Honey baked ham | 50 ways to use up leftover Xmas ham

Honey baked ham is a big tradition at Christmas for most families in Australia and abroad. Every year my Mother-in-law arrives at home with a ham bigger than the beast. We’ll lug the thing inside in one of her Eskies and then we’ll sit her down for light refreshments. Lifting that massive ham around causes her to arrive red-faced and out of breath. It is our job to bring her and the ham back to life.

My mother-in-law spends Christmas Eve reminiscing about life on the farm and preparing the ham, among other jobs in my kitchen. She does so by cutting diamond-shaped zigzag patterns in it. Between cuts, she raises her knife, takes a sip of Champagne and shares the story about how she rode to school on a horse. In light of the horse, we all agree how amazing it is the same woman takes pictures of her kids on an iPad! My how times have changed.

Pineapple and cloves

She’ll carefully place pineapple pieces on the ham making sure they don’t touch each other. While taking phone calls from her brother and a long waiting list of friends from all over Victoria, she’ll secure those suckers with toothpicks. After she’s sick of phone calls, she’ll stick her iPhone on airplane mode and pop a cherry in the middle of each pineapple slice with a toothpick. I’ll give her a hand placing whole cloves into the scores, so that I can get a part of my bench back for last-minute gift-wrapping duties.

Secret honey glaze

After shuffling around in my kitchen cupboards for some time, she’ll pull out a roasting pan and fill it with an inch of water. I’ll light my old and decrepit oven for her, while she places some foil over the ham. At some point during Christmas drinks she’ll glaze the ham with her special recipe. She’s brought the glaze in a Tupperware container and it’s her ‘special move.’ Usually we don’t ask what’s in it. We just know it’s going to be good.

We’ll bake the ham for however long it takes in my oven. That means, about an hour in an oven that works well. For the last half hour we’ll take the foil off and let the top of the ham brown. We’ll try to keep an eye on it in between conversations so we don’t burn it after all that effort.

On Christmas Day the ham is a hit and enjoyed by all who had the good manners to turn up on time to eat it.

Honey baked ham leftovers

But every year, in our home there is always way too much ham. One year we took the leftovers on a camping trip with 12 friends just so we could all that ham up! Let’s just say that no one wanted to eat another slither of ham after four days of deep bush living and partying.

So after all my experiences with Christmas ham leftovers over the years, I thought it would be very handy to have a cheat sheet on ways to use up the ham so it never went to waste. Here is my little list on how to use up Christmas ham. Don’t forget you can always freeze it for a later date for sandwiches! Until then enjoy some cheesy bread, muffins, crackers, crepes and with ham in them! Yum!

50 ways to use up leftover Xmas ham

Cheesy

• Ham and cheese bread
• Ham and cheese muffins
• Ham and cheese on crackers
• Ham and cheese scones

Eggs

• Bacon and eggs with fried ham
• Ham and egg muffins
• Ham and egg pie
• Ham and egg soufflé
• Ham and leek pie
• Ham and lentil soup
• Ham and noodle bake
• Scrambled eggs with ham
• Quiche with ham
• Omelette with ham

Pineapple

• Ham and pineapple melts
• Ham and pineapple steaks

Potato

• Baked potatoes topped with ham
• Ham and potato croquettes
• Ham and potato hash
• Ham and potato pancakes
• Ham and potato soup
• Ham potato cakes

Pastas

• Gruyere and ham pasta
• Ham Alfredo
• Ham pasta
• Ham linguine

Patties

• Ham and beef patties
• Ham fritters

Misc

• Carbonara
• Chicken parmigiana
• Cold ham and salad plate
• Cordon bleu
• Fried Rice
• Ham and broccoli casserole
• Ham and veggie skewers
• Ham casserole
• Ham in noodles (kids)
• Ham loaf
• Ham cubes for platter
• Ham salads
• Ham, corn and potato chowder
• Hawaiian pizza
• Jambalaya
• Macaroni cheese with ham
• Meat lover’s pizza
• Pea and ham soup
• Sandwiches
• Scalloped potatoes
• Toasted sandwiches
• Wraps with extra filling