Our Air Fryer ham recipe with homemade pineapple glaze is perfect for all year round. When you’re wanting to serve an air fryer spiral ham or small country ham for Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas or Holidays this recipe is great. We have lots of tips, tricks and photographs for you to follow. We’ve tested this recipe with so many different hams and cooked them in different model fryers. So read and follow the recipe box below for successful results.

Air Fryer Ham Pineapple Glaze
Air Fryer Ham Pineapple Glaze

Can You Air Fry a Country Ham or Spiral Ham?

Yes, you can! It’s super easy and the results are a moist and flavorful ham. Our air fryer spiral ham recipe has a great pineapple glaze that’s delicious! It will also work with a small country style ham that isn’t spiral cut.

  • Size: the ham should be a smaller 2-3 pound ham in for most air fryer!
  • Little Oven Space: Using the air fryer is perfect when you don’t have an oven to cook the ham in or if you’re tight on oven space.
  • The air fryer is the perfect appliance to dedicate the ham to and you’ll realize how amazing the hot air technology is. Serve it for Sunday dinner or for holidays and everyone will be satisfied, happy and amazed at how you cooked it.
  • Depending on the size of the ham you buy and how big your air fryer is, you may need to trim down the ham to make it fit. Check the ham height vs how deep your air fryer is as well as the side to side dimensions.

Video: Recipe for Air Fryer Ham with Pineapple Glaze

Air Fryer Ham Pineapple Glaze

Tips: How to Air Fry Spiral or Whole Ham

  • Different shapes, sizes and types of ham. There’s also so many different styles and sizes of air fryers. So make sure to not buy a one that’s too big for your air fryer. Learn more about Ham 101.
  • Room Temperature: Take the ham out the fridge and let it come to room temperature, about 2 hours before cooking. If you cook the ham that’s cold straight from the fridge, it still might be cold in the center after air frying.
  • Best Size? A 3-pound fully cooked ham should be the maximum size for a 6 qt air fryer. Smaller air fryers can accommodate a 2 pounds. If it’s is still too big, you can trim it to fit your air fryer.
  • Make room for foil. Wrap the ham in foil and make sure to give extra space for that too. Don’t let the foil be too close to the heating element, so it’s important to wrap the ham tight.
  • Non-spiral whole cooked ham. You’ll need to make criss cross cuts into the ham so the skin crisps up nicely and the glaze gets a little deeper into the ham making is super tasty. Instructions are in the recipe box below for the air fryer baked ham.

Timing: How Long to Cook Air Fried Ham with Pineapple Glaze?

  • Adjust Timing when Necessary. Cooking times will vary because different air fryers cook at slightly different temperatures. And of course, ham sizes vary too.
  • Estimated Timing: is to cook about 15-20 minutes for every pound of fully cooked ham. Glaze the ham a few times while air frying.
  • When you’re cooking the ham during the last half, check it to make sure it’s not too dry. From there, you decide how much longer you want cook the ham. Keep glazing it to help it stay moist.
  • Crisp Texture. We like to finish the ham un-covered for the last 5 minutes for a crispy, caramel texture and to let the heat get deeper into the ham.
  • All recipe details are in the recipe box below.
Holiday Thanksgiving ham recipe
Air Fryer Ham Pineapple Glaze

Air Fryer Ham with Pineapple Glaze

This recipe is for a slightly sweet glaze. If you add more brown sugar, it’ll thicken quicker. Bring the ham to room temp before air frying. Otherwise the ham may still be too cold in the center after cooking. Our 3 pound boneless ham was cooked in a 6qt. Air fryer. For other sized hams and air fryers, adjust cooking times as needed. We estimate about 15-20 minutes per pound for air frying the ham.
Don't let the foil touch the heating elements of the air fryer. If it touches, then your ham is too large for your air fryer. Trim down the bottom of the ham so it isn't too tall.
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Ingredients

  • 2-3 pounds (907 – 1360 g) boneless, fully cooked ham

Pineapple Juice Glaze

  • 1 cup (240 ml) pineapple juice
  • 1/2 cup (110 g) brown sugar , or to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon (1.25 ml) ground cloves (optional)
  • 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) salt , or to taste
  • 3 pineapple rings
  • Optional – (a few maraschino cherries or cranberries for garnish)

Instructions 

  • Remove the ham from the fridge and allow to come up to room temperature, about 2 hours before cooking.
    Country style ham on a cutting board
  • Make the Glaze: Add pineapple juice, brown sugar, cinnamon, optional ground cloves and salt to pan. Simmer on medium-low heat for about 20 minutes or until is reduced to about half or until it starts to thicken a bit. Remove from heat.
    Pineapple glaze simmering
  • If needed, remove the netting from the ham. If ham is not pre-sliced, score the ham with shallow 3/4-inch criss-cross cuts.
    Scoring the ham
  • For Basket Style Air Fryers: Line the air fryer basket with 2 pieces of long, criss-crossed foil sheets. Lay the ham on top of the foil and then brush with some of the glaze to coat the ham. Close the foil over the ham and wrap tightly.
    Pressing foil into air fryer basket
  • For Oven Style Air Fryers: Place the ham in an 8”x8” baking pan which fits in your air fryer (you may need to trim the edges of the ham to fit your pan and air fryer size). Brush with some of the glaze and close foil over the ham, wrapping tightly.
    Foil begin put over ham
  • Air Fry at 340°F/170°C for 25 minutes. Open the foil and brush the ham with more glaze (make sure to reserve some glaze for finishing & serving).
    Brushing glaze on ham
  • Close the foil tightly, and Air Fry again at 340°/170°C for 25 minutes. After air frying for the 50 minutes, open up the foil again and now push the foil down around the edges of the ham if using the basket-style air fryer method. Create a boat with the foil that holds the juices and keeps the hand from drying out. If using the Oven Style Air Fryer method, just remove the foil from the 8"x8" pan.
    Two photos showing foil being taken off ham
  • Add the slices of pineapple on the top of the ham. Spread more glaze over everything.
    Glaze being brushed on ham and pineapple
  • Increase heat to Air Fry at 360°F/180°C for about 5 minutes, or until caramelized to your liking. Let ham rest for 5 minutes before serving. Place the the maraschino cherries or cranberries in the center of the pineapple rings for optional garnish.
    Finished ham in air fryer basket
  • Optional serving: Combine the juices from the air fryer basket and the remaining glaze in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook for a couple minutes or until slightly thickened. Brush the glaze onto the ham when serving or serve in a bowl.
    Finished ham on a platter

If your air fryer is preheated or if you are cooking multiple batches, you may need to reduce timing by a few minutes (unless preheating is called for in the recipe).

Video

YouTube video

Nutrition Information per Serving

Calories: 341kcal, Carbohydrates: 17g, Protein: 25g, Fat: 19g, Saturated Fat: 7g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 9g, Cholesterol: 70mg, Sodium: 1466mg, Potassium: 392mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 15g, Vitamin A: 10IU, Vitamin C: 4mg, Calcium: 24mg, Iron: 1mg

How to Honey Baked Ham in The Air Fryer

If you love honey baked ham, try our Honey Baked Ham in the Air fryer Recipe here. It’s a classic and popular way to cooking a whole boneless pre-cooked ham in the air fryer. The best part about this is that it’s so easy to make. There’s no reason to have to buy it. You save time and money. The key to making this recipe great is to make sure the ham is at room temperature before you start air frying. This ensures that it warms all the way through the center and the glaze becomes sticky and flavorful.

Holiday ham recipe for Thanksgiving Easter

How Do You Re-Heat Leftover Ham?

You’ll probably have plenty of leftovers, so re-heating the slices or steaks is quick and simple. There’s a few things to understand to make sure they don’t dry out. Read our detailed article on air fryer ham steaks here. If you have any leftover glaze, definitely save all that! Because when you’re re-heating these slices it’s nice to have some leftover glaze to brush over the leftover ham steaks. This makes them extra flavorful and juicy without drying out. And make some grilled cheese sandwiches or melts with the leftover slices! Here’s the recipe. Hope you enjoy our recipe for air fryer spiral ham!