This easy Ham Pasta Salad is a scrumptious approach to make use of up the leftover cooked ham! Made with recent cherry tomatoes, cucumber, and inexperienced onions, this recipe is bursting with colours and freshness! The creamy salad dressing is created from scratch with mayo, bitter cream, Dijon mustard, and lemon juice. It is a crowd-pleasing facet dish (or lunch or dinner) that may be made in 20 minutes on busy weeknights and is ideal for sharing at events, picnics, and potlucks.

Fast and simple 20-minute ham pasta salad

There’s nothing sophisticated about this recipe. Merely mix cooked ham (leftover ham works nice!) along with recent veggies (cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and inexperienced onions) and pasta (I used farfalle or bow-tie pasta). Rapidly whip up the selfmade creamy salad dressing, and the ham pasta salad is prepared in 20 minutes! Straightforward sufficient to make on busy weeknights as lunch or dinner. Excellent for sharing at events, picnics, BBQs, and different festive occasions. It is a crowd pleaser similar to this creamy hen pasta salad.

What makes this salad totally different from different ham salads?

It is full of recent substances, comparable to cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and inexperienced onions. Add extra greens when you like. Different veggies that I like to make use of in a ham pasta salad are diced bell peppers, broccoli, celery, inexperienced peas, or crimson onion.

Salad substances

• Ham. I used common pre-cooked ham which I diced into small cubes. This recipe is nice for ham leftovers!
• Pasta. Quick pasta works greatest in pasta salads because it simply absorbs the dressing and is bite-sized similar to different substances. You should use bow-tie pasta (farfalle), rotini, fusilli (spiral pasta), penne, or rigatoni.
• Cherry tomatoes (or grape tomatoes) are sliced in half and are an ideal bite-size for the ham pasta salad. You can too use diced common tomatoes.
• Cucumbers. I used 1 small cucumber which I sliced into bite-size items.
• Inexperienced onions have a milder taste than common onions and I really like utilizing them in pasta salads.
• Salad dressing substances embody mayo, bitter cream, freshly squeezed lemon juice, Dijon mustard, and salt.

Selfmade salad dressing

Each time I make a pasta salad, I really like combining mayo and bitter cream collectively for a creamy salad dressing and it is a pretty taste mixture! I additionally add Dijon mustard, lemon juice, and salt. When you do not like bitter cream (or do not have it), be happy to make use of Greek yogurt instead of bitter cream for an equally good taste! Mix all salad dressing substances collectively in a medium bowl or in a mason jar and whisk properly. You should use this selfmade dressing not solely with this ham pasta salad however with every other salad of your selection!

How you can make ham pasta salad

1. Cook dinner pasta in a pot of boiling water in keeping with bundle directions.
2. Slice cherry tomatoes in half.
3. Reduce the cucumber into small, bite-sized items.
4. Chop up inexperienced onions and ham.
5. In a big bowl, mix all of the salad substances collectively: ham, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, inexperienced onions, and cooked and drained pasta.
6. In a small bowl, stir collectively mayonnaise, bitter cream (or kefir or Greek yogurt), lemon juice, Dijon mustard, and salt.
7. Add the dressing to the bowl with the ham pasta salad and stir every part collectively.

Cooking ideas and recipe notes

• Cook dinner pasta al dente for the perfect texture. Which means the pasta ought to really feel agency to the chunk whereas being gentle but not mushy. This type of texture works greatest with pasta salad particularly if you wish to make it forward.
• Rinse pasta beneath chilly water after you cooked it. I all the time do it for pasta salads as that forestalls the pasta from getting softer and mushy. It additionally prevents the short-cut pasta from sticking to one another.
• Make it gluten-free.  Use the gluten-free pasta of your selection.  Lentil or chickpea gluten-free pasta will style nice right here. If utilizing gluten-free pasta, rinse it beneath chilly water after cooking to maintain it from getting mushy.
• Serve it heat or at room temperature. This ham pasta salad tastes the perfect when it’s kind of warmed up or delivered to room temperature. Not fridge chilly.

Variations

• Add extra veggies, comparable to diced bell peppers, broccoli, celery, inexperienced peas, or crimson onion.
• Add pickles or pickle relish.
• Add chopped boiled eggs.
• Add shredded or cubed cheese: Cheddar, Pepper Jack. Small Mozzarella balls (pearls) work nice, too.
• Add chopped cooked bacon or cooked prosciutto.
• Season the salad dressing with smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, or garlic powder.

Storage Suggestions

• Retailer leftover creamy ham pasta salad in an air-tight container within the fridge for as much as 4 days.
• It is a fantastic recipe to make forward! Actually, you would possibly discover that it tastes even higher the subsequent day because the flavors mix collectively. Serve it heat or at room temperature (not fridge chilly).

Different recipes for leftover ham

Different pasta salads you would possibly like

Creamy Ham Pasta Salad

This easy Ham Pasta Salad is a scrumptious approach to make use of up the leftover cooked ham! Made with recent cherry tomatoes, cucumber, and inexperienced onions, this recipe is bursting with colours and freshness! The creamy salad dressing is created from scratch with mayo, bitter cream, Dijon mustard, and lemon juice. It is a crowd-pleasing facet dish (or lunch or dinner) that may be made in 20 minutes on busy weeknights and is ideal for sharing at events, picnics, and potlucks.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook dinner Time 10 minutes

Complete Time 20 minutes

Course Salad

Delicacies American

Servings 6 individuals

Energy per serving 489 kcal

Writer: Julia

Substances

Salad Substances

• 8 oz farfalle (bow-tie pasta)
• 1 pound ham cooked, diced into ½ to 1 inch cubes
• 8 oz cherry tomatoes sliced in half
• 1 cucumber giant, sliced
• 4 inexperienced onions chopped

Salad Dressing

• ½ cup mayonnaise
• ¼ cup bitter cream or Greek yogurt
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Directions 

Cook dinner pasta

• Convey a pot of water to a boil. Add pasta and cook dinner in keeping with bundle directions. Drain.

• When the pasta is completed, rinse it properly with chilly water and drain.

• Whereas the pasta is cooking, proceed with the remainder of the recipe.

Salad dressing

• In a medium bowl, mix all dressing substances: mayonnaise, bitter cream (or Greek yogurt), Dijon mustard, and lemon juice. Whisk till properly mixed. Add salt, to style.

Meeting

• In a big bowl, mix all salad substances: cooked and drained pasta, sliced cooked ham, sliced cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumber, and chopped inexperienced onions.

• Add salad dressing (to style, you do not have so as to add all of it) and toss to coat. Add salt, to style, if wanted.

Diet

Diet Data

Creamy Ham Pasta Salad

Quantity per Serving

% Every day Worth*

* P.c Every day Values are primarily based on a 2000 calorie food regimen.

The dietary info on this web site is simply an estimate and is offered for comfort and as a courtesy solely. The accuracy of the dietary info for any recipe on this web site is just not assured. It shouldn’t be used as an alternative to an expert nutritionist’s recommendation.