Seven Savory Ways to Use Your Last Bread of Easter Ham

Easter is a joyful spring holiday that tends to leave a lot of leftover eggs and ham. This overabundance of protein is usually good because families often celebrate together and many tummies do the light work, but sometimes you still have too much ham left. ( These hell eggs solve the egg problem.) Whether you’ve overestimated how many people love spiral-cut ham, or half your family is left at home with a cold, there are ways to use that wealth of pigs. Here are seven meal ideas to help you use up the last few ounces or even a couple of pounds of delicious pork jerky. (Just do it fast, we’re nearing the end of the ham safety window .)

Make ham egg molds

This is a brunch dish that I love to make. The ham cups are small, savory, handmade, and you can make them in batches with a muffin tin. Butter each indentation in the muffin pan, then take medium-thick slices of ham and place them in each place. The ham will wave and fold, and that’s okay. You want to make a “cup” of ham, but it doesn’t have to be perfect, in fact it probably won’t be perfect. The ham may crack or break, and this is also normal; this is one of the reasons why you oil the dish first. If you have small pieces of ham, you can even make a little patchwork ham. Once the ham is done, crack an egg into each ham cup and season with salt. Bake in the oven at 350°F for 10-15 minutes or until the yolk is the desired doneness. Use a knife or spoon to loosen the edges and the ham cups will pop out, ready for brunch.

The best pizzas

Grocery store pizza is one of my favorite ways to prepare food in boxes . You can buy a branded product with Digiorno, or just buy a refrigerated product at the grocery store in the refrigerator section, just make sure it’s still in its “raw” state. Choose a plain or stuffed pizza that you know goes well with ham. I suggest you also take a jar of pineapple chunks , and you know very well why. Slice the remaining ham and arrange it, along with the pineapple, on top of the finished pizza. Bake according to package directions and enjoy delicious Hawaiian pizza. I suppose you could skip the pineapple if you don’t agree with that, but I don’t want to know about it.

cook soup

A soup batch is a great way to take care of those two pounds of leftover protein. The more the better – few people like a meager piece of meat in their soup – so put it in. Ham in soup is almost as versatile as chicken, but with a little more umami. Cut the ham into slices or cut into neat cubes and add to any soup you like. If you want a deeper, savory flavor and browning, add the ham very early in the soup before adding any liquid. You can fry the edges of the meat and build a beautiful flatbread at the bottom of the pan. Add stock or broth and it will deglaze the pan. All this flavor will become part of the soup. My favorite is pea and ham soup, but you can make ham chowder or ham and rice soup.

Dress it up with sauce

The salt and umami in ham make it a star candidate for flavorful sauces. You can enhance a sauce that usually stands on its own, or create a sauce around it. Your favorite spaghetti sauce recipe will happily accept a cup of sliced ​​ham. Just toss it for enough time to simmer and dissipate the flavors. For something more ham-centric, try a ham-and-biscuit dip. Prepare a white roux sauce and add a portion of sliced ​​ham to the thick sauce. Cover them with cookies and eggs.

You can bake it

Casseroles are very sensitive to additional ingredients. In any case, it’s usually a collection of various savory ingredients, what else? Casseroles are flexible in flavor, usually have carbohydrates like noodles or bread, and don’t stress structural integrity because they stay in the dish. Add ham chips to any casserole. Toss sliced ​​ham with potato gratin sauce or macaroni and cheese, top with small pieces of lasagna, or make a Monte Cristo casserole .

Top your salads

Green leaf salad is always looking for a star ingredient. Give the ham a chance to take the stage. Any salad that tastes great with sliced ​​ham will taste incredible with pieces of grilled ham. For the sliced ​​salad, cut the ham into roughly the same size pieces as the other ingredients. For large salads, such as those with new potato halves, whole olives, and cucumber quarters, leave the ham in large strips.

Make it a salad

If you don’t already know this, I think bacon is a salad , so ham can be treated the same way. Cut the ham into quarter-inch pieces. Put it in a bowl with a tablespoon or so of mayonnaise and stir until smooth. Toss this ham salad between a couple of slices of bread and a lettuce leaf if you like a splash of color, and dinner is served. Dare I say, the best post-Easter hack might be slicing a green hard-boiled egg into a bowl with another dollop of mayonnaise and enjoying a spring Christmas salad with ham and egg salad.