Need a quick and easy recipe for your leftover ham?
This ham casserole recipe combines pasta and ham in an easy, from-scratch cheese sauce. It’s topped with buttery bread crumbs for a great family meal.
Ingredients for Ham Casserole
- Ham – Use leftover diced ham or diced ham steaks.
- Pasta – Any medium shape works. Try rotini, farfalle, shells, or penne.
- Sauce – Butter, flour, milk, and cream are the base of this homemade sauce. I add thyme and Dijon mustard for flavor.
- Cheese – This recipe uses a combination of cheddar, gruyere (or Swiss cheese), and parmesan cheeses. You can replace the cheeses with what you on hand, however, be sure to include one with a bold flavor.
- Topping – A topping of buttered Panko bread crumbs adds a crunchy finish to the casserole.
How to Make Ham Casserole
- Cook butter & flour in a saucepan per the recipe below.
- Slowly whisk in the milk & broth and thicken. Stir in cheese.
- Combine cheese sauce, ham, and pasta in a baking dish.
- Top with a crumb topping and bake until bubbly.
Variations & Tips
Add in veggies if you’d like! Leftover steamed or roasted broccoli, frozen peas, Brussels sprouts, or even cauliflower work in this recipe.
Pre-shredded cheese can have starches added to keep it from clumping so it may not melt as well. For this sauce, it’s best to shred your own cheese.
Shortcut Sauce
For a shortcut sauce, combine 1 can (10.5oz) of cream of chicken soup, 1 ⅓ cup of milk, 2 ½ cups sharp cheddar, and ½ teaspoon each onion powder, garlic powder, dried thyme leaves, and Dijon mustard.
Serve Ham Casserole with…
Ham and cheese casserole has a rich creamy sauce so it pairs well with a fresh side dish like veggies or salad.
- Vegetables like broccolini, asparagus, or green beans.
- A fresh salad like tomato salad, cucumber dill salad, or the classic Caesar salad.
Easy Cheesy Casseroles
Did your family love this Cheesy Ham Casserole? Leave us a rating and a comment below!
Cheesy Ham Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 pound medium shells or rotini or penne
- ⅓ cup butter
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- ½ teaspoon salt more to taste
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 ¾ cups milk
- 1 cup half and half or light cream
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese divided
- 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese or Gruyere cheese
- 2 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese
- 2 cups diced ham
Topping
- ½ cup Panko bread crumbs
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. In a small bowl, combine breadcrumbs, butter, and parsley, set aside.
- Cook the pasta shells al dente according to package directions. Drain well.
- Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, melt the butter, flour, and seasonings over medium heat and cook for 1 minute.
- Gradually add in milk, half and half, and Dijon, whisking until smooth after each addition. Once all of the milk/cream is added, whisk while bringing to a boil over medium heat. Allow to boil for 1 minute.
- Remove from heat and add 2 ½ cups cheddar, gruyere cheese, and parmesan cheese. Whisk until smooth.
- Toss the cheese sauce with cooked pasta and ham and transfer to a 9×13 baking dish. Sprinkle the breadcrumb topping over the casserole and top with the remaining ½ cup of cheese.
- Bake for 22-26 minutes or until heated through and topping is browned. Cool 5 minutes before serving.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Casserole, Ham, Main Course, Pasta
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
This is excellent! I used extra sharp cheddar and Swiss cheeses, gluten free pasta, gluten free flour, gluten free panko, and added peas.
This turned out alright but I found it to be a bit bland. The cheese sauce also thickened up too much for my liking. Some hot sauce helped, but I think it would have been better with some diced onions and/or garlic in it to give it some extra taste. I doubt I’ll make this recipe again.
Nice
Could I sub cooked cubed potato for the pasta? I have never had a failure with your recipes!
We haven’t tried this recipe with potatoes but that sounds delicious. Let us know how it turns out!
I always add very thinly sliced garlic in with the melted butter and breadcrumbs and lightly brown in saucepan before topping, adds that extra flavor to lots of different recipes. I really enjoy your recipes. thanks a bunch.
That sounds delicious, Cindy!
Can I add broccoli to this?
Absolutely!
Very easy recipe. Tastes delicious. Will make again.
GREAT! The best casserole we have ever had.
I love this. As always, I cook with what I have so I diced up onions and celery and carrots in the rue and used part buttermilk, part milk for the sauce. Because it turned out tight, I cubed cream cheese and it thinned out nicely.
The rest was as directed and delicious.
Thanks for the recipe.
So glad you loved this recipe, Mindy!
Made this tonight, it was so good! Just curious- does it freeze well? Wondering if I can freeze the leftovers to be thawed and heated up later on!
Yes, this recipe freezes well. So glad you enjoyed it.
do you think I could use Brie cheese instead or is it too soft
I have only tried this recipe as written so I can’t say for sure, Julie! If you do decide to try it, let us know how it turns out!
Made this for the family using leftover ham. My wife absolutely LOVED it!!
I followed the recipe exactly. my husband and I tasted it before it went into the oven. It tasted flat so I added more Dijon and some garlic powder. Still no kick. the kids liked it and didn’t even rant about the peas.
I can’t figure out what I did wrong. Any thoughts?
Well maybe if the grandkids ate it, nothing was wrong!
made this today to celebrate Easter. had left overs in the freezer from my last ham to use up. used smoked gruyere and some sharp white cheddar from the deli and parm. forgot to add peas so I served them separately along with a garden salad. very good flavor and filling. could’ve used a bit more sauce, although my choice of pasta might have contributed to that issue (rotini)
Loved this recipe. The Swiss cheese (what I had on hand), ham and slight Dijon flavour blended so well together. I prefer creamy pasta casseroles as I can sneak chopped cauliflower in and no one seems to notice. Thank you so much for posting!
First of all the Cheesy Ham Casserole was very good. However, the recipe needs a little bit of clarification. Since my late wife had all of the various pastas in large glass jars, I have no idea how much a pound of pasta actually is, so I made my best guess. Secondly, nowhere in the instructions does it say when to add the Dijon mustard. I had the casserole in the oven for about 10 minutes and as I was cleaning up I saw the unopened mustard still setting on the counter. So as a result the mustard never got added. Is it considered a spice??
Hi Jeffrey, the number of cups will change based on the type of pasta you use. It will be approximately 4 cups of dry pasta, but to get the most accurate results I recommend using a kitchen scale to weigh one pound. The dijon mustard should be added in step 4, the recipe has been updated. I am glad you enjoyed this recipe!