A super easy crock pot recipe with ham, brown sugar and pineapple. Serve as-is or make Hawaiian Ham Sliders!
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Most of y’all know I’m a baseball mom and that a HUGE chunk of my life is spent at the ball field.
Brutus is on a new team this spring and I am soooooo happy to report that I absolutely love the kids and parents on the team.
When everyone just clicks and enjoys each other’s company, it sure makes those hours and hours and hours spent together at practices and tournaments a WHOLE lot more enjoyable.
Our new team is mostly made up of kids from three other teams that came that came together to make this one.
A few weeks ago we were all setting out food for lunch at a tournament and the crew that had all played together from one of the other teams got to talking about these amazing crock pot Hawaiian ham sandwiches one of their parents had made for the team once upon a time.
Well, of course I zeroed right in on that conversation and wanted to know all about it! Nick and Rachel (whose son has got to be THE CUTEST kid in America – seriously, I told his mama I hope he never asks me for money because there’s no way I could ever tell him no) told me all about their recipe.
As I understand it, you make this ham for the purpose of using it to make sandwiches on little dinner rolls but I could absolutely see making this just to eat by itself. Actually, this is what I made Easter Sunday! I wanted to make it to share with y’all here on the blog AND it was Easter so I figured I could kill two birds with one stone!
I probably overcooked this one a bit. My medium-sized crock pot cooks SUPER HOT which I kinda forgot about when I was cooking everything else for Easter. By the time I got around to tending to it, it had cooked a little beyond what I’d consider ideal.
Not that it wasn’t still absolutely delicious (seriously, it’s pretty hard to screw up a bone-in ham) but I think you can look at the pictures and see that it could have cooked a little less.
I wasn’t sure what sort of pineapple to use and, since it was Easter weekend, didn’t want to blow up Nick and Rachel to ask a bazillion questions.
I used pineapple chunks but they didn’t cook to pieces like I expected them to so next time I think I’ll use tidbits. Use whatever you like! There’s no wrong way to make this!
Try these other 'Fix It & Forget It' slow cooker recipes great for feeding a crowd!
- Crock Pot Pulled Chicken - Pulled chicken made in a slow cooker plus a recipe for Big Bob Gibson's White Sauce, a white barbeque sauce popular in Alabama.
- Crock Pot Carnitas - Delicious tender, crispy pork carnitas made easy by seasoning a pork roast or Boston butt with Mexican spices, cooking in the slow cooker then getting those famous crispy bits by placing under the broiler.
- Crock Pot Pulled Pork - Tender, juicy pork seasoned with a delicious but simple dry rub recipe then cooked to perfection in a slow cooker.
Recipe for Slow Cooker Hawaiian Ham
Slow Cooker Hawaiian Ham
Yield: 18-20 Servings
prep time: 5 Mcook time: 8 hourtotal time: 8 H & 5 M
A super easy crock pot recipe with ham, brown sugar and pineapple. Serve as-is or make Hawaiian Ham Sliders!
ingredients:
- 3/4 cup brown sugar, divided
- 1 7-8 pound bone-in cured ham (not spiral-sliced)
- 1 20-oz can pineapple, undrained
- 3/4 cup apple ale or hard cider
instructions:
How to cook Slow Cooker Hawaiian Ham
- Spread 1/2 cup brown sugar evenly onto the bottom of a large crock pot. Place ham in crock pot on top of sugar. Try to lay it cut-side down if you can but if you can’t, place it on its side (just don’t put it in there cut-side up).
- Pour ale over ham. Pour pineapple (with juice) over ham. Sprinkle remaining sugar over pineapple. Cover then cook on low for 8 hours.
- When ready to serve, break up ham into large chunks using two forks or tongs. Remove bone and excess fat or skin then stir ham into the sweet pineapple cooking liquid.
- Serve as is or on slider rolls!
NOTES:
You’ll actually be using a half of a ham (either the shank or butt) or you can also use a cured shoulder “ham” (which is what I used).
If you use a smaller ham, reduce the cooking time (cook for approximately 1 hour per pound).
You don’t have to use ale or cider - you can use regular beer if that’s what you have on-hand.
If you don’t want to use an alcoholic beverage, use apple juice or ginger ale.
Use crushed pineapple, pineapple tidbits or pineapple chunks – whichever you prefer!
Since I used a shoulder, my ham had a big thick slab of fat/skin that was very easy to trim off so I did. If your ham has an obvious hunk of skin or fat that can be trimmed off, go ahead and remove it. I put my slab in a pot of chicken broth then simmered it low and slow for a few hours to use to make Greasy Rice.
If you use a smaller ham, reduce the cooking time (cook for approximately 1 hour per pound).
You don’t have to use ale or cider - you can use regular beer if that’s what you have on-hand.
If you don’t want to use an alcoholic beverage, use apple juice or ginger ale.
Use crushed pineapple, pineapple tidbits or pineapple chunks – whichever you prefer!
Since I used a shoulder, my ham had a big thick slab of fat/skin that was very easy to trim off so I did. If your ham has an obvious hunk of skin or fat that can be trimmed off, go ahead and remove it. I put my slab in a pot of chicken broth then simmered it low and slow for a few hours to use to make Greasy Rice.
This recipe was shared at the Weekend Potluck and Meal Plan Monday!
Keep up with my latest shenanigans by following South Your Mouth!
Oh, YUMMMMMMM! I've got a ham just sitting in the fridge, waiting to be fixed and THIS is how it's getting fixed! Thanks for sharing this recipe.
ReplyDeleteLooks like my mom's cooked sunday ham. :) If I wanted to give an option to guests to add cheese to the sliders, what type do you suggest?
ReplyDeletecan you find apple ale and hard cidar in the grocery store?
ReplyDeleteYes! Well, you can in my neck of the woods, anyway. Just look in the beer section.
DeleteAngry orchard
DeleteAldi's carries it, too, called Wicked Grove.
DeleteAt Aldi, they have hard cider called Wicked Grove.
DeleteI made this for Christmas dinner and it was very good and moist. Everyone seemed to like it a lot!!! I used angry orchard crisp apple.
ReplyDeleteI’ve been making my ham like this for over 38 years, my family and friends love this. Whenever I’m invited for a gathering by both friends and family, they always request that I make my crockpot ham. Sometimes I use orange juice and sometimes I add cherries with the juice because I like to mix it up sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI've been making mine like this for years, except for the hard cider. That sounds yummy. I always added about a tablespoon of yellow mustard to cut the sweetness of the brown sugar, but the cider would do that for me. Now, need to go get a ham...
ReplyDeleteI cannot wait to make this ham!!! I am going to the market tomorrow to get the ham and ale, so looking forward to this as it looks and sounds delicious!!!
ReplyDeleteDo you think it possible to use a honey baked ham for this recipe? I have a whole one tucked away in the freeze with no clue what do do with it, but this sounds amazing!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately a spiral ham won't work for this recipe.
DeleteWondering how far ahead this can be made ahead? Could you cook it, shred it and place in fridge for say three days ahead and warm it up again in slow cooker when you wish to serve it.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely!
DeleteThank you so much for this recipe! :D so darn excited to make this!
ReplyDeleteAlso, what is greasy rice?