Make this perfectly moist, easy, and no hassle boneless spiral sliced ham in Instant Pot and serve with a delicious aromatic Chinese char siu glaze (Chinese BBQ sauce). It is perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter or any holiday meals and it’s ready in no time.
Christmas or any holiday events can be hectic for most people. The decorating, the gift shopping and wrapping, the cooking, the baking can be overwhelming. I really don’t know how we get to December already. Like seriously!!! This year I really don’t want to cook up a storm but I do want to share this super easy Instant pot spiral-sliced ham that I serve with Chinese char siu glaze recipe. Oh…that glaze is sooo good! It’s almost the same ingredients I use to make my easy Chinese char siu BBQ pork with a bit of tweaking.
The recipe rundown
Taste: The savory ham pairs well with the sweet char siu glaze
Texture: The sliced hams are perfectly moist
Ease: Easy
Pros: The ham and the glaze can be cooked in Instant Pot. So, no extra pan or pot to wash
Cons: the list of ingredients for the glaze may seem a bit long, but trust me, they are easy to find ingredients and it’s worth it!
Ingredients
1. Boneless spiral sliced ham
I recommend buying 4 lbs max of ham. Anything bigger, it may not fit or fit very snugly into a 6-quart Instant Pot, which is the size I have.
2. Honey
An old-school Chinese char siu sauce will use maltose as it gives the sauce a nice shine and also perfectly sticky, but I won’t recommend it in this case because we don’t want the glaze to be too sticky. Honey works wonderfully and it contributes to the sweetness too. Maltose doesn’t taste sweet (though it still has a high glycemic index)
3. Hoisin sauce
I feel like Hoisin sauce is a must in char siu sauce. It gives that aroma that will immediately make you think of char siu when you smell it
4. Soy sauce
The role of soy sauce here is to add that umami and that hint of savoriness to the glaze
5. Five-spice powder
This is another ingredient that I will not omit in making char siu sauce. Char siu sauce is not the aroma of five-spice powder
6. Pineapple juice
The natural sweetness of pineapple juice, the nice aroma, and the fact that it has bromelain that helps to tenderize meat is something I won’t omit in the recipe either
6. Garlic powder
You can use grated garlic too, but garlic powder works well as you won’t bite into garlic pieces and the glaze is smooth
7. Salt
A small pinch is all we need here to tie the glaze together
How to make Instant pot spiral ham with char siu glaze
1. Mix all ingredients for the glaze in a bowl and set aside
2. Get 2 layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil, enough to cover and wrap the ham up entirely. Remove the ham from its packaging. Place the ham on the center of the foil
3. Then roughly shape the foil into bowl-like.
4. Use your clean hands to gently separate the layers of sliced ham
5. Pour the glaze you prepare earlier, trying to get into each layer as much as you can.
6. Wrap the ham up with the foil, leaving no gap
7. Pour in 1 cup of water into the inner pot of the instant pot.
8. Place the trivet in.
9. Carefully and gently transfer the foil-wrapped ham and place on top of the trivet, careful not to let the trivet puncture the foil (it happened to me before) and the liquid will leak out and the ham won’t be moist
10. Secure the lid and turn the steam release valve to seal.
11. Press “pressure cooker” and make sure it’s on “high pressure”. The cooking time should be 2 minutes for each pound of ham. Mine is close to 4 lbs so it should be 8 minutes, but we need to account for the fact that it is wrapped in 2 layers of heavy-duty foil to keep the ham moist during cooking, which means it takes longer to heat it through, so add another 10 minutes on top of that. So, in my case, the total cooking time is 18 minutes. The pressure cooker may take about 10 minutes or less to comes into pressure
12. When 18 minutes of cooking time has elapsed, wait 15 minutes. The pressure valve would have collapsed by then
13. Unlock the lid and then carefully lift the ham out from the cooker
14. Then carefully unwrap the foil, check the internal temperature to make sure it has come to between 135-140 F. If it’s not, wrap it back up and pressure cook on high for another 3-5 minutes. There should be some cooking juice collected inside the foil. Very carefully transfer the ham out to a platter. Save the juice
15. Pour the liquid out from the inner pot of Instant Pot. Pour in the juice from cooking the ham back into the inner pot. Press saute and bring it to a boil.
16. Cook until the sauce has slightly reduced and thickened, about 3-5 minutes
17. Brush some of the glaze on top of the ham and in between slices. Reserve some of the glaze to serve on the side
18. Slice the ham, which shouldn’t be hard, since it is already pre-sliced halfway and you just need to cut it all the way. Serve with the extra glaze on the side
Pressure cooking time is based on the weight of the ham
The amount of time to pressure cook the boneless spiral-cut ham is based on the weight of the ham, which is about 2 minutes/lb, which I adopted from A Mindfull Mom, it’s very useful:
4-lb ham: 8 minutes + 10 minutes (because it is wrapped in a foil) = 18 minutes
5-lb ham: 10 minutes + 10 minutes = 20 minutes
6-lb ham: 12 minutes + 10 minutes = 22 minutes
7-lb ham: 14 minutes + 10 minutes = 24 minutes (you need 8-quart Instant pot)
8-lb ham: 16 minutes + 10 minutes = 26 minutes (you need 8-quart Instant pot)
How to store leftover spiral-sliced ham
1. Refrigerator: Transfer the ham to a clean container with a tight lid and they can be kept for about 5 days
2. Freezer: Wrap the ham in a double layer of aluminum foil. Place it inside a freezer bag, push all the air out and seal the bag. They can be kept frozen for a maximum of 6 months. Remember to write the name and date. When ready to use the frozen ham, simply thaw the overnight in the fridge.
Recipe ideas using cooked ham
1. Add to fried rice / nasi goreng : golden egg fried rice, Indonesian nasi goreng
2. Add to noodle dish : Easy Taiwanese Cold Noodles with Peanut Sauce, Economy Fried Bee Hoon / Fried Noodles, Indonesian mie goreng, 15-minute Stir-fried Shrimp Shirataki Noodles
3. Make banh mi sandwiches
4. Make sandwiches with these momofuku steamed buns
5. As a filling for puff pastry
6. Stir fry with veggies
7. As a protein in your salad
8. Add to soup or stew
9. As a topping on your pizza
Did you make this Instant Pot Spiral Ham with Char Siu Glaze recipe?
I love it when you guys snap a photo and tag to show me what you’ve made đŸ™‚ Simply tag me @WhatToCookToday #WhatToCookToday on Instagram and I’ll be sure to stop by and take a peek for real!
Instant Pot Spiral Baked Ham with Char Siu Glaze
Ingredients
- 4 lbs boneless spiral-sliced ham
Char siu glaze:
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 2 Tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp five-spice powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ cup pineapple juice
- ¼ cup brown sugar packed, or more as needed
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
Prepare the glaze:
- Mix all the ingredients for the glaze in a bowl. Stir to mix and set aside
Prepare the ham:
- Get 2 layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil, enough to cover and wrap the ham up entirely. Remove the ham from its packaging. Place the ham on the center of the foil and then shape the foil into bowl-like. Use your clean hands to gently separate the layers of sliced ham and then pour the glaze you prepare earlier, trying to get into each layer as much as you can.
- Wrap the ham up with the foil, leaving no gap
Pressure cook in Instant pot:
- The ham is already cooked when you bought it. All we are doing is to heat it up and to make sure it stays moist. Pour in 1 cup of water into the inner pot of the instant pot. Place the trivet in. Carefully and gently transfer the foil-wrapped ham and place on top of the trivet, careful not to let the trivet puncture the foil (it happened to me before) and the liquid will leak out and the ham won't be moist
- Secure the lid and turn the steam release valve to seal. Press "pressure cooker" and make sure it's on "high pressure". The cooking time should be 2 minutes for each pound of ham. Mine is close to 4 lbs so it should be 8 minutes, but we need to account for the fact that it is wrapped in 2 layers of heavy-duty foil to keep the ham moist during cooking, which means it takes longer to heat it through, so add another 10 minutes on top of that. So, in my case, the total cooking time is 18 minutes. The pressure cooker may take about 10 minutes or less to comes into pressure
- When 18 minutes of cooking time has elapsed, wait 15 minutes. The pressure valve would have collapsed by then. Unlock the lid and then carefully lift the ham out from the cooker. Then carefully unwrap the foil. Check the internal temperature to make sure it has come to between 135-140 F. If it's not, wrap it back up and pressure cook on high for another 3-5 minutes
- There should be some cooking juice collected inside the foil. Very carefully transfer the ham out to a platter. Save the juice
Prepare the glaze:
- Pour the liquid out from the inner pot of Instant Pot. Pour in the juice from cooking the ham back into the inner pot. Press saute and bring it to a boil. Have a taste. Is the sauce sweet enough for you or not. You can always adjust the taste by adding more brown sugar. Cook until the sauce has slightly reduced and thickened slightly, may take about 3-5 minutes. The glaze will thicken as the sugar caramelized. Don't reduce the sauce too much because they thicken further once it cools down. If it gets too thick, you can always add a bit of warm water to thin down the consistency a bit, especially if you plan to serve the extra glaze on the side
Glaze the ham:
- Brush some of the glaze on top of the ham and in between slices. Reserve some of the glaze to serve on the side
Broil the ham (optional):
- I didn't do this, but if you want a more caramelized glazed ham, place the ham on top of a baking sheet lined with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Broil the ham on high for 2-3 minutes or until you are happy with the caramelization
Serve:
- Slice the ham, which shouldn't be hard, since it is already pre-sliced halfway and you just need to cut it all the way. Serve with the extra glaze on the side
2 comments
i’m confused. isn’t sprial ham usually already precooked? Does this mean we are cooking it twice in IP?
Hi Jos, yes, spiral ham is already precooked, all we are doing is reheating it before serving. Unless you want to serve it cold, which is fine too đŸ™‚