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Make holiday cooking easy and delicious with this crockpot spiral ham. It simmers slowly in a sweet and savory homemade glaze, making it a perfect centerpiece for any festive gathering.
Featured Comment
Excellent recipe! So full of flavor, was perfect for my Christmas Day dinner. Will make again, thank you!
– Mariann
During the holidays, our slow cookers become essential! With the oven typically occupied by a turkey or multiple side dishes, the slow cooker is my go-to for preparing a ham. When you slow cook a ham, it gently heats, soaks up all the sauce and becomes even more tender.
We also love to make apple and clove ham, or slow cooker ham dinner if we don’t have a spiral ham, all great options!
Key Ingredients
You won’t believe how few ingredients are needed to make ham in the crockpot, most ingredients you probably already have.
- Glaze Ingredients: To make a perfect ham glaze, you only need a few pantry staples! Apple cider, honey, brown sugar, cloves and pepper. I use fresh rosemary, but you can also use dried.
- Spiral Ham: A six pound ham will work best, any larger and you will have to cut an piece off for it to fit in the slow cooker. Plan for about 3/4 lb. per person, you can get away with much less if you are serving turkey as well.
How to make Crockpot Spiral Ham
- Mix the simple brown sugar and honey glaze.
- Coat the spiral ham with glaze. It take around 5 hours to cook a ham in the crockpot. This may seem like too long, but it takes a while to heat through.
- Baste with the juices and serve with your favorite holiday sides.
Sarah’s Tips & Variations
This ham is great as-is, but you can make it your own with these suggestions below.
- Feel free to use any type of ham in this recipe, including a picnic ham for a more rustic option.
- For a unique twist, try substituting maple syrup in place of brown sugar for a warm, rich sweetness.
- Apple juice, pineapple juice, or orange juice each offer a wonderful alternative to apple cider, adding their own subtle layers of flavor.
- Adding a can of drained pineapple can transform the flavor of the ham, infusing it with a delicious tropical note!
Best Side Dishes for Ham
Here are great sides to round out the meal.
- Starches that go great with ham are slow cooker cheesy hashbrown casserole, homemade slow cooker baked beans, or rich slow cooker mashed sweet potatoes.
- Greens that are wonderful with glazed ham are classic slow cooker green bean casserole, or flavorful slow cooker brussel sprouts.
- We also love to make crockpot cornbread bread and crockpot focaccia bread.
Can I use a Frozen Ham in the Slow Cooker?
It’s best to thaw the ham to ensure the cooking time is accurate. You can use a slightly frozen ham with no issues though.
How to Store Leftover Ham
Leftover ham can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
You can also freeze leftover ham. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and aluminum foil and place it in the freezer for up to 2 months. Defrost overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
Crockpot Spiral Ham Recipe
How to Video
Ingredients
- 6 lbs. spiral-cut ham, You want to find the smallest ham you can find that is around 6 pounds, if you get one that is larger, you may have cut off a piece to get it to fit in the slow cooker.
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 Tbsp. dijon mustard
- ½ cup apple cider
- ½ tsp. ground cloves
- ½ tsp. black pepper
- Optional fresh herbs, for garnish: (rosemary, parsley, thyme)
Instructions
- In a small mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar, honey, Dijon mustard, apple cider, ground cloves, and black pepper. Mix well until the ingredients are fully incorporated.
- Unwrap the spiral-cut ham and place it into the slow cooker, flat side down.
- Pour the brown sugar mixture over the ham, making sure to coat it evenly. Use a basting brush to spread the glaze into the crevices of the spiral cuts.
- Cover the slow cooker and cook the ham on low for 5 hours. Baste the ham with the cooking juices every hour to keep it moist and flavorful.
- Once the ham is fully cooked and heated through, remove it from the slow cooker and place it on a serving platter. Garnish it with fresh herbs if desired. Allow the ham to rest for a few minutes before slicing and serving.
- Serve the slow cooker spiral ham with your favorite side dishes and its cooking juices. Enjoy!
Sarah’s Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
Leftover ham recipes:
You can use your slow cooker to make wonderful soups with the leftovers!
- Enjoy a hearty bowl of Slow Cooker 15 Bean Soup with Ham, perfect for a cozy meal. My Black Eyed Peas Recipe is a festive New Year’s Day treat!
- Slow Cooker Pinto Beans and Ham make a simple, satisfying dish packed with flavor.
- Warm up with comforting Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup with Ham, slow simmered to perfection. Or try my vintage Ham and Potato Casserole which is a one pot meal.
It would be a lot easier to use these recipes if you added a metric converter or put metric by how many cups. We in Europe don’t use these antiquated measures anymore.
Thank you for your comment. I added it to this recipe, sometimes it gets missed.
Or you can do like we do in the US, google the conversion. It’s super annoying for others when recipes are listed in the metric system only. To the author, kudos on your patience.
Excellent recipe! So full of flavor, was perfect for my Christmas Day dinner. Will make again, thank you!
Seems to taste really tasty!!!
i followed the recipe exactly, hope that the sweet potatoes are cooked at the end of 6 hrs.
I love your recipe’s cause i can make them and go about my business.
I used this recipe with a few variations for Thanksgiving
My family said it was the best one ever!!!
SO great to hear!
I can’t stand “sweetened” ham. I like smoked hams much better, ditto for bacon. You can still serve it with all that other stuff (cabbage or fried onions, etc) but I would never cook them all together. I know one lady who cooks her ham every year with a bottle of coke poured over it. Oh yuk! What a waste of a good ham, if you are SURE you are buying an AMERICAN HAM, not a chinese ham. I buy only Cure 81 Ham, smoked. Make sure you aren’t getting the honey ham. I don’t like pre-sliced ham because sometimes it gets awfully dried out if you don’t cover it really well with foil and wrap it for about 1/2 hour after baking. I also like to make my gravy with the ham drippings in the bottom of the pan.