Spam is easier to cook with than it looks. Here's how to choose, use, and store it, what to substitute, and 62 recipes to get you started.

What is spam?

Spam is canned cooked pork. It is a pink loaf built from ground pork shoulder and ham, held together with salt, water, a little sugar, plus potato starch and sodium nitrite for cure and texture.

It comes fully cooked, so you can eat it straight from the tin, but almost nobody does. The point is to slice it and brown it.

The flavor is salty and rich, with a dense texture that sits between ham and a firm sausage.

One 12-ounce can keeps for years in the pantry, which is exactly why it took hold in Hawaii and across the Pacific during and after World War II. Today the islands eat more Spam per person than anywhere else. It shows up in everything from breakfast plates to convenience-store musubi.

Cooking With Spam

Slice it thin, about ¼ inch, then fry the slices in a dry or barely oiled pan over medium-high until the edges crisp and caramelize. The sugar in the meat browns fast, so watch it. Those crisp browned edges are the whole reason to cook Spam rather than eat it cold.

For Spam musubi you pan-fry slices, often glazing them in a soy-and-sugar mixture, then press each one onto a block of rice and wrap it with nori.

Diced and crisped, it goes into fried rice, omelets, and breakfast skillets like the Hearty Spam Breakfast Skillet. It bakes well in casseroles too, where Spam Hashbrown Bake and the Elegant Potato Spam Casserole lean on it as the salty, meaty backbone.

Because it is already salty and cured, treat it like bacon or ham in a recipe, not like raw meat. Hold back on added salt until the end and taste first.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

Spam wants contrast. It pairs naturally with fried eggs and rice. A sticky teriyaki glaze and a hit of sriracha play off the salt, and fresh pineapple does too. Sharp pickles and scallions cut the richness.

The most common mistake is not browning it enough. Pale, warmed-through Spam is soft and one-note. Give it real color and the surface turns savory and crisp while the inside stays juicy.

The other mistake is over-salting the dish around it. A can carries a heavy sodium load, so build the rest of the plate lean and let the Spam bring the salt.

Substitutes

The closest swap is any canned luncheon meat such as Treet or a store-brand pork loaf. They behave the same in the pan and in musubi.

For a fresher take, thick-cut ham steak or Canadian bacon browns up with a similar salty, meaty bite, though it runs leaner and less rich. Thick slices of bologna will crisp and curl in a pan if that is what you have, closer in texture if not in flavor.

To go meatless, press firm tofu and slice it thin, then marinate the slices in soy and sugar before frying. That gives you the salty-sweet, browned-edge effect that makes Spam work in musubi.

Buying and Storing

A standard can is 12 ounces (340 g). Beyond the classic blue can you will find lower-sodium and lite versions, flavored ones like teriyaki and hot-and-spicy, plus single-serve pouches. The low-sodium can cuts about a quarter of the salt and is worth buying if you eat it often.

Unopened, Spam is shelf-stable for years. Check the best-by date, but it is forgiving well past it, and a cool dry cupboard is all it needs.

Once opened, treat it like any cooked meat. Move the leftover loaf to a sealed container in the fridge and use it within 3 to 5 days. Cooked Spam dishes freeze fine for a couple of months, though the texture softens slightly on thawing.

Nutrition

Quick facts

Where to find spam: Spam is usually found in the canned goods section or aisle of the grocery store or supermarket.

Food group: Spam is a member of the Sausages and Luncheon Meats US Department of Agriculture nutritional food group.

In Chinese

垃圾邮件

British (UK) term

Spam

en français

spam

en español

correo no deseado

How much does spam weigh?

Amount	Weight
1 serving 2 oz	56 grams
1 ounce	28 grams

Related

Sausages and Luncheon Meats

Recipes using spam

There are 62 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 62 recipes

More spam recipes

• Spam & Egg Brunch
• Spam Broccoli Pecan Salad
• Spam Stew with Buttermilk Topping