How to Make Ham in a Crock-Pot — An Easy Two-Ingredient Recipe

‘Tis the season for ham — but you know how sometimes you are cooking for a crowd and want to make a ham and a turkey? Or how sometimes you’re running last minute errands and won’t be home long enough to let a ham heat through in the oven before dinner time?

Never fear: Here’s how to make ham in a Crock-Pot! Your trusty slow cooker saves the day (yet again), leaving the oven free for other purposes.

I only make ham a couple of times a year, waiting for it to go on sale at the holidays (or on clearance after). Usually when I do, however, I use this slow cooker method; it makes even the super cheap shank ham (like the one I had here) taste great, but is also just gorgeous for spiral cut.

You’ll want to use a larger slow cooker for this recipe, and a 6-7 quart Crock-Pot will be optimal. Even though your ham may still be a bit too tall to fit nicely, never fear — I’ll show you what to do!

How to Make Ham in a Crock-Pot — An Easy Two-Ingredient Recipe

Ingredients

7-11 lb ham portion
Brown sugar

Directions

Add a thin layer of brown sugar to the bottom of your slow cooker. Place the ham on top of the brown sugar, cut side down. Sprinkle additional brown sugar across the top of the ham.

Cover the Crock-Pot. If the ham is too tall to fit completely inside, make a tinfoil hat for it by layering a couple of pieces of tinfoil across the top of your slow cooker and crimping around the edges to completely cover. Lay a dish towel on top of the foil to help keep it weighed down and prevent heat from escaping.

Cook ham on low for 5-6 hours. Flipping the ham over and basting halfway through will help prevent it from drying out on top, but it’s not strictly necessary.

That’s it! Carve your ham (reserving the ham bone to make broth for soup tomorrow — like this leftover ham soup with kale, maybe), trim fat, and serve.

Note: Two ingredients is really all you need for a tasty ham (and all I used here), but if you’d like you can either add in some canned pineapple, or make a brown sugar-mustard-honey glaze rather than using straight brown sugar. My ham here cooked for 5.5 hours and was perfectly done, but I did lose heat by opening the foil to flip it halfway through.

That was easy

There’s enough going on this season, so why make things more difficult than they have to be? Stick with simple, and simply enjoy your two ingredient slow cooker ham. 🙂

How to Make Ham in a Crock-Pot, printable recipe

Print Pin

5 from 1 vote

How to Make Ham in a Crock-Pot

Here's how to make ham in a Crock-Pot! Your trusty slow cooker saves the day (yet again!), leaving the oven free for other purposes.

Course dinner

Total Time 6 hours

Servings 10

Author Rachel Singer

Ingredients

• 7-11 lb ham portion
• Brown sugar

Instructions

• Add a thin layer of brown sugar to the bottom of your slow cooker. Place the ham on top of the brown sugar, cut side down. Sprinkle additional brown sugar across the top of the ham.
• Cover the Crock-Pot. If the ham is too tall to fit completely inside, make a tinfoil hat for it by layering a couple of pieces of tinfoil across the top of your slow cooker and crimping around the edges to completely cover. Lay a dish towel on top of the foil to help keep it weighed down and prevent heat from escaping.
• Cook ham on low for 5-6 hours. Flipping the ham over and basting halfway through will help prevent it from drying out on top, but it's not strictly necessary.
• That's it! Carve your ham (reserving the ham bone to make broth), trim fat, and serve.

Notes

Two ingredients is really all you need for a tasty ham (and all I used here), but if you'd like you can either add in some canned pineapple, or make a brown sugar-mustard-honey glaze rather than using straight brown sugar. My ham here cooked for 5.5 hours and was perfectly done, but I did lose heat by opening the foil to flip it halfway through.

More recipes?

*** Find more recipe ideas with the Recipe Search!

Recipes in the real world

And don’t miss the free weekly ALDI meal plans that show you how to use these recipes to meal plan affordably and realistically for your family!