Glazed Instant Pot Ham

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Instant pot ham is the juiciest ham you will ever taste! It comes out perfectly moist and sweet with an easy pineapple brown sugar glaze made right inside your instant pot!

I am never making ham in my oven again. Making ham in my pressure cooker was a complete game changer. Not only was it super quick, but the ham came out super moist!

It is also incredibly easy to make ham in the instant pot. You only need a handful of ingredients and about 10 minutes of prep to get your ham warming up in your instant pot in a lovely glaze of brown sugar, maple syrup, and pineapple juice. 

If you’re serving this ham at a fancy holiday meal, it pairs nicely with our recipe for Thanksgiving Fruit Salad.

You may also like: air fryer ham or instant pot spare ribs

How do you heat a fully cooked ham in a pressure cooker?

1. Start by making small slits across your entire ham, about 1 inch apart. They should not be deep – less than 1/4 inch. Next, turn your knife and make slits at a diagonal across the original slits. This is called scoring and allows the juices to penetrate the meat.
2. Cover your ham with pineapple and whole cloves. Use toothpicks to attach the pineapple.
3. Create a foil boat for your ham using two layers of foil.  Make sure the foil is large enough to fold over the top of the ham.
4. Lower your ham into the instant pot on top of a trivet. 
5. Mix together pineapple juice, brown sugar, and maple syrup. Pour it over the ham.
6. Fold the foil over the ham and squish the pieces together so the foil completely covers the ham.
7. Cook on high pressure until warmed (see below for details on calculating cook time).
8. Natural pressure release.
9. Remove the ham from the instant pot. Pour out the water from the bottom of the pot.
10. Carefully open the top of the foil and pour the juices from the ham into the instant pot. 
11. Mix together a cornstarch slurry and whisk it into the juices.
12. Bring the glaze to a boil using the sauté button.
13. Let boil until thickened, about 5 minutes.
14. Pour glaze over ham and serve.
15. Make sure to remove the cloves and pineapple prior to cutting the ham. The pineapple can be served alongside the ham.

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How long to cook instant pot ham?

Here is how to calculate your cook time for ham in the instant pot. Start with a base time of 10 minutes.

If cooking boneless ham, add 2 minutes for every pound. If cooking bone-in ham, add 3 minutes for every pound. Keep in mind that ham is always fully cooked. So you are just warming it.

How big of a ham can I cook in my instant pot?

There is no magic number for ham size in the instant pot. All that matters is if it will fit in your pot.

We cooked a 4 pound boneless half ham in our instant pot. It just barely fit in the 8 quart. If it was a whole ham and still at 4 pounds, it likely would have fit in my 6 quart because it would not have been so wide. 

You aren’t likely to bring your whole instant pot to the store with you to make sure your ham is going to fit, so here is what I suggest. Bring a tape measure, or eye ball it if you are good at estimating lengths.

A 6 quart instant pot has a diameter of 8.5 inches and an 8 quart instant pot has a diameter of 9.25 inches. Use those measurements as your guide. The ham will need to fit inside your instant pot, so it will need to be no bigger than 8 inches (6 quart) or 9 inches (8 quart).

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What kind of ham goes in an instant pot?

We cooked a boneless half ham in our instant pot. Boneless, bone-in, or spiral hams will all be cooked in your instant pot.

It is recommended to serve spiral hams at room temperature as they tend to dry out when warmed. However, the instant pot is great at locking in moisture, so they are less likely to get dried out if heated in a pressure cooker.

What to serve with instant pot ham?

Pressure cooker ham goes well with so many things. Here are a few ideas.

• Roasted Broccoli with Garlic
• Instant pot garlic mashed potatoes
• Roasted root vegetables
• Roasted cauliflower
• Instant Pot Carrots with brown sugar glaze
• Cauliflower mashed potatoes
• Creamy fruit salad
• Parker house rolls

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