My first experience with ham balls was actually back in 1994 in New Concord, Ohio. It came in the form of a ham loaf instead of balls and was a post funeral dish that a friend of my mom brought over after my Daddy’s funeral. We all raved about the luscious ham loaf and asked for the recipe. That and a former boyfriend’s mother’s Hot Chicken Salad Casserole are the foods that I remember from that difficult time. Food has a way of reminding me of events and times.
Living in Freeport, Illinois and attending Trinity UMC was another reminder of the great dish as they had an annual Ham Ball Supper to raise funds for different projects. Oh the memories of those dinners and those amazing ham balls. Yum.
Fast forward to our time living in Mason City, Iowa and I was reintroduced to the lovely concoction as it was a staple in the area. Local grocery stores carried the ham ball mixture all ready to cook up and I frequently bought it. My North Iowa Blogger friend Val who is also a pig farmer had a wonderful recipe that we always begged her to bring to our get togethers. You can check out her recipe here.
I decided to ring in the new year with a nice pan of ham balls this year. Not traditional at all but judging from all of the comments on my pictures of them on social media folks are right on board with me on making ham balls. I took my recipe from the Trinity UMC cookbook and give credit to the best ham ball maker I knew – Mildred McCulloch. I did not alter her recipe at all so full credit goes to this pillar of the church. I suspect she might be rolling ham balls in heaven now.
Enjoy the recipe and let me know if you have a memory of having ham balls for dinner.
All comments this month mean a 50 cent donation to the Dementia Society of America as part of Comments for a Cause.
- 1 1/2 pounds ground pork
- 1 pound ground ham Use food processor or have butcher grind at store
- 2 cups cracker crumbs I used a combination of saltine and panko crumbs
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup vinegar
- 1 tsp dry mustard
- Mix sauce ingredients and cook for 3 minutes.
- Mix crackers with meat. Add milk and eggs. Mix well.
- Form into 30 small balls and put into pan with sauce.
- Bake in 325 degree oven for 1 hour, basting the ham balls every 20 minutes with the sauce.
- Can also be made into 10 small loaves and baked at 325 degrees for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
20 Comments
Leave a commentIve never heard of hamballs, but I’m going to try making some; maybe not thirty but a few. Thanks for the recipe.
They are so good –I am sure you can halve the recipe. They do freeze really well so if you have a freezer to pop them into that is a nice thing for later.
Thanks Beth Ann. I will buy the ingredients and make them in the next couple of days.
Let me know how they turn out for you!
Here in western PA, ham loaf and ham balls are served at most folks’ tables, so I’ve always loved them. I make ham loaf often but for some reason don’t make ham balls as much. But this recipe sounds so good, I’m going to use it instead of the one I have. 🙂
This is really a great recipe and even doubled….I might have gone a bit overboard in my enthusiasm of having ham balls. 🙂
I forgot to say in my last comment that here we can actually buy already ground ham in packages in the meat department of our grocery stores, so it’s not something we have to have the butcher prepare for us. 🙂
Well you obviously live in the right place!!
The sauce part of the recipe forgot the can of tomato soup!
But it is even better without the tomato soup in my humble opinion. The ham balls get all nice and cartelized if you bake them long enough. Delicious! thanks for stopping by!
Can’t wait to try your recipe!
I hope you love it as much as we do. Chris ate the last ones yesterday for lunch when I was gone and I was so sad. Never mind that I have 3 containers of them in the freezer…
I’ve never eaten, or seen, a ham ball. And I live in Minnesota. I’m not a big fan of meatballs. But I’d try a ham ball, given your convincing post about their excellence.
I can not believe you have never had a ham ball, Audrey. If we were closer I would give you a container for sure. Maybe I can get some dry ice and ship some to you. 🙂 They are simply delicious. Hands down.
I know, unbelievable that I’ve never had a ham ball or even heard of them. Maybe we just call them meatballs here.
Jeni says they aren’t a thing in Minnesota. So much better than plain ole’ meatballs. I wouldn’t give you a bum steer. Hahaha!
These look so delicious and bring back good memories.
We shared a lot of great things over ham balls, didn’t we???
Gotta love some ham balls! Thanks for linking my recipe too 😉
I agree! And your recipe is a great one. It’s fun to see how the recipes differ just a little bit. Happy New Year!