Slow Cooker Ham – Effortlessly tender slices of ham carefully cooked with a sweet glaze and flavorful spices all in one slow cooker. Moist, meaty, and melt-in-your-mouth dinner ready to give your palate a satisfying experience. Serve this easy comfort food as it is or pair it with a side of carb for a delicious meal.
Personally, I like slow cooker recipes because I’m sure that whatever I put in that crockpot comes out tender. Although it may take a little while, once you feel that tasty meaty chunk, it’ll all be worth it! I just can’t express how useful slow cookers are especially with lean meats 👍.
Today’s recipe gives us an easy take on a classic holiday staple so you can serve it all year round!
Now, I’ll share this recipe so you can recreate this dish right in the comfort of your own home.
What is Smoked Cured Ham?
Generally speaking, if your ham is smoked, cured, or baked, it is considered PRE-COOKED.
Smoked Cured Ham is the product of smoking the ham in a dry space to partially cook it. This takes place for days to a week depending on the size of the meat. You can brine the meat before smoking to avoid drying it out.
REMEMBER: Using the right wood and type of smoker alters the flavor of the meat.
How Long Do You Cook a Cured Spiral Ham?
Cured spiral ham cooks at 13-16 minutes per pound at 250 F. The perfect internal temperature for this crockpot ham is about 140 F. I suggest removing it from heat when it reaches about 130 F because it’ll continue to heat up after cooking.
I suggest cooking this flat side down especially in slow cookers so that it cooks evenly internally.
Add another 30 minutes of cooking time if you plan to cook it with a glaze. Coat the whole meat with a glaze to distribute the flavor evenly.
How Much Ham Per Person?
The rule of thumb, serving ham is around a third of a pound of meat per person. That’s not usually the case with this dish, especially with my family. I always make MORE just to be safe because my son and hubby always leave for seconds.
Storing and Reheating Instructions
Any leftovers can be stored using a cling wrap and an airtight container. Make sure to let the meat cool down to around room temperature before placing it in an airtight container.
You can also just wrap the meat with cling wrap if you just plan to refrigerate it.
IMPORTANT: Don’t leave the ham at room temperature for more than two hours if you don’t plan to eat it immediately.
Storing it in the fridge gives your ham around 3-4 days of shelf life.
However, if you want to extend it, you can always freeze it. Simply add an additional layer of foil wrapped around the meat to avoid freezer burns. This will extend the life of your dish to around 3 months.
Ways to Use Leftover Ham
Leftover ham rarely occurs in my household especially if it’s from a slow cooker. If ever you have some at home, you can re-purpose that for other tasty recipes. These are my top picks to give your leftovers a new life.
- A plate of Hoppin John will fill your belly up with satisfaction.
- Give your palate a kick of heat with Mulligatawny Soup and add an accent of sweetness through your ham.
- Serve up a hearty bowl of Ham and Bean Soup to warm you up for the cold night.
- Brunswick Stew is also an ensemble of different flavors where you can add any sweet ham slices.
- Egg Muffins are an awesome recipe for your best ham leftovers for easy breakfast bites.
Serving Suggestions
Rather than simply pairing it with rice or bread, you can also serve this dish with other flavorful recipes. Here are some of my favorite dishes you can serve it with.
- Revamp the iconic Stovetop Mac and Cheese to make delicious comfort food.
- Serve slices of your best ham as a filling for this Monte Cristo Sandwich.
- Of course, you can use this recipe for your Ham Salad.
- Make your Easter feast more scrumptious by serving this ham with these Honey Wheat Rolls.
How to Cook a Ham in a Slow Cooker
Unpack the ham: Remove ham from the packaging and discard any flavoring packet. If using a bone-in ham, check the end of the bone for a plastic cap and, if present, discard.
Preparing the Glaze
Mix butter with the seasonings and set aside: In a saucepan, over medium heat, whisk together butter, honey, allspice, Dijon mustard, minced garlic, creole seasoning, ground ginger, brown sugar, lemon juice, and cloves. Let the butter mixture melt, while stirring often, until brown sugar dissolves, about 1-2 minutes. Set aside. (double glaze if you want the additional glaze to serve. You may also adjust the spices to suit taste buds, especially the sugar content)
Cooking Ham in the Slow Cooker
Add the pineapple juice & rings, thyme, and spread the sugar mixture: Pour juice and pineapple rings on the bottom of a large (6.5- to 8 quarts), oval slow cooker. Throw in thyme sprigs. When the sugar/honey mixture is ready, generously spread the mixture all over the ham and place the flat side down in a slow cooker, (reserve about a ⅓ cup for basting). Only if not making it as a ham sauce.
Cover and cook: Cover the slow cooker tightly with the lid, or if the ham is too large, you may cut or make a tight cover with aluminum foil and set it to low. Cook on low for 5-6 hours, or high for 3-4 just until warmed through and the internal temperature reaches 140 degrees F.
Start basting and serve: Baste the ham with the remaining glaze halfway through cooking time and repeat the process like an hour before it’s fully cooked. Once fully cooked, remove ham from the slow cooker onto a large, rimmed, serving platter and let it rest for about 15 minutes before serving.
Slow Cooker Ham
Ingredients
Slow Cooker Ham
- 7-8 pound cooked and smoked cured ham
Brown Sugar Glaze
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ cup honey
- 1 ½ teaspoon allspice
- 2-3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons Creole seasoning, optional
- 1-2 teaspoons ground ginger,
- ½-1 cup brown sugar or more, for sprinkling and for the glaze
- 2-3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 1 large lemon)
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ cup orange juice
- ½ pineapple juice or 1 (20-ounce) can pineapple slice or diced
- 2-3 sprigs thyme
Instructions
HOW TO COOK HAM IN A SLOW COOKER
- Remove ham from the packaging and discard any flavoring packet. If using a bone-in ham, check the end of the bone for a plastic cap and, if present, discard.
- In a saucepan, over medium heat, whisk together butter, honey, allspice, dijon mustard, minced garlic, creole seasoning, ground ginger, brown sugar, lemon juice, and cloves. Let the butter mixture melt, while stirring often, until brown sugar dissolves, about 1-2 minutes. Set aside. (Double glaze if you want additional glaze to serve. You may also adjust the spices to suit taste buds, especially the sugar content)
- Pour juice and pineapple rings on the bottom of a large (6.5- to 8 quarts), oval slow cooker. Throw in thyme sprigs.
- When the sugar/honey mixture is ready, generously spread the mixture all over the ham and place the flat side down in a slow cooker, (reserve about a ⅓ cup for basting). Only if not making it as a ham sauce.
- Cover the slow cooker tightly with the lid, or if the ham is too large, you may cut or make a tight cover with aluminum foil and set it to low.
- Cook on low for 5-6 hours, or high for 3-4 just until warmed through and the internal temperature reaches 140 degrees F.
- Baste the ham with the remaining glaze halfway through cooking time and repeat the process like an hour before it’s fully cooked.
- Once fully cooked, remove ham from the slow cooker onto a large, rimmed, serving platter and let it rest for about 15 minutes before serving.
HAM SAUCE (OPTIONAL)
- While ham is resting, transfer the remaining liquid from the slow cooker to a saucepan. Cook for about 5 minutes.
- Then mix about 1-2 tablespoons cornstarch with 2-3 tablespoon water. Quickly stir in the saucepan and continue cooking until thickened. If the sauce is too thick, add water a little at a time until desired consistency has been reached. Serve with ham.
Tips & Notes:
- Nearly all commercially available ham is pre-cooked. This leads many to overcook their ham which ends up dry and hard. To fix this, you can simmer down a liquid, preferably acidic, and gently heat the meat on it. This will tenderize the whole dish making it softer.
- Basting the ham can be quite exhausting especially when you want to cook it with more flavor. You’re gonna want to baste it every 20 minutes instead of consistently doing it. This will give you a perfectly glazed exterior.
- When buying ham, make sure to purchase bone-in instead of boneless. This will give your dish more flavor as it cooks. This also gives you a firmer and more stable shape so that it doesn’t easily fall apart.
- Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy only. Please keep in mind that it is a rough estimate rather than a guarantee. Ingredients can vary greatly based on the products used.
Nutrition Information:
Daphne Smith says
I will be slow cooking my ham for Easter, love this recipe.
One less for the oven.