Ham and Pasta Skillet Dinner
Simple and quick to put together, this ham and pasta skillet dinner will be your new favorite way to use up ham leftovers.
I’ve been making this meal for over three years now, and I always (always!) chuckle when my husband always (always!) says to me after taking the first couple bites, “Man, this stuff is tasty.”
And I remind him that we’ve eaten it at least 25 times and he reminds me that he knows that – he just likes to reaffirm it’s tastiness.
Simple and quick to put together, this is hands down my favorite way to use up ham leftovers.
I find myself wanting to buy a 20-pound ham….just to have the leftovers to make this delicious pasta.
FAQs for Ham and Pasta Skillet
I think that would be delicious! Cubed and cooked would be my vote!
This recipe is really adaptable so yes, other cheeses would work. For example, cheddar or colby jack would give it a different flavor, but still be delicious.
What to Serve With This
- Steamed broccoli or roasted cauliflower or even corn on the cob
- A simple green salad (or for something more fancy this Gourmet Green Salad)
- Fresh, seasonal fruit
Ham and Pasta Skillet Dinner
Ingredients
- 1 pound small tube or shell pasta
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 3 cups fully cooked ham, diced
- 1 large sweet red pepper, diced
- ½ medium onion, chopped
- ¼ cup minced fresh parsley
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- 1 ½ cups chicken broth or chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ¾ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions – only cooking until al dente since pasta will continue to cook and soak up liquid when added to the skillet.
- While the pasta is cooking, in a large skillet, heat butter and olive oil over medium heat until butter is melted. Add pepper, onion, and garlic and cook until vegetables are tender, about 4-6 minutes. Add ham, basil and oregano and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for another 2-3 minutes. Stir in broth (or stock) and lemon juice. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes or until liquid is reduced by half (at first it looks like it will be way to “brothy” but never fear, if you are patient, it will reduce!).
- Stir drained pasta into ham and vegetable mixture. Add 1/2 cup parmesan cheese and toss. Sprinkle parsley and remaining parmesan cheese over the top of the pasta. Serve immediately.
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Recipe Source: adapted from Lydia’s Blog
This is my family’s all-time favorite meal! And one of only two that all eight people love. 🙂 I have made this so many times as a take-in meal. Thank you so much!!
Yummy! This was the perfect summer dinner! I love your sight Mel. Thank you for all of your hard work.
Thanks, Heidi!
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Wonderful recipe! Thanks for sharing, and for doing the collage of recipes! I just made the ham and pasta skillet today and the kids and the hubby have already requested it again.
This is my favorite leftover ham meal ever. So damn good!!
I made this tonight and it was *delicious.* I reduced the olive oil to 2T, and next time will reduce it even more, to 1T. I think that plus the 1T of butter will be enough. Wonderful, easy, quick dinner.
Has anyone here tried this with spaghetti squash? any opinions as to whether it did/would work well?
This was excellent! I left out the peppers and it still had great flavor. Thank you for a wonderful way to use leftover ham!
I made this tonight with our abundance of leftover Easter ham. After one bite, my partner said, “Please make this again!” That’s a rare comment from him! Thanks for a quick and easy recipe.
Glad you both loved it, Annette! That’s what we had for dinner tonight, too (despite a totally torn up kitchen!).
Made this with my Easter sweet baked ham leftovers for dinner tonight. It was amazing– such great unexpected flavors! Will definitely make again.
I’m making this tomorrow – glad you loved it!
This meal was amazing. Made it for both mine and my husbands families this year with after Christmas leftovers and there were NO leftovers. Devoured. SO GOOD.
Super delicious recipe. Didn’t have red pepper so I used green. Oh my goodness, I couldn’t stop eating this. My son said it was AAAAMAZING!!! My husband said it was delicious and that sometimes I surprise him! That was my plan! I knew this recipe was a winner when I saw it. Thank you Mel 🙂
After cooking an Easter dinner ham last week, we’ve had a long week of ham leftovers. Ham and bean soup, ham and cheese paninis, omelets with ham, etc. So when I put this in front of my family last night I was almost apologetic. But they LOVED it – all of them 🙂 I don’t like or eat much ham in the first place, but I even went back for seconds. Thank you so much for this (and many other) awesome recipes!
Thank you for linking this to your easter menu plan! Made this tonight and it was a huge hit!
I made this recipe tonight and it was awesome. The only change I made was to put the cheese into the sauce so it got all creamy. Delicious!
Tried this last night. Only ingredient I didn’t have on hand was sweet red pepper so I used green bell pepper and it was delicious. Great way to use leftover ham. I always buy the biggest ham I can get and use my Foodsaver to shrink wrap the leftovers. Easy to add more ham too if you have more noodles than you want. This is my first post on your site but I love your website and refer to it often. My daughter got me hooked on it!
Delicious! Rave reviews from our company (close friends) and they begged to take the leftovers home. Here’s another Mel recipe going into our “Best Recipes” file. You are the absolute best!
Thank you so much for this easy recipe. I used our left over ham from Christmas (spiral cut) and it was perfect. My husband had thirds! I served it with a green salad and fresh bread and it was a huge hit with my entire family.
I can’t believe how delicious this is! I was skeptical, only put it on the meal plan because I was sick of our regular ways of using up ham – and I am SO GLAD I was wrong. This is a seriously awesome dish, deceptively simple, and so fast. I’m eating the leftovers right now and, if possible, I think they are EVEN BETTER than the original meal last night. And everyone liked it. What a gem of a recipe!
Best use of leftover ham, hands down! This was sooooo tasty!
Made this dish with leftover Christmas ham. Whole family loved it!
Seemed like way too much pasta for the dish, not enough taste for all of the noodles. I’m so sad this didn’t turn out 🙁
Hi! This looks really good! But how much lemon juice did you use? How much is “1 T”?
Kristina – 1T is referring to one tablespoon lemon juice.
I have to say I was skeptical of this meal and only put it on the meal list to appease my ham-loving children. Man oh man, I was the biggest fan of all my family of this meal. This is a simple, filling and very tasty meal. Thank you!
Made this last week with Easter ham and all my kids (and I) loved it – no leftovers! It was quick, easy and delicious. Thank you!
Yum! This looks amazing! I’m going to work my way through all of the meals listed in your “39 meals under 30 minutes”. This one is slated for next Tuesday, and I’m already drooling. lol
Aloha,
Charlie