Simple Sides That Go Well With Ham

August 27, 2019
Look no further for healthy spring side dishes to round out your Easter feast. These easy recipes, from fresh spring salads to classic potatoes au gratin and everything in between, all pair delightfully with ham.
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Snap Pea & Radish Slaw

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This pretty slaw recipe is a celebration of spring produce. The celery seed in the recipe is inspired by traditional Texas-style coleslaw, while the snap peas and radishes stand in for cabbage. Serve this healthy side dish with grilled or roasted chicken and new potato salad for a fresh dinner.

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Spinach-Strawberry Salad with Feta & Walnuts

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Sweet strawberries, salty feta and crunchy walnuts jazz up a simple spinach salad. The balsamic vinaigrette is incredibly easy; fresh shallots add more zip than you'll find in any commercial dressing.

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Sautéed Radishes with Bacon

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Cooking radishes in bacon drippings mellows the flavor and tempers their bite. The crispy bacon gives the dish a rich, meaty flavor that is complemented by garlic and thyme. Serve this easy side dish alongside pork chops or chicken.

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Cauliflower Risotto

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Cauliflower rice stands in for arborio in this recipe that's not only lower in carbs than traditional risotto, but also way faster and easier to make! In just 20 minutes you'll have a flavorful and healthy vegetable side to go with dinner.

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Green Beans with Hard-Boiled Eggs, Fried Shallots & Bacon

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The secret to this delicious green bean recipe is cooking the vegetables in the oil that you fry the bacon and shallots in. Serve with roast chicken and mashed potatoes, or as a swap for your normal green bean casserole.

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Salt-&-Vinegar Roasted Radishes

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Colorful roasted radishes make a unique and healthy vegetable side recipe. If your radishes come without greens, use 5 cups baby kale in Step 3 instead. Halve or quarter large radishes before roasting so they'll cook as fast as small radishes.

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Slow-Cooker Dinner Rolls

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These dinner rolls are baked in the slow cooker, then browned under the broiler for a couple minutes for a crisp crust. The results? Billowy, crusty, decadent rolls to serve with any meal.

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Grilled Broccolini with Garlic-Chile Oil

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In this easy and healthy side dish recipe, broccolini turns vivid green and gets sweeter on the grill--delightful when drizzled with the juice of grilled lemons.

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Spinach & Strawberry Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

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Homemade poppy seed dressing pairs beautifully with tender spinach, crunchy almonds and juicy berries for a fantastically refreshing and easy spring salad. To make ahead, whisk dressing, combine salad ingredients and store separately. Toss the salad with the dressing just before serving. To make it a complete meal, top with grilled chicken or shrimp.

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Cherry, Wild Rice & Quinoa Salad

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This whole-grain wild rice and quinoa salad recipe is perfect for toting to summer potlucks. It features sweet cherries, crunchy celery, nutty aged goat cheese and toasted pecans. If you can find red quinoa, it's particularly pretty.

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Greek Broccoli Gratin

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This lighter and easier take on a traditional cheesy broccoli casserole subs tangy feta cheese for the usual Cheddar to pack in flavor. Plus, using a mixture of mayonnaise and yogurt in place of a traditional cheese sauce saves tons of time, making this a quick and easy side dish to pair with chicken or fish. Or, serve as a vegetarian main with a salad.

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Peas with Pearl Onions & Pancetta

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An easy side dish recipe gets a boost of umami from crispy pancetta. Using frozen vegetables keeps things quick, but substitute fresh peas and pearl onions if you prefer, adjusting the cooking time as needed.

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Easy Scalloped Potatoes

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In this easy scalloped potatoes recipe, sliced potatoes are roasted in the oven before being mixed with a simple, creamy stovetop sauce and sprinkled with Cheddar cheese. A few minutes under the broiler turns the dish golden and crispy.

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Basil-Ricotta Cheese Dumplings with Creamy Peas & Bacon

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In this dinner, ricotta dumplings are pan-fried until browned and served with creamy peas, bacon (or pancetta) and shaved Parmesan. Part-skim ricotta makes light and fluffy dumplings and adds protein to this elegant dish. For an easy mess-free way to shape the dumplings, see our tip on how to make quenelles.

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Maple Roasted Carrots

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Roasting brings out the inherent sweetness in carrots--but add a little maple syrup and butter and you have a caramelized vegetable your kids (and you!) will actually want to eat seconds of.

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Little Gem Wedge Salad with Blue Cheese & Herb Dressing

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Little Gem lettuce is like a cross between romaine and butterhead. It's perfect for making an updated take on the wedge salad in this healthy recipe. If you can't find Little Gem, use half a romaine heart for each serving. You can order Point Reyes Original blue cheese online from pointreyescheese.com or substitute another raw-milk blue cheese.

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Classic Mac & Cheese

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No sneaky ingredients here, just delicious comfort food. You can enjoy this super-cheesy mac and cheese in the same time it takes to cook the boxed version. Whole-wheat noodles add fiber, while sharp Cheddar adds richness. A hefty twist of black pepper balances the cheese's salty tang.

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Asparagus Salad with Eggs & Jambon de Bayonne

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This impressive-looking asparagus salad recipe is actually very easy to make. After quickly boiling the asparagus, the same water is used to soft-boil the eggs. Piment d'Espelette is a sweet, spicy ground pepper from the Basque region of France. While it's not essential, it does add a subtle kick to the otherwise mellow flavors of this salad. Look for this spice at specialty stores and well-stocked markets--or substitute smoked paprika.

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Simple Green Salad with Citronette

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Frisée and radicchio are both assertive, slightly bitter greens that add color and texture to any salad. Match them with mellower-flavored greens, such as red leaf lettuce, baby spinach or even Boston lettuce.

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Grilled Spring Onions with Romesco Sauce

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If you can find torpedo onions, try them in this healthy grilled recipe. These long, cylindrical purple onions, similar in flavor and texture to leeks, soften and caramelize to a sweet finish on the grill. You can find them at farmers' markets in spring or fall. Any spring onion or even 1-inch-thick slices of sweet onion make a good substitute.

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Spinach & Strawberry Pasta Salad

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This simple pasta side dish combines sweet strawberries and creamy avocado with a tart balsamic vinaigrette. You can make the dressing ahead and keep it separately, tossing with the pasta salad just before serving. Make this salad even more special by adding crumbled feta or goat cheese.

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Slow-Cooker Garlic Mashed Potatoes

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This simple slow-cooker mashed potatoes recipe skips tedious peeling and boiling and helps save precious stovetop space by letting the slow cooker do the work. It's a great timesaving set-it-and-forget-it side dish recipe to round out any hearty meal. Buttermilk makes the mashed potatoes creamy while garlic and shallots add flavor.

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