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If you've ever been disappointed by dried-out, tough ham, this Instant Pot Ham recipe is about to change everything. Glazed with honey and cooked in the moist, steamy environment of the Instant Pot, your ham is guaranteed to be juicy, tender, and ready in record time!
Whether served as part of a holiday meal alongside scalloped potatoes and roasted asparagus or as a simple weeknight dinner, it doesn't get much easier or more delicious than ham made in the Instant Pot!
Kristen's Keys for Instant Pot Ham
After years of making this Instant Pot Ham recipe, I have a few key tips that will help ensure success.
- Choose the right size ham. A 6-quart Instant Pot holds about a 5-6 pound ham; an 8-quart can handle 7-8 pounds. Spiral-sliced works best because the glaze slips into every slice, but any fully cooked ham works. Bone-in, boneless, smoked, or cured.
- Use foil + trivet. I have found that it is best to wrap the ham and glaze in foil and pressure cook on a trivet above water. This not only ensures the ham absorbs the glaze as it cooks, but it also prevents a burn notice from occurring.
- The cooking time varies. Adjust the cook time based on your ham's weight and whether it's foil-wrapped or spiral sliced. I break it down in detail so you will always have success.
5-Star Reader Review
Absolutely delicious! Received lots of compliments. Tried for 1st time on Thanksgiving because the oven was full. Gold Star! Highly recommend!: Ham not my favorite but I tasted and it was wonderful! -Susan ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
How to Cook Ham in the Instant Pot
This step-by-step section will help you to make a delicious, tender, moist Instant Pot Ham regardless if you are just learning how to use an Instant Pot or are a seasoned pro!
Step One: Prepare Instant Pot
Pour 1 cup of cold water into a 6-quart, or 1½ cups into an 8-quart and place a trivet inside the inner pot.
👉🏻Don't be tempted to use warm water! That will speed up the time it takes the Instant Pot to come to pressure and messes with the carefully calculated cooking time.
Step Two: Prepare Glaze
In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, whisk together the pineapple juice with honey and brown sugar.
👉🏻Double the glaze for larger hams. If your ham is 6 pounds or larger, double the glaze to ensure flavorful results. Bigger hams need more flavor coverage.
Step Three: Glaze Ham
Place the ham on a large sheet of heavy-duty foil and fold up the edges to make a bowl. If you're using a spiral ham, gently separate a few slices so the glaze can work its way in, then pour the glaze over the top. After glazing, wrap the foil around the ham and place it on the trivet inside the prepared Instant Pot.
Step Four: Pressure Cook
Lock the lid, set the valve to sealing, and cook on high pressure for:
- Spiral-Sliced Ham: 2 minutes per pound + time for foil
- Unsliced Ham: 3 minutes per pound + time for foil
👉🏻Add time for foil! Add 10 extra minutes to the cook time if using heavy-duty foil. If using regular foil, only add 5 extra minutes.
Step Five: Let Pressure Release
To keep the ham juicy and tender, plan for a full natural pressure release. This should only take 10-15 minutes.
👉🏻Check the temperature: Because we are starting with a pre-cooked ham, we just want to warm it up, while infusing it with flavor. You will know the ham is fully warmed through, once an internal thermometer inserted into the center reaches 145°F. If any lower, pop back into the Instant Pot and cook for 3-5 additional minutes.
Step Six: Slice and Serve
Carefully unwrap the foil, while reserving the delicious liquid left inside the foil. Let the ham rest for 10 minutes, slice, and then spoon that reserved liquid over the ham for extra flavor.
👉🏻Want a thicker glaze? I have provided instructions for thickening the reserved liquid using a cornstarch slurry and the sauté function on the Instant Pot in the recipe card. In my opinion, the ham is so moist and flavorful, this step can be skipped.
Recipe Variations
- Use maple syrup in place of honey. A straight swap works beautifully.
- Replace pineapple juice with apple juice. I love using pineapple juice as it helps to flavor and tenderize the ham, but apple juice is a good substitute here.
- Skip the brown sugar. You'll still get plenty of natural sweetness from the honey.
- Add warming spices to the glaze. A pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves gives you that classic honey-baked ham flavor.
- Swap the glaze. If you are wrapping the ham in foil and cooking on a trivet, you can use any glaze recipe you like. The cooking times remain the same.
- Skip the foil. Replace the water inside the inner pot with pineapple juice or apple juice. Place the ham directly on the trivet and coat glaze with a mixture of equal parts brown sugar and honey. Cook as directed, not adding time to account for foil. Just know the chances of a burn warning go up, so keep the glaze simple.
- Ham doesn't fit? Don't panic. Simply use my recipe for Baked Ham. It will be delicious, just take longer to cook through.
Storage Tips
If you have leftover ham, consider yourself lucky! It will taste moist and delicious for days in the refrigerator and can
- Storage: Leftover ham and any reserved cooking juices can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or frozen in a freezer-safe storage bag for up to 3 months.
- Reheating: To keep the ham just as juicy as when first prepared, it is best to gently heat in liquid. Place the ham slices in a shallow heat-safe dish with a bit of the reserved cooking liquid (or additional pineapple juice). Reheat in the microwave at 50% power for 1-2 minutes, or until warmed through.
- Put to New Use: Use leftover diced or sliced ham in any leftover ham recipe. A few favorites include, Instant Pot Ham and Cheese Pasta, Ham and Egg Breakfast Casserole, and Cheesy Potatoes and Ham.
Complete Your Meal
Instant Pot Ham pairs beautifully with any of the following side dishes:
Instant Pot Ham
Video
Ingredients
- 3-5 pound cooked ham, preferably spiral sliced
- ½ cup 100% pineapple juice
- ⅓ cup honey
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch, optional
- 2 tablespoons water, for slurry + more for pressure cooking
Instructions
Instant Pot Honey Baked Ham
- Place trivet inside the inner pot of the pressure cooker. Pour 1 cup of cold tap water into the inner pot for a 6-quart model and 1-½ cups of water for an 8-quart Instant Pot.
- Prepare glaze by whisking together pineapple juice, honey, and brown sugar in a small bowl or glass measuring cup.
- Unwrap the ham, discard any plastic caps, and place the ham on large sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil. Fold up sides of foil, to make a bowl like shape around the ham. Gently separate slices of ham if sliced and pour the prepared glaze over ham.
- Securely wrap foil around the ham and place ham on trivet inside pressure cooker. Secure the lid on Instant Pot and be sure the venting knob is pointed towards sealed.
- Use the manual or pressure cook button to set the cooking time, using the following guidelines.For Spiral Sliced Ham: Cook for 2 minutes per pound on high pressure + time to account for the foil. If using heavy-duty foil, add 10 minutes to the total time; for regular foil, add 5 minutes to to the total cook time. For Unsliced Ham: Cook for 3 minutes per pound on high pressure + time to account for the foil. If using heavy-duty foil, add 10 minutes to the total time; for regular foil, add 5 minutes to to the total cook time.
- Once the cooking time has elapsed, allow the pressure to release fully on its own. This is about 10-15 minutes.
- Once pressure has been released, check the internal temperature to be sure the ham is warmed to at least 145℉. If not, cook for an additional 3-5 minutes on high pressure.
- Remove the ham from the Instant Pot, remove the foil, reserving the cooking liquid that has accumulated in the foil. Let the ham rest on a cutting board for 10 minutes prior to slicing.
- After 10 minutes, slice and serve with the accumulated liquid or reduction (instructions follow).
Honey Ham Glaze Reduction (optional)
- Remove trivet from inside pressure cooker and pour out the water used to cook the honey baked ham. Place the inner pot back inside the pressure cooker, add the accumulated cooking liquid reserved from the foil, hit the sauté function, and let come to bubble.
- Mix together 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl and then whisk into liquid inside inner pot. Whisk the liquid constantly until thickened and reduced, about 3-5 minutes. Pour over sliced ham.
Equipment
- Heavy Duty Foil
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This post was originally published in 2018; updated in 2025.
I made this for my daughter and her children for Easter. We did not have a spiral sliced ham as they were scarce, but I improvised by slicing the bone-in ham myself before baking. To say it was a huge success was an understatement! A family who “does not do leftovers” was eating this ham for days afterwards! I believe that speaks volumes in regards to how good this recipe is. It is definitely going into my recipe box for future use! Thanks for sharing!!!
I love hearing how much your family enjoyed. And way to improvise given the circumstances.
In this shelter at home time, I didn't have pineapple or juice on hand, so I subbed with our homemade apple cider and it was a hit!
What a fabulous idea Kim! I am so glad you enjoyed!
I have had the worst luck with cooking hams and sadly this didn’t help! I never cook them long enough to heat the middle and same this happened to me again. I had a 3 lb ham, wrapped in aluminum foil and cooked on high pressure for 16 minutes and left 15 more minutes to release the pressure. The middle was still 70-80 degrees when I finally checked it. ☹️ Thoughts?! I did double the foil because it wasn’t large enough to completely encase the ham but it wasn’t super thick so I didn’t think it would be a problem. And there was a chance the middle was still frozen but I really thought I thawed it completely.
Hi Esther. I am sorry you had issues, but my hunch is that your ham was still a bit frozen AND wrapping in foil twice. You probably needed 5 to 10 extra minutes added to the cook time.
Hello
I tried to follow the recipe as best I could but I am a newbie when it comes to the instant pot. I have a Instant Pot Max that I used to make my 7 lb spiral bone in Ham. I did not use any foil and also had to cut some of the meat off to fit inside (6 quart). I had the ham set for 8 min on the MAX setting with natural release. My Instant pot lot took almost 40 minutes to get to pressure. After that it cooked for 8 minutes and then I had it natural release for 15 minutes before hitting the quick release button. The Ham came out dry and overcooked. Still edible but not great. I was wondering if you could give me some tips on what I could have done wrong? Why would it take so long to pressurize and also as it is pressurizing its cooking the meat correct? I'm trying to understand this whole instant pot thing better. Thanks for your help!
Hi Kyle! Something was definitely off--it should not take 40 minutes for your instant pot to come to pressure for this recipe since there is minimal liquid added. My guess is that your seal was not properly sealed, causing the instant pot to struggle to come to pressure of you did not use enough liquid in bottom of the pot. The ham was certainly overcooked due to the 40 minutes it took to come to pressure, not the cook time. Here are some more details about the reasons an instant pot may not seal well.
When letting pressure release naturally for 15 minutes, do you keep it on “Keep Warm?” Or do you turn that off?
Leave it on keep warm.
2020 is a 1st for many whacky things, it seems..so, in keeping with the nee times, this will be the 1st time I have cooked anything other than hard boiled eggs in my instant pot LOL. So, here goes the easter ham...it's just my hubby & I. Thank you so much for the detailed video!! Yiu have made us happy with this new info!
I am glad you enjoyed this recipe and my tips! Happy unconventional Easter!
I don’t have pineapple juice any other suggestions?
Hi Hailey, I like using 1/8 cup orange juice + 1/8 cup lemon juice mixed together, or orange juice alone works well. Or use water with a tablespoon more of both honey and brown sugar. Enjoy!