Leftover ham and turkey are great problems to have, but there are a few challenges for smaller households—time for some easy and delicious recipes.
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I will be talking about store-bought pre-cooked ham. They might be refrigerated and sealed at the store, and they might be spiral-cut. If you have a different type of ham, I have provided some links with options for most other types of ham.
For the turkey, it is the leftovers from cooking a fresh whole turkey or a breast.
🦠Food Safety
Before we proceed, please be sure we are dealing with safe leftovers. It should be considered contaminated and decarded if it was left in the danger zone of 40° and 140°F range for more than 2 hours.
The meat should have been properly thawed if frozen and stored refrigerated under 40°. And have not spent more than two hours in the food danger zone of 40° and 140 °F during serving. See Summer Food Safety for a more detailed discussion.
❄️Storing Leftover Ham
The first option is the refrigerator. Generally, ham can be stored in the fridge for 3-5 days, but it can vary by type. Please see the FoodSafety.gov Ham Storage Chart for details if you have something other than a store-bought pre-cooked ham.
Yes, ham and ham bones will freeze well. There are those old wives' tales that you can not freeze ham. They are wrong—ham and ham bones both can be frozen.
Most common hams are good for 1-2 months frozen. There is some variability by type of ham, so please see the FoodSafety.gov Ham Storage Chart for details.
If you know that you need to freeze some of the ham for later, do that part of the ham as soon as possible. Seal it well; divide it into smaller units if it is large.
To thaw your ham after it's been frozen, allow it to defrost in the refrigerator. It should thaw in about 24 to 48 hours, depending on the size.
🐖Leftover Ham Recipes
We can all do ham and cheese sandwiches and breakfast dishes like ham and eggs. I don't think you need recipes there, but here are some of our favorite recipes that have ham or where ham can make a great addition.
🍖Leftover Ham Bone Recipes
There is not much you can do with a ham bone besides soup. But it is an excellent option since the broth is just incredible.
From a "cooking for two" viewpoint, these recipes are too big unless you have freezer space. If you do, these are great options. If you don't have freezer space, give the ham bone to a friend.
🦃Leftover Turkey Recipes
Not everybody had ham, so let's take care of the leftover turkey.
Leftover freshly cooked turkey is refrigerated for four days if sealed well and maybe frozen for three months.
Two chicken recipes, both with turkey options.
Originally Published April 20, 2019.
Sandra Murdico
I cook different beans once a week in my Crock Pot. I just rinse them good and put them in the Crock Pot with seasoning I like and a ham bone or ham. I turn on high for 2 hours and then on low until done. You don't have to worry about gas with a Crock Pot, that I have found anyway. When I cook a ham, I leave a little ham on the bone. I use a meat cleaver or small hatchet (just for this) and chop the ham bone in half. I store each half in a separate Zip Lock Freezer Bag and toss them in the freezer. Any ham left over, I separate by large handfulls in zippered sandwich bags getting all the air our before sealing. I them put them in a gallon Zip Lock Freezer bag all together, seal and put in the freezer. I can them just take a bag of the ham out for cooking dry beans or soup. Hope this helps someone. Have a wonderful holiday!
Carolyn S.
When I was a young wife & mother, a bone-in ham was my favorite thing. I could get many meals from it. We didn't have slow cookers back then. Now I do, so I slow cook the bone in 8 cups of water to make ham stock, strain it and let it sit in the 'fridge overnight so the fat will rise and I can skim it off. Then I proceed to make Congressional Bean Soup.
Claudia Matusiak
I don't think your grammar check fixed the problem, should be "Old "Wives Tales."
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Thanks for the proofread. I think this one is on my mother who always said wise not wives.
Stay Safe.
Dan
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Welcome to the blog.
We love leftover ham. The picture at the top was our "for two" 8 pound ham. We do freeze some but mostly it is what you discussed. I have to do one every 2-3 months.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
bill berdan
I used leftover into turkey burgers
Kevin
Great post, although "..old wise tail.." got me thinking about my yellow Labrador. 🤣
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Kevin,
Welcome to the blog.
So much for the grammar checker... Fixed and thanks for the proof-read.
Dan