot of casseroles. Thankyou!
What step do you add the ham?
Hi Mrs P,
Add the ham in step 5. I’ve ammended the recipe 🙂