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Make holiday cooking effortless by preparing a spiral ham in your slow cooker. The ham cooks gently in a homemade glaze, making it ideal for any festive meal.
We also love to make apple and clove ham, or slow cooker ham dinner if we don’t have a spiral hame, all great options!
Table of Contents
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.
Since spiral hams come fully cooked, they simply need to be warmed through. However, given their size, they take some time to heat evenly and absorb the rich flavors of the glaze, creating a perfectly tender and flavorful dish.
What you need:
- 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.
- 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.
- {The full recipe is in the recipe card below the photos}
Variations
- 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!
- 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.
Serving Suggestions:
- Starches that go great with ham are slow cooker cheesy hashbrown casserole, slow cooker baked beans, or slow cooker mashed sweet potatoes.
- Greens that are wonderful with glazed ham are slow cooker green bean casserole, or slow cooker brussel sprouts.
- We also love to make crockpot cornbread bread and crockpot focaccia bread.
Recipe FAQs
It takes hours for the slow cooker to heat up a large ham, and then the exteneded time is to infuse the ham with the glaze, the ham will not dry out in this amount of cooking time.
No, the glaze is plenty of liquid to keep the ham moist.
It’s best to thaw the ham for the cooking time to be accurate. You can use a slightly frozen ham with no issues though.
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.
Leftover ham recipes:
- Slow Cooker 15 Bean Soup with Ham
- Slow Cooker Pinto Beans and Ham
- Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup with Ham
Slow Cooker Spiral Ham
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!
How to Video
Sarah’s Notes
- For added flavor, you can add a few sprigs of fresh herbs such as rosemary, or thyme to the slow cooker along with the other ingredients.
- 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.
- Leftover ham can be used in sandwiches soups or salads.
- 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!
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
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.