Pressure Cooked Bone-In Ham with Maple-Honey Glaze

If you’ve ever bought a refrigerated pre-cooked ham, then you know that the suggested cook time to warm it back up is based on the number of pounds, and could take hours. You get a warm ham, but it’s also usually pretty dry in the middle.  Now, if you pressure cooked bone-in ham, it’ll be ready in a fraction of the time and will stay moist and delicious!

Pressure Cook a Bone-In Ham

How to Heat Fully Cooked Ham in a Pressure Cooker

When I set out to buy a pressure cooker, one of the reasons I chose a 10 quart size was so that I could cook large chunks of meat like a bone-in, or spiral cut ham.  With the steamer tray inserted, the ham fit perfectly.  Pour at least a cup of water in the bottom and bring your cooker up to pressure.

Each pressure cooker has different guidelines for the amount of water that is needed in the bottom, check with your instructions.

If you have a larger ham, or a smaller pressure cooker, you might need to cut off part of the bone-in ham and do some stacking.  Most pressure cookers and Instant Pots are only 6 quarts inside the vessel.  Place the bone-in ham on a cutting board, with the bone sticking up, and “trim” it to fit.

If you’re interested in a 10 quart pressure cooker, this is the Fagor Pressure Cooker that I use, available on Amazon.

Cooking Bone-In Ham in the Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker

I started with a pre-cooked 8 pound bone-in ham.  Sometimes a bone-in ham is also called a spiral ham.  You can even pressure cook honey ham if you purchased in refrigerated.

According to the package, it needed 1 hour and 15 minutes in the oven at 400 degrees, with another 10 minutes under the broiler with their included glaze packet.  Some recipes set a lower temperature (around 350 degrees) and call for 20 minutes per pound.  At that rate, it’ll be in the oven for almost two and a half hours!

By that time, the outside will be crispy and the inside will be dry as a bone.  This is the reason you want to pressure cook a ham instead.  Inside the pressure cooker, or an Instant Pot, you are cooking with steam.  You’re also only cooking for about 20 minutes.

If your ham is 10 pounds or more, I’d suggest 25-28 minutes in the pressure cooker instead.

Some recipes that I researched suggested pouring black peppercorns and cloves into the cooking liquid to infuse that flavor into the meat.  It’s a great idea.  It’s sort of like when there’s eucalyptus oil in a steam shower.  The flavors will essentially steam into the meat.  However, I don’t like cloves, so I just used peppercorns.

Making a Maple-Honey Glaze for your Pressure Cooked Ham

When it’s done cooking, you’ll still want a nice flavorful crust on the outside.  This is where the glaze comes in; and there’s usually one included with a ham.  If you are doing a honey baked ham in a pressure cooker, omit the sauce

For me, the glaze packet was the first thing to go in the trash.  The first three ingredients are usually High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup and then Sugar.  And then a bunch of artificial flavors and stabilizers

Whoa!

I’d prefer to make my own glaze and use my own preferred ingredients.  Now, using Maple Syrup and Honey as the core doesn’t exactly make this a low-sugar glaze, but it does avoid the HFCS and other nonsense.

While the ham is cooking, you can make the glaze and keep it over a low simmer.  When the ham has finished, carefully remove it from the pressure cooker, or your Instant Pot, and place it on a sturdy sheet pan that’s lined with heavy duty aluminum foil.

The ham is going to be falling apart, so be careful.

Finishing the Pressure Cooked Bone-In Ham in the Oven

Brush the ham liberally with the glaze and place it under a broiler.  You’ll want to watch it very carefully and rotate it around so that the glaze browns evenly and doesn’t scorch.  Alternatively, pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees and give it 10 to 15 minutes.

I think you’ll find that pressure cooking a ham is a much better way to go than warming it up in the oven!

Uses for Bone-In Ham Leftovers

After you’ve carved all of the meat off of your pressure cooked bone-in ham, don’t forget that the bone itself is useful too. All of the scraps and whatnot that’s still on the bone will make an amazing stock for soup!

Pressure Cooking Ham Stock for Soup
Use the leftover bone and scraps to make stock!

You can put the ham bone back in your pressure cooker along with onions, spices and a lot of water to make pressure cooked ham stock.

From this stock, and with some leftover ham, you can make some amazing lentil soup!

Ham Lentil and Vegetable Soup in the Pressure Cooker

And while you’re at it, you have to make ham salad with the other leftovers.

This is where it pays off to have a large 10 quart pressure cooker so you can make the big ham. And have a lot of leftovers to keep making even more dishes.

4.93 from 13 votes
Pressure Cooker Bone-In Ham
Pressure Cooked Bone-In Ham with Maple-Honey Glaze
Prep Time
5 mins
Cook Time
20 mins
Total Time
30 mins
 
Serve a moist, delicious bone-in ham in a fraction of the time
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Servings: 1 Big Ham
Author: Tony Bailey
Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup Maple Syrup
  • 1/2 cup Honey
  • 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons Orange Juice
  • 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon Nutmeg
  • 1 Bone-In Ham
Instructions
  1. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium and mix the ingredients well
  2. Place the ham in a pressure cooker, cook for 15 minutes according to your cooker’s guidelines and use a quick release
  3. Transfer the ham to an oven safe dish and baste liberally with the glaze
  4. Under a broiler, allow the glaze to caremelize and just slightly char on the edges (this will happen quickly)

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60 Comments

  1. recipesfromapantry

    saw this on face book and had to come check it out. Gotta give this recipe to my OH. My recent post Road Trip Chocolate Chip Cookies

  2. Awesome, let me know how it turns out and if you changed it up at all

  3. I changed it a bit in that I used an all natural maple flavoring mixed with XyloSweet (my favorite xylitol sweetener) slightly thickened with a bit of plain gelatin, rather than maple syrup, to cut down on the sugar content but maintain the flavor. The peppercorns really make a difference in the pressure cooker. I will use this in all my pressure cooker recipes in the future. As for the flavor, this is truly one of the best hams I have ever made. I often buy a fresh ham and smoke it myself on my gas grill so I can control the ingredients and the salt content. I never thought about using the pressure cooker to infuse the flavor, so you have helped my culinary skill-set immeasurably. Thanks . This is my first visit to your site and I will definitely be back!

  4. Hi Mary – Really, really cool! That's great to hear about how you changed up the recipe and how it turned out. Thanks a bunch for stopping by the site and for leaving feedback!

  5. Hi Tony, I almost ended up with a Fagor pressure cooker myself but instead bought a Presto cooker. After knowing that I would be buying a stovetop one, I then decided how many quarts I wanted to be and the decision became easy after that. The Presto is a good buy and I can also can with it. So all in all I'm happy and I can't wait to try your recipe!

  6. Very cool! Exciting that you're jumping into the world of Pressure Cooking. Over the weekend I made pulled pork in mine in an hour….they're super handy and save a ton of time

  7. Falling in love with my pressure cooker! I kept burning stuff because I couldn't regulate the temperature properly because I didn't know what I was doing. Everyone I knew who had used PC's before had the old fashioned type that sends tons of steam in the air. Mine isn't supposed to do that so I had the temp too high to give me the steam they said I should have. Also complicated by an electric flat top stove. I thought I was going to be stuck with only soup. I FINALLY READ THE DIRECTIONS! Haha! Now everything comes out perfect! This week I've made pulled pork, roasted potatoes and the best mac& cheese EVER. Can't believe I can make that Mac & Cheese in less than 10 minutes…homemade!!! Excited to try your ham recipe. The thought of having yummy roasted ham in 15 minutes just makes me giddy. I only wish there were more recipes available for the PC.

  8. wonderful recipe! I have 1st generation PC from my MOM! I am devoted to cooking this way & have been for the last 15years. Not being a big Ham eater I wanted something simple…this recipe hit the spot with a few additions: I slurred a bit of Dijon mustard into the water before the peppercorns & added 1/2 cup white wine to the water. So tender! To the Maple Glaze you COULD if daring, add a splash of honey borbon or use Honey Ale….whatever your taste buds crave would work! Thank you for posting on Pinterest! Looking forward to many more recipes from you!

  9. Hi Christina – That's exciting about the pulled pork, isn't it great how much time is saved? I had a lot of trouble regulating heat early on as well and cleaned many scorched messes from the bottom.

  10. Hi Nancy – Great suggestion on the Honey Ale in the glaze, will definitely try that with my next ham!

  11. preston griffith jr

    loved this receipt.lm new at this pressure cooking stuff. My wife and I are empty nesters 5 children are all gone. Ive started doing ALLof the cooking. Everyone came over for lunch after church it was a great hit.THANKS

  12. Going to try your additions for the ham and the water only instead of peppercorns I'm going to use pickling spice. Love the idea of the white wine, new use for it besides mn sauces. Will try honey ale in sauce thanks for the tip.

  13. Hi, you bought the ham pre cooked or raw?? I am kind of unsure how I understand the article/recipe. thanks, Gerald

  14. Definitely a pre-cooked one. I believe that all commercial hams these days are pre cooked and not raw. However, because of their size, they would still need a solid hour in the oven to warm them all the way through….which is what contributes to drying them out.

  15. Hello. Im going to try my pressure cooker for the first time tomorrow to make my ham. So many great suggestions. Im terrified. However, I'm seeing the idea of wines and ales added. My question is since flavors infuse does the liquor content burn off? Can't have the little ones stumbling around. What can I use if my pc did not come with a rack? Thank you so much. Happy holidays. Any and all tips are appreciated.

  16. Hi Christine – Suppose you could put the ham directly on the cooking surface, but you run the risk of having more of a mess to clean. Any metallic object you'd put in the oven should be fine to rest the meat on. The key is creating the space between the liquid and the meat for the steam and pressure to do their work.
    While I'm no expert on cooking with alcohol, I've generally assumed the alcohol all just cooks out. The liquid is really just a steam bath, can't imagine any alcohol gets into the meat. This chart might be helpful: http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/blal

    Hope it goes well!

  17. Going to make my ham Sunday. I will stick with the original glaze sounds great. Got my electric pressure cooker recently. Love it. Thanks for the recipe

  18. Made this for Christmas and it was delicious! Ham stayed moist and didn't take hours to heat through!
    A few years ago (before I owned a PC), I used a Caramel Porter in my ham. The aroma throughout the house was amazing and the ham turned out delicious. Think I will try that in my next PC ham for more flavor infusion.

  19. I've been reading more and more about people using richly flavored beers in their PC ham. Going to give it a try as well in a few weeks for an Easter ham.

  20. I'm a novice with my pressure cooker. Will there be enough steam with just the maple syrup and honey & O..J? Looking forward to trying.

  21. I have never cooked a ham in a pressure cooker before, but I purchased a new 16 quart pressure, canner cooker. I have a 10 lb. ham that I am going to make for Easter, and I would like to know if I could substitute Vernors ginger ale instead of the water. I have both boiled and baked hams in it before, but I don't know about pressure cooking. Being from Michigan, this is Pure Michigan Product and I use it quite a bit. Your glaze sounds delicious and I can't wait to try it.

  22. Can't I just put the glaze over the ham while its cooking in the pressure cooker~ I'm not good at following all the directions so I have a recipe that everything goes into the Pressure cooker at the same time unless it would be vegetables! I have never used My Pressure cooker yet so I'm a little bit scared what I'll do! Hope it doesn't blow up like the old ones did!

  23. Shouldn't be an issue. Just know that you just won't be able to do the glaze and reglaze like you would in a normal oven. Most of the glaze is going to run off into the liquid….so save some for when you finish it under the broiler.

  24. Ive just got my pressure cooker and have been trawling the internet looking for recipes to keep my meat loving husband and son happy. This looked great and I quickly opened up to read. I was so disappointed to discover that the recipe starts with a cooked ham. I want to COOK a ham not heat one up. My "ham" is still running around the garden and will be ready to cook for Christmas. Ive never even seen a pre cooked ham.

  25. Hi Tracy – Not sure where you are from, but at just about every grocery story / supermarket in the US, the majority bone-in hams you see for purchase are pre-cooked. Fresh hams are usually special order or come from a butcher. Adjusting cooking time for a fresh ham vs. pre-cooked should be straightforward. You can still significantly shorten the time in your PC rather than in the oven. Eager to hear if you do end up cooking a fresh ham this way.

  26. Cookie Johnson

    Do you think it would work in an 8 qt pressure cooker?

    • Not sure…it will depend on the diameter of your pressure cooker and the shape of the ham. I know roughly how wide mine is and try to choose hams accordingly

  27. will the cooking time need to be adjusted based on the size of the ham?

    • For my PC, an 8 pounder filled it up. If it were half that size, I'd probably go 10 minutes. All depends on your PC, really. So long as the ham is pre-cooked, you're really just warming it up without drying it out.

  28. What about spiraling? Does that make a difference?

    • Spiraling is a good thing…it'll let your homemade glaze get in there and coat all of the ham surfaces. It won't affect cooking time though.

  29. Deedra Bryant

    I have a 10 lb cooked spiral ham. Do you recommend that I cook for 15 minutes and use 1 cup of water? This is my first time using my pressure cooker. Also, my husband is not a fan of any glaze. Will it still be good without it??

    • Hi Deedra – 15 minutes is a good starting point for a ham that will fill up your pressure cooker. The cup of water is essential to keep enough steam in there for pressure. It'll also depend on how cold your ham is when you put it in. I've had partially frozen hams that weren't warmed all the way in the middle and I put them back in for another 10 minutes.

      Glaze is totally your call. A pre-sweetened ham, like one from Honey Baked, may not need any glaze. Plus, the glaze will primarily add flavor to the outer parts of the ham and not affect the flavor of the majority of the meat.

      • I want to cook a 10 pound spiral ham in my power XL pressure cooker. Should I put the small wire rack in the bottom of the pot first or can I just put the ham directly into the pot? Would 15 to 20 minutes be long enough to cook it?

  30. Lynn Whitaker

    How do you cook a dry country ham in a power pressure cooker it's 7 lb the middle of one

  31. Can you cook from frozen state? Add more cooking time?

    • tbailey1712

      I've never tried cooking a frozen ham before. My best guess is that you should let it thaw overnight (or 2 nights) in the refrigerator. A frozen ham will be a considerable block of ice even for a pressure cooker to take on.

  32. Cricket Simpson

    Just made this for Easter dinner. Huge hit. Bone in ham shanks were .47/lb os got a 10 lb. Was too long for my pc so cut in big chunks. Didn't have whole cloves so put 2 tbsp ea ground cloves & black pepper in the liquid, pc for 15 min, made glaze, then oven for 20 min covered in glaze. Served with pc cooked sweet potatoes, pasta salad, mix green salad, and raw veggie tray. Plenty of leftovers except ham, that was Devoured!

  33. HOW LONG DO YOU PRESSURIZE IT!?!?

  34. Erin Walker

    Another great recipe for the Instant Pot. I can’t believe how much better this is than in the oven.

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  36. Toni Miller

    Hi, this will be my first time using PC with ham, I have a 12 1\2 lb spiral ham, so would I still use 1 cup of liquid and cook for about 30 minutes?

  37. Toni Miller

    Hi this will be my first time cooking spiral ham in PC. My ham is 12 1\2 pounds. Would I still use one cup of water and cook about 30 min?

    • Tony Bailey

      Will you have your ham in the steamer basket? Put water in just to the base of the ham in the basket to be safe. 30 should do fine for that size of ham. Hope it’s great!

  38. How much time do I cook it for if I have only a very small 2 pounder boneless ham?

  39. How much liquid goes in cooker before pressure cooking ham?

    • It will depend on the size of your pressure cooker as each size has its own minimum. Generally, I always have at least 1 cup of liquid in the bottom for a ham.

    • Tony Bailey

      Check with your pressure cooker manual to see what the minimum is and start from there. Generally I will use at least one cup of liquid when cooking a ham

  40. Do you think I can cook the ham in the crockpot and then add the glaze for the 20-25 minutes at the end?

    • Tony Bailey

      You should still be able to apply the glaze at the end and finish under your broiler. Keep in mind that applying glaze on the slow cooker won’t have the same effect as the heat isn’t high enough to caramelize the sugars in the glaze

  41. Which setting do you use on the pressure cooker (manual or neat/stew). Also any idea how npmuch peppercorn should I put in the water.
    Thanks.
    Happy Thanksgiving

    • Hi Julie – If you have an Instant Pot, I’d suggest using manual. About 1 Tablespoon of peppercorns should do. Hope it turns out great!

  42. My go to glaze for ham is:
    Apricot preserves
    Brown sugar
    1/2 tsp prepared mustard
    Orange or pineapple juice
    No recipe, just mix it in a bowl

    • I like it…there’s a lot of great natural fruit flavor in there. I’m going to try and tweak mine to use less maple syrup and more fruit next time. Thanks for sharing!

  43. Too great for the party, the taste of the meat is extremely sweet, my family likes it all.
    Thank you.

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