The Best Crockpot Ham Recipe

This pineapple Crockpot ham recipe is sweet, tender, and delicious. Cooks on it’s own in your slow cooker and is ready when you are. If you loved our Ninja Foodi ham with a pineapple glaze but want to make it low and slow all day long, this is perfect for holidays!

Crockpot Ham with Pineapple

Ham is such a great holiday dinner idea. It is packed with protein, inexpensive, and provides not only dinner for the 5 of us but we can make our leftover ham recipe with it too for 2 meals in one. Typically if you buy a ham in the grocery store it is a half ham and it is already sliced, not ours.

If I have my choice I will buy spiral sliced, so I don’t have to cut it on my own. Another thing is the sugar and juices can get in between each piece and really get it to soak in nicely. Any and all of the precooked ham versions work though.

FIRST – You should sign up for my free newsletter so you get new posts emailed to you twice a week and never miss out on anything! Let’s talk a little bit about slow cooking shall we?? First off I have a few different varieties and I love them all. Each one has an occasion to be used like….

1. This is my favorite 6 quart programmable one with a locking lid so it’s great for bringing to a potluck too.
2. If you just want to serve a few appetizers you should get this one that sit side by side one another.
3. I prefer not to use liners, but rather just spray olive oil inside before adding my food for easier cleanups.

Let me give you a peek of my pretty thang I bought recently. It goes with my kitchen so I can just leave it out on the countertop all the time. 😉

How to Cook a Precooked Ham in a Slow Cooker

This year we moved to Idaho and out here a lot of people purchase meat from the local farms around the city. We too bought an entire pig and the hams we got were quarter hams. This came unsliced. I would suggest slicing it thinly like a spiral sliced ham to get each layer hot. I did this on later attempts.

Smoked however is my favorite type if I have it or can find one. It comes with a lot of flavors and seasonings already so you don’t have to add much, other than sweet. If you are allergic to pineapple you could certainly use canned peaches with the juice instead, or something similar.

I mean beyond that you just throw it all in. If your piece is too large you may need to trim it down a bit to fit. Mine had a bit on the end that I shaved off and just kept on the side to slice for lunchmeat.

Crockpot Ham with Coke

Another option to add sweetness and without brown sugar or the fruit would be to use a can of coca cola. Seriously, we do the same thing with our Crockpot ribs recipe. We have also done this with soda and sugars made into a sauce with our Coca Cola ham recipe here.

If you find a really large hunk on sale go ahead and buy that. Slice it in half to make this and then you can use the other to make;

• The other half I used to make this Instant Pot ham that turned out amazing in just 10 minutes!
• Bourbon glazed ham takes longer but our brown sugar bourbon glaze makes it over the top for sure.
• I also tried a dutch oven ham which was beyond amazing

If you have a pressure cooker I would recommend trying that method as well. It allows you to cook everything in one pot, thicken the glaze afterward, and it is super quick.

BUT….I do like having several methods of cooking depending on the occasion. Making this crockpot ham recipe does allow you to cook a piece that is a bit larger. This particular piece wouldn’t have fit inside my 6 qt. Instant Pot so there’s that.

Why would you cook your ham in your slow cooker?

• You don’t have to heat up your house by turning on your oven
• During the holidays it frees up your oven for all your side dishes
• You can leave it unattended if you’re leaving for the day

It’s a bit easier than the oven version as there’s no wrapping in foil

Small Ham in Slow Cooker

Here’s a top and side shot of our crockpot ham when it was done.

• Baste ham in the Crock once or twice if possible throughout the cooking process
  • It will create a moister ham
  • Use a small measuring cup to scoop the pineapple juices at the bottom, and just pour on top of your ham
• Use a holiday ham that isn’t cut
  • I think it creates a moister ham overall in the end
• When it is done only cut the pieces you will eat immediately

If you have leftovers they will stay moister in the fridge if it is not cut until it is ready to be used/eaten

You can see here is our ham once I took the top off after it was done, the photo above it was right after it was basted. You can see the difference in how moist the outside is (the best part if you ask me).

Crockpot Ham with Pineapple and Brown Sugar

If you’re not a fan of pineapple you can make your own type of ham glaze that uses orange juice as the base that is wonderful as well. Once you’re slow cooker ham is done you can baste once again, slice and serve immediately or thicken your ham glaze over the stovetop with a bit of cornstarch. Totally up to you.

1. Crockpot – I used an 8 quart
2. Quarter ham – bone in ham, fully cooked smoked ham
   1. half ham is too large to fit
   2. ours wasn’t spiral cut
   3. if you have a spiral ham the cook time would likely be less
3. Brown sugar
4. Can of pineapple slices chunks – or tidbits
5. Honey

Cloves – whole, these are optional of course. And we’re done!! It’s the best way to bake a ham.

Low carb Crockpot ham

The main reason we love this is it stays so moist AND you save oven space when you have side dishes that need to be baked. In just 3-4 hours you too can see how yummy this is. Grab a boneless ham and try it yourself.

If you have leftover ham you should dice it up and put it into our crockpot corn chowder for another meal. If you want to try another method next year, try our smoked ham recipe too.

How to Slow Cook a Precooked Ham

Put your precooked ham inside your slow cooker. We had a quarter ham that fit nicely, if you have a really large crockpot you may be able to cook a half ham in it. In a small bowl mix together your cup of brown sugar and 3/4 cup of pineapple juice. Pour this on top of your ham.

1. Push your whole cloves in (optional).
2. Pour 1 cup of pineapple chunks or tidbits on top of your ham, drizzle your honey on top and close your lid.
3. If cooking a quarter ham like we did set for 3-4 hours on low until it is warmed in the center (remember it is already cooked).
4. If cooking a half ham (assuming you can fit that) cook on low for 6-8 or until warmed to your liking.
5. Basting half way thru the cooking process with the juices at the bottom is the best way to do it to keep it moist.
6. Check temp. in middle. USDA recommends it reaches 145 F before consuming.
7. Slice and serve drizzled with pineapple sauce in slow cooker. If you want to thicken the sauce you can dump sauce (without pineapple chunks) into a small pan on your stovetop.

Take some liquid out and whisk it together with 1-3 tbsp of cornstarch in a small bowl. Dump this back into your pot and allow to bubble until it thickens to your liking, then serve this on the side For some leftover ham recipes you should try our:

• Ham and cheese breakfast bites are a great choice.
• Crockpot split pea soup recipe takes rock hard peas to tender and perfect at the end of the day.
• If you have more to use up, try our creamy Crockpot ham and potato soup.

Slice it and enjoy.