Why a Slow Cooker Honey Ham Is the Best Ham
Spiral-cut ham isn't something we always loved. The glaze can be overly sweet, and the texture of the meat can be unpleasantly chewy. This recipe avoids both pitfalls with a custom not-too-sweet glaze and a slow cooker method. The low, slow heat of the slow cooker gently braises the ham, making it the most tender you'll ever eat.
Beyond how much better a slow cooker ham is than an oven-baked ham, cooking the ham in the slow cooker eliminates some of the challenges of serving a ham alongside your Thanksgiving turkey or holiday roast.
3 Reasons Why a Slow Cooker Ham Is Better
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No need for oven space.
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No need to baste or brush; you can set it and forget it.
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Makes a more tender ham.
For Your Information
- This recipe calls for a 8- to 10-pound spiral cut ham.
- Cook that ham on LOW for 4 to 5 hours, basting with glaze whenever you remember to.
Buying the Right Ham for the Slow Cooker
Whole spiral-cut hams are most famously known from the Honey Baked Hams brand, 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's cured and sometimes smoked before being cooked and spiral-cut.
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.
Ingredients
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3/4 cup
packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup Huckle Bee Farms Honey (pick your additional flavor...Bourbon taste great)
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1/2 cup
water
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1/4 cup
Dijon mustard
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10
whole cloves
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1
(8- to 10-pound) spiral cut ham
Instructions
- Make the glaze: Combine the brown sugar, honey, water, mustard, and cloves in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cook until the glaze is homogeneous and fragrant from the cloves, about 5 minutes. Remove the cloves with a spoon.
- Prepare the ham: Place the 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.
- 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.
- Cook the ham: Cover and cook on LOW 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.
- Serve: The ham is ready when it reaches an internal temperature of 140°F. Serve with the thickened glaze.
