This sweet ham loaf with pineapple sauce is a great addition to your spring holiday table.
This recipe may come across as a little bizarre. I’m the only person that I know that has ever eaten this besides my family. It is a recipe that has been beloved by a particular family in the OKC area that owns a super popular meat market. We’ve eaten this at many a family get together at my Mimi’s. When I was little, I basically lived for the pineapple sauce (which makes sense, it’s pineapples and sugar…kind of hard to go wrong).
I’ll admit, when I started working with the meat, I didn’t even have any idea what was in it, or if it was raw or not! Ham loaf is a meatloaf, made with a ratio of 3/4 ham and 1/4 ground pork. It is cooked and basted with a sweet glaze, reminiscent of a spiral ham you might usually make for the holidays! My grandma added a pineapple sauce to compound the sweetness, and it really complements the ham.
Pro Tip: Squishing raw meat in your hands when it is cold is a very chilly experience. I wouldn’t recommend going straight from fridge to hands right away…!
Local Spotlight: The ham loaf mix is from Kamp’s Meat Market in Oklahoma City! And I used the last of my local eggs for the week in this as well.
What’s the strangest thing that your family makes? Tell me in the comments!
xxHillary
Ham Loaf with Pineapple Sauce
Ingredients
- Ham Loaf
- 3 1/2 lbs ham loaf mix
- 1 1/2 C. saltine cracker crumbs
- 1 1/2 C. milk
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 t. black pepper
- 1 T. dry mustard
- 1 C. brown sugar
- 1/2 C. water
- 1/2 C. vinegar
- .
- Pineapple Sauce:
- 1/3 C. brown sugar
- 1 T. corn starch
- 8 oz. can crushed pineapple
- 1 T. butter
- ½ t. lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Mix meat, cracker crumbs, milk, eggs and black pepper with hands.
- Shape into a loaf in a roasting pan or glass dish.
- Whisk dry mustard, sugar, water and vinegar in a small saucepan. Heat on low until the sugar is dissolved.
- Pour 2/3 of the heated mixture over the loaf.
- Bake for 2 1/2 hrs, uncovered, intermittently basting every half hour or so with the remaining liquid.
- In a small saucepan on low, combine brown sugar, corn starch and pineapple. When it coats a spoon, remove from the heat. Stir in butter and lemon juice. Serve warm.
- #enJOY!
definitely thought this was banana bread topped with apple compote at first. whoops. this sounds delicious though, and i think the closest thing my family makes to this is gee yuk bang, which is basically a steamed meatloaf with shiitake mushrooms and salted fish (aka not that close, but still in that ground meat category). can’t think of anything “weird” that my family makes, because it all seems normal to me (; (as i’m sure you thought when you ate this growing up!).
It definitely looks like bread!! I bet you’re right, what is weird when you grow up with it?! hah
This is one of my favorites! Thanks for posting baby girl!
You’re welcome!!
I think this is super cool. I’ve had meatloaf before, but never thought you could do the same thing with pork and ham. The pineapple sauce looks like a perfect compliment, too. Thanks for sharing something so unique!!
Glad you can appreciate it! 🙂
Love that you are sharing a family tradition. I have never heard of ham loaf mix. Is that something you can get in the supermarket in Oklahoma? Is it a regional thing?
I googled it and poked around. Most recipes are definitely from the South. It’s a ground mix of ham and ground pork. The only time I’ve ever seen it is also at that specific meat market!
How have I made it this long in life and never heard of ham loaf? I love this new swap for meatloaf! And that pineapple sauce sounds like it would go perfectly with the ham-pork mixture. Great weeknight dinner recipe!
Wow this is so cool! I never would have thought of a ham loaf!! It makes perfect sense to have the pineapple sauce too since ham and pineapple pair up so well together! I did a real laugh at squishing the cold meat out of the fridge comment. I have done this before and it is not fun, so i resorted to using Terry to do it now. haha 😀
It’s so collllld! Next time it’s gonna be Justin’s job too!
Our family has made ham loaf for years but like the pineapple sauce recipe-definitely will try it rather than a glaze next time.