This post may contain affiliate sales links. Please read my disclosure policy.
A classic chunky Ham Salad recipe with ham, pickles, onion, and celery all mixed together with mayonnaise and seasoned with salt and pepper! So good! Perfect recipe to use any leftover Baked Ham from Easter.
What is Ham Salad?
Ham Salad is one of those traditional recipes out there that resemble other dishes like Egg Salad, Chicken Salad, Tuna Salad, Macaroni Salad, Pea Salad, and Potato Salad. The common ingredient in all of these recipes is mayonnaise! Along with that ham salad includes, of course, ham and flavorful chopped veggies like celery, pickles, and onion. Most times, you can find this “salad” ground up into a spreadable dip but I kept it a little chunkier (it’s all personal preference). Ham Salad is served cold on crackers, on a sandwich, or plain.
Best Ham to Use
Any cooked ham or ham steak will work well for this recipe. This recipe is a great opportunity to use leftover ham from the holidays (whether that be Easter, Christmas, or Thanksgiving). If it has a sweet glaze on it those sweet flavors will come out in the salad. I’d recommend cutting off the parts covered in glaze if you don’t want any sweetness coming through.
Tasty Variations
There are a lot of ham salad varieties out there which makes this recipe really fun and customizable. Feel free to play around and make this dish your own! Here are a couple of ideas to get you started:
- hard boiled eggs
- bell peppers
- cheddar cheese
- cucumber
- carrots
- tomato
- green onion
- mustard
- lemon juice
- pickle juice
What Can I Use Besides Mayonnaise?
If you’re looking for something a little healthier than straight-up mayonnaise I’d suggest light sour cream or even plain greek yogurt.
How to Make Ham Salad
For full details on how to make ham salad, see the recipe card down below 🙂
Prep Ingredients
Prepare all ingredients by washing, measuring, chopping, and dicing.
MIx Together
In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
How to Grind Ham Salad
If you want your ham salad to be ground up into smaller pieces, get out a food processor and blitz everything together until it reaches a consistency you like. If it’s not coming together add a splash of pickle juice, lemon juice or white vinegar and blitz again. I like a chunkier consistency so I choose to dice my ham a little finer, but this is a great option if you’d prefer a finer consistency.
Serve!
Serve on sandwich bread, on rolls, in a wrap, on pita, with crackers or plain!
Storage Instructions
Cover well and store in the fridge for up to 5 days! I would not recommend freezing ham salad because mayonnaise tends to separate when thawed. Gross.
Similar Recipes You Might Like:
That’s it! Enjoy this recipe soon!
The printable recipe card is down below 🙂
Ham Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup celery diced
- 1/2 cup dill pickles chopped
- 1/4 cup yellow onion diced
- 3/4 pound ham diced small
- 1/4 cup real mayonnaise
- salt & pepper to taste
Equipment
- 1 large bowl
Instructions
- Prepare all ingredients by washing, measuring, chopping and dicing.
- In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
- Serve on bread as a sandwich or with crackers.
I make this all the time but i grind my ham in food processor and use relish in place of pickle.