Several years ago I spent a small fortune on a spiral cut, honey glazed ham. I was so excited to serve it up for Christmas. It was going to be epic! It was going to be stellar! The compliments would come rolling in! I would be legend for my culinary skills! I have to confess, it was the driest, tasteless, worst ham I have ever served to my family. What a colossal disappointment! What a total waste of my hard earned money!!!
The ham my parents served up during the holidays was always delectably moist, tender and juicy. What was their secret? Skip the overpriced spiral cut hams and get the inexpensive hams that are on sale during the holidays.
The refrigerated case is filled with a huge variety of hams during the holidays. You would think the more expensive hams would be better, but you would be WRONG! The inexpensive hams, that are usually on sale for around a $1.29 a pound during the holidays are actually the tastiest, most flavorful and juiciest hams.
Look for the bone in, cut in 1/2 hams that are vacuum sealed in thick plastic. Try to get a butt end ham instead of a shank end. Pound for pound the butt end has a smaller bone and more meat. You want to pay for the meat not a big bone, right?
Be sure to get a ham on the bone. It will have so much more flavor than a boneless ham, plus you can use that bone to make this most flavorful Split Pea Soup after the holidays. This is my absolute favorite left-over, make-over, slow cooker recipe! Rich and thick and wonderfully creamy…oh so good!!!
I typically roast ham in the oven. I just place it in a roasting pan, add water and cover with foil. Bake it until it is heated all the way through and serve. You end up with a tender, moist and juicy ham. Couldn’t be any easier than that, right? But this year I wanted to kick it up a few notches and add a little more holiday flavor.
This recipe is almost as easy as roasting a ham in the oven. A few extra, simple steps produces a really spectacular treat and is well worth the effort!
Cooking up a ham in a slow cooker is genius! It keeps the ham moist and juicy and frees up your oven to cook all the delicious sides that accompany your holiday meal. Let’s face it, the oven is valuable real estate during the holidays. Any recipe that frees up the oven is worth a go!
Because we are slow cooking the ham, a little planning is needed. You will need to get the ham going early in the day so it will be ready when you want to eat.
Start by making the glaze for the ham.
Combine the dijon mustard, honey, brown sugar, Horseradish and Worcestershire sauce. Cover and keep it in the fridge until the ham is heated through. This will save you a lot of time at the end when you are getting all the food ready for the table.
Next gather together the ingredients for the slow cooker that the ham will cook in. This will infuse some flavor into the ham as it cooks in the slow cooker and help to keep it nice and moist.
Place onion, smashed garlic cloves, apple cider vinegar, orange juice and 10 whole cloves in the bottom of a slow cooker and stir to combine.
Next prepare the ham by trimming off the tough outer skin with a sharp knife.
Once you have removed the outer skin use the tip of a sharp knife to score the ham in a crosshatch pattern.
Place the ham the bottom of the slow cooker on top of the onion mixture, flat side down.
Cover and cook ham on low for for 3-5 hours. Hams are fully cooked, so we just want to make sure the ham is heated all the way through.
Check with a meat thermometer, it should be heated to about 150 to 160 degrees. We are still going to cook it a little longer in the oven.
Once ham is heated all the way through, remove it from the slow cooker and transfer it to an oven safe roasting pan.
Pick out the whole cloves from the juices in the bottom of the slow cooker and use an immersion blender to purée the cooking juices.
Pour the puréed the cooking juices into a sauce pan and add the reserved glaze that you prepared earlier. Stir it to combine.
Bring the mixture to a rolling boil and boil it, stirring frequently until sauce thickens, about 10-15 minutes. Be patient, this will take a while.
TIP: If you have trouble getting the glaze to thicken, add a cornstarch slurry (made with 2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 3 tablespoons water) to the saucepan as you simmer the glaze .
Baste the ham with ½ the glaze.
Bake the ham in a 350° oven, for 15 minutes. Baste ham a second time with the remaining glaze and bake for another 15 minutes or until glaze has caramelized.
Remove ham from the oven and allow it to rest for 15 minutes before slicing it.
Slice ham and place on a large platter. Garnish platter with sprigs of fresh rosemary to serve.
My guests all agreed that this was hands down the best holiday ham I have ever served! Packed with flavor, juicy and tender, everything that makes a really good, outstanding ham!
I can’t wait to use the leftovers to make some ham and cheese sammies!!!
Slow Cooker Honey Mustard Glazed Ham
Equipment
- Slow cooker
Ingredients
- ½ butt end ham, bone in
- 1 onion, chopped
- 10 cloves garlic, smashed
- 10 whole cloves
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup dijon mustard
- 1 cup orange mango juice
- ½ cup honey
- ½ cup dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 tbsp Horseradish
Instructions
- Place onion, garlic, apple cider vinegar, orange juice and whole cloves in the bottom of a slow cooker large enough to hold the ham. Stir to combine.
- Trim off the tough outer skin from ham with a sharp knife, then score the ham in a crosshatch pattern.
- Place ham, cut side down in the slow cooker.
- Cook ham on low for for 4-6 hours. Until heated through.
- When the ham is heated through, remove it from the slow cooker and place in an oven safe roasting pan.
- Pick out whole cloves from the juices in the bottom of the slow cooker.
- Use an immersion blender to purée the cooking juices
- Pour the liquid into a sauce pan.
- Add the dijon mustard, honey, brown sugar, Horseradish and Worcestershire sauce to the puréed cooking juices.
- Bring mixture to a boil and boil it, whisking frequently until sauce thickens, about 10-15 minutes. Be patient, this can take a while. Be sure to bring the glaze to a good rolling boil.
- Once the glaze has thickened, baste the ham with ½ the glaze.
- Bake glazed ham in a 350° oven, for 15 minutes.
- Remove ham from the oven and baste with remaining glaze.
- Bake glazed ham for another 15 minutes or until glaze has caramelized.
- Remove from oven and allow ham to rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing.
- Slice ham and place on a platter. Garnish platter with sprigs of fresh rosemary to serve.
Notes
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