Wasabi Cream Cheese Ham Salad

This savory ham salad has just a hint of bite from wasabi powder and makes a great sandwich or dip!

Are you ever just tired?

Oh, yeah. Ummm, me neither. I am always bubbling over with positive energy. I never pick up takeout on the way home from work or put off doing the laundry until I have no clean underwear left.

Ahem. Lies. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The truth is, sometimes cooking dinner feels like attempting to climb Mt. Everest. After a long day of (answering angry phone calls, listening to screaming children, insert other stressor here), the last thing I feel like doing is making dinner.

But the second truth is, caving in and getting fast food only makes me feel worse. Then I have guilt + burger belly. Not a good combo.

That’s why I am so excited about this week’s #SundaySupper theme, 5 Ingredients or Less.

That’s right. All of today’s recipes have 5 or fewer ingredients, so you can make dinner on the worst of days.

I tend to forget about good ol’ salad recipes, but they’re a great way to use up leftover meats and a cinch to throw together. This ham salad was a natural fit for all our Easter leftovers since it uses both ham and hard boiled eggs.

But what makes this ham so special is the combination of cream cheese and wasabi.

Weirded out yet?

Don’t be. This recipe was inspired by my recent Ohio Egg Adventure, where our host treated us to a Chopped-style deviled egg-stravaganza. He gave each of the bloggers in attendance a $10 budget and charged us with finding a unique ingredient he would be forced to use to make deviled eggs. We wondered the aisles of the North Market, looking for just the thing.  I quickly got sucked into the spice shop, where I simply couldn’t stop thinking about the wasabi powder. The idea of wasabi eggs was just too intriguing.

Thankfully, I was not disappointed. Our fearless leader grabbed that wasabi, stirred it into a mixture of cream cheese and hardened egg yolks, added a few glugs of Green Machine Smoothie (yes, you heard right. It was Melanie Make’s contribution!), and piped out one heck of a deviled egg. He finished each serving with a small cube of ham, and the combination was…well…surprisingly tasty.

The wasabi added a fantastic bite, similar to horseradish but a bit mellower, and the cream cheese made for an exceptionally creamy deviled egg. Needless to say, I was impressed.

I decided to use these same elements to make ham salad (minus the Green Smoothie-sorry Melanie!), and the flavors translated perfectly. The tangy-hot zest of wasabi will keep you coming back for bite after bite. Great served with chips, on a big fluffy onion roll, or as a dip with crackers and veggies, this 5 ingredient wonder should be a regular on your post-holiday menu.

Note: If you’re having trouble finding wasabi powder in grocery stores, you can buy it on Amazon here.

 Recipe by NeighborFood

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