This Small Crock Pot Ham with Brown Sugar Glaze recipe uses Pineapple, a precooked quarter or half ham, and pantry spices to make a perfect holiday ham for a small household or as a second main dish for large holiday feasts.
🐖Ingredients
Small ham—fully cooked boneless quarter or half ham
Honey
Brown sugar
Crushed pineapple
Pantry Ingredients—dry mustard, ground cloves, and cinnamon
Jump To:
- 🐖Ingredients
- 👨🍳How to Cook Crock Pot Ham with Brown Sugar Honey Glaze
- ⏰How long to cook a small ham in a crock pot
- ⬆️Cooking a half ham—adjustments
- 🍴How much ham per person?
- Other Ham and Holiday Meal Recipes
- 🍽️Serving glazed ham
- Storing leftover ham
- ❓FAQs
- 📖 Recipe
- Small Crock Pot Ham with Brown Sugar Honey Glaze
Featured comment from Lois:
"I just made this, and it was so good and juicy…loved the juice. Yum 😋 thanks for the recipe!"
This easy crock pot ham recipe uses a small boneless ham with either a quarter (about 2 pounds) or half (about 4 pounds) ham. The brown sugar and honey glaze combine with the pineapple to make juicy and tasty ham easily in your slow cooker.
Perfect for smaller households at Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter holiday meals. Or as a second main course for larger gatherings. And you won't need to eat ham for a week if you glaze a small ham in a slow cooker.
👨🍳How to Cook Crock Pot Ham with Brown Sugar Honey Glaze
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 1-2 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 top of the pineapple. Pile any remaining brown sugar on top of the ham. Cook for approximately 2 hours 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°. Your time may vary due to the difference in crock pots and the size and thickness of the ham.
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. A half ham (about 4 pounds) will be 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.
⬆️Cooking a half ham—adjustments
You can cook a 4-pound half ham. If it fits in your crock pot, it will work.
Keep pineapple the same and up the other ingredients by about 50%. That should take about 3-4 hours.
🍴How much ham per person?
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 boneless ham is 2 to 2 ¼ 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.
Other Ham and Holiday Meal 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, Quick and Easy Broccoli Cheese Soup, or Fried Rice in 10 Minutes.
Roasted Turkey Breast—The Easy Way
Don't be intimidated by cooking a turkey breast. This simple Roasted Turkey Breast recipe has crispy skin with moist, tender meat. Perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Sunday dinner.t
For other recipes for special meals, check out Small Ribeye Roast, How to Cook a Turkey Breast the Easy Way, and Turkey Tenderloin with Gravy. This recipe is featured in Thanksgiving Recipes, Christmas Recipes, and Easter Recipes roundups.
🍽️Serving glazed ham
Serve with side dishes of Cheesy Potato Casserole, Baked Parmesan Asparagus, Green Beans with Bacon, and 60-minute Dinner Rolls. Finish that special meal with Small Batch Apple Crisp or Berry Crisp for Two or More.
Storing leftover ham
Store the ham and the pineapple with liquid in separate airtight containers. Good refrigerated for 4 days. Or store in the freezer for 2 months.
❓FAQs
Boneless ham comes in two varieties. The first is pieces of ham pressed together. That is canned or deli ham. 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.
They are actual ham with the bone cut out. They are already fully cooked and ready to eat. They come sliced and unsliced. They are brined and salted like bone-in hams, which makes them hard to get wrong.
This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.
Have you tried this recipe, or have a question? Join the community discussion in the comments.
📖 Recipe
Small Crock Pot Ham with Brown Sugar Honey Glaze
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
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 1-2 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 top of the pineapple. Pile any remaining brown sugar on top of the ham. Cook for approximately 2 hours 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°. Your time may vary due to the difference in crock pots and the size and thickness of the ham.
- Remove from crock pot and allow to sit for 5 minutes before slicing. Garnish with some of the pineapple solution.
Your Own Private Notes
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.
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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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.
Laura A
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
Hi Laura,
Welcome to the blog. Glad you are finding it useful.
Have a good holiday.
Dan
JuanitaTaylor Taylor
2.5 ham already slice
Will cook the same
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
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
Could I substitute maple syrup for honey?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Abby,
Welcome to the blog. And that is a definite yes.
Dan
Rita
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Juli
So Dan, for a two pound ham I should cook in crock pot for two hours? But at what setting: low or high?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Juli,
Welcome to the blog.
For a two pound ham, about 2 but up to 3 hours on low. The variance is due to differences between crock pots and the thickness of the ham. Thicker takes longer to get to temperature. At about 2 hours check the temp and spoon some of the pineapple on top.
I clarified the wording a bit in the post and recipe card to help.
Dan
Stacy
Very good!
Cleffy
Make no mistake, that is still mechanically reformed ham.. Pieces of leg and fat pressed together in the same manner as the canned and deli ham you mentioned.
Jena cooks
Buy a Cure 81 spiral cut boneless 3lb ham. Definitely not a pressed ham with lots of fat! It’s the real deal.
anne elfman
Thank you so much for this way to cook a small ham !
Will be cooking it for Easter as I only have 2 or 3 guests
Love your recipes Dr. Dan
A happy holiday to you and yours and also to your beautiful doggies !
Sue Thoma
I have a 5 quart oval crock pot. Do you know about how big a ham will fit in it? I'm planning on using your delicious recipe for Christmas.
DrDan
Hi Sue,
Welcome to the blog.
What will fit in your crockpot is somewhat determined by dimensions. About a 4 pounder would fit in most 5 qt. crock pots.
If you calculate by volume, a 5 qt pat at 60% volume (the most you usually want to go) would be 3 qt. Use 1 qt for the pineapple/brown sugar etc. Then 2 qt left for the meat. There are 2 pints or 4 cup per quart.
A pound of ham will be about 2 cups, so about 4 pounds in the last 2 qt of space we have. So, I'm staying with 4 pounds or slightly bigger. I would use the same amount of pineapple. Up brown sugar and spices by 50%. Paint with the honey (you may need a bit more) It should take an hour or so more. Pay attention to the temperature.
Hope that helps. I have not done a 4 pounder but the above should be about right.
Dan
Deborah
Hi Dr Dan, I have a 2.5 smoked honey ham. Since it’s a honey ham already how would you suggest changing the recipe or do you think it’s ok to keep just the same. Thanks for your thoughts,
DrDan
Hi Deborah,
Welcome to the blog.
That does affect things. It is a bit sweet anyways. So taste the ham and cut back the honey and sugar. If I thought I needed to cut back 1/3, I would cut back 1/2. So overcompensate a little.
Have a good holiday.
Dan
Judy M.
Delicious, easy, & very tasty! Put sweet potatoes (cut-skin on) at the bottom on my 4qt. crock and cooked frozen peas & carrots separately. Fantastic meal!
DrDan
Hi Judy,
Welcome to the blog and sorry for the late reply.
I do like "dolling up" these smaller pieces of ham and making them a little special.
Glad it worked well for you and thanks for the note.
Dan
Amber
I can only find a fully cooked small ham. Will this recipe still work? Thank you so much!
DrDan
This is for the "fully cooked" ham. To my knowledge, that is the only way this small hams are sold.
Dan
Diane
Dr Dan
I made a boneless 3 lb. ham yesterday in my crock pot.......delicious. My question is about the netting and if to remove it or not before cooking or after. I kept it on and removed it after cooking...................just a guess! Which way?
Thanks.
DrDan
Hi Diane,
I would remove any net if it is plastic like. Sometimes you will have a roast with a cotton-like netting and those can be left on. When in doubt, remove it.
Glad it worked well for you.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Robin
Hi there! Wondering...if I wanted to bake mine in the oven how long would you say? I’m thinking of scoring it and baking to get a nice crust. Either way, great recipe! Thanks :)
DrDan
I have never done it but my guess is about 15-20 minutes per pound at 350. It is precooked so you only want to get to 140 internal temp or so. No reason to dry it out. I don't know if that will do much crust.
Kerri
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!
Kim
You are the man Dan!!!
This is exactly what I was looking for down to the last ingredient ha ha. I will be starting my ham soon as it's barely 11am but I want to say thanx so much for posting this and I will think of you at dinner🐷🐷🐷
I❤Ham
DrDan
It was just one of those recipes I had to do. Hope it works well for you.
Dan
Cerwyn
I have a bigger ham to cook. Now exactly sure of the weight but like the normal size ud buy for Easter. What adjustments would I need to make for that? Thank u!!
DrDan
Hi Cerwyn,
I have done these 1/4 hams a couple of times but never bigger. I have a link above to the recipe I modeled that was for a bigger full size ham. Check that out. It, of course, would take longer 4-6 hours. If it is the half which would be about 4 plus pounds I have suggestion above. For the 8-9 pound whole, I would probably just double what I have suggested for the 4 pound. At least as a start. But check that other recipe site though, she has done large hams and I have not...
Dan
Melissa
Can I prep this the night before and then cook in the crock pot the next day?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Melissa,
Welcome to the blog.
The trouble with your plan is that most crockpot have ceramic inserts. They can break when moved from cold (refrigerator) to hot (crockpot).
It is a fast prep. Maybe make up the brown sugar/spice mix tonight. It will only take a few minutes to get it started tomorrow.
Dan
Lois Clements
I just made this and it was so good and juicy...loved the juice.. Yum 😋 thanks for the recipe!
DrDan
Thanks for the note. Exactly what I want the recipe to do.
Dan
Janice S.
Found this recipe last night and made it for our new years dinner today. Didn't have nutmeg or dry mustard so improvised with a little dijon mustard instead. It came out delicious! It's only two of us so we usually don't buy a large ham. This was perfect for the 2 lb. Boars Head that we got. It will be a regular at our house! Thanks so much!
Kendall
Dr Dan! Thank you so much for publishing this recipe. I have been looking for something like this for some time now. Also, you have an amazing BLOG. I just so happened to come across it this morning as I was searching for a Blackened Tilapia recipe (which I will be using yours tonight!). Keep up the great work.... and don't worry, I will not be asking you any questions about my health. ;) Make it a great day!
DrDan
You look healthy from here... Nobody ever reads that...
You will love the tilapia but watch the heat factor.
Thanks for the note
DrDan