If you have leftover ham after a holiday gathering, try making this ham and sweet potato hash the next morning. Ham, sweet potatoes, onions, and peppers come together to make an excellent next-day brunch!
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While I love heading to the grocery store or farmer’s market to think through and build recipes from the ground up, working with leftover ingredients is necessary. While a simple reheat and eat works most of the time, repurposing something like leftover ham into a completely different dish is also a fun challenge.
(Read about my resolution to reduce food waste in my own kitchen as well as 12 Delicious Ways to Reduce Food Waste.)
How to Make Leftover Ham and Sweet Potato Hash
Making a hash is a great way to use up leftovers. As long as you have the base of potato (or in this case, sweet potato) and onion, you can add whatever you have on hand. I added ham, red pepper, and a few spices to transform these ingredients into a delicious dish, perfect for brunch.
This recipe is also a great opportunity to bring out the cast iron (but let’s be real, is there ever a bad time to use cast iron skillets?) I have two: one is an antique skillet that a family member restored and gave my husband and I as a wedding gift. They said in the card that the cast iron pan gets used daily in their house, so they like to give it as gifts — very practical and very sweet. The second is a little newer, from Field Company. I have the #10 size which is perfect for a recipe like this; it gives everything enough space to get browned around the edges.
Ham often gets glazed with something sweet. Pre-seasoned ingredients usually make repurposing them more difficult, but the sweetness of almost any glaze will compliment the spices in this leftover ham and sweet potato hash recipe. Add a squeeze of lime right before serving to add a little acidity, and viola! A delicious brunch that is sure to be a crowd pleaser.
Ingredients
- 2 sweet potatoes peeled and diced
- 10 ounces ham diced
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 red pepper diced
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 scallion thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lime cut into wedges
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Sliced avocado for serving optional
Instructions
- Place a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the olive oil. Once the olive oil is shimmering, add the diced sweet potato. Season with salt, and stir to coat in the olive oil.
- Saute until the sweet potato is softened and slightly browned around the edges, about 5 minutes.
- Add ham, onion, red pepper, and spices to the skillet. Saute, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes, or until the onion and pepper are softened and slightly browned around the edges and the ham has slightly caramelized. Season with salt and pepper to taste — ham is a bt salty on its own so use caution here!
- Serve with the lime wedges and sliced avocado, if desired. Garnish with the scallions.
This is the perfect way to use leftover ham. I’ll bet it goes great with the sweet potatoes.
It does! The lime takes it to the next level!
What a great way to use up leftover ham! I like to make bean soup with it, but I think my kids will prefer this.
What a great reuse of leftovers. This recipe looks delicious.
My husband loves a good hash and this leftover ham sweet potato hash looks right up his alley. I can’t wait to make this for him while using up the leftovers at the same time.
I love putting together hashes for breakfast – this combo of sweet potato and ham and also being able to use up leftovers sounds awesome!