Creamy Ham Salad Recipe

 My best ham salad is a perfectly balanced delight of salty, sweet, and spicy, with smoky bits of ham and a light, creamy base that’s destined to top every cracker on your party buffet. It’s a new and colorful game-changer for your next holiday spread! It makes a fabulous sandwich filling as well.

Creamy, crunchy, salty, and smokey say hello to the most delicious ham salad ever to grace the top of a cracker or the inside of two pieces of soft bread! My ham salad has a slightly chunky texture dominated by the ham, a little crunch from chopped celery and onion, and a flavorful cream cheese base that accentuates rather than hides the flavors of the main star here.

My version also has a nice balance of salty and sweet, mainly achieved through careful consideration of the perfect pickle.I do use sweet pickles but just enough to complement the ham, along with some Creole mustard (my favorite mustard ever!) to add a little acidity and a nice touch of heat.

I hope you’ll try  more of our favorite ham recipes next. My Mississippi sin dip has been a reader favorite for over a decade on this website. My ham and cheese pinwheels are new on the site and truly outta this world delicious! My old-fashioned ham casserole is the most popular ham recipe on the site. I really hope you’ll it and see why!

If you have leftover ham or simply craving this delicious meat, check out all my ham recipes.

Ham Salad Ingredients   

• Ham: Given the name of the recipe, it’s obviously the star of the show here! Anytime we serve ham for dinner, holidays and weeknights alike, I always buy extra so I can make this salad. Easter dinner, all I’m thinking of is the ham salad I’m making tomorrow. If you don’t have a big ham with leftovers, grab ham steaks and whip this up!
• Cream Cheese: I use regular, full fat cream cheese.
• Red Onions: Red onion adds color and crunch, along with a little onion zing. If the onions are a little too hot (which your eyes will let you know pretty quickly), you can always rinse the onion bits under cold water and drain them really well to remove some of the nose-stinging qualities.
• Celery: I love the crunch and natural saltiness that celery adds. I prefer it to be finely chopped, minced, for best texture.
• Sweet Relish: This is such a flavorful, convenient powerhouse of an ingredient. To change things up, omit relish and sub an equal amount of your favorite pickles, minced. Dill pickles, bread and butter pickles
• Creole mustard: A popular condiment in Louisiana, is a unique, spicy mustard with a slightly coarser texture than the yellow hot dog stuff and a little more vinegar. (It’s one of the main ingredients in remoulade sauce if you’ve ever tasted that magical stuff). You should be able to find Creole mustard in your grocery store, but you can substitute another coarse, spicy mustard with similar results. You can also find it on Amazon. If you can’t find it, sub with Dijon mustard or a stone ground mustard.
• Seasoning: We only add black pepper to this recipe. Because country ham has so much salt in it, I don’t feel like any more is needed.

Ham Salad Tips + Variations

Extras: My Mom used to add diced hard-boiled egg to her ham salad. It’s delicious. Feel free to give it a try

Chill Out! This dish benefits from a little chilling time in the fridge, however, if you’re in a hurry, you can serve it right away.

Order: I like to fold in the ham after everything’s mixed well to preserve the little chunks. Texture is important here!

Salad Versus Spread – Although I do use the food processor to help chop the ham, I like my ham mixture to have some texture like the ham salad recipe Southern Living has on its website.

• I know some people prefer to run all the ingredients through the food processor until things are really smooth, essentially making a ham salad spread, but I just don’t roll that way. If that’s your preference, though, by all means, please pulse on!
• Btw-I realize that the Ham Salad looks really smooth in the photos. Honestly, it’s not as smooth as it looks. I think the cream cheese is giving it a smoothed-out appearance!

Serving options – I usually serve this with butter crackers (judge me all you want…I love me my Ritz!) or small toasts. It’s perfect for snacking. You can serve it in little butter lettuce cups of endive “boats” like the ham salad recipe Pioneer Woman makes or with some other crudités.

• Make mine a Sandwich: This spread is divine served on brioche bread, with a thin layer of mayo, then topped with a fresh slice of tomato! Serve it just like you would eggs salad, either cold with some arugula or watercress or hot like the ham salad sandwich recipe Taste of Home publishes (heated in the oven along with some Velveeta slices. I think I’d prefer cheddar.).
• Since soup is a popular meal this time of year, why not make a grilled cheese version?

Lighten Up – If you go the veggie route for serving this dip, you’ll definitely save some calories.

• You can also turn this into a healthy Ham Salad recipe by substituting low-fat cream cheese and mayonnaise or using a combination of low-fat cottage cheese and plain yogurt processed in your food chopper until the consistency is similar to softened cream cheese.

Serving Recommendations

I love to serve this on Hawaiian rolls or as a spread with butter crackers like Club Crackers or Ritz Crackers. This is great served with classic deviled eggs, sausage balls with cream cheese, Tiropita, crack dip, shrimp dip, and/or million dollar dip! Who doesn’t love an appetizer spread?!!

How To Make Ham Salad

1. Pulse ham in a food processor until finely chopped, or dice by hand.
2. In a bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients. Fold in ham.
3. Adjust the seasonings and serve.

***See the full instructions below.

How to Store and Make Ahead

• How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge? Store leftovers in an airtight container. It’ll last in the fridge for 3-5 days.
• Make-Ahead Tips: This is a very quick recipe, there’s no need to make ahead! You can make it a day before and place it in the fridge immediately.
• Food Safety: As you pull out all those dishes you worked so hard on for your gathering, remember to reserve the FDA-recommended 2-hour serving rule. Safety first.  If you’d like more info on food safety check out this link.

More Delicious Ham Recipes

• Ham And Bean Soup
• Scalloped Potatoes and Ham
• Black Eyed Pea Soup 
• Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole
• Impossibly Easy Ham And Swiss Pie (A Bisquick recipe!)
• Ham Balls
• Hawaiian Macaroni Salad
• Ham Tetrazzini

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Ham Salad Recipe

My ham salad is the best thing you can make with leftover ham! Serve it on Hawaiian rolls or on buttery crackers. This one is a must-try!

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Total Time10 minutes mins

Servings: 8 people

Author: Kathleen

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 pound ham cut into 2-inch cubes
• ▢ 8 ounces cream cheese softened
• ▢ 1/4 cup red onion minced
• ▢ 1/2 cup celery minced
• ▢ 1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
• ▢ 1 tablespoon Creole mustard
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Pulse ham (1 pound) in a food processor until, finely chopped.
• In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese (8 ounces), red onion (1/4 cup), celery (1/2 cup), relish (1 tablespoon), Creole mustard (1 tablespoon), and black pepper (1/4 teaspoon). Fold in ham. Adjust seasoning and serve.

Fans Also Made:

• 
  Homemade Sour Cream And Onion Dip
• 
  Pimento Cheese Recipe
• 
  Shrimp Spread
• 
  Southern Egg Salad

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Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 241kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 14g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 66mg | Sodium: 805mg | Potassium: 224mg | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 430IU | Vitamin C: 0.6mg | Calcium: 34mg | Iron: 0.6mg

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