On Christmas Day it’s easy to look at that the glistening glaze on the mouthwatering Christmas ham and think that there is no way that anything will be leftover. But to our surprise, every single year we end up with more ham than we can shake a stick at. This leaves us confronted with the big question: what do you do with leftover Christmas ham?
Thankfully, our Test Kitchen experts are no strangers to all things Christmas ham, from how to choose a ham to glazing and cooking it, and even how to carve a Christmas ham. And, after the big day is over, how to store your Christmas ham in the fridge, and recipes for helping you make short work of the leftovers.
How long does Christmas ham last?
Christmas ham stored in the fridge, either on the bone or carved off and wrapped in plastic and foil, will keep perfectly well for up to two weeks.
Ham wrapped in plastic and foil and then frozen will last in the freezer for up to a month. Defrost frozen ham in the fridge for 1-2 days (depending on the size of the frozen portions) before eating.
How to keep leftover Christmas ham in the fridge
The biggest challenge with storing leftover Christmas ham is keeping the meat from drying out. For this reason, it’s important to only carve as much Christmas ham as you need during your meal, because meat left on the ham bone will stay juicy for longer than slices of carved meat.
To store ham on the bone it needs to be wrapped in a seasoned cloth. Ideally, a clean tea towel, a clean pillowcase, large piece of calico fabric, or a purpose-made ham bag. Rinse your cloth of choice in a solution of two cups of white vinegar and two litres of water and allow it to dry before wrapping the whole ham in the fabric and storing in the fridge.
Of course, around Christmas it can be hard to find room in the fridge to accommodate a whole ham leg. If this is the case, you can remove the meat from the bone in large chunks and store, wrapped in plastic and then foil, in the fridge or freezer.
What to do with leftover Christmas ham
While it might be hard to imagine using all the ham in your fridge (or freezer), there are plenty of easy ways to make use of it without any going to waste.
For starters, ham is welcome at pretty much every meal. For breakfast, your leftover ham is a delicious addition to eggs Benedict, a baked ham and cheese frittata, or on a breakfast bagel with avocado, ham and cheese.
For lunch you could serve this stunning ham salad with ricotta and balsamic figs, this green egg and ham wrap or our easy ham and zucchini quiche.
There are also plenty of delicious ways to pair it with baby peas. As well as a classic pea and ham soup, you can also make pea and ham brown rice salad, or this summer spaghetti with peas and ham.
And for dinner, why not try our cauliflower “fried rice” with mushrooms and ham or this easy pasta with ham, blue cheese and fennel.
What else to keep in mind
- When you’re dishing up cooked ham on Christmas day, aim to get it in the fridge or freezer as soon as possible. According to the NSW Food Authority, food that’s refrigerated within 2 hours should be safe to eat later but if it’s left out longer than that you’ll need to either eat it that day or throw it away.
- If you don’t think you’ll use all the leftovers within a few days, store some in the freezer (the sooner the better to reduce the risk of spoilage).
- Keep in mind that summer temperatures could also increase the risk of food poisoning for anything left out of the fridge for too long on Christmas day in Australia.
- Remember to check the freshness of your ham or other leftovers by considering their appearance, texture and smell. If anything seems off, it’s better to be safe than sorry and throw it out.
