How To Make Honey-Glazed Ham in the Slow Cooker (2024)

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Meghan Splawn

Meghan Splawn

Meghan was the Food Editor for Kitchn's Skills content. She's a master of everyday baking, family cooking, and harnessing good light. Meghan approaches food with an eye towards budgeting — both time and money — and having fun. Meghan has a baking and pastry degree, and spent the first 10 years of her career as part of Alton Brown's culinary team. She co-hosts a weekly podcast about food and family called Didn't I Just Feed You.

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updated Sep 5, 2022

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How To Make Honey-Glazed Ham in the Slow Cooker (1)

Learn how and why you should put your holiday honey-glazed ham in the slow cooker this year.

Serves10 to 12Prep10 minutesCook4 hours to 5 hours

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How To Make Honey-Glazed Ham in the Slow Cooker (2)

My father in-law is not a big fan of turkey. Honestly, I can relate. So about five years ago, we started adding a bone-in-ham to the family Thanksgiving menu. But each year I am the host and cook, and so I would run into a problem: After making the turkey, how do I season and heat a full ham while all the side dishes are hogging the oven space? Fortunately I settled on a solution: Put the ham in a Crock Pot!

Since most holiday hams come pre-cooked, all I have to do is load it into the slow cooker in the morning. As another bonus? After it’s been slow-cooked, the crock can be set to warm, so the ham stays moist while we wait. (There’s always at least one in-law who is late.) And ever since mastering the technique for Thanksgiving, I make my Easter ham in the slow cooker, too.

Why a Slow-Cooker Honey-Glazed Ham Is Better

Smoked, spiral-cut ham wasn’t something I always loved. The pineapple juice glaze can be overly sweet, and the texture of the meat can be unpleasantly chewy. This recipe avoids both of those qualities. I’ve given it a custom not-too-sweet glaze (though you can use the packet if you want), and the low, slow heat of the slow cooker gently braises the ham, making it the most melt-in-the-mouth tender cured pork you’ll ever eat.

Besides tasting much better than a ham baked in the oven, cooking the ham in the slow cooker eliminates some of the challenges of serving it alongside your holiday roast.

Quick Ham Guide

  • This recipe calls for a 8- to 10-pound spiral cut ham.
  • The cook time on that ham is LOW for 4 to 5 hours, basting with glaze whenever you remember to.

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Buying the Right Ham for the Slow Cooker

Whole spiral-cut hams are most famously sold by the Honey Baked Hams company, but this type of ham can also be found in almost every major grocery store or at your local butcher. City hams, as they are also known, are a leg of pork that has been cured and sometimes smoked before being cooked and spiral-cut.

You don’t want a boneless ham for this recipe. Look for a spiral-cut ham that is fully cooked (it must be labeled as such) and has the bone in. Butt-end hams tend to fit into slow cookers more readily, but their bone is a little trickier to slice around. Consider the size of your slow cooker when shopping for your ham. A 10-pound ham is as big as you can go for a six-quart slow cooker.

Learn more: A Complete Guide to Buying Holiday Ham

Making a Glaze for the Slow-Cooker Ham

The glaze offers an opportunity to add considerable flavor to the ham, so we suggest making your own. I use a mixture of brown sugar, honey, mustard, and cloves. It hits all the sweet, warm, and tangy flavors that are familiar and comforting on ham. Plus, these ingredients thicken as they cook, making a sticky-sweet sauce that can be spooned over the slices when serving.

What About the Glaze Packet?

Most fully cooked hams also come with a packet of glaze mix, which you add water to. This is essentially just brown sugar and spices. There is nothing really wrong with this, and, in fact, you can use it with your ham in the slow cooker. But my glaze is not really difficult, and I think you’ll find it’s a little tastier for being homemade.

Want to try something different? 5 Easy, 3-Ingredient Glazes for Ham

Credit: Photo: Joe Lingeman; Food Styling: Jesse Szewczyk

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How To Make Honey-Glazed Ham in the Slow Cooker

Learn how and why you should put your holiday honey-glazed ham in the slow cooker this year.

Prep time 10 minutes

Cook time 4 hours to 5 hours

Serves 10 to 12

Nutritional Info

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup

    packed light brown sugar

  • 1/2 cup

    honey

  • 1/2 cup

    water

  • 1/4 cup

    Dijon mustard

  • 10

    whole cloves

  • 1

    (8- to 10-pound) bone-in, spiral-cut ham

Equipment

  • Measuring cups and spoons

  • Small saucepan

  • 6-quart or larger slow cooker

  • Baster or brush

Instructions

  1. Make the glaze. Place 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar, 1/2 cup honey, 1/2 cup water, 1/4 cup Dijon mustard, and 10 whole cloves in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Simmer until the glaze is hom*ogeneous and fragrant from the cloves, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, then remove the cloves with a spoon.

  2. Prepare the ham. Place 1 spiral-cut ham in a 6-quart or larger slow cooker, making sure you can put the lid on. You may have to turn the ham on its side, or trim a bit off the top if your ham is too large. Gently pull apart the ham's slices and separate them.

  3. Add the glaze. Pour the glaze over the ham, trying to cover as much of the ham as possible, but not worrying too much, as the glaze will fall back into the slow cooker.

  4. Cook and baste the ham. Cover and cook on the LOW setting for 4 to 5 hours. Every hour (or as you remember), baste the ham with the glaze. You can also flip the ham halfway through cooking, if desired. The ham is ready when it reaches an internal temperature of 140°F. Serve with the thickened glaze.

Recipe Notes

Make ahead: The glaze can be made up to 3 days ahead and stored in the refrigerator.

Storage: Store leftover ham in its juices in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Filed in:

Cooking Methods

Dairy-Free

dinner

easter

easy

How To Make Honey-Glazed Ham in the Slow Cooker (2024)

FAQs

How to warm up a honey baked ham in a slow cooker? ›

With a slow cooker, you need a good amount of moisture so you'll want to plop that whole Honey Baked Ham, or just a few slices, into a few inches of broth or sauce. Set on low and keep checking it until it's at the desired temperature. Leave it for a few hours in the broth if you really want it dripping.

Do you put the glaze on a ham before you cook it or after you cook it? ›

The glaze should not be applied until the final hour to 30 minutes, in order to avoid burning the sugars. What you're going to do with the glaze ingredients is just combine most of them into a paste, and then apply it to the ham. After that, the heat in your oven will take care of everything.

What is the honey glaze made of on ham? ›

The glaze is the most delicious combination of brown sugar, honey, Dijon mustard, and just a splash of fruity apple cider vinegar. While hams often comes packaged with a granulated glaze, you can — and should — make your own. It will transform a city ham to the most-talked-about dish at the table.

What is the best way to reheat ham without drying it out? ›

Place in an oven-safe baking dish. Cover top of ham with loosely wrapped aluminum foil to keep moisture in. Bake at 275 degrees F at 10 minutes per pound–or until meat thermometer reads 135 – 140 degrees.

Do you cook premade honey baked ham in the foil? ›

A spiral ham is already cooked, you just need to warm it up. Put the oven on 225 degrees, put the ham in a roasting pan with an inch of water and over it tightly with foil. Leave it for two hours and it'll be ready to serve.

Do you cover honey baked ham when cooking? ›

Wrap the foil completely around the ham, adding additional foil if necessary to cover. Bake at 275 degrees F for 2.5-3 hours, until an internal temperature of 140 degrees F is reached (3 hours total is about right for a 10lb ham, you may need more or less according to the size of your ham.)

What makes honey baked ham better? ›

After curing, our hams spend up to 24 hours smoking—at least twice as long as the industry standard—over a select blend of hardwood chips. The long smoking process gives Honey Baked Ham its rich, smoky flavor our customers love.

What is the white stuff on honey ham? ›

Some cuts expose a few white spots with a limestone-like consistency, which are the result of prolonged curing. These show that the ham is of the highest quality. Technically they are crystals of an amino acid called tyrosine.

How do you heat and glaze a fully cooked ham? ›

Add water to the bottom of the pan and cover the whole thing tightly with foil. Bake at 325F for 16-20 minutes per pound, until a meat thermometer registers 135F. Unwrap the ham and apply the glaze; increase the heat to 400F and bake for 15-20 minutes longer until the glaze is burnished.

How do you reheat honey baked ham? ›

According to Honey Baked Ham, their hams should be reheated in a 275-degree oven, covered with foil for 10 minutes per pound.

How long can ham stay in crockpot on warm? ›

Most appliances will automatically shut off after 20 or so hours on this setting, but you shouldn't leave food in a slow cooker for an extended length of time. The general rule of thumb is that 2-4 hours is the maximum length of time you can leave food in a slow cooker on warm.

How long to cook a 10 lb fully cooked smoked ham? ›

Pre-Cooked and Bone-In Ham

If the ham is a half ham weighing five to seven pounds, it should heat at 325°F for 22-25 minutes per pound. If it is a whole ham weighing between 10 to 14 pounds, heat the ham at 325°F for 18-20 minutes per pound. The internal temperature should be 140°F.

How to heat a fully cooked spiral ham? ›

You don't bake a spiral ham, you'l just dry it out. A spiral ham is already cooked, you just need to warm it up. Put the oven on 225 degrees, put the ham in a roasting pan with an inch of water and over it tightly with foil. Leave it for two hours and it'll be ready to serve.

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