This small crock pot ham with a brown sugar glaze is perfect for any occasion. The brown sugar blends with honey, pineapple juice, and spices to create a delicious, moist, and tender glazed boneless ham that is ideal for small households or as a second meat for holidays.
🐖Ingredients
Small ham—fully cooked boneless quarter or half ham
Honey
Brown sugar
Crushed pineapple
Pantry Ingredients—dry mustard, ground cloves, and cinnamon
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Featured Comment by Laura:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"The small crock pot ham came out wonderfully…Everyone was thrilled with the taste. I was thrilled with the extra oven space, this last-minute miracle that helped me out. I will always make my ham this way..."
Learn how to cook your small ham in a crock pot and add an outstanding glaze with only 5 minutes of prep. Using your slow cooker frees up your oven space for another main entree or side dishes. Then, serve using the pineapple drippings as a garnish for extra flavor.
We use this small glazed ham recipe in our "for two" household at Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter holidays. It also works as a second main course for larger gatherings. And by using a quarter or half boneless ham, we don't have to eat ham for a week.
👨🍳How to Cook a Ham in a Crock Pot—Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
1. Brush a quarter boneless ham with a generous amount of honey.
2. Mix the brown sugar with cloves, cinnamon, and dry mustard. Pack the brown sugar mixture on the ham.
3. Move the ham to the crock pot on the crushed pineapple. Cover and cook on low.
4. Every hour while cooking, spoon some of the pineapple juice on top of the ham. Cook for about 2 hours to an internal temp of 140°-150°.
5. Remove from crock pot and allow to sit for 5 minutes before slicing. Garnish with some of the pineapple solution.
For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.
⏰How long to cook a small ham in a crock pot
A quarter ham (2 pounds) should take 2-3 hours on low in a crock pot, and a half ham (about 4 pounds) will take approximately 3-4 hours on low. Cook until an internal temperature of 140°-150°.
Time will vary by the crock pot and the size/thickness of the ham.
🤔Substitutes and options
You can substitute maple syrup or Dijon mustard for the honey.
The crushed pineapple needs to cover the bottom of the crock pot so you can decrease it. You may also substitute pineapple juice.
The ground cloves are optional.
A bit of garlic powder in the brown sugar mixing will also add some flavor.
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⬆️Cooking a half ham—adjustments
You can cook a 4-pound half ham. It will work if it fits in your crock pot without touching the sides.
Keep the pineapple the same and up the other ingredients by about 50%. That should take about 3-4 hours.
🐖Other Ham Recipes
If you don't want leftovers, cook ham for one or two by cooking a ham steak in a skillet or grilling using How to Cook Ham Steak for an excellent glazed taste.
If you have leftovers, try Old Fashioned Scalloped Potatoes and Ham or Easy Egg Fried Rice.
🍽️Serving glazed ham
Serve with side dishes of Cheesy Potato Casserole, Baked Parmesan Asparagus, Green Beans with Bacon, and Quick Dinner Rolls. Finish that special meal with Easy Old Fashioned Apple Crisp or Berry Crisp for Two or More.
❄️Storing leftover ham
Store the ham and the pineapple with liquid in separate airtight containers. They will be good refrigerated for 4 days or stored in the freezer for 2 months.
Reheating leftover ham is easy in a 300° oven covered with aluminum foil.
❓FAQs
Plan ½ pound of boneless ham per person. For a bone-in ham, you should plan for ¾ to 1 pound of ham per person.
A quarter mini boneless ham is 2 to 2¼ pounds, which makes 4 good-sized servings just right for the "cooking for two" household with one meal of leftovers. A half ham will be 8 servings.
Boneless ham comes in two varieties. The first is pieces of ham pressed together, which is canned or deli ham. It is not necessarily bad, but this is not what we are discussing.
The second type of boneless ham will be shaped like an oval and sealed in plastic. You can buy a whole, half, or quarter ham. So great for smaller households that don’t want to eat ham for a week.
Boneless hams are hams with the bone removed. They are already fully cooked and ready to eat, sliced or unsliced. Like bone-in hams, they are brined and salted, which makes them hard to get wrong.
📖The Recipe Card with Step-by-Step Instructions
Small Crock Pot Ham with Brown Glaze
Video Slideshow
Ingredients
- 2 pound boneless ham - quarter fully-cooked
- 1-2 tablespoons honey
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon dry mustard
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- 8 oz crushed pineapple
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Prep a small crock pot with a good coat of PAM cooking spray. Pour an 8 oz of crushed pineapple with the juices into the bottom of the crock pot. Most size crock pots will work as long as the ham fits without touching the sides or lid.
- Brush a quarter boneless ham with a generous amount of honey, about 1 to 2 tablespoons.
- Mix ½ cup brown sugar with ¼ teaspoon of ground cloves, cinnamon, and dry mustard. Pack the brown sugar mixture on the ham.
- Move the ham, cut side down, to the crock pot on the pineapple. Pile any remaining brown sugar on top of the ham. Cover and cook on low.
- Every hour while cooking, spoon some of the pineapple solution on top of the ham and check the temperature. Cook to an internal temp of 140°-150°—about 2 hours. Your time may vary due to the difference in crock pots and the size and thickness of the ham.
- Remove from the crock pot and allow to sit for 5 minutes before slicing. Garnish with some of the pineapple solution.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips:
- Plan about ½ pound of boneless ham per person.
- If you want a 4 pounds half ham, keep pineapple the same and up the other ingredients by about 50%. It should take about 4 hours to cook.
- The crock pot I used was 3.5 quarts. This would be fine in a bigger pot. As long as the ham fits, you are fine.
- You can cut the amount of pineapple in half, but it makes a great topping a the end.
- Good refrigerated for 3-4 days. It should also freeze well for 2 months.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You can adjust the number of servings above; however, only the amount in the ingredient list is adjusted, not the instructions.
Nutrition Estimate (may vary)
Editor's Note: Originally Published March 19, 2016. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
This Recipe Featured in the Easter Recipe Recommendation.
KJill says
Great way to do a ham. I did this yesterday for Easter dinner, prepped the night before and put it in the crock pot dish in the refrigerator overnight. Just popped it in to the heating unit in the morning and went on to other things. I did use honey on the ham but didn't add the brown sugar to the pineapple (doubled with tin of crushed and tin of chunks) mix - we don't love the sweetness and there was enough from the honeyed ham.
Dawn M says
Hi Dan! I have an 8-9 lb whole ham that has the rind or skin completely covering it. Would you suggest cutting it or scoring it prior to putting it in the crockpot so the flavors can reach the meat?
Thanks! And Happy Holidays@
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Dawn,
Welcome to the blog.
All precooked boneless hams seem to have dome rind but if it is thick, nothing will penetrate it so, yes I would do something about it to get flave into the ham. You could score it or partly cut some slices.
Now about the size vs this smaller recipe... I have not cook one over 4 pounds but my recipe is based on several larger recipes. The ham should not take up all the space in the crock pot, so a large crock pot.Cook to the internal temperate in the recipe—probably about 5-6 hours since it is a big chunk of meat.Thoes are my feelings but do some research for bigger ham recipes.
Hope tha helped some.
Dan
Laura A says
Dr. Dan,
The small crock pot ham came out wonderfully. I never like to make a recipe for a group without making it first for myself. But it was Thanksgiving morning and I had to take a chance as I had no oven space. Everyone was thrilled with the taste. I was thrilled with the extra oven space this last minute miracle that helped me out. I will always make my ham this way. The only changes I made to the recipe was to start it at high temperature for half the time, then I reduced it to low. I am at 5,400 feet and it takes more time to get the crock pot at the prescribed temperature.
Looking forward to trying out more of your recipes. Thanks again Dr. Dan.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Laura,
I agree with the trial run on all recipes before important meals but this one is more heating and flavoring.
Glad it worked so well for you. Thanks for the note and rating.
Dan
Laura A says
Thank you for figuring this all out for us. It is Thanksgiving morning and I just realized I have 2 casseroles that have to go in the oven at 400 degrees plus a small ham and a turkey breast that need to be at 325 degrees. I have a larger toaster oven and will put the turkey in that.The casseroles will go in the big oven and the ham will go in the crock pot. I appreciate you figuring this out. I was panicing for awhile. I love your website and I will be a new visitor to it. Thanks again.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Laura,
Welcome to the blog. Glad you are finding it useful.
Have a good holiday.
Dan
Anna McFall says
The small ham recipe was outstanding and so easy. Everyone at Thanksgiving dinner loved it. Thank you for posting these recipes.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Anna,
Welcome to the blog and sorry for the delayed response—all the usually holiday excuses.
I do love this recipe for smaller holiday celebrations. It will make for an economical and easy holiday meal.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
JuanitaTaylor Taylor says
2.5 ham already slice
Will cook the same
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Juanita,
Welcome to the blog.
Yes, the sliced ham will cook the same and the flavors will creep down into the ham more—a good thing.
Dan
Abby says
Could I substitute maple syrup for honey?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Abby,
Welcome to the blog. And that is a definite yes.
Dan
Rita says
I have a 3oz ham I want to cook in a crockpot but don’t know how long to cook it
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Rita,
Welcome to the blog.
I'm assuming you mean 3 pounds not ounces. For 3 pounds, it will be about 2 1/2 to 3 hours to get to an internal temperature of 140°-150°. It will vary some by your crock pot, the shape of the ham and starting temperature of the ham.
Dan
Suzanne says
Hi! I don’t understand when you say “cut side”. The small boneless hams I buy all have a rind all around them, even on the flat bottom. Do you cut the rind off the bottom before putting on the honey or just smear it over the flat bottom, rind and all?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Suzanne,
I'm not sure what you have—there are lots of variations. A whole boneless ham is about 8-10 pounds and is an oblong round tube. A half boneless ham is just cut in half with so just a shorter tube with one flat side. This recipe uses a 1/4 boneless ham so the half is cut the longer way so there is two flat sides with a cross-section being a half circle. See the images in the post.
Now... what to do, not much get through a rind. So you want some ham without rind so some flavor penetrates. So If it is a smaller ham but rind all around, I would suggest removing some of it.
Hope that helps.
Dan
Krissy says
Is it okay for me to place this in the crockpot in the morning 8 am, cook it for the about of time listed, and leave it on warm in my crockpot until dinner time?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Krissy,
Welcome to the blog.
That will not give good results. You can usually "keep warm" for an hour or two but longer will start to effect the texture and the meat will become dry as the fluid in the cells come out. Think if it as eating at a buffet where the meat has be setting for 5-6 hours.
Dan
Kerri says
Can I put a 3lb. in the crockpot in the morning on the timer and then it sit on warm for an additional 6 hours or is that not okay? Thanks!
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Kerri,
I don't see that is a good idea. I can think of several issues. Food safety, I'm not a fan of delayed timers to start cooking. Any food outside of the safety zone (any temp less that 140°) for more then 2 hours should be discarded. With a crockpot, it will take a while to get up to 140 so you can't put much (or any since we don't know) time on the front end.
Modern crockpots should keep the "keep warm" temp about 140-160 but older crockpot and even newer ones frequently have malfunctioning of the thermostats. But assuming it works and keeps the food safety an safety zone. Then you have the issue of effect on the food. It will dry out the cells as all the fluid comes out. You probably noticed this at large gathering where care has been taken to keep the food safe but after a couple of hours... it is not so good.
My personal "keep warm" max is 1 hour if there is pasta involved or 2 hours for meat etc. I think the texture suffers horribly.
So another plan is needed. Perhaps coat the ham and have everything ready to start as soon as you get home. Put it on high and watch the internal temp. Really you are only warming things.
Hope that helps some.
Dan
B says
Hi
I don't have can pineapple , do I need this or can I substitute something else like water?
Thanks
B
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
I would just skip the pineapple and let it just glaze. In step 4 where you spoon the liquid, it there is any then do it but there may not be any. It will be fine.
Dan