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Can You Cook Ham in an Instant Pot?

Published: · Modified: by Eric Samuelson

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Learn how you can make a ham in no time at all using your Instant Pot. Yes, certain size hams will actually fit in the pot!

Find our Instant Pot ham recipe at the bottom of the post that include a pineapple brown sugar glaze. It's a crowd pleaser, especially for any holiday meal. It's also a great way to save oven space.

A cooked ham sitting on plastic cutting board with an Instant Pot, a whole pineapple, and a gray ahd white stripped towel in the background.

This blog post is sponsored by Dearborn Sausage Company.

This post includes affiliate links. This means that at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. These are products and services I recommend because I use or trust them. Cookies will be used to track the affiliate links you click.

Is there anything the Instant Pot can't do?

Turn a frozen chicken into soup. Check

Make yogurt. Check

Pop popcorn - with the right lid. Check

Cook a ham......

That is the one we are going to look at today - I think you know what the answer is going to be.

Jump to:

⚙️ Why It Works

So our answer to our first question of the day is yes, of course you can cook a ham in an Instant Pot. That leads into our next question, why would you want to?

Time. You want your ham to be done fast. Whether it's Christmas or Easter dinner, you got hungry guests awaiting. Cooking the ham in an Instant Pot or any pressure cooker for that matter will save you on time. Your guests' bellies will be fuller, faster.

Here is the thing with ham - it's already cooked. So the goal is to completely re-heat the meat all the way to the center while at the same time keeping the meat from dying out. So we aren't worried about eating raw meat here. That gives us an advantage and a reason why the Instant Pot is a good option.

Brown sugar on top of a ham inside an Instant Pot with the lid off.
The right shaped ham will fit in the Instant Pot. A semi boneless ham in the 6-7.5 half pound range should fit depending on the shape. It's key to note that the ham itself is near the lid, above the fill line. That's ok as long as liquid doesn't go above the fill line. You only need a ½ cup of liquid, so it's totally cool.

📏 How Do You Fit a Ham

The biggest challenge of all for doing a ham in an Instant Pot is getting the ham to fit. They are all different sizes of Instant Pots. the bigger you got the easier it's going to be. The largest size Instant Pot is the 8 quart model. I have a 6 quart.

Sure you could trim the ham to fit your Instant Pot perfectly, but who wants to do that. If you have to, you can trim a larger ham to just fit with a sharp kinfe. Then take what you trimmed and dice it up to use it on salads later. No reason to just toss it!

However, there are a couple things you could do to make sure you get the right fit. You can take just the pot to the store with you. Most of us probably wouldn't have the forethought to do it. Or maybe we are scared of looking like some kind of a weirdo.

What I did was I called my wife who was at home and had her measure our Instant Pot. I then borrowed a ruler from the school supply section of the grocery store and measure the hams until I found one that I knew would fit. Yeah that was pretty nerdy.

💡 Tip - The top of the ham can be above the max fill line. That is only for liquid.

🐖 Types of Ham

Here are the types of hams that should work as as long they fit in the pot:

Dearborn Classic Trim Semi-Boneless am in it's packaging sitting on a white tile counter top
The ham I used was the Dearborn Classic Trim Semi-Boneless Ham. This was a 7.45 pounder. It had to give it a push but I was able to fit in into the Instant Pot and still get the lid closed.

🐷 Dearborn Hams

I have much love for Dearborn Hams because they are a Michigan company and I am life long Michigander! Dearborn has been in business for over 70 years - three generations of making quality meats. - you gotta try their hot dogs by the way.

Dearborn's Blue Box Spiral Ham is known throughout Michigan and beyond. No holiday around here goes on without them. The ham is smoked for up to 24 hours. That equals great flavor.

Dearborn has several other ham offerings as well including the semi boneless ham that I made in the Instant Pot for this very blog post.

Not sure when to get your ham before the holiday? Check out our post on How Far in Advance You Can Purchase a Ham.

A finished ham inside the Instant Pot with the lid off.
It looked like this right out of the Instant Pot. After 15 minutes the ham was hot and ready!

⏲️ How Long Does It Takes to Cook

The answer is going to depend on the size of your ham. Let me share with you my experience.

A 7.45 pound ham is what I started with. My research showed that other people were cooking their ham for as low as 10 minutes and up to 30 minutes. I decided to try it right in the middle at 15 minutes at high pressure, followed by a natural release.

I was happy with the result. Perfectly hot throughout and done in a fraction of the time it would take in the oven.

Keep in mind the size of your ham is going to change the cooking time. 2 ½ minutes per pound is a good estimate that I feel safe with recommending. It still can vary based on the shape of your ham as well as the bone (or lack there of) in your ham. My ham was semi-boneless. It only had one circular shaped bone running through it.

💡 Tip - If you are not confident that the ham is fully re-heated in the middle you could always use a thermometer to check. You just need to hit 140 degrees for the ham to be hot enough.

To give yourself a leg up (get it ham is made from the leg of a pig!) you should set the ham out before cooking. Getting the ham to room temperature is great way to make sure the ham will be re-heated all the way to the center.

Ham has plenty of salt in it so you don't need to worry it's going to spoil or that your going to get sick. I am only talking about an hour or so here.

Slices of ham sitting on a wood cutting board with rings of pineapple next to it and the top of a pineapple showing.
Pineapple and ham is a classic pairing. And for good reason, it's good!

🧂 How To Flavor a Ham

Pretty much anyway you normally would flavor your ham would work in the Instant Pot. Your going to want to have some liquid. You want the liquid to have some flavor. Just old plain water is going to do anything for your ham. Plus you can reduce that liquid into a glaze.

You can keep it to simple ingredients like just the ham, pineapple juice, brown sugar, and cloves like I do or use any of these other ideas.

Potential liquid choices include:

  • pineapple juice
  • orange juice
  • root beer
  • cola
  • Dr. Pepper
  • ginger ale
  • chicken broth or stock
  • ham broth or stock

When I made mine I choose to use pineapple juice. You could also use a a can of sliced pineapple with the juice.

🍴 If you don't like pineapple but think using soda instead for your glaze is a better idea check out our alternative recipe for Instant Pot Soda Glazed Ham. I use Cheerwine soda in this recipe but you can use root beer, cola, or whatever your favorite soda pop is. If you want no glaze at all there is a technique in that recipe that just steams a foiled wrapped ham in the Instant Pot.

Other ingedients to add for flavor could include

  • cloves
  • brown sugar
  • honey
  • maple syrup
  • canned pineapple (use it's juice)
  • freshly grated nutmeg
  • cinnamon
  • allspice
  • Dijon mustard
  • black pepper

For the cloves you could just stick whole cloves into the meat or use a mortal and pestle to grind up whole coves and sprinkle it all over the ham. If you don't like cloves, simply omit them.

❓ Is It Worth It?

This might be the most important question of them all. Does the Instant Pot make a delicious ham? Sure we want to re-heat it fast but we want it to taste good as well, we got an audience to impress, right?

I can confirm that yes you can produce a flavorful ham in the Instant Pot. The best part of the ham was the flavorful liquid that was left with at the bottom.

You can use it as a dipping sauce, or hit the sauté button on your Instant Pot and let it reduce a bit to get a flavorful glaze you can brush on (more on that in a moment)

🥊 Instant Pot vs. Oven

I was happy with the carmelization of the outside of the ham. However if you want it more crisp your going to need to throw it in a really hot oven for just a short bit. You want really hot because you need to do this fast so you don't dry out your meat. I would say at least 400 degrees.

You could even consider turning on the broiler but watch it really closely and if you have a sweet glaze on the outside it could burn really fast. Use caution.

🥤 How Much Liquid

½ cup of liquid is all you need. It doesn't sound like much but it's enough. When the ham is done there will be even more liquid in the pot.

🙋 Does It Come Out Moist?

Flavor. Check. Speed. Check. What about the texture? Does produce a juicy ham? Oh yeah it was moist. Not dry whatsoever.

🧹 How to Make a Glaze

Another reason to use flavorful liquid instead of just water is that you can reduce it into a flavorful glaze.

  1. Once the ham is done, you can remove it from the pot onto a serving platter. I cover it with heavy duty aluminum foil.
  2. Then hit the sauté button on the Instant Pot.
  3. Reduce the liquid until it has thicken, at least enough to coat the back of a spoon.
  4. Use a brush to apply the glaze to the ham.

🧰 Do You Use the Trivet?

No.

You need all the space you can get in your Instant Pot, there is no room for the trivet, unless your ham is exceptionally small.

Got leftover ham? If it's too much to eat, leftover ham can be frozen. Or use it in place of the bacon in my Instant Pot bean soup recipe.

🍠 Side Dishes

Here are some sides you can make with this ham that would be tasty.

🍽️ Instant Pot Recipes

Here are some other Instant Pot recipes on the blog you'll want to check out.

Overall I was satisfied with how my ham turned out. I would do it again for sure (and I have many times!). If you give it a try, please share your experience with us in the lovely comment section below.

📧 Email List

Instant Pot Pineapple Brown Sugar Ham

How to make a ham in your Instant Pot
4.44 from 16 votes
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Ingredients

Instructions

  • Place the ham in the Instant Pot, fat side up and cut side down. You do not need the trivet.
  • Pour the pineapple juice on top. Add the brown sugar and ground cloves directly to the ham.
  • Set to the sealing. Cook high pressure for 15 minutes.
  • Let the ham rest inside the pot for 10 minutes, then manual release any remaining pressure.
  • Remove ham from Instant Pot. Cover with foil and let sit for 10-15 minutes before carving.
  • Optional - pour the remaining liquid into a bowl for dipping, or hit the saute button and reduce to make a glaze.

Notes

  • You can use a spiral sliced ham for this however I think a pre-sliced ham is more likely to dry out, so i would stick with a semi-boneless, shank portion or butt portion ham.
  • It should take about 20 minutes for the Instant Pot come to pressure. When it's done it took about 10 minutes for the pot to natural release.
  • Check your ham with a thermometer to be sure that the center of the ham has reached 140 degrees. If it hasn't, you can put the lid back on and cook for another 3 to 5 minutes. 
  • If your ham is frozen, I would cook it an additional 15 minutes. Check the temperature to be sure it's heated up all the way through. 
Tried this recipe?Mention @eatlikenooneelse or tag #eatlikenooneelse
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jenn

    Am I using the trivet or placing the ham in the bottom of the "bowl"?

  2. Eric Samuelson

    Good question. Placing the ham in the bottom of the bowl

  3. Kaye

    Did you use a pre-sliced ham? Afraid one would dry out faster. Thoughts?

  4. Eric Samuelson

    No I would avoid using a pre-sliced ham. I never buy them that way because I am too concerned they will dry out.

  5. Vicki

    Is half a cup of liquid really enough?

  6. Eric Samuelson

    Yep absolutely. I know it sounds small but it's plenty. Your not trying to boil the ham. You just want to reheat it since hams are already cooked. That was enough water to get my Instant Pot up to pressure.

  7. SS

    Will try this on my Thanksgiving ham! Thanks!

  8. Kim Rose

    Do you put the brown sugar and ground cloves on the ham?

  9. Eric Samuelson

    Yes you do, put it directly onto the ham. I am updating the instructions to make that more clear. Thanks for leaving a comment.

  10. Chris Shong

    Sold me Eric. I bouught an 8.4# boneless ham today for Christmas dinner.

    I haven’t checked the fit in the pot as the pot is in the dishwasher awaiting a ride.

    Based on your notes I’m going to go 26 minutes, unless I have to trim and end up with a different weight.

    I’ll report back on the results.

  11. Eric Samuelson

    I would love to hear how it turns out for you.

  12. Valarie Keane

    5 stars
    Hi! I just used my instant pot and made this recipe both for the first time. It turned out EXCELLENT! I will definitely do it again. Thank you, for such a simple and scrumptious recipe!

  13. Eric Samuelson

    Wonderful. Thanks for sharing your experience and I am glad it worked out for ya.

  14. Susan Blumenstock

    How long did it take to come to pressure?

  15. Barb

    I have a fresh from the pig ham, how long should it cook in the instant pot? Will be my first time using it. Do I need to adjust the minutes per pound? I read 2 1/2 minutes per pound for a cooked or smoked ham, would that be the same amount of time?

  16. Lilith

    5 stars
    I was suddenly struck by a craving for ham that bordered on insanity and this method came to the rescue before I went "ham" on the family! Thanks for the method, worked like a charm.

  17. Teri

    I've already purchased the pre-sliced Honey Ham before i read this! Arrgh! Any suggestions on preventing it from drying out? Would pineapple juice be the liquid of choice with Honey ham that comes with it's own glaze packet? How long to cook and what pressure? (I'm in charge of bringing the Ham to my son's house ....30 miles away! Thinking of just using the instant pot to cook it there so it's served hot). Thanks in advance!!

  18. Eric Samuelson

    Wonderful. I am glad you liked it. Thanks for sharing that.

  19. Eric Samuelson

    I need to time it one of those times. I think it might have been around 10 mintues or so. Don't quote on me on that. I will test it again eventually and update the post.

  20. Maryanne

    My daughter loves when I cook ham in the pressure cooker.I first soak the ham in water a few times to rinse off some of the salt. Then I put it in the pot and add a can of pineapple with the juice and brown sugar. I never know how much or for how long, so now I have your instructions. Thank you! Will make mine for New Year!

  21. Kim

    5 stars
    I just put a very small ham in my instapot without reading anything about it. I added a full can of pineapple chunks with juices. Hit the meat option. Let it steam release on its own. It was absolutely delicious and very moust!

  22. Deanna

    So, I hate pineapple with a passion, so I was contemplating using orange juice and doing a rub of brown sugar and cajun seasoning. Anyone tried OJ before? Also, I have a boneless half ham from Costco so I'm not sure how long I should put it in for. Excited that I found your post! Can't wait to try this out!

  23. Eric Samuelson

    Orange juice would be wonderful as well!

  24. Charlotte

    I just want a plain ham no sugar or pineapple. How do I cook this ?

  25. Eric Samuelson

    Leave out the sugar and you can replace the pineapple juice with just water.

  26. Kim B.

    The best ham I've ever made--turned out juicy & delicious. I used whole cloves as that's what I had on hand. The pineapple juice on the bottom was wonderful. Easy & quick weeknight dinner. Thanks for sharing.

  27. Eric Samuelson

    Kim, thanks so much for sharing. I am really glad that you liked the ham.

  28. Flares

    I have a 9 lb semi boneless I’m hoping will fit in my 8 qt instant pot. I’m going to try the “meat” button as well after using the pineapple juice and Brown sugar. I’ve read several places you ALWAYS have to use a cup of water in bottom but with the pineapple juice that would suffice, right?

  29. Curt Jopling

    I thought I'd give this a try for an early Easter dinner. Used orange juice and brown sugar on a 5# ham using the meat setting for 15 minutes. Reduced the remaining juice and brown sugar after pulling the ham. Guess who my wife says is cooking ham from now on?

  30. Eric Samuelson

    Thanks for sharing that. I appreciate hearing that it turned out well. Orange juice is a great choice as well.

  31. Jacqueline

    Ok I hate cloves. Is there a replacement or just omit?

  32. Eric Samuelson

    I totally understand. You can simply omit the cloves. If you wanted to try something else if you like allspice or freshly grated nutmeg, those might be options for you to consider.

  33. Mel

    Tried this today . . . after cooking my 7 pound ham for 15 minutes it was cold in the center. We tried again and added 10 more minutes. It was still just warm in the center and not steaming. If we had let it rest 10-15 minutes as suggested it would have been stone cold. This was my first time using my new Instant Pot. Any suggestions as to what might have gone wrong. The ham was delicious by the way . . .just not really hot.

  34. Eric Samuelson

    The ham wasn't frozen was it?

    Let me know what exact type of ham you choose.
    I have not had any this issue before so I am curious to get to the bottom of why it didn't work out for you.

  35. Stephanie

    I made this tonight it turn out amazing!!!! I didn’t have any clove so I use half all spice and cinnamon spice. I put a can of pineapple chunks with juice in the pot it was so moist. My ham was 8lbs4oz I cooked it for 25 minutes.

  36. Eric Samuelson

    I am so glad you liked it. Thanks for taking the time to share what you thought!

  37. Nanny Bee

    How long should I cook a FROZEN 6.65 butt ham with bone in my 8 qt instant pot?
    Thank you for any suggestions you might share. ?

  38. Eric Samuelson

    I have not cooked one that was frozen yet. Looking at other people that have done it times seem to be around 30-35 minutes. That might be a good starting place. I will have to test that on my own soon.

  39. christiannajohns

    I just got an instant pot for my birthday, and I would love to make this ham for Easter tomorrow...what does a "natural release" mean? I know nothing about instant pots and how they work. What are the steps?

  40. Eric Samuelson

    Great question, when you put the lid on your Instant Pot you need to set it to sealing. There is a little nob on top. When the cooking time is over, you can either turn the nob to release the steam into the air, which is very hot, or do what's called a natural release and leave the nob at sealing. Right by it is a silver piece that goes up when the pot comes to pressure and goes back down when it's not. So to do a natural release just leave it alone until the silver piece goes back down, then you can open the pot.

  41. Debbie

    Do you put fat piece up or down?

  42. Eric Samuelson

    Fat should be up, so that when any of it melts it runs down the ham.

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