Making a spiral ham in crockpot is seriously the best way to make a holiday ham easy, juicy, and simple. It’s so moist and delicious in every bite, you’ll never go back to an oven baked ham again!
Slow cooked with lots of flavor, you can skip the processed seasoning packet that often comes with ham and make our simple no sugar ham “caramel” glaze too.
The crockpot spiral ham is low carb, gluten-free, no sugar, processed ingredient free, paleo and keto-friendly too.
Serve the savory slower cooker ham with cold broccoli salad or cauliflower au gratin to make a healthy and delicious holiday menu with all natural ingredients. It’ll definitely please all of your relatives that might have different dietary needs or food sensitivities.
A printable recipe card is at the bottom of the post!
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Spiral Ham in Crockpot
Why a pre-cooked spiral sliced ham?
It’s pretty much the easiest fancy ham on the market, all the work is done for you and they even toss in a seasoning packet. I always skip the seasoning packet and either serve the ham as is or make my own sweet and savory ham glaze without sugar.
Other than for Thanksgiving, making a spiral ham in the crockpot seems to be our go-to holiday main dish. Not only is it simple, but it’s always a crowd-pleaser and is definitely kid-friendly too. No muss, no fuss and you aren’t taking up valuable oven space.
When we want to make a holiday meal simple, our first instinct is to always cook a slow cooker bone in ham that comes spiral sliced and pre-cooked. Thank you applewood smoked spiral sliced ham from Costco! 😉 Ham always makes a low cost way to feed a crowd.
If we’re having a smaller gathering or want to go a little fancy, then we’ll make something like prime rib, a king salmon filet, or a spruced up pork roast.
Yet, it’s hard to go wrong with a ham and a holiday meal is not the time to mess up the main dish.
Why This Recipe Works
- Slow cooker ham recipes make a holiday main dish as simple as can be, plus they’re inexpensive!
- Buying a pre-cooked, spiral cut ham means an easy dish that you don’t have to worry about overcooking
- Cooking spiral ham in crockpot frees up valuable oven space and give you more time
- Making your own sugar free ham glaze creates a sauce with deep, rich flavors, yet skips the fake sauce packet ingredients
- Because this makes the best crock pot ham recipe!
And even if you accidentally buy a ham that’s larger than your crockpot, we can still help you remedy that situation too! 😉
How Much Ham per Person?
To decide what size ham you should buy for your gathering, you should plan on about 1/2 pound per person for a bone in ham. If you’re serving other main dishes besides the ham you could cut bakc on that a little bit. Personally, I’ll even buy a huge ham cooking for 4 people just so we can freeze leftovers and use them for other dishes.
A 7-8 lb ham seems to be the standard size for the applewood smoked glazed ham from Costco, I know all major grocery stores sell something similar too.
Ingredients for Crockpot Spiral Ham
7-8 lb bone-in spiral sliced pre-cooked ham
Sugar Free Ham Glaze
- 4 T butter
- 1 T cider vinegar
- 1 T Dijon
- 1/4 salt
- 1/4 cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 3 T sweetener (Brown sugar, honey or erythritol brown sugar substitute)
My husband recently started a weight loss diet and is following a keto program, instead of using granulated or brown sugar, we’ve been using a natural monk fruit blend in the place of sugar. The sauce packet that usually comes with the grocery store ham has sugar and other artificial ingredients, if you’re following a low carb or keto diet, you’ll want to be sure to make a keto ham recipe with our low carb ham glaze.
Feel free to use honey or brown sugar as a sweetener if you aren’t necessarily trying to make this is a sugar-free ham.
Cooking Spiral Ham in Crockpot
Prepping the Ham
Preheat your crockpot by turning it on Low.
Remove the ham from the packaging and place into the slow cooker. Gently separate the ham pieces so that when the ham glaze gets drizzled on the ham, it’ll easily drip down in between the ham slices.
Cover the ham and continue with making the ham glaze recipe. This delicious and savory ham glaze can be made either low carb or you can use honey or brown sugar, depending on your personal preferences.
To Make the Sugar Free Ham Glaze
Melt the butter on medium-low heat in a small saucepan. Add 2 tablespoons of your sweetener of choice (Swerve, honey, brown sugar, or erythritol), bring it to a slow simmer, where it’s just starting to bubble. This will take about 2-3 minutes.
Add the apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, cloves, salt, and cinnamon.
Simmer all ingredients on medium-low for 5 minutes, or until the sauce starts to thicken. If it starts to bubble up, then turn down the heat to low. Periodically stir the low carb ham glaze.
Once the glaze is done, drizzle over the top of the unheated ham that’s waiting in the crock pot.
Put the lid back on the slow cooker and cook the crockpot ham for 4-5 hours on low until heated through and it reaches an internal temperature of 145F.
Let the ham rest for a few minutes and then transfer the spiral ham in crock pot to a serving platter. I like to drizzle some of the slow cooker ham pan glaze on the individual ham slices after the ham is finished cooking. Can you really have too much sauce on your holiday ham??
Makes fantastic leftovers for something like a broccoli ham quiche, casserole, or for soup! Be sure to save the ham bone for making a hearty crockpot of savory beans or a bean soup.
There ya have it folks, the best spiral sliced ham in crockpot with a savory no sugar caramel sauce!
Slow Cooker Ham Tips
- Preheat the crockpot on low before you start to prep your ingredients.
- If you like a thinner sauce, you can cook the ham glaze for less than the time mentioned in the recipe. We made ours like caramel.
- You can cook the ham on high temperature for 1.5-2 hrs, but if you take the time to cook it on low, it always turns out juicier.
- Add pineapple juice, orange juice, or soda in addition to cooking the ham in it’s own juices.
- Add canned pineapple rings on top of the glazed ham before cooking for a fruity variation.
- If you buy a ham that’s too big for your crockpot just tightly cover the ham with a double layer of foil before setting the lid on top.
Other Holiday Side Dishes You’ll Love
- Oven Roasted Broccoli with Garlic
- Brussel Sprouts Au Gratin
- Low Carb Broccoli Cheese Soup
- Cheesy Roasted Green Beans
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Spiral Ham in Crockpot With No Sugar Ham Sauce
Ingredients
- 7-8 lb bone-in spiral sliced pre-cooked ham
- 4 T butter
- 1 T apple cider vinegar
- 1 T Dijon mustard
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 2-3 Tbsp sweetener (Swerve, erythritol, honey, brown sugar)
Instructions
- Preheat the crockpot on low heat
- Remove the ham from the packaging and put the ham into the crockpot. Slightly separate the ham slices for the ham glaze. Put the lid on the crockpot until the sauce is ready.
- Melt the butter on medium-low heat in a small saucepan. Add 2 tablespoons of your sweetener of choice (Swerve, honey, brown sugar, or erythritol), bring it to a slow simmer, where it’s just starting to bubble. This will take about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, cloves, salt, and cinnamon.
- Simmer all ingredients on medium-low for 5+ minutes until it's slightly thickened. If it starts to bubble up, turn down the heat to low. Periodically stir the glaze to keep it from sticking.
- Pour the sugar free ham glaze over the ham and cook covered for 4-5 hours, or until the ham reaches an internal temperature of 180F.
- After putting the ham on a serving platter, drizzle the ham pan drippings over the top.
- Serves 12-14 people.
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Victoria says
Wow—this was heavenly! The ham was so juicy and tender and literally fell off the bone! Just the glaze alone….man, I could drink that stuff. Thanks for sharing this fantastic recipe!
Michele says
What a great recipe! Even my non- keto family loved it. I especially liked being able to use my crockpot to cook the ham, freeing up valuable oven space for everything else!
Thank you for sharing!
WholeLottaYum says
Thank you! Agreed on loving to free up the oven space!
Stacie says
Brown -sugar- and honey are sugars
WholeLottaYum says
Hi Stacie! The main focus of the recipe is the sugar-free version, I just listed brown sugar and honey as options for people looking for a crock-pot ham recipe that weren’t necessarily looking for sugar-free.