Easy Ham Salad
Ham salad is one of the cold meat salads that I make at home quite a bit. I love making a ham just so that I can have leftovers to make this salad. I absolutely love it and have turned my husband into a convert. I still cannot get him to eat tuna salad, but he loves my chicken salad and ham salad. He is a person that never ate mayonnaise before and will not eat it any other way besides in these two salads. He does not even really like potato salad in the summertime, which is a favorite side dish of mine. Last week, I made a large ham for Easter and had tons of leftovers. I made a batch of ham salad with them which my husband took into work. He got rave reviews from his co-workers, so I decided to share my recipe as a Hub online.
First, you need to chop your ham up, trimming off the excessive fat. I chop my ham with a chef's knife but you could use a food processor. My husband thought it was too much of a sandwich spread when I used the processor, so I chop mine by hand now. I would then add a half a cup of mayonnaise and two tablespoons of ranch to the chopped ham. Blend that together well. If it is a little dry, add some more mayo or some more ranch, adjust it to your taste. It is really up to you how creamy you want the final ham salad to be. Add your seasonings. I finally add a tablespoon of sweet pickle relish to make this ham salad really tasty. It leaves a wonderful flavor in your mouth! I hope if you make this recipe up you like it as much as we do.
Cook Time
Ingredients
- 3 cups ham, diced or chopped small
- 1/2 - 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 3 - 4 Tbsp ranch dressing
- dash salt, freshly ground
- dash pepper, freshly ground
- 1 tsp Penzey's Sandwich Sprinkle, or similar seasoning
- 1 Tbsp pickle relish, sweet
How to Make It
- Chop or dice precooked or leftover ham into small pieces. You can try using a food processor, but that might almost be too much of a fine grind. It almost comes out like a spread or pate in the food processor. I use my chef's blade to chop the ham because my husband and I prefer our ham salad a little more chunky. Place chopped ham into medium sized bowl.
- Measure out mayonnaise, ranch dressing, and seasoning. Add these to ham in the bowl. I swear by Penzy's Sandwich Sprinkle on almost any kind of sandwich that has meat on it. The Sandwich Sprinkle elevates the sandwich beyond the norm and makes it taste like it came from a deli. This can be purchased online. The essential spices in Sandwich Sprinkle are salt, garlic, black pepper, basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme and marjoram. Use a dash of any of these spices to make your ham salad or sandwich amazing. Blend well together.
- Add a tablespoon of sweet pickle relish to really put this ham salad over the top. Cover with plastic wrap and chill at least one hour in the refrigerator to allow the flavors to combine. This is one of those dishes that is even better on the second day. Serve on rolls, crackers, fresh bakery bread or toast. This works well either as a meal or a snack. I hope you enjoy my easy ham salad!
