Ham goes hand in hand with the holidays. It’s delicious and feeds a crowd. It’s also incredibly expensive…up front at least. While you have to drop a pretty penny on a decent sized ham, it’s amazing how many recipes you can make from leftovers. It’ll feed your crowd and then some–so when you break it down to a per plate cost, it actually comes up pretty dang reasonable.
If you are hammed out {that is an actual condition} after the holiday season, cooked ham can be frozen to fight another day. The trick to freezing it is to wrap it tightly enough that there isn’t a ton of air circulating around the meat. You can freeze it whole, or as is my preference, dice it and place it into zippered baggies. I like to be able to grab a baggie and toss it into a recipe without much thought. According to food safety guidelines, cooked ham can be frozen for 1 to 2 months.
Now, the only trick is narrowing down how you want to use it. I’ve been known to toss ham into just about any casserole, but here are a few of my favorite ways to use it up:
Potatoes and ham just get along so nicely. The ham also gives potato soup a little more “stick to your ribs, last you all day” sort of feel.
I love these little pop-able bites of goodness. They are the perfect quick grab and go breakfast and also make a great over-the-hump afternoon snack
I personally have never met a biscuit I don’t like–add a little ham to the mix, and you have yourself an entire meal.
I have personally come to the conclusion that you can throw any meat into a pot pie and have yourself a pretty delicious fare. Ham is certainly no exception.
I love this soup because it is INCREDIBLY inexpensive to make {provided you already have the leftover ham}, and is a nice light alternative to some of the heavy holiday dinners.
Use up your leftover ham, AND get your veggies in at breakfast time–now you can totally justify cake for lunch.
How about YOU, how will you be using up your leftover ham?
~Mavis
Laura says
Our favorite leftover ham recipe is Farfalle with Ham, Spinach, and Peppers. Cook 1 package of farfalle (bowtie) pasta in a large stockpot – make sure there is LOTS of water. While the pasta is cooking, in a colander place 1 package chopped baby spinach and top with julienned red pepper strips (from two peppers). When the pasta is ready, pour it and all the water over the spinach and peppers, and then let the hot pasta sit on the peppers for a minute or so. Put the pasta, spinach and pepper back into the stockpot, and toss with a 6 1/2 oz. container of sun-dried tomato and basil soft cheese spread (I use Alouette brand). The spinach tends to clump together, so you need to break it up so it’s evenly distributed through the pasta. Add 1 1/2 cups of diced ham, toss again, and serve!
Linda says
We often have mac and cheese with ham. Sometimes we put broccoli too. Or grilled cheese and ham sandwiches. My husband wii sometimes chop the ham and add pickle relish for sandwichs
HollyG says
My favorite is putting the ham into cheesy potato bake (also commonly called Funeral Potatoes – because they end up at so many funeral potlucks). It’s delicious and I also get a chance to use up any leftover cheese bits from our Julebord. Yum!
Denise says
I boiled the ham bone in a large crockpot to make ham broth. I actually canned this batch but I normally freeze it in quart bags. I bought a cow so I currently have no freezer room. It was a smoked ham so my bean soups are going to be awesome!