Best Crock Pot Ham

Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Ham is the perfect recipe for holiday gathering because you can fix it ahead of time and don’t have to spend time in the kitchen away from your guests. This ham is flavored perfectly with brown sugar, honey, and dijon mustard. Perfect for Easter or Christmas but easy enough for busy weeknights as well!

Growing up ham was a staple at every holiday meal and family get together.  My great-grandfather was a hog farmer who never showed up for an event without his special ham concoctions-smoked, salted, or baked!

As I’m looking forward to Christmas I thought I would share with you my own Slow Cooker Honey Glazed Ham recipe. Yes, you heard me right-you can make it in the Crock Pot! It’s the perfect recipe for holiday meals where prep can get hectic-just ten minutes of stove time and you’ll have brown sugar honey ham perfection waiting a few hours later!

This recipe goes perfectly with 15 Minute Homemade Biscuits, Slow Cooker Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes, or if it’s Easter, serve it up before Homemade Carrot Cake!

What Kind of Ham Works Best in the Crock Pot?

You can choose any type of pre-cooked ham for this recipe as we are just heating and flavoring it. Bone-in, boneless, spiral cut, sliced, or whole ham, they all work!

Cured and uncured, smoked and unsmoked, as long as it’s already cooked it will work! Just be sure to discard any pre-made glaze packets or the plastic cap on the bone if included before placing in the slow cooker.

It is useful to note that bone-in hams tend to stay juicier as cooked and spiral cut hams can dry out faster than their whole counterparts.

What Size Ham to Fit in a Crock Pot?

This recipe is great because it’s easily adjusted depending on how many you are serving. I use about a two-pound ham when feeding just my family  of five but depending on the size of your slow cooker you could greatly increase the amount of ham you cook as long as it fits comfortably in the cooker. (You want to be able to slightly separate the slices to allow the glaze to get inside.)

I have cooked up to an 8 pound ham in my Crock Pot.

If you buy a very large ham you can double the glaze but otherwise, the cook time in the slow cooker will remain the same since we are using precooked ham.

How to Cook a Precooked Ham in the Slow Cooker

The FDA recommends heating a precooked ham to 140 degrees Fahrenheit prior to serving. The size of your ham will determine how long it takes to reach that temperature in the Crock Pot.

Small hams will reach that temperature in 3-4 hours while larger holiday hams will take a full 6-8 hours on low temperature setting.

To make this ham you’ll combine the brown sugar, honey, dijon mustard, and water on the stove until the glaze is blended and frothy. Then you’ll place your ham in the slow cooker and pour the glaze over it. If you are using a spiral cut ham, be sure to slightly separate the slices so the galze can get down in between!

Tips for Making Slow Cooker Ham

• Every time you open the crock pot you are letting heat and moisture escape and extending the cook time as well as risking a dry ham, do so sparingly!
• Use a meat thermometer to confirm the internal temperature reaches 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
• If your ham is not pre-sliced, do so against the grain for the most tender cuts.
• Store leftovers in a sealed container in the refrigerator up to four days. Reheat in the microwave with a little water or broth to prevent drying the meat.

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This Slow Cooker Honey Glazed Ham is the perfect recipe for holiday gathering because you can fix it ahead of time and don’t have to spend time in the kitchen away from your guests. I like to make it, especially for Christmas and Easter dinners.

I’d love if you try it if you could take the time to leave me a comment and give the recipe a star rating down below, it helps me a lot to get your feedback!

You might also like these other holiday favorites:

• Easy Roast Turkey
• Homemade Pecan Pie
• Pimento Cheese Recipe