Ham Fried Rice or Ways to use that leftover Easter Ham

It's pretty customary around these parts to have an Easter ham.  Whether it's out of the Costco refrigerated section or a Honey Baked ham, it's a great meal for a family get-together.

But anytime you get a spiral cut ham, there's always that part that doesn't have the spiral cutting at the bottom.  Giant meaty chunks of ham that the truly lazy write off as leftover and not worth anything.  NOT TRUE!

If you grab a large butcher's knife, you can carve off and cube those ham slabs in less than two minutes.  What I do is portion them out into 1 cup and half cup portions, drop the bits into freezer ziplocs, note the portions on the outside of each with a Sharpie and place them in the door of my freezer until I need them later.  I can usually get about three cups worth out of that leftover meat.

Don't think you don't have to freeze it all.  You can make a batch of Fried Rice in about 30 minutes start to finish, which can be a meal all unto itself or a great side dish for some Orange Chicken, General Tso's Chicken, or any other Asian dish you want.

The recipe is very simple, just rice, ham, veggies, eggs and soy sauce.  And the majority of the prep time is due to cooking the rice, which will take about 20 minutes.  Don't use instant rice!  That is built for quick hydration and has no heft to it.  You try and stir it in a hot pan for 3-4 minutes and you'll have Ham in Library Paste.  Trust me, it turns out horribly.  For even better results, you can make the rice 8-24 hours in advance and refrigerate it.  When you're ready to cook, just prep the other ingredients, pull out the rice and warm it up in the pan at the end.

The cooking of each individual ingredient in the wok takes only a minute or two, so have everything portioned out and ready to go before you start.  And if you don't have a wok, no worries, a large saucier or very large skillet will work in a pinch.

Ham Fried Rice

Cook time 30 minutes - serves 4-6


2 beaten eggs

1/2 cup frozen peas and carrots

1/8 cup water

1 tablespoon oil

1 cup diced ham

2 more tablespoons oil
3 cups cooked rice
2 tablespoons soy sauce


Put the ham, veggies, eggs and rice into separate bowls.  Have a bowl or plate for the finished dish ready as well.  Make sure you beat the eggs before you start cooking.

Place a large wok or saucier over medium high heat.  Once it's fully heated, spray it with non-stick spray and immediately add the beaten eggs.  Spin the pan around the burner so the eggs come up the side a little bit and thin out.  Then start scraping them off the sides and keep them moving until they are cooked, which should only take 30 seconds. Dump them out of the cooking vessel and into the finished meal's bowl.

Next pour the water into the pan and add the frozen peas and carrots.  The water will steam, helping the veggies to cook as well.  After about two minutes, the water will steam off and help the veggies warm up.  Dump the carrots and peas into that same serving bowl with the eggs.

Next add the single tablespoon of oil, then the ham to the pan and cook for about a minute an a half.  It's long enough to warm the ham and leave some of that ham juice in the container for the next step.  Move the ham into the finished bowl.

Now add the two tablespoons of oil to the pan and let it warm in for one minute.  Add the rice and continually stir it so the rice warms up.  Add the soy sauce after a minute or two of cooking and stir the rice until it is an even color.  Finally, add the egg, veggies and ham back in with the rice.  Continually stir the dish for 3 minutes over the heat, then move everything back to the finished meal dish and serve.