Stuffing For Ham
A Stuffing That Pairs Perfectly With Ham
Stuffing For Ham, made with sweet Hawaiian bread, savory onions, and smoked bacon is the ideal pairing for any holiday ham. A salty and sweet flavor along with a soufflé like texture will make this dish the hit of your holiday dinner, and you can assemble a day in advance and bake when needed to save time.
Stuffing is the only reason I look forward to Thanksgiving. I love all stuffings, even the boxed kind and I know many of you reading this found my page by way of The World’s Best Thanksgiving Stuffing.
That stuffing is spectacular and it got me thinking that that the world yearns for a stuffing made just for ham. So I took on the task of making one and let me tell you, it does not disappoint.
Ham Base
Most of the ingredients are pretty easy in this recipe, though one that you may have to source is this Better Than Bouillon Ham Base. It may be a seasonal item in some stores.
I definitely have no trouble finding it during the holidays. You can also order directly from the company or on Amazon.
This can be used later to make split pea soup and a bean soup, so it will not go to waste.
If you absolutely cannot find this, you can substitute with the onion variety or the vegetable based bouillon one as well. In the worst case situation you can use chicken bouillon as well.
Smoked Bacon
Cherrywood bacon, a great choice! You do not have to use this exact brand but I do recommend using some sort of smoky, thick cut bacon.
There are a lot of flavors going on in this stuffing and you want to make sure the bacon stands out. This brand was very good and I really liked the flavors of this in the stuffing.
It Will Be Wet
This Stuffing For Ham will be a very wet mixture when you make it. This is not going to be like your typical dry stuffing with the dried stuffing cubes.
DO NOT worry when you see how moist this is. You just do not want to have pooling liquid when you are done mixing it.
You WILL see a little liquid when you add the egg and heavy cream mixture at the end. This is wet, but the egg and cream are going to help this bake up into like a soufflé type texture, or maybe it could be more closely compared to a bread pudding like texture.
Butter Is Better
There is a lot of butter in this recipe, which is what makes it decadent and rich. The butter goes on the bottom of the pan and then again on the top.
Do not message me or comment about the butter. I will butter shun you! This Stuffing For Ham needs this butter in its life!
Stuffing For Ham Recipe
Stuffing For Ham, a perfect stuffing to serve with your holiday ham. Made with sweet Hawaiian bread, onions, bacon, and delicious flavors from seasoning and herbs. This stuffing will be the hit of your holiday meal.
Ingredients
- 2 round loaves of Hawaiian Bread *pictured in post before recipe card
- 1 very large Sweet Onion
- 1.5 to 2 lbs. of Thick Cut Applewood Smoked Bacon, or any kind of Smoked Bacon
- 3 Celery Stems with leaves
- 1 stick of Butter (8 tablespoons)
- 1 tablespoon of Brown Sugar
- 1 tablespoon of a Grainy Mustard
- 2 teaspoons of Yellow Mustard Seed
- 2 teaspoons of Celery Seed
- 1 to 2 teaspoons of Celery Salt
- 1 to 2 teaspoons of Black Pepper
- 1/2 tablespoon of Onion Powder
- 1 heaping tablespoon of Better Than Bouillon Ham Base *pictured in post
- 3 cups of Water
- 1/4 cup of Heavy Cream
- 2 Eggs
- 2 tablespoons of Thinly Sliced Chives
Instructions
- A couple of hours before assembling the stuffing, cut up the bread into cubes and let it sit out on the counter for 2 hours minimum so that it dries out a little.
- Cut the bacon into bite sized pieces, add them to a skillet, and cook the bacon until it is crispy. Remove the bacon bits and let drain on some paper towels.
- Drain most of the bacon fat, reserving 2 tablespoons. Just eyeball this measurement.
- Dice the onion and add it to the skillet with the bacon fat and sauté this low and slow until the onions start to caramelize.
- Dice the celery very finely along with the leaves, add to the onions and sauté until the celery is getting soft.
- Sprinkle the celery seed, mustard seed, brown sugar, black pepper, celery salt, and onion powder over the onions and celery and sauté for a minute or two. Add the grainy mustard and also sauté for a minute or two.
- Add the heaping tablespoon of the Better Than Bouillon Ham Base and sauté into the mixture. Then add the water. Bring this to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer while stirring occasionally for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and let cool down some.
- In a large bowl you will combine the bread cubes and the broth mixture you made with the onions and celery. Add this a little at a time and stir until the bread is soaked. The bread will be very soggy, but this is OK. There should not be excess liquid at this point so if for some reason there is, do not add all the broth, though the bread will be very wet. Do make sure to add all the celery and onion bits even if for some reason you have to stop adding the liquid. Do this by straining it. Again, this will be very wet but you should not see pooling liquid.
- Add the bacon pieces and stir well to combine. Let this sit and cool off a little.
- In a 9 x 13 casserole dish you will add slices of the butter evenly on the bottom of the pan. Cut the butter pats to about 1/4 of an inch *pictured in post.
- Whisk the two eggs with the heavy cream and add to the stuffing. Mix well to combine. Add half the sliced chives. Mix again to combine.
- Add this to the casserole dish, spread evenly. Slice the remaining butter and top the stuffing.
- This can be covered and kept in fridge up to 24 hours before baking. If you do this, when ready to bake let this sit out to almost room temp before baking.
- Cover the stuffing with a single piece of foil and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Then uncover and bake for 15 minutes so the top gets crispy. You will know this is done when the center is set and sort of spongy when you press on it.
- Top with the remaining chives.