Old fashioned ham salad is a deli classic great for spreading over toast and crackers or making into a flavorful sandwich. This great recipe is a perfect way to repurpose leftover holiday ham with just a few simple ingredients. Best of all, it can be prepared in minutes!

This old fashioned ham salad recipe is not a traditional salad, as you would normally think of green leafy salad. Instead, it is more similar to egg salad, tuna salad, macaroni salad, and chicken salad. Ham salad is a protein-centric salad featuring small chunks of ham in a seasoned mayo-based dressing, with crunchy bits of fresh produce added for texture. This delicious salad is commonly found in deli counters across the country.

Ingredients & Substitutions

• Ham - Leftover ham works great, or you can buy a precooked ham steak from the grocery store.
• Hard-boiled eggs 
• Mayonnaise - You can make a healthier ham salad by substituting plain Greek yogurt. Otherwise, Miracle Whip is great to use too.
• Celery ribs
• Yellow onion - Sweet onion is a perfect choice for a substitution. You can even add green onions.
• Sweet pickle relish - Dill pickles or dill pickle relish can be substituted.
• Yellow mustard - Dijon mustard can be substituted. Lemon juice can also be used to add acidity.
• Ground black pepper
• Cayenne pepper

How to Make Ham Salad

The key to making the best ham salad is uniformly creating small pieces of ham, eggs, celery, and onions so every bite contains all of the flavors. If you don't wish to chop the ham with a knife, give it a few quick pulses in your food processor, or run it through your meat grinder once with a medium grinding plate.

Once your ingredients are prepped, add the minced ham, eggs, mayo, celery, onion, sweet relish, mustard, black pepper, and cayenne to a large bowl and mix well to combine. The ham spread can be used immediately, but the flavor of this delicious ham salad improves if made in advance.

Store the leftover ham salad in an airtight container in your refrigerator for up to one week.

How to serve it

People often refer to this dish as ham salad spread for obvious reasons: it can be used as a spread. Spreading the ham mixture over toast and crackers are two common ways to serve it. Since this is not an overly gourmet spread, basic buttery crackers, like Ritz crackers, are perfect.

Making a ham salad sandwich is probably my favorite way to enjoy this simple recipe. You can use classic white bread slices, however, I really like to serve this sandwich spread on a toasted croissant. Simple slider buns or dinner rolls also work great.

Alternatively, serve this classic recipe as a low carb lunch in a lettuce wrap.

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