Slow Cooker Glazed Ham

Why This Recipe Works

Easy holiday recipe — I don’t know about you, but when Thanksgiving rolls around my head is spinning with all the dishes I want to make, their ingredients, and getting the timing down so that everything comes out on time. With this easy slow cooker glazed ham, all I have to do is set it and forget it for 4-6 hours. That means I can put it on right after lunch and it’ll be ready by dinner time. 

This ham waits for you — Even if your ham is done before you’re ready to eat, that’s okay! You can put your slow cooker on “keep warm” and the ham will be cooked, warm, and ready when you are. 

6 ingredients — Yep, you read that right, 6 ingredients is all you need to make a juicy, yummy slow cooker glazed ham for Thanksgiving. It can’t get much easier than that. 

So delicious — This ham is so juicy and delicious. I’m telling you the Dr. Pepper is what makes it so tasty and the sugars help it caramelize together with the brown sugar. Plus, after you slice it, you just spoon any remaining sauce right over the top so you get lots of that yummy flavor on every piece of juicy ham. Yummmm.

Ingredients

• Fully cooked ham — Any size ham will work with this recipe, so long as you have a slow cooker large enough for it.
• Brown sugar — I prefer dark brown sugar but if you only have light brown sugar that’ll work too.
• Honey — Any old regular honey is good here. 
• Spicy brown mustard — You don’t have to use spicy mustard if you’re not the spicy type, but you can also use regular (non-spicy) mustard if you like. 
• Dr. Pepper — You only need half a can of Dr. Pepper in this recipe (using a small ham). If you go overboard, you’ll end up oversaturating the flavors with too much liquid. 
• Maple syrup — Because we’re just going for maple syrup flavor here, it’s okay to use the artificial kind rather than the natural maple syrup.

Here’s How You Make It

Alright so this ham. Seriously so easy to make. simply toss (okay set it) it into the slow cooker with a bit of water to keep it from scorching, then cover it and cook on low for about 6 hours. About an hour for serving you whip up the sauce, pour it over the ham, and let it cook for another 30 minutes. But I guess you want more details than that so here goes:

1. First, score the ham with a sharp knife. Do this by cutting lines into the ham in a criss-cross pattern. They only need to be about an 1/8th of an inch deep. 
2. Then, add about 1 inch of water into the bottom of the slow cooker and add the ham. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours.
3. About an hour before you’re ready to serve the ham, you should prepare the sauce. Do this by whisking together all the sauce ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring it to a boil, then reduce it to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes longer. Take the sauce off the heat and let it sit to thicken, about 5-10 minutes.
4. Drain the water and the ham juices from the slow cooker, then pour the sauce over the ham inside the slow cooker, making sure to cover the whole ham. 
5. Add the lid back on and allow the ham to cook for another 30 minutes. When time is up, take the ham out and place it on a serving dish. Slice the ham and spoon the remaining sauce from inside the slow cooker right over the ham. Serve it nice and warm and enjoy!

Expert Tips & Tricks

• This recipe works for a very small ham, about 2 pounds to a very large ham that will feel a big group. If you are making a ham that’s way larger, like around 7-8 pounds, you’ll need to definitely double the sauce recipe.
• This slow cooker glazed ham will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days. I don’t recommend freezing it with the glaze on. If you want to freeze the ham, I would freeze it unglazed and add the glaze to the ham after thawing/reheating.