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This easy slow-cooker ham is not only Paleo and AIP-compliant, but gluten-free and dairy-free and a great main dish for holidays like Easter and Christmas
I am a HUGE fan of using my crockpot. If I could cook with it every day I would. There is nothing like spending 5 minutes tossing some stuff into the pot, turning it on, and then a few hours later having a meal ready. Or at least your main dish. I use our crockpot a lot on the weekends so that I can either hang out with my family or spend time prepping meals/snacks for the rest of the week instead of just for dinner that night.
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This slow cooker ham is something we have year-round, but I'm posting it now since it could definitely work as an easy Easter dinner. It's an Autoimmune Paleo friendly adaptation of Arsy of Rubies and Radishes' Dijon Ham from her essential book, The Paleo Slow Cooker. Hers is amazing, but has some ingredients, like mustard, that don't work if you are avoiding seeds (like you do on an elimination diet like AIP). But you don't need to be on AIP to enjoy this one. It just happens to be AIP-friendly but doesn't lack in flavor in any way.
No video tutorial for this one because it's literally place ham in slow cooker, toss other ingredients on top, turn slow cooker on, cook. Go on with your day and then about 45 min before serving put a side dish in the oven. We love brussels sprouts cut in half tossed in melted bacon fat and salt and then roasted at 425 F for 25 min. That will take you about 10 minutes to prep. Throw that in the oven and spend the next 25 minutes relaxing or chopping up veggies for meals the rest of the week.
Meal Prep and Freeze this Delicious Ham
You can meal prep this ham easily! Follow the directions below on preparing this ham. Once finished, you can store the ham in the fridge for 3-4 days.
You can also freeze super easy too. If freezing from raw, put the ham and all the other ingredients in a freezer-safe bag. Massage the ingredients around to coat the ham. Store the ham in the freezer like this for up to 6 months.
To freeze the cooked ham, slice into individual portions or leave whole. Wrap the ham well in a layer of plastic wrap, then place in a plastic freezer-safe bag. Store the cooked ham in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Slow Cooker Ham Recipe
If you make this ham, I'd love to hear how it turned out! Either comment below or share a pic on Instagram and tag me @thrivingautoimmune!
Slow Cooker Ham
Ingredients
- 1 4-6 lb Ham Roast
- 1/4 cup Honey
- 1/2 cup Orange Juice
- 2 tsp Dried Rosemary
- 4 tbs Coconut Oil
- zest of 1 Orange
- 1 tbs Apple Cider Vinegar
Instructions
- Place ham in slow cooker.
- Put the rest of the ingredients on the ham.
- Cook on low for 4-6 hours.
Notes
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I made this a couple of weeks ago with a fresh, uncured ham roast! It was delicious! I added salt to the mix and instead of coconut oil I used ghee. I am doing the GAPS protocol which is similar to paleo so it’s easy to alter a few things. Making it again today and sticking some whole cloves into the sides to see what that does! thanks for the inspiration!
Yum! That sounds like it would be a delicious variation. So glad you liked it!
What could I use in place of orange juice? my son and I can’t have any citrus, well we limit it greatly. Thank you
You could just use something like apple juice or even some chicken/beef stock. It’s really more for flavor and just a bit of moisture than anything.
Hi Michele, I have an 11# spiral cut, bone in ham. How long would I need to cook it?
Wow, will that even fit in your slow cooker? If so, I’d probably go about 5 hours on low. The spiral cut ones definitely heat up faster, but since it’s so big it might take a while to get into the center.
Hi Michele: Thank you for your posts. I would like to make this recipe but the ham I have is only 2 lbs. Can the recipe simply be halved? What about cook time? Needless to say, I am a crock pot cooking novice. Thanks so much!
Hi Janice – Yeah, you would just need to halve the recipe and as for cooking time, I’d probably halve that as well. It shouldn’t take nearly as long for the whole thing to heat up so 2-3 hours should be good! Hope you enjoy 🙂
this is linked in a cookeatpaleo.com post about Easter recipes and was struck by the photo, looks so tasty, love the thick cut and the rosemary, also good tip about slow cooking with brussels and bacon, because, why not? Thank you for this!
I’m so glad you found it! Thanks for the lovely comment 🙂
Hi Michele! I would like to make this recipe but in the oven instead of the crockpot since my crockpot will be in use for another dish! Do you think if I pour the glaze mixture over the ham and just bake it according to the directions on the ham it will be ok? Any tips I should know about translating this from slowcooker to oven? Thanks!
Hi Kylie – I have never made it in the oven but I can’t imagine it would be a problem to do so! I just made it a slowcooker recipe just so it was completely hands off, but the oven should be totally fine. (And yeah, if the ham has directions, follow those since I don’t know at what temp or time you’d want to cook it for). Let me know how it turns out!
Is this an uncured ham? I’m having a heck of a time finding a ham without sugar! Did your ham have sugar?
Hey Amy- So… yeah, this is a tough one. You can use an uncured ham if you are really worried about it, but I used a ham by 5280 Meat that was cured in a mixture that did contain sugar. The way I look at it is that the meat needs sugar to cure but the majority of the sugar typically gets rinsed off before it gets smoked. Yes, some sugar will remain in the ham though. For me it is something I’m willing to overlook since I have it so rarely, but if you are really concerned, these places do sell sugar-free ham: http://grasslandbeef.com/sugar-free-ham and http://pedersonsnaturalfarms.com/product/uncured-no-sugar-smoked-petite-ham/
Hi Michele!
Thank you so much for the very quick reply! 🙂 As you can tell, I’ve not had too much experience with roasting ham! LOL I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed and intimidated at the selections of uncured, cured, raw, fully cooked, spiral, and fresh ham roast! Yes! I accidently bought the latter for Christmas and spent hours trying to figure out how to cook it! :p It turned out fine, but I’m determined to make it right for my family for Easter and cook a real ham (the kind that looks like yours!). 🙂 So, I’m guessing since this is cooked for 4-6 hours in the crockpot, I need to look for a ham roast that is NOT fully cooked, but cured and raw instead. Is that right? Sorry for these ridiculous questions!
Thanks again for all your help! 🙂
haha, trust me, I get it. So many choices! So actually, the one that I cook in the crockpot for 4-6 hours is cooked (smoked). I guess you could eat it as is but I believe cooking it in the crockpot actually renders the fat and tenderizes the meat a bit more, giving it a lot more flavor. I caution in the post that if you do something like a spiral cut ham to cook it for less time because the heat will get into all the slices and cook it a lot faster – so do be aware of that if you go with one of those or else you will get overcooked meat. Hopefully that helps?
WHEW! Yes, that helps a lot! 😀 Thank you!!!!
Any sugar or uncured meat is NOT AIP or paleo…I wish you wouldn’t label this recipe that way…very confusing for the people that NEED to strictly follow these protocols.
No, I think you’re getting confused with Whole30 – no sugars at all, including honey nor maple syrup are allowed on that protocol – but small amounts of honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar, maple sugar, etc are allowed on both AIP and Paleo.
where do you get your ham?
I get mine from 5280 Meat – really tasty ham!
Hey Michele! Love you blog… from one Michelle to another 😉 Thanks for post this awesome slow cooked ham 🙂 So perfect for the holidays. I featured it on my Paleo AIP holiday recipe link post!
Thanks so much Michelle!
Wow! Idea for Easy Easter Dinner – check! I am totally making this! Thanks for sharing, it looks so delicious!! 🙂