Old-Fashioned Ham Salad Recipe

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If you have five minutes to spare, make this scrumptious and creamy old-fashioned ham salad recipe and you’ll know exactly why it’s a go-to lunch in the South.

Old-fashioned ham salad sandwich.

I’ve had more requests for a ham salad tutorial than I can count since starting Southern Plate, so I’m hoping y’all will enjoy this one. Similar to chicken salad and tuna salad, this is one of those old-timey recipes that use up leftovers and scraps of ham to make something pretty, filling, and delicious. Click here for more recipes that use leftover ham.

There are as many ways to make ham salad spread as the day is long so if you don’t have your own old-fashioned ham salad recipe, feel free to take this one and customize it to your tastes or make it up with what you have on hand. Don’t have spicy brown mustard? Use a bit of regular mustard and add a little more pepper if you like. Prefer a different mayonnaise than what I used? Go for it. Tweak it, mix it up, taste it, and make it your own.

Fact is, I can think of very few recipes as simple as this one. I’ve been getting a lot of comments lately from really nice folks thanking me for having such simple recipes and I want to thank you for being kind enough to read them and taking the time to comment! I think cooking really should be simple, though, and I’ve found that it’s the simple recipes that tend to taste the best.

Of course, that could be due to the fact that I won’t actually go to the trouble of making a complicated recipe. Either way you look at it, here is another simple but good one for ya. Hope you get to try it soon!

Ingredients for old-fashioned ham salad sandwich recipe.

Recipe Ingredients

  • Spicy brown mustard
  • Sweet pickle relish
  • Mayonnaise
  • Boiled eggs
  • Black pepper to taste (I usually don’t add salt because the ham is salty, but add it if you like).
  • Chopped ham

How to Make My Old-Fashioned Ham Salad Recipe

Chop up ham into cubes.

First, chop up your ham into cubes.

Chop up boiled eggs.

You’ll want to do the same for your boiled eggs too.

Placed chopped ham in mixing bowl.

Place your cooked ham in a mixing bowl.

Add mayo to mixing bowl.

Add the mayo.

See how easy this is already?

Add pickle relish to mixing bowl.

Then the pickle relish.

Add mustard to mixing bowl.

Add in your mustard.

Don’t stress if you don’t have this exact type of mustard. Just use what you have on hand and roll with it. Some of the best recipes came about by folks using what they had on hand.

Season with black pepper.

Finally, season with black pepper to taste.

Stir ham salad ingredients together.

Here we go. Ready to stir!

It doesn’t look too pretty right now but hang in there with me.

Add boiled eggs and stir again.

After you have everything all stirred up, add in your chopped boiled eggs.

Mixed ham salad.

Stir gently. Your ham salad spread is now ready! This recipe makes about three cups of delectable ham salad.

You can refrigerate it for a while (an hour is best) to allow the flavors to blend well or you can just eat it right now.

Guess which one I’m gonna do?

The Best Ham Salad Sandwich

Spread mayo on slice of bread.

Let’s build the perfect ham salad sandwich for lunch! Start with your favorite spread, like more mayo, aioli if you have some handy or good ole butter.

Add greens to sandwich.

Load up on the leafy greens.

Add ham salad to sandwich.

Then add the ham salad.

Enjoy!

Storage

Hands holding piece of ham salad sandwich.

Store leftover ham salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Because it uses mayonnaise, I don’t recommend freezing. Lucky it’s super easy to make from scratch!

Old-fashioned ham salad sandwich.

Recipe Notes

  • Now, I am not a big mayo person. I often try to get Duke’s because so many of y’all have told me how much you love it but I mostly just use it to mix up things with so sometimes grab whatever I can find first. If you have a favorite mayo, be sure to use that in this recipe.
  • Instead of mayonnaise, you can also use sour cream or non-fat Greek yogurt.
  • A lot of folks chop up their ham for ham salad in the food processor. If you like it really fine, that is the best way. I’d just as soon chop it up coarsely with a knife as opposed to having to get the food processor out and go to the trouble of cleaning it afterward. Big old chunks of ham are a beautiful sight! You’ll notice from the photo that I also don’t cut the skin off my ham, but just leave it on there. I don’t see any reason to add an extra step to things. You can if you like, of course, but if you’d rather not just consider it a wee more on the gourmet side.
  • Here are some variations to make this Southern ham salad sandwich recipe your own:
    • Substitute the spicy brown mustard for Dijon mustard or yellow mustard.
    • Add 1 rib of chopped celery.
    • Add the chopped nuts of your choice, like pecans or walnuts.
    • If you like pickles, add 1/2 cup of chopped dill pickle.
    • Another option is some chopped fresh parsley.
    • For a zesty flavor, add a dash of bottled or fresh lemon juice.
    • Add shredded cheddar cheese.
    • Add chopped green onion or red onion.

Recipe FAQs

How do you serve this old-fashioned ham salad recipe?

Ham salad is perfect as a savory sandwich spread or as a dip with crackers. Serve it on homemade rolls with fresh greens for an unbeatable lunch.

Try these other sensational sandwich recipes next:

Classic Reuben Sandwich

Chicken Salad Recipe for Sandwiches

Pimento Cheese Sandwich

Steak Sandwiches

Loose Meat Sandwiches

Old-fashioned ham salad sandwich.

Old-Fashioned Ham Salad

If you have five minutes to spare, make this scrumptious and creamy old-fashioned ham salad recipe and you'll know exactly why it's a go-to lunch in the South.
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes
Course: Main Course, Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: ham, salad, sandwich
Servings: 3 cups

Ingredients

  • 2 cups chopped smoked or baked ham diced as finely as you like
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/4 cup sweet pickle relish
  • 2 peeled and chopped boiled eggs
  • 1 teaspoon spicy brown mustard
  • pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Chop up the ham with a knife or food processor (however fine you want it to be).
    2 cups chopped smoked or baked ham
  • Place the ham, mayonnaise, relish, mustard, and pepper in a bowl. Stir with a spoon until well blended. Gently stir in the chopped boiled eggs.
    2 cups chopped smoked or baked ham, 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1/4 cup sweet pickle relish, 1 teaspoon spicy brown mustard, pepper to taste, 2 peeled and chopped boiled eggs
  • Serve on sandwiches, rolls, or crackers.
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90 Comments

  1. Love your bowl!!
    and I love your stories about Great Grandmother Lela!
    Was she the redhead or her sister?
    Now I make it look like I dont read your story…I’m just getting older and forget stuff LOL
    Marian

  2. I grew up on those blue snowflake dishes too. My mom still uses them in her kitchen. She loves to yardsale, so any time she sees a hodgepodge of random dishes in that pattern, she scoopes em up. We could prolly eat for almost 3 days and not run out of clean plates, hehe.

  3. This looks pretty darn good. I’ll have to let my taster test it. Oh.. my taster is my dad, if he don’t like it, it’s doesn’t get made again. So far he likes all Southern Plate recipes. I even showed him the Southern Living article so he would know who I’m talking about, heh.

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