Instant Pot Spiral Ham takes your basic ham over the top with a simple six ingredient glaze. Cooking the ham under pressure takes less time and work to prepare a tasty ham dish. It's perfect for a scrumptious holiday feast, Sunday dinner, or a busy weeknight meal.
Since your spiral ham is already cooked, all you really need is an efficient and tasty way for heating a spiral ham and infusing it with flavor. I love the Instant Pot for quickly cooking ham.
As perfect as this instant pot Easter ham is for the spring, it works for other holidays including Christmas and Thanksgiving! You can even enjoy it for weekend dinners or during the week when you need something quick and easy.
Want to explore other ways for easily cooking ham? Try my air fryer ham recipe, Baked Honey Mustard Ham, Bourbon Glazed Ham, Boneless Spiral Ham or this Dr. Pepper ham if you want a dish with a unique flavor.
Why You Will Love This Instant Pot Ham Recipe
- So Quick. From start to finish, you can have dinner ready in just 40 minutes! It requires very little effort to make, leaving you with more time to spend with family and friends.
- A Delicious Ham. Pressure cooking keeps the ham incredibly moist and juicy.
- Short Ingredient List. All you need are a handful in ingredients to make this best spiral ham recipe!
- Frees Up Your Oven. If you struggle with oven space when cooking for a crowd or holidays, this frees it up for all your favorite baked sides and casseroles.
Ingredients
Honey, brown sugar, pineapple and water are all it takes to bring out the very best flavor in your ham.
- Spiral sliced ham: This type of ham works best! Make sure you get a ham that will fit inside your electric pressure cooker! This will vary by the capacity of your instant pot.
- Pineapple: We will be using juice and crushed pineapple to cook with the ham to add flavor and make the ham super juicy. Crushed pineapple makes the sauce chunkier and more pulpy. It's the secret to a much deeper and more enriched flavor profile.
- Brown sugar and honey: Makes the ham sweeter and creates the glaze for ham to flavor the ham.
- Garlic powder: Adds more depth of flavor to sauce for the cooked ham.
For the full ingredient list with measurements, check the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page.
Variations
- Orange flavor instead. You can use orange juice and mandarin oranges or fresh orange slices instead of the pineapple juice and crushed pineapple.
- Maple ham. Use pure maple syrup instead of honey for a slightly different flavor of sweetness.
- Add some spice! Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice are always nice spices to add to ham.
- Savory flavors. If you like savory and sweet you can add some whole grain mustard, garlic, or horseradish to the spiral ham glaze.
How to Cook a Spiral Ham in an Instant Pot
Gather the ingredients and prepare the instant pot by placing the trivet inside of the instant pot and pour 1 ½ cups of water into the bottom.
Step 1: Whisk together the ham glaze. Combine the pineapple juice, crushed pineapple, honey, and brown sugar in a bowl and whisk together. Pour this mixture over the ham, making sure it seeps in between all the slices.
Step 2: Wrap the ham. Wrap the bottom half of the ham with aluminum foil folded like a boat to keep the juices in. Place the wrapped ham inside the Instant Pot on the trivet. Add the pineapple mixture.
Step 3: Cook. Cover with the lid and move the valve to the sealing position. Cook on high manual pressure for 20 minutes and use quick release to let out the pressure.
Step 4: Make the spiral ham glaze. Remove the ham from the Instant Pot being careful to not spill any juice. Set it aside on a plate. Remove all but a quarter cup of ham juice from the insert and add the brown sugar and garlic powder. Cook on the sauté setting, stirring constantly until the mixture becomes a thick glaze.
Step 5: Add the ham glaze. Drizzle or brush the pineapple glaze over the resting pressure cooker ham and serve.
⭐️ TOP TIP: Discard the crushed pineapple before making the final glaze. As you gather the juice from the foil to make the final glaze, run it through a strainer to trap and filter out any pineapple chunks. Keep in mind you'll require about a ¼ cup of the juices for the glaze.
If you love ham for the holidays, try my honey mustard baked ham next!
Storage
- Storing: Place leftover spiral cut ham with some of the juices in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It will last in the refrigerator for 3-5 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
- Reheat: Thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Place ham in an oven-safe baking dish and loosely cover with aluminum foil. Reheat on 275 degrees F at 10-minutes per pound of ham.
Serving Suggestions
Add on a couple sides and you've got an easy dinner ready to go!
- Ham pairs wonderfully with green vegetables like broccoli, parmesan green beans, smoked asparagus, or cabbage in the air fryer.
- And what's a ham dinner without potatoes? From cheesy potato casserole, sweet potato casserole, or mashed potatoes, you just can't go wrong!
- Biscuits or broccoli cornbread are perfect with ham.
- If you prefer something that's cold and you can make ahead, creole potato salad or pasta salad make excellent sides for ham.
- Use the leftovers to make tasty dishes! You can add ham to this sweet potato sheet pan dinner or chop it up to make some ham and cheese pinwheels!
Recipe Tips
- Adding the Water. The Instant Pot needs moisture to operate but it's also the key to a succulent, flavorful ham.
- Wrap the Ham Well in Foil. It's important to trap the pineapple mixture around the ham to infuse it with flavor and keep it moist.
- Use Caution. Take extra care when removing the foil-wrapped ham from the pressure cooker. The inside of the instant pot will be very hot. I recommend wearing protective gloves and be careful to keep the foil securely around the ham to prevent leakage.
Recipe FAQs
Do you have questions about how to make instant pot ham? Here are some of the most commonly asked questions about this instant pot spiral ham recipe.
For this recipe, I recommend a spiral-cut ham. Spiral ham is wet cured and comes fully cooked. It has been partially pre-sliced with a spiral machine, which helps retain its shape. Being partially pre-sliced is an advantage as it takes the guesswork out of measuring each slice while also allowing the pineapple glaze infuse the ham as it cooks.
For a fully pre-cooked ham, cook it on high pressure for 10 minutes to account for the foil, plus an additional 2 minutes per pound of ham.
More Holiday Main Dish Recipes
Ready to get cooking? Remember that you can print this recipe if you would like.
Instant Pot Spiral Ham with Glaze
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 1 4-5 pound spiral sliced ham, thawed
- 1 ½ cups water
- ½ cup pineapple juice
- ½ cup crushed pineapple
- ½ cup honey
- ¼ cup brown sugar
Final Glaze
- ¼ cup cooked ham juice
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Prepare the instant pot by placing the trivet inside of the instant pot and pour 1 ½ cups of water into the bottom.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the pineapple juice, crushed pineapple, honey and brown sugar.
- Using two pieces of foil, wrap the bottom half of the ham to fold a boat for keeping juices in. Place wrapped ham inside the instant pot on the trivet.
- Pour the juices over the ham, making sure it gets in between every slice.
- Cover with the lid and move the valve to sealing position. Cook on high manual pressure for 20 minutes, then quick release the pressure.
- Without spilling the juices, remove the ham from the instant pot and set aside.
- Remove all but a ¼ cup of ham juice from the insert and add the brown sugar and garlic powder. Cook on the saute setting, stirring constantly.
- Once thickened, drizzle and brush all over the ham.
Notes
- Adding the Water. The Instant Pot needs moisture to operate but it's also the key to a succulent, flavorful ham.
- Wrap the Ham Well in Foil. It's important to trap the pineapple mixture around the ham to infuse it with flavor and keep it moist.
- Use Caution. Take extra care when removing the foil-wrapped ham from the pressure cooker. The inside of the instant pot will be very hot. I recommend wearing protective gloves and be careful to keep the foil securely around the ham to prevent leakage.
Nutrition
This post was originally published February 2021. It has been updated with new content.
David says
The ham in the instant pot was delicious! I can’t believe how easy it was to create and boy did it taste great.a total time saver I wish I tried it sooner. Thank you for making ham so much easier to make. Keep up the great work.
Karin and Ken says
Thank you for your kind words. We love this ham recipe too. Glad you tried it. I love how easy ham is to make in an instant pot too! Great minds think alike 😉 All the best. Karin