This Slow Cooker Ham with Peach Thyme Glaze is an easy way to feed a large group for your holiday meal. This tender, slow cooked ham is topped with a sweet and tangy glaze made with peach preserves and fresh thyme.
This Slow Cooker Ham with Peach Thyme Glaze is a gorgeous centerpiece for a holiday meal. That sticky glaze with little specks of peach make this ham downright irresistible.
When I’m planning a menu to feed a good sized group for the holidays, or for any occasion when I’ve got lots of folks to feed, I almost always include a ham. While you can always go with an oven method, like my Maple Glazed Spiral Ham, this slow cooker ham frees up oven space for your side dishes or a second entrée. My oven is typically packed full when I cook for a group so this is a huge bonus.
Slow cooker ham is incredibly easy to prepare, quite economical, and usually provides some really great leftovers. Yay for leftovers! They give us an excuse to laze around the next day, eat ham sandwiches and make Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup.
Ingredient Notes
- Fully-cooked bone-in spiral ham – You want a 6 to 8 pound ham for the best fit in a 6-quart slow cooker. If your ham is larger, see the tips below for how to make it work.
- Butter
- Fresh thyme leaves – Just use your fingers to pull the leaves off the woody stalks.
- Peach preserves – Any store-bought brand you love. If you are a home canner, this recipe is an excellent way to use your homemade preserves.
- Brown sugar
- Mustard – Either Dijon or stone-ground mustard.
- Apple cider vinegar – Adds a little tang to offset the sweetness from the peach preserves and brown sugar.
- Ground cloves
How to Make Glazed Slow Cooker Ham
The Peach Thyme Glaze
- Start by melting a couple of tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan and then add a good heaping tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves.
- Allow it to simmer until the butter is nice and golden in color and the thyme is very fragrant.
- Add the mustard, peach preserves, brown sugar, some apple cider vinegar, and a touch of ground cloves. Sweet, tangy, smoky, and fabulous!
- Simmer the glaze for just a minute or two, remove it from the heat, and set it aside.
Slow Cooker Glazed Ham
- Place your spiral cut ham flat side down in your 6 to 7 quart slow cooker. Pour about ¾ of the glaze over the top of the ham.
- Cover the slow cooker and cook on Low for 3 to 4 hours or until the ham is warmed through and the internal temperate reaches 140 degrees F when measured with an instant read meat thermometer. Cover and refrigerate the remaining glaze for later.
To ensure your spiral sliced ham will not dry out, baste it with the cooking liquid about once every hour during the cooking time.
Broil and Glaze
- Remove the ham from the slow cooker and transfer it to an oven-safe baking dish or roasting pan. Transfer it to a low rack under your oven broiler for just a few minutes, until the edges of the ham are slightly browned and crisped.
- Remove the ham from the oven and brush it all over with the remaining glaze. If the refrigerated glaze has thickened too much, warm it in microwave to loosen it up a bit.
What Kind of Ham Works Best in a Slow Cooker?
I recommend using a bone-in ham for the best result in a slow cooker. The bone helps keep the ham moist and also imparts better flavor than you’ll get with a boneless ham. The cut I go with most frequently is a spiral cut half ham, specifically a Kirkland Hickory Smoked Spiral Ham from Costco. They come fully-cooked and sliced so it’s just a matter of warming it through in the slow cooker. Most other cuts of of fully-cooked ham including whole unsliced hams, boneless, and either cured or uncured will also work with this recipe.
Most hams come with a glaze packet but I opt to make my own glaze from scratch. Check your local big box store for a variety of hams at a great price.
What Size Ham Fits in a Slow Cooker?
A ham in the 6 to 8 pound range will fit comfortably in an oval 6-quart or larger slow cooker. If you get home from the store and find that your ham is too large and the cover won’t fit on your slow cooker, just cover the ham with a sheet of heavy duty foil or two layers of regular foil and crimp it around the edges of the slow cooker insert.
How Much Ham Do I Need?
You should plan for about ½ pound of bone-in ham per person. If you know you want a lot of leftovers you might want to figure up to ¾ pound per person. This should be plenty to feed your group with lots of leftovers.
Storage Tips
Transfer leftover ham to a zippered plastic storage bag or other airtight container and refrigerate. Refrigerated leftover ham should be used within 3 to 4 days or frozen for longer storage. To freeze leftover ham, place it in a a freezer-safe plastic storage bag and freeze for up to 2 months.
Reheating Leftover Slow Cooker Ham
- Oven – Place as much of the leftover ham as you need in an oven-safe baking dish. Cover it with foil and bake at no more than 300 degrees F until warmed through.
- Microwave – I recommend setting your microwave to 50% power to cook the leftover ham just until warmed through and avoid drying it out.
- Stove – You can also quickly brown individual slices of ham in a skillet on stove over medium heat.
What to Serve with this Slow Cooker Ham Recipe
- Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes
- Scalloped Potatoes
- Bourbon Glazed Carrots
- Creamy Cauliflower Gratin
- Baked Macaroni and Cheese
- Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic, Goat Cheese and Walnuts
Slow Cooker Ham with Peach Thyme Glaze
Equipment
Ingredients
- 6 to 8 pound fully-cooked bone-in spiral cut quarter or half ham see Notes section below
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves just use your fingers to pull the leaves off the woody stalks
- 13 ounce jar peach preserves
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- ¼ cup Dijon or stone-ground mustard
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
Instructions
- Spray a 6- to 7-quart oval slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray. Remove the ham from the packaging and place it flat side down in the prepared slow cooker.
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan over LOW heat. Add the thyme and simmer for several minutes until golden and fragrant. Add the remaining glaze ingredients and stir well to combine. Simmer for another minute or two and then remove from the heat and set aside.
- Pour about ¾ of the glaze over the top of the ham, cover the slow cooker, and cook on LOW for 3 to 4 hours or until the ham is warmed through and has reached an internal temperature of 140 degrees F. Cover and refrigerate the remaining glaze for later. Baste the ham with the cooking liquid about once an hour during the cooking time.
- Remove the ham from your slow cooker and transfer it to an oven-safe baking dish or roasting pan.
- Preheat your oven to BROIL. Transfer the baking dish with the ham to a low rack under your oven broiler for just a few minutes, until the edges of the ham are slightly browned and crisped. Remove from the oven and brush all over with the remaining glaze. If the refrigerated glaze has thickened too much, warm it in microwave to loosen it up a bit.
- Transfer the ham to a cutting board to slice and place on a serving platter.
Notes
- Oven – Place as much of the leftover ham as you need in an oven-safe baking dish. Cover it with foil and bake at no more than 300 degrees F until warmed through.
- Microwave – I recommend setting your microwave to 50% power to cook the leftover ham just until warmed through and avoid drying it out.
- Stove – You can also quickly brown individual slices of ham in a skillet on stove over medium heat.
Nutrition
Leftover Ham Recipes
This post was originally published December 8, 2016. It has been republished with new text and images.
The post Slow Cooker Ham with Peach Thyme Glaze appeared first on Valerie's Kitchen.