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32 Ham Recipes to Master

32 Ham Recipes to Master

By Food & Wine

Updated February 23, 2021

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Credit: Eva Kolenko

Soft scrambled eggs with ham and truffles. Ham-jam sandwiches. Mashed potato and ham agnolotti. This roundup celebrates some of our best ham recipes, going way beyond the holiday ham—although you’ll find plenty of those in here, too. Whether you’re looking for a new breakfast sandwich or a comforting stew, we’ve got you covered. Read on for even more of our favorite ham dishes.

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DIY Honey-Baked Ham

Credit: Abby Hocking / Food & Wine

Honey-baked hams are impressive, and who doesn’t love the leftovers? You can order a honey-baked ham, but we like to make our own DIY version. First it’s basted with apple juice, then it’s glazed with a sweet-spicy mix of brown sugar, honey, honey mustard, black pepper and cayenne.

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Honey-Bourbon-Glazed Ham

Credit: Petrina Tinslay

The sweet, sticky glaze on this juicy ham is subtly spiced with fennel, coriander and star anise.

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Pomegranate-Jalapeño-Glazed Ham

Chef Akasha Richmond prepares a sweet-and-spicy glaze for ham using house-made pomegranate-jalapeño jelly. An easier alternative: doctoring store-bought jalapeño jelly with pomegranate juice.

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Spiced Smoked Ham with Mango-Cranberry Chutney

Credit: © William Meppem

Choose a smoked ham with a substantial layer of exterior fat. Use only half of the spice rub if the fat layer is less than an eighth inch thick.

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Ham and Potato Chip Tortilla

Adding jalapeño potato chips to a simple egg tortilla (a Spanish omelet) gives it a salty, spicy zing. Serve extra chips on the side.

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Giardiniera with Ham and White Beans

Credit: © Stephanie Foley

Grace Parisi quickly soaks baby cauliflower in vinegar and sugar, then combines it with snap peas, white beans, ham and sunflower seeds to create a tasty main-course dish.

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Ham and Cheese on Rye Bread Salad

Credit: © Stephanie Foley

In this fun take on the sandwich classic, Grace Parisi creates a delectable ham salad mixed with crunchy rye bread croutons and bits of Gruyère cheese, tossed in a mustardy dressing with celery and chives. She sometimes likes to wrap the bread salad in Bibb lettuce leaves for an inside-out sandwich.

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Scalloped Potatoes with Ham

The combination of pecorino and Parmesan gives these potatoes a great cheesy depth.

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Ham and Sausage Strata

The strata needs to be refrigerated for at least four hours or overnight before baking, so plan accordingly.

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Grilled Apricots with Burrata, Country Ham and Arugula

Depending on the season, Travis Lett also makes this salad with plums, peaches and pears.

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Apple-Ham Quiche

Credit: Victor Protasio

Thin apple and ham slices are rolled together and set in a tender, herby custard sprinkled with sharp white cheddar. For a quicker weeknight dinner, use a frozen 9-inch deep-dish pie shell, blind baked according to package instructions.

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Grilled Pineapples with Barbecue-Spiced Breadcrumbs and Country Ham

Credit: Victor Protasio

Slow-grilling whole unpeeled pineapples concentrates their flavor and tenderizes the fruit, which pairs wonderfully with salty country ham and crispy panko seasoned with barbecue spices. Peel the fruit with a large serrated knife, and serve it hot, thinly sliced like ham.

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Ham Steaks in Madeira Sauce

Credit: Greg DuPree

For this recipe, Julia Child was inspired by a dish called jambon à la morvandelle, the signature dish of Alexandre Dumaine, one of France’s most famous chefs in the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s. “Although supermarket ham will do, real country ham will give you a dish more like Dumaine’s fabled creation,” wrote Child. Child called the dish—featuring ham steaks basted in a mushroom and Madeira sauce—one of her “fast entrées for fancy people.”

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Grilled Figs with Ham, Walnuts, and Mint Cream

Credit: Christopher Hirsheimer

Frank Stitt, owner of Highlands Bar & Grill in Birmingham, Alabama, started his culinary education by working for the late great cookbook author Richard Olney in Provence, France. This appetizer—in which ripe figs are stuffed with walnuts, wrapped in ham and kissed with the heat of a grill—is a riff on devils on horseback inspired by Olney’s love of seasonal ingredients.

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Ham-and-Cheddar Scallion Biscuit Sandwiches

Credit: © Con Poulos

“Scallions are so great with eggs,” says Will Gilson. He adds them to the biscuits, which he fills with ham, cheddar and fried eggs; it’s one reason the breakfast sandwich is so good.

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Country Ham Flapjacks with Maple Syrup

Credit: © Christina Holmes

Using store-bought corn muffin mix and leftover chopped ham to make these savory flapjacks is a quick and clever trick.

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Ham-and-Cheese Puff Pastry Tart

Credit: © Oddur Thorisson

Mimi Thorisson spreads store-bought puff pastry with mustard-and-shallot béchamel, then layers it with ham and cheese before baking it into a crisp, rich, croque monsieur–like tart.

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Warm Snap Peas with Ham and Tarragon Butter

Credit: © Nicole Franzen

Kay Chun combines the classic flavors of ham, tarragon and peas with a hit of lemon juice for some bright acidity.

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Clove-and-Cider-Glazed Ham

Credit: © Con Poulos

For entertaining, Carla Hall glazes a spiral-cut ham with apple cider, brown sugar, mustard, bourbon and sweet spices.

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Open-Face Egg and Griddled Ham Breakfast Sandwiches

Credit: © Nicole Franzen

F&W’s Justin Chapple poaches a dozen eggs at once in a muffin pan in the oven, making his tasty breakfast sliders extraordinarily easy to prepare for entertaining.

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Country Ham and Pickle Crostini

Credit: © Con Poulos

This four-ingredient snack couldn’t be simpler: Just top toasts with sliced country ham and pickled vegetables.

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Spiced Brown Sugar Ham with Apple Jus

Credit: © Marcus Nilsson

The secret to this super-tender ham is keeping it wrapped in foil while it’s cooking and resting, letting it reabsorb any moisture released during the cooking process.

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Ham-Jam Sandwiches

Credit: Victor Protasio

Best-quality baguettes get a thick slather of butter and goat cheese, dollops of jewel-toned blueberry-beaujolais jam, and ribbons of salty prosciutto. Wrap these sandwiches in plastic wrap and stash in the top of your cooler for a perfect lunch on a sunny Saturday.

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Saba-and-Dijon-Glazed Easter Ham

Credit: Eva Kolenko

We’re switching up the traditional sugar-crusted holiday ham by using saba, a sweet and slightly acidic syrup made from cooked-down grape must (similar to aged balsamic). We bake the ham on a bed of carrots and shallots so the drippings flavor the vegetables in the oven.

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Bean and Ham Hock Stew

Credit: Abby Hocking

Inspired by her mother’s ham hock stew, Tiffani Thiessen created her own version of classic Bean and Ham Hock Stew for her cookbook Pull Up a Chair. Thiessen uses fennel where her mother used celery, adding a bit of anise flavor while retaining the tender bite. She also adds some herbes de Provence, whose fragrant, lightly floral flavor brighten up the slow cooking, rich stew. To draw out the most flavor from savory bay leaves, take a tip from Chef Ludo Lefebvre and gently score each leaf before stirring them into the stew.

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Dal Makhani with Collards and Country Ham

Credit: Victor Protasio

Chef Meherwan Irani’s Southern-inspired riff on dal makhani, an Indian dish of long-simmered beans and lentils cooked with spices and aromatics and enriched with butter, incorporates collards and crushed tomatoes, and is finished with an extra dollop of heavy cream and thinly shaved country ham.

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Tomato Soup with Ibérico Ham

Credit: Victor Protasio

This soup uses no broth or water; tomatoes form the entire base. Crispy ham and fresh mint offset the acidic sweetness of those tomatoes.

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Soft Scrambled Eggs with Ham and Truffles

Credit: Victor Protasio

Light and fluffy, these eggs are gently seasoned and generously perfumed by fresh black truffles. For the perfect creamy, tender bite, pull the eggs off of the heat before they set; they will continue to cook after they leave the stove.

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Creamy Spaghetti Carbonara with Peas and Ham

Credit: Photo by Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Rishon Hanners / Prop Styling by Sarah Elizabeth Cleveland

This modern take on a classic Italian pasta dish relies on ham instead of traditional pancetta for a dose of smoky flavor and richness.

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Polenta Dutch Baby with Ham and Swiss

Credit: Gregory DuPree

A large-format pancake with a light, airy interior and rich, savory toppings, this Dutch baby is perfect for brunch. Add the toppings around the edges, leaving the center clear to allow it to rise properly. Preheating the pan is also crucial to a beautiful rise; the batter should begin to puff immediately after you pour it into the pan.

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Mashed Potato and Ham Agnolotti in Turkey Bone Broth

Credit: Photo by Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Torie Cox / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen

“After eating such heavy food on Thanksgiving, it’s nice to have something lighter the day after,” says 2020 F&W Best New Chef Tavel Bristol-Joseph. His delicate agnolotti, filled with leftover mashed potatoes and ham, feature a smart shortcut—store-bought fresh lasagna sheets—served in a broth made from leftover turkey bones.

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Guinness-Glazed Ham

Credit: Caitlin Bensel

A simple glaze of dark stout and brown sugar develops a malty, caramel-like bittersweetness in the oven. Irish ham is a bit less salty than American ham and has a thin layer of fat, which absorbs the flavors of the glaze.

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