50+ Side Dishes for Ham
Browse our best side dish recipes for ham, including everything from tender spring veggies to creamy risotto. Ham dinners peak in popularity around Christmas and Easter, but are delicious year-round and are a great solution for group gatherings, family dinners, and easy Sunday suppers. Pairing your ham with a delicious side rounds out the meal nicely, so decide if you're more of a chilled side dish fan or prefer a warm side dish for your meal, then get started.
Pineapple Casserole
We altered this traditional casserole to balance out the sweetness, allowing the pineapple and cheese to really shine. The intense flavor makes it an ideal side dish for baked ham.
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Easy Roasted Butternut Squash
Easy Roasted Butternut Squash Recipe
This will quickly become one of your favorite ways to prepare squash. Warning: Your kitchen will smell heavenly.
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Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad
Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad Recipe
Chef Jonathan Waxman taught me how to make this fall salad many years ago. Riff with the ingredients to find the flavor balance you prefer.
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Roasted Baby Spring Vegetables
Roasted Baby Spring Vegetables Recipe
Use white balsamic vinegar to maintain the vegetables' vibrant hue in this easy dish. Look for baby carrots with tops, which have tender texture and subtly sweet flavor. Small carrots packed and sold as "baby" carrots are actually whittled-down mature vegetables.
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Roasted Baby Beet Salad
Roasted Baby Beet Salad Recipe
Trim the beet tops, but leave part of the stems to ensure the colorful pigment remains inside the beet during roasting.
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Scalloped Sweet Potato Stacks
Scalloped Sweet Potato Stacks Recipe
When assembling these stacks in your muffin tin, place slices from ends of potatoes in the bottom of each muffin cup and use wider slices from the middle of the potato at the top. We also like this with Gruyère instead of mozzarella.
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Green Beans with Shallots and Hazelnuts
Green Beans with Shallots and Hazelnuts Recipe
These green beans are easy to make and are a healthy variation to the classic green bean casserole. The green beans can be blanched up to a day ahead and then sauteed just before serving.
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Crock Pot Mashed Potatoes
Crock Pot Mashed Potatoes Recipe
What’s the secret to super creamy, melt-in-your-mouth mashed potatoes? Your slow cooker. These super simple Crock Pot mashed are easy to prepare and even easier to eat. They get tons of richness, thanks to plenty of butter and milk. Adding a bay leaf takes things up a notch and unveils a layer of savory aromatics that doesn’t overpower or cloy the rest of the dish.
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Baby Carrot Soup
Smoky adobo sauce gives this creamy soup a subtle touch of heat that pairs well with the ham's sweetness.
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Fresh Peas with Mint and Green Onions
Fresh Peas with Mint and Green Onions Recipe
The combination of fresh peas with mint yields a harmonious and nutrition side dish. Peas are in the legume family, and these vegetables are typically high in protein and fiber, yet low in fat and cholesterol.
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Lemon Risotto with Peas, Tarragon, and Leeks
Lemon Risotto with Peas, Tarragon, and Leeks Recipe
Pair this pleasantly tart side-dish risotto with roasted salmon or halibut. Garnish with long strips of lemon rind and fresh tarragon sprigs, if desired.
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Asparagus and Butterhead Lettuce Salad
Asparagus and Butterhead Lettuce Salad Recipe
The texture of butterhead lettuce keeps this salad light and delicate. You can use any tender, sweet lettuce in place of butterhead.
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Two-Cheese Squash Casserole
Two-Cheese Squash Casserole Recipe
This squash casserole recipe is a hit with our users who make it for everything from family dinners to holiday buffets. It's rich, creamy, and sure to satisfy.
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Spring Risotto
Fava beans must be shelled twice. First they're removed from their pods, then blanched, cooled slightly, and pinched to remove the outer skins. Fresh beans taste the best, but canned fava beans will also work when fresh are out of season.
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Lemon-Basil Orzo with Parmesan
Lemon-Basil Orzo with Parmesan Recipe
Just 6 ingredients are all you need to make this fresh pasta side. The lemon and basil brighten the dish making it perfect for a spring gathering. Add cooked shrimp or chicken for a hearty lunch or light supper.
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Two-Toned Scalloped Potatoes
Two-Toned Scalloped Potatoes Recipe
Using both sweet potatoes and Yukon gold potatoes gives classic, comforting scalloped potatoes a delicious upgrade. Perfect for family gatherings and holiday dinners at any point in the year, this impressive potato side dish delivers creamy richness, robust savory flavor, and a delightful crunch with a herby panko-pecan topping. You can assemble the dish (minus the topping) ahead of time and refrigerate up to 12 hours before you’re ready to bake.
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Sweet Potato Soldiers
This new take on glazed sweet potatoes looks as good as it tastes. We used the slender 'Garnet' variety commonly grown in North Carolina. If you can't find them, any petite sweet potato will work well in its place.
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Parker House Rolls
Buttery, yeasty heaven you can enjoy at brunch, dinner, or whenever.
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Veggie Potato Salad
According to one of our reviewers, this salad is unique, fresh and delicious. She says that the lemon zest and buttermilk add a delightful zip to the flavor, and the veggies add a great crunch to the otherwise creamy texture.
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Roasted Asparagus Salad
Roasted Asparagus Salad Recipe
Add even more color by roasting squash, zucchini, carrots, or other favorite veggies with the asparagus.
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Sweet Potato Salad
Mix up your usual potato salad recipe by using sweet potatoes. This dish is full of color and flavor from the jalapeño pepper, parsley, and hot sauce.
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Carrot Soufflé
Because this dish contains no beaten egg whites, it is not a true soufflé. The name, carrot soufflé, is derived from its light airy texture. Similar in color and flavor to sweet potato casserole, it pairs well with ham or turkey.
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Corn Fritter Casserole
This moist, sweet-savory side dish is a cross between corn bread and corn pudding. You can use 1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels in place of the canned corn, if you prefer.
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Marian's Apple-Fennel Salad
Marian's Apple-Fennel Salad Recipe
Raw fennel is crisp and tasty, a perfect complement to the sweet apples and peppery arugula.
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Steamed Carrots with Garlic-Ginger Butter
Steamed Carrots with Garlic-Ginger Butter Recipe
Be sure to use true baby carrots with tops for best taste and texture; most bagged "baby" carrots will be too tough for this recipe.
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Crock Pot Scalloped Potatoes
Crock Pot Scalloped Potatoes Recipe
This highly comforting, classic dish has never been easier thanks to your trusty slow cooker. Yielding a creamy, savory potato side the whole family will love, this recipe for crock pot scalloped potatoes is sure to be a new holiday go-to.
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Baked Sweet Potatoes
Baked sweet potatoes are terrific with just a little butter and seasoning. Purists will love this recipe but if you need a little something extra, try sprinkling brown sugar or ground cinnamon over the top for a finishing touch.
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Sautéed Brussels Sprouts with Bacon
Sautéed Brussels Sprouts with Bacon Recipe
Brussel sprouts combine with smoky bacon to create one delicious and quick-cooking side dish.
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Cipollini and Apples with Bacon
Cipollini and Apples with Bacon Recipe
Tiny cipollini onions become tender and brown, pairing well with the slight crunch from the apples. And the browned onions and pink fruit look just lovely together and brighten up the table.
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Cornbread Dressing
Homemade cornbread is the key to a great cornbread dressing. This one, full of rich flavor, is sure to become a holiday favorite.
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Sweet Potato Soufflé
Sweet and comforting, this soufflé is the perfect holiday dish. The topping provides the perfect contrast in texture to support the soft and creamy soufflé.
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Tarragon Asparagus with Eggs
Tarragon Asparagus with Eggs Recipe
Choose thick asparagus instead of thin for this dish. The wider spears have an excellent sweet flavor and can stand up to the bold tarragon vinaigrette.
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Celery, Apple, and Almond Salad
Celery, Apple, and Almond Salad Recipe
Crunch rules in this fall salad. Cut the celery on a diagonal for long, thin slices that will match the shape of the apple slices. We like a tart-sweet Pink Lady or Fuji apple here.
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Grilled Corn Pasta Salad
Grilled Corn Pasta Salad Recipe
This vibrant, flavor-packed summer side dish combines a bounty of favorite seasonal flavors into a single, epic pasta salad. The recipe comes from our friends The Food Gays, and they developed this colorful grilled corn dish as a fresher, brighter alternative to the typical mayo-based pasta salads that often show up a summer parties. Packed with fresh produce and dressed in a light and zippy lemon-mustard vinaigrette, this grilled corn pasta salad is anything but boring. Give it a try at your next summer cookout and enjoy as the compliments pour in.