I have been meaning to post this super easy recipe for like… maybe two years now. I am finally getting to this one for those of you prepping for Easter dinner.
I have to tell you I was very skeptical about cooking a ham in the Crock Pot- sometimes the meat gets dried out and I just thought it wouldn’t have the rich flavors of a baked ham.
But this ham recipe is delicious. I have served it many, many times always to great feedback.
So why cook the ham in the Crock Pot? I find I always have so many dishes going for big events, it is nice to free up the oven space. The other issue we run into is the schedule on Easter- with church and egg hunts and such I often need to have everything ready well in advance. In fact this year I am hosting Easter and we will be going straight from Church to our house so fussing for ages with different dishes will not be an option.
Sometimes around the holidays I like to pick up ham on sale and cook it up for a regular weeknight meal or to make sandwiches all week for my husband. It is a breeze with this recipe.
So here ya go! My super simple recipe for Slow Cooker ham. Please note that all Crock Pots will cook at a slightly different time so it is really important you watch your ham in the last hour or two to ensure it doesn’t overcook. I found my ham was slightly overcooked at 6 hours so I prefer to go about 5 hours but the size of your ham and your Crock will make a big difference.
I typically buy bone in ham but I did grab a boneless ham the last time I tried this just to be sure it would still cook properly and taste delicious.
- Bone in or boneless ham (7-8 lb)
- 2 tablespoons Dijon Mustard
- ½ cup pure maple syrup
- 1½ cup brown sugar (separated)
- ½ cup pineapple juice (optional)
- Add about ½ cup of water or pineapple juice to the bottom of the slow cooker. Just enough to cover the bottom of the slow cooker but not actually soak the ham.
- Next add about 1 cup of brown sugar to the water/juice and stir.
- Add the ham into the Crock Pot.
- In a small bowl mix the mustard, syrup and remaining ½ cup brown sugar.
- Coat the ham with the mixture and set to cook for 5 hours on low.
- Add the lid to the Crock Pot and check after 3 hours.
- You might want to quickly baste the ham with the liquid at the bottom of the pan.
- Check again at 4 hours and again at 5 hours.
- Some older Crock Pots or larger size hams might take up to 6 hours to cook.
- Remove ham from crock and allow to rest for about 10 minutes.
- Discard the water at the bottom of the slow cooker.
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A few other little tips- you want to make sure the ham you buy will fit in your Crock Pot so keep that in mind. You may need to trim yours a little bit before popping it in. If you are struggling to get the lid on tightly, you can skip the lid and instead cover tightly with foil and that should work fine.
Also as for the little flavor packet in the ham- I just toss that out. The maple syrup/brown sugar/mustard will have tons of flavor and you will know exactly what is going into your food.
And here are a few other easy Slow Cooker recipes you might enjoy:
Crock Pot Applesauce- so flavorful and no added sugar!
Crock Pot BBQ Chicken Sandwich (with a secret ingredient!)
Charlene,
Do you use a pre-cooked, spiral sliced ham in this recipe or an uncooked one?
Lisa, I use precooked.
The ham sounds delicious