While ham is a popular holiday dish, with a little planning it can also help you save time and money on meals throughout the week. On busy weeks, I will bake a ham on the weekend, then serve leftover ham recipes on the weeknights.
What to Do with Leftover Ham
Besides the occasional Sunday dinner, I usually serve either Ham with a Honey Mustard Sauce or Ham with an Orange-Spice Glaze for Easter. I also serve a Christmas ham. No matter how small of a ham I buy or how many people I invite over, I always end up with leftovers. Fortunately, I happen to like leftover ham because it makes for quick and easy meals.
While I enjoy a sliced ham with cheddar cheese on a sandwich as much as the next person, we would easily tire of just eating ham sandwiches or ham and Swiss cheese wraps, so I have come up with a variety of ham dishes that I can use the leftovers in. These recipes to use up leftover ham speed up prep time on hectic evenings by making a ham and cheese quiche, hearty soups with ham, or adding cubed ham to pasta salads. Think beyond lunch and dinner! You can also use leftover ham in breakfast recipes like a breakfast casserole, frittatas and scrambled eggs to create a hearty breakfast on a cold morning.
Freezing Ham
Ham freezes well. If your family quickly tires of eating the same thing, even if you change things up a bit, freeze your leftover ham. Don't freeze your ham whole though because it can negatively impact the texture.
How to Freeze Ham
- Cut ham into bite-size pieces for casseroles or thin slices for sandwiches.
- Store it in lidded containers or sealable freezer bags, removing as much air as possible. I like to measure out and freeze the diced ham in usable portions.
- Thaw the frozen ham in your refrigerator overnight.
By freezing leftover ham, you can stretch it out over several weeks to use it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner on busy nights when you need to speed up the prep time and create fast and easy meals. You can find more tips on how to store and use up leftovers here.
Leftover Ham Recipes
These recipes to use up leftover ham are all easy to make.
Ham and Asparagus Frittata – This is a great recipe for breakfast or dinner!
Roasted Potato and Ham Casserole – This hearty casserole is easy to make.
Ham and Broccoli Frittata – My kids voluntarily eat broccoli when I serve this.
Honey Dijon Ham & Cheese Wraps – Such an easy lunch idea!
Meat Lover's Hash Brown Casserole – This is a favorite with my boys.
Scalloped Sweet Potatoes with Ham – Turn scalloped potatoes into a complete meal!
Scalloped Potatoes with Ham and Peas – Pure comfort food!
Recipes Using Ham from Prep-Ahead Meals from Scratch:
If you have my cookbook, Prep-Ahead Meals from Scratch, you can use leftover ham to make these recipes from the cookbook:
- Skillet Mac & Cheese with Ham and Broccoli p. 50
- Skillet Scalloped Potatoes with Ham and Peas p. 54
- White Bean and Ham Soup with Spinach p.60
- Potato, Ham, and Corn Chowder p. 63
- Ham and Cauliflower Casserole p. 64
- Ham and Spinach Waffle Quesadillas p. 72
- Chicken Cordon Bleu Rice Bake p. 29
Don't Forget: The ham bone can be used to add flavor to soups, so don't toss it. If you don't have time to make soup within a few days of serving ham, wrap the bone and place it in the freezer to use at a later time to make soup or add flavor to a bean dish.
Recipes that Use a Ham Bone
How do you use up leftover ham?
Rita Bose says
March 27, 2013 at 5:53 pmLovely ideas to use left-over ham! I am your new follower. Do visit/follow my blog at – http://www.rita-bose-cooking.com/.
vickie says
March 27, 2013 at 6:16 pmI like to use them in ham and cheese omelettes and on top of pizza. I also like to use them to make a egg, cheese, and ham bagel. Now on to your recipes.
Alea Milham says
March 27, 2013 at 7:40 pmBoth of those ideas sound delicious!
Cindy says
March 28, 2013 at 7:58 amWow! What a great roundup of ham recipes. I like to get a big ham when they’re on sale, then package the leftovers in meal-size portions for the freezer.
Looking forward to trying some of your recipes.
April @ The 21st Century Housewife says
March 30, 2013 at 9:09 amI always buy an extra big ham so I am sure to have plenty of leftovers. This is a great collection of recipes to use them up! I especially like the layered ham skillet and the scalloped sweet potatoes and ham.
Lisa @ HappyinDoleValley says
April 2, 2013 at 5:26 amYesterday I sliced most of the meat from what was left on our holiday ham; we have slices for sandwiches and chunks for omelets. The bone will, of course, be used for ham and bean soup. Thanks for the handy list!
Swathi says
April 9, 2013 at 7:16 amAlea,
Great ideas to use leftover ham.
Dawn says
April 16, 2014 at 1:17 pmHi! Thank you thank you thank you! I bought a 10 lb. ham the other day, and I’m totally excited about it. Score on the Easter Ham Deal, however, I have no intention of using it for Easter, since I’m not cooking!!!