Crockpot Ham – WellPlated.com

As the vacations strategy, an all-important query looms: will you make turkey or will you make ham this 12 months? For these of you on Crew Ham, this Crockpot Ham recipe is the best, most scrumptious method to prepare dinner ham for a crowd. Even when you’ve by no means made a vacation ham earlier than, this recipe received’t allow you to down!

Why You’ll Love This Easy Crockpot Ham Recipe

• It’s Ham, Ma’am. Or sir. Anyway, the purpose is: ham is scrumptious—savory, candy, succulent, and salty. With this crockpot ham recipe, you’ll get all that deliciousness with none of the stress. We’re speaking 5 minutes of prep time right here!
• Set It and Neglect It. A lot of the nervousness concerned in vacation entertaining is the psychological Tetris it’s important to play when determining what must go within the oven and when and at what temperature. Enter: crockpot ham. Like Crockpot Pork Roast, the ham frees up beneficial actual property within the oven and because it’s a principally hands-off recipe, your time is free to make your sides (or sip on an Apple Cider Cocktail along with your visitors).
• Travels Effectively. Heading to Friendsgiving or one other gathering the place the oven is occupied? This gradual cooker ham solves that downside.
• Leftovers for Days. Use the leftover ham to make sandwiches for lunch, or add Gradual Cooker Ham and Bean Soup, Ham Casserole, and Scalloped Potatoes and Ham to your meal plan for the week after the vacation.
• Good for Particular Events. Ham, together with turkey, is a staple for a lot of vacation celebrations. The strain is on once you’re selecting a ham recipe to make for household and buddies, however relaxation assured: this ham recipe with a brown sugar glaze will elicit these excited oohs and ahhs and all of the compliments. 

What You Must Know When Buying Ham

If that is the primary 12 months you’re making ham for the vacations, you may not know the place to start out. There are such a lot of choices!

• Metropolis ham is the brined number of ham. Most hams bought in the USA are metropolis hams.
• Nation hams are hung to dry; they’re cured with a dry rub and can also be smoked. Consider this because the American equal of Serrano ham or prosciutto.
• Recent hams are uncooked; whereas metropolis ham and nation ham might be eaten chilly or warmed to a secure temperature, contemporary hams should be cooked.

Plan to buy a metropolis ham for the vacations. You should purchase a complete ham or a half ham.

Right here’s a primer that will help you make your buy.

1. Keep away from Hams Which might be Injected With Saline Answer. Metropolis hams are brined considered one of two methods: soaking the ham in saltwater for a number of days or injecting brine straight into the meat to expedite the brining course of. Greater high quality hams are submerged in brine, slightly than injected.
2. Keep away from Canned Ham, Too. Canned ham is made by urgent and forming scraps right into a can-shaped loaf. Evidently, that is not the ham you wish to serve for the vacations.
3. Select Bone-In Ham. Boneless ham is best to chop, however leaving the bone in helps preserve the ham moist and flavorful, so it’s price the additional effort. Plus you should use the ham bone for Immediate Pot Break up Pea Soup!
4. Spiral vs. Complete Ham. Spiral hams are extremely popular for the vacations as a result of they’re already pre-cut. Handy! Sadly, being pre-cut makes them vulnerable to drying out.

For this recipe, we’ll use a bone-in ham.

How you can Make Crockpot Ham

The Substances

• Cooked Bone-In Ham. Don’t use spiral-cut ham, as it would dry out within the gradual cooker.

• Liquid. To maintain your ham moist. Dry white wine, apple juice, or water will all work.
• Glaze. I like to recommend my Straightforward Brown Sugar Ham Glaze, which supplies this crockpot ham the basic sweet-and-savory taste everybody loves.

The Instructions

1. Lower. Rating the ham diagonally left to proper, then proper to left, making a diamond crisscross sample.

2. Add the Liquid. Pour the wine or juice right into a 6-quart or bigger oval gradual cooker. 

3. Add the Ham. Cowl and prepare dinner till the ham is heated utterly by and reaches 140 levels F on an instant-read thermometer.

4. Glaze. On the finish of the cooking time, put together the glaze. Switch the ham to a chopping board and brush with the glaze combination.

5. End. Make Ham Gravy, if desired. Slice, serve, and ENJOY!

Storage Suggestions

• To Retailer. Retailer leftover crockpot ham in an hermetic storage container within the fridge for 3 to five days.
• To Reheat. Reheat ham within the microwave, or place it in a baking dish with just a few tablespoons of water, broth, or inventory; cowl and reheat in a 325 diploma F oven till the ham reaches an inner temperature of 165 levels F.
• To Freeze. You possibly can freeze leftovers in an hermetic container or zip-top freezer bag. Thaw within the fridge, then reheat based on the directions above.

What to Serve with Crockpot Ham

Recipe Suggestions and Tips

• Don’t Overcook the Ham. Because it’s already cooked, it simply must be warmed by and infused with taste. This is without doubt one of the most typical errors folks make when cooking ham for the vacations! A 5 pound ham takes about 5-7 hours within the gradual cooker to prepare dinner.
• Use a Meat Thermometer. That is one of the simplest ways to make sure that your ham has reached the correct inner temperature. For the reason that ham is already cooked, plenty of the visible cues we use for doneness now not apply. Plus, totally different sized hams will want totally different quantities of time to succeed in a secure 140 levels F.
• Don’t Use a Spiral Ham. Whereas they might be handy for serving, they’ve a a lot greater probability of drying out within the gradual cooker.
• Make Sufficient Crockpot Ham for Everybody. Questioning how a lot ham to make per particular person? Plan for about 1/3 to 1/2 pound of ham per particular person for bone-in ham. Some sources even advocate as a lot as 3/4 pound per particular person, so if your loved ones has massive appetites, you’re serving extra adults than youngsters, otherwise you need leftovers, preserve that in thoughts!