Most would agree that a succulent ham makes for a great headliner to a meal.
But what if you don't have the time or money for such a thing? Well, that's what canned
ham is for! But which canned ham is best? Keep watching for our ranking from worst to best.
People have been smoking meat for centuries. The process preserves the meat and adds flavor,
but it does take time. So, when you want to enjoy smoked meat, but are short on time,
having a great-tasting smoked canned ham stocked in your pantry could be pretty useful. However,
If you were thinking about buying Bristol's Hickory Smoked Canned Ham…
"Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. Bad idea!"
Most smoked meats are infused with the distinctive flavor of wood smoke, but this product lacked the
hickory taste we were looking for. Though we don't expect the same level of flavor as, say,
Benton's country ham from a canned product. Bristol's ham was bland and tasted a lot more
like Spam than canned ham, let alone fresh ham. It also had a spongy texture that we
really didn't appreciate. This product was a huge disappointment, and we wouldn't recommend it.
Founded over 90 years ago, Iberia is a company that manufactures all sorts of different food
products, including rice, beans, pasta, and meats. The company's products are available in over
12,000 stores in the United States. Its Iberia Cooked Ham comes in a 16-ounce black can with a
hot, roasted sliced ham on the front graphic. The meat itself is branded as being without
both skin and bones and is preserved in mostly water, salt, and sugar among other ingredients.
This was one of the most unappealing canned hams on this list. Most ham is rich, salty, and
full of many other incredible flavors. When it's glazed in honey, that makes the ham even better.
While we understand that a canned ham might not be as good as an actual slab of meat, we think that
it should taste like something. Unfortunately, this didn't have anything in terms of taste.
Iberia's cooked ham was pretty flavorless, and ham by itself should have some flavor. Bizarrely, it
did have a strong smell despite its bland taste. Even if you wanted to spice up your canned ham on
your own, Iberia's canned ham won't add anything but a strange stench to your ham pot pie recipe.
When a food brand has the name "Royale," we assume that what we buy from them is good
enough for Queen Elizabeth to eat. That being said, this Canadian ham brand is not something
we would even feed to our dogs. Not only was Royale's Boneless Cooked Ham unfit for royalty,
but it wasn't fit for any of us, either.
This canned ham falls under the "tastes like Spam instead of ham" category of canned hams on this
list. It had a disturbingly soft texture. The meat easily fell apart and was a little mushy.
Like other canned meat products, Royale's Ham can be served hot or cold, though we
can't say we'd want it either way. Not only is it one of the lower-quality hams on this list,
but it's also rather expensive on Amazon. It's listed at about $20 for a pack of two cans.
It's possible that it would be cheaper if you found it at a store, but even then,
you probably shouldn't waste any money on this. We definitely wouldn't serve
this to a member of the Royal Family, or to anyone else for that matter.
Goya makes an incredibly wide variety of products aimed at Latin and Caribbean consumers.
In addition to rice, beans, oil, and many other products, the company has a line of
canned meats. The brand's canned Cooked Ham is branded as easy to serve with salads,
rice dishes, and soups, but the product isn't something we'd enjoy in any of these meals.
Like many of the lower-ranked hams on this list,
Goya's canned ham tasted a lot like really salty, watery Spam instead of a decent,
quality ham. It's made from chunks of meat that are fused together rather than a whole piece
of pork. There are some people who like this product, but other reviewers online
don't enjoy this meat. We recommend that you avoid this canned meat because of its displeasing taste.
Jamonilla Classic Precooked Ham comes right from Denmark and is made by the brand Tulip.
Tulip is a Danish-owned company that was founded in 1887 and is owned by Danish
Crown Foods. The brand describes itself as one of the largest meat companies in Europe.
The company's website has many different recipes you can make with its meat products,
such as rice noodles and breakfast burritos. This meat gives off the
impression that it's quite versatile, but we wouldn't put this on our burritos.
This is not a top-tier canned ham. Its flavor is lacking, and though it doesn't taste exactly
like Spam, it also doesn't taste like good, quality ham, either. One shopper on Amazon
even found that this product, though well before its expiration date, arrived super black, smelly,
and eerily moldy. Even without the mold, this product doesn't have anything going for it,
and we wouldn't use this in a sandwich, casserole, or any other satisfying dish.
Celebrity Boneless Cooked Ham is made with natural juices and is 96%
fat-free. This ham is imported by the Atalanta Corporation in New Jersey,
which has been importing meat products such as Celebrity's ham since 1945. Much like the
Royale ham, the name of this product promises something fancier than the contents deliver.
Celebrity ham is made with gelatin, making it less meat-like in terms of texture, and more like a
Jell-O meatloaf. If you can get past that, the meat itself tastes like a combination
of jiggly ham and Spam, with the latter being the dominant flavor. We do appreciate the hint of ham
flavor in this that is missing from the previous entries on this list. While it is easier to slice
and put on a sandwich than some other canned hams because of its strange texture. The main question
is whether we'd actually want this on our ham and cheese sandwich. For us, that answer is…
"Nope. Nope, nope, nope. No."
And if you have a choice, you might want to avoid this product as well.
The next canned ham on this list wasn't horrible, but it wasn't out of this world
either. Dutch Colony Cooked Ham comes in a black can with a smiling, blond-haired Dutch
woman in a field of flowers. While the graphic is pretty, we can't say the same about the meat.
The meat has a softer texture than we would like and is pretty salty.
It seems to be difficult to master canned ham, as the product needs to be preservable, but also
taste like a good quality ham. Reception for this product is rather mixed, as it has a higher rating
than other canned meats, but a good number of critics don't enjoy it. While this was better
than other canned hams, and we'd eat this if we had to, it's not going to be our first choice.
Denmark seems to specialize in canned ham. Several of the brands on this list,
including Celebrity and Royale, come from that country. Dak Premium Ham is another Danish entry
in our ranking. Unlike some of the previous hams on this list that might be hard to find in stores,
this product is available at Walmart and can also be purchased in bulk online.
When first looking at this product, we were hit with a somewhat strange aroma,
but the meat actually looked like ham. It also didn't remind us too much of Spam,
and when cooked, tasted more like a nice juicy ham, as well. We could easily see ourselves
roasting this canned meat whole or slicing it up to put in a salad or on a sandwich.
This is something that we'd try again without too much complaint.
What lies inside the walls of Walmart? Pretty much everything, actually. If you need something,
it's more than likely you can find it at Walmart. It should come as no surprise by now that when
we do food product rankings, there's a good chance one of the items will be a Walmart brand.
In this case, it's Great Value Original Luncheon Meat. This meat is made from
pork and has both a standard and lower sodium variant, both of which you can find online.
Great Value products can be a little hit-or-miss, but Walmart's luncheon meat
was decent in both texture and flavor. While we wouldn't serve it as a Christmas centerpiece,
it still tasted heavily of ham. A couple of reviews compare it to Spam,
but most people have positive things to say about this meat.
"Bottom line, this generic ham is a winner. As for 'other' generic brands,
those pale in comparison to both the big brand and Walmart's."
While this is branded as more of a pork-based lunch meat than specifically as a ham,
we'd gladly have this on a sandwich, or serve it with any meal that needs a bit of protein.
Butterfield Farms offers a wide variety of canned meats, including roast beef and white chicken.
Butterfield Farms Diced Ham is certainly one of the best pig products on this list.
It comes in a smaller, round blue can, so while we wish there was a bit more meat in a single can,
we're pleased that the meat that was there tasted decent.
This product is fully cooked, infused with smoke flavoring, and cut up into small chunks.
Not only is this product sold for a good price online, but it also tastes great. It isn't overly
salty or watery, and it tastes like actual ham. It delivered on the smoke flavor as well, which
we enjoyed. We could easily see ourselves putting this on a Hawaiian pizza or any other ham dish.
If you find yourself putting this on pasta or salad, you won't be disappointed.
At the number one spot on this list, we have Hormel Canned Smoked Ham.
We had low expectations for this ham but were shocked by its high quality.
Hormel Smoked Ham comes in a round 5-ounce container. And unlike the brand's canned chicken,
which did poorly in our canned chicken ranking, this product actually tastes pretty amazing. It
is made with smoke flavoring and ground ham and is cured in just the right amount of sugar and salt.
"Perfecto!"
We've had a lot to say about the other canned hams on this list, but with Hormel's Ham,
we'd rather stop talking and just eat it. This meat is not only simple to prepare,
but also great to add to tacos, meat pies, or any recipes you want to try that require ham.
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