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How to make the most of your leftover Christmas ham
Extend the ham love beyond Christmas with these delicious tips.
Last updated: 12 Dec 2025
Every year, CHOICE puts in the hard yards to figure out which ham deserves a place at your Christmas table. But what actually happens to all the leftover hams once our testing is done? I’m happy to report that not a single ham goes to waste.
CHOICE is a wonderful place to work for many reasons, but on some days it feels extra special. The day you see a message pop up on your screen informing you that “leftover Christmas ham is in the kitchen”, is one of those days.
Cut to me, last December, elbowing colleagues out of the way to secure a top rated ham, driving home with 5kg of ham strapped into the passenger seat (it triggered the seat belt alarm), wondering what on earth to do with it all. If you’ve ever found yourself wondering the same thing post Christmas lunch, with a huge ham sitting on your bench, you’re not alone.
I’m here to share my tips and tricks for putting every last morsel to good use.
Gift it
You can (and should) continue to spread the joy of ham with friends and family well beyond the 25th of December. Who doesn’t love getting to take leftovers home from a Christmas lunch? It’s arguably one of the best gifts you can receive during the festive season.
I have fond memories of sitting in the back of the car on the drive home to Sydney after Christmas with my grandparents, my brother and I trying to quietly crack open a takeaway container of ham without alerting our parents in the front seat. These days, I continue the tradition by ensuring every friend and family member leaves my house with a container of ham.
A word of caution to would-be ham recipients: wait to be offered said ham by your host, never assume leftovers are yours for the taking.
Next-day leftovers
Ham is a great addition to many classic recipes that can be enjoyed in the weeks after Christmas – soups, baked pasta, quiche, potato salad, scrambled eggs and omelets can all benefit from a healthy helping of diced ham. I have also found that it’s delicious in fried rice.
Not a fan of dicing? You can go one step simpler and crumb thick sliced ham to make schnitzels or a cheese and ham toastie.
Freeze it
Now, for my top tip – freeze your ham. But crucially, before you do, it’s best to dice it up and freeze it in thin layers so you can easily add it to your dish.
Frozen ham can last up to 6 months in your freezer. Just wrap it up well to avoid freezer burn and make sure to use it all up once you’ve defrosted it (never defrost and re-freeze).
Make stock
The ham bone is an often-overlooked part of the ham, but it is absolutely packed with flavour and minerals. You can pop it straight into a pot, let it simmer for a few hours and freeze the stock for later.
Or, if you’re feeling particularly lazy after a big festive lunch, just freeze the whole bone and make stock for soup later on. Either way, you’ll be grateful in 6 months time when you can relive a little taste of Christmas in the cold winter months.
Get even
If the worst happens and you forget about your ham, returning to your fridge weeks later to find it has gone bad, fear not – there is one final way to put it to use. A friend of mine (who will remain anonymous) once shared a story from his childhood about an ongoing feud with a neighbour.
After Christmas one year, his mum decided she’d had enough. She grabbed their rotting ham, ran across the road, and hid it in his hedge. We do not, for the record, recommend this last option for legal reasons.
Happy hamming.
