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My Cheesy Ham and Potatoes Casserole is an easy dinner recipe that is perfect for using leftover ham! Complete with creamy bechamel sauce and cheddar cheese, this potato and ham casserole is richly flavorful and satisfying. Ready in just about an hour using simple ingredients!
Jump to:
- Ham Potato Casserole
- Potato and Ham Casserole Ingredients
- Ham Casserole Recipe Instructions
- Ham Casserole Make-Ahead Instructions
- Ham Casserole Recipes Variations
- Ham and Potato Casserole FAQs
- Side Dishes for Ham Casserole
- Diced Ham Recipes
- Ham Recipes for Dinner
- 📌 Pin it for later!
- 📋 Recipe
- 💬 Reviews
Ham Potato Casserole
I look forward to cooking a big ham dinner every year over the holidays, and even more than that, I love coming up with ham leftover recipes! This cheesy ham and potatoes casserole is the perfect recipe for leftover ham: it’s hearty, delicious, and easy to make.
The classic combination of ham and cheese is made even better with tender potatoes and creamy bechamel sauce. Complete with garlic and onion for extra flavor, this is exactly the sort of dish where you’re going to want leftovers!
Best of all, potato and ham casserole can easily be made ahead of time to meal plan for the week, or to take to a party or potluck. If you have a busy day ahead of you, you can even prep it in the morning, and then bake it later in the day for an easy supper!
Potato and Ham Casserole Ingredients
- Cubed potatoes – I recommend Yukon Gold or Russet Potatoes
- Diced ham, you can use leftover ham
- Olive oil
- Diced small onion
- Minced garlic
- Bechamel sauce (flour, butter, milk, salt)
- Salt and pepper
- Cheddar cheese
Cheesy ham potato casserole uses bechamel sauce as a creamy sauce added to the dish. For this recipe, you will need about 4 cups. When preparing the bechamel sauce above (which makes about 1 cup), adjust the ingredients to quadruple the amount. The sauce reduces down to form 4 cups.
Ham Casserole Recipe Instructions
- Coat a 2-quart baking dish with vegetable spray. Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Prepare your bechamel sauce in a saucepan. You will need to create a roux, then add milk and thicken. See: Bechamel Sauce Recipe
- In a large skillet over medium heat, add olive oil, diced ham, onion, and garlic, and sauté for approximately 8 minutes until the onions are softened and the ham is crispy.
- Turn the heat off, then add the cubed potatoes, bechamel sauce, and one cup of cheddar cheese to the skillet. Mix well.
- Spread this mixture into the prepared baking dish, then top evenly with additional cheddar cheese. Bake for 1 hour in preheated oven until the potatoes in the center of the casserole are knife-tender.
- Let cool for 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Ham Casserole Make-Ahead Instructions
- Prepare the casserole as instructed. Wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
- Reheat at 325°F for approximately 35 minutes until heated through. Enjoy!
Ham Casserole Recipes Variations
- Sausage potato casserole recipe: Replace diced ham with diced or ground sausage for a tasty alternative to this dish! Similar to my favorite breakfast casserole.
- Broccoli cheddar casserole with potatoes: Instead of ham, you can also use vegetables like broccoli in this dish. Broccoli makes a great pair with cheddar cheese and potatoes!
- Use other cheeses: I love cheddar cheese sauce in this creamy potato casserole, but you can also use other easily melted cheeses like Gruyere.
Ham and Potato Casserole FAQs
You can freeze ham and potato casserole before baking it. Prepare the entire dish and add it to either a freezer bag to store flat, or a freezer-safe baking dish. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and foil if storing in a dish. Label with the freezing date, and store for up to 2 months. When ready to enjoy, bake straight from the freezer in a greased baking dish at 375°F for about 1 hour until heated through.
Ham and potato casserole uses bechamel sauce, which includes flour in the roux base. However, you can use sweet rice flour instead of all-purpose flour when making the roux for bechamel to make this dish gluten-free.
Side Dishes for Ham Casserole
Diced Ham Recipes
Ham Recipes for Dinner
Try my Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole next!
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📋 Recipe
Ham and Potato Casserole
Equipment
- 1 2-quart baking dish
- 1 Pan for bechamel
Ingredients
- 2.5 pounds cubed potatoes potatoes of your choice – I recommend yukon gold
- 2 cups diced ham you can use leftover ham for this recipe
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ cup diced onion
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 4 cups bechamel sauce see below for measurements
- 2 cups cheddar cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
See our Cooking Conversions Chart for help converting measurements!
Instructions
Bechamel Sauce
- Melt butter over medium heat. Once butter melts, sprinkle flour over the butter and cook for 3-5 minutes until a paste forms. Don't let it brown – see How to Make a Roux for an in-depth guide.6 Tablespoons butter, 6 Tablespoons flour
- Reduce the heat to low and slowly add in your milk. Whisk well.6 cups milk
- Whisk occasionally as your sauce thickens. When it's ready, it will be thick enough to cling to your whisk or the back of your spoon, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with salt to taste.
Ham and Cheese Casserole
- Coat a 2-quart baking dish with vegetable spray. Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare your bechamel sauce as instructed above. See Bechamel Sauce Recipe for more info.
- In a large skillet over medium-heat, add olive oil, diced ham, onion, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Saute for approximately 8 minutes until the onions are softened and the ham is crispy.2 cups diced ham, 4 tablespoons olive oil, ½ cup diced onion, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, salt and pepper
- Turn the heat off, then add the cubed potatoes, bechamel sauce, and one cup of the cheddar cheese to the skillet. Mix well.2.5 pounds cubed potatoes, 4 cups bechamel sauce, 2 cups cheddar cheese
- Spread this mixture into the prepared baking dish, then top evenly with additional cheddar cheese. Bake for 1 hour in preheated oven until the potatoes in the center of the casserole are knife-tender.
- Let cool 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Ham casserole uses bechamel sauce as a creamy sauce added to the dish. See our bechamel sauce recipe for more tips.
- Crisping the potatoes with the onions in a skillet will bring out extra flavor in the ham. It is amazing when prepared like this.Â
- This casserole can be prepared 2 days before and reheated at 325 degrees for approximately 35 minutes.
Kiki Spice says
4 stars based solely on the recipes false prep time of 10 minutes. To prep all the ingredients, it took 30-45 minutes.
I didn’t have anything on hand pre-prepped. I had to wash, peel, and chop potatoes (10-15 mins), chop ham, make the bechamel sauce (20 mins), shred 2 cups of cheese (3 mins), then fry the ingredients as described. All in all, the recipe took closer to 2 hours from start to finish (including 1 hour 10 mins for baking).
5 stars for flavor though.
Em Beitel says
Thank you so much for your review, Kiki! We’re glad you enjoyed it and will take your timing into account.
Julia says
Is there any reason I can’t just build the bechamel right over the sautéed onions and ham?
Em Beitel says
Hi Julia! You could definitely do that if you’d like, I’m sure it would work out fine. I’d personally push the ham and onions to the side of the pan as much as possible and work on the bechamel in the middle of the pan (or even just remove them and set aside). There might be some discoloration to the bechamel of course, but it should work out just fine otherwise. We basically do the same thing with our smothered pork chops recipe and its onion gravy. Start with the onions and ham, though, just so the bechamel doesn’t cook too much or curdle.
Lois says
I’m confused about the amount of white sauce. The recipe calls for 4c but the notes show a 6c recipe. Thanks for your help!
Em Beitel says
Hi Lois! Sorry for the confusion. Once it’s cooked down and thickened enough, those measurements should be approximately correct.
Lois says
This was absolutely delicious!! Thank you for the recipe!
P.S. (Just an fyi. The list of ingredients before the “make it” button says 10 1/2 lbs potatoes. 😉)
Em Beitel says
So glad you enjoyed it, Lois! Thank you!
Jenni says
This seems like a LOT of food for a 2 qt dish- is this correct? It looks like a 13 x 9″ pan would be more appropriate?
Em Beitel says
Ours worked just fine in a 2 qt rectangular dish, Jenni! It should be fine. I imagine a 13 x 9 would also work if you would rather use one.
JB says
Do you use already cooked potatoes in this recipe? If not, how small do you have to cube them for them to cook through? Thanks!
Em Beitel says
Hi JB! No, the potatoes aren’t precooked – you could cube them fairly small if you’d like – the video shows about how small we made ours. You can also get an estimate from the ingredients image I’ll attach to this reply. Enjoy!
Jen says
Thank you! I added some chopped bell peppers and my family loved it. Also, thank you for the bechamel tips! I’ll use this for lots of dishes
Isabel Laessig says
Wonderful, Jen! I’m so glad to hear you and your family enjoyed it and the tips!
Dana Buckland says
Tried this last night and while the flavor was most excellent, I 100% recommend par-cooking the potatoes first. I had russet on hand, so I peeled and cut them into much smaller pieces, as they generally take longer to cook than red or yellow potatoes. This still took nearly 2 hours in the oven to be edible and some of the potatoes remained on the “crisp” side. With the exception of the potatoes, recipe was followed exactly. Again, 5 stars for flavor but 1 hr @350 won’t be edible with russets unless the potatoes are at least half cooked before baking. I saw some other posters had similar timing issues, which would be solved with that option as well. I’ll Def make it again, with that tweak.
Isabel Laessig says
So glad you enjoyed it, Dana – and thank you for sharing your tips!
Elle says
As another poster commented, I would give it five stars had not be for the directions. The bechamel measurements were confusing and too much of having to jump from this page to the bechamel recipe page, etc.
Otherwise a wonderful recipe!
Isabel Laessig says
Hi Elle! Thank you so much for your feedback. I’m very happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe. We’ve adjusted the instructions to be clearer and include the full bechamel instructions and ingredients. I hope that makes it easier in the future!