Make your holiday dinner effortless with this Air Fryer Ham recipe, featuring a savory, sugar-free garlic and herb dijon glaze! It cooks faster than an oven baked ham while keeping every slice perfectly juicy and tender. It easily serves 8-10 people and frees up valuable oven space for the rest of your holiday menu!
We normally serve this ham with my air fryer mashed potatoes and garlic herb carrots, along with some other holiday side dishes!
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Quick Look: Air Fryer Ham
- ⏱ Prep Time: 10 minutes
- 👩🏻🍳 Cook Time: 55 minutes (based on 4 pound bone-in spiral ham)
- 🍖 Resting Time: 10 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 75 minutes
- 🍽 Servings: 10
- ⚡ Calories: 494 per serving
- 🔥 Flavor/texture: tender and juicy with a herb, garlic and dijon glaze; savory, not sweet.
- 👌 Difficulty: easy recipe
- ❤️ Why you'll love: cuts down on cooking time; frees up oven space; includes a sugar-free, savory glaze.
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Why we love this ham recipe
I don't know about you, but our holiday table always has room for both turkey and ham! While my air fryer turkey breast comes out perfectly tender and juicy every time, if I'm being completely honest, we usually go for the ham first. There's just something about the savory, salty goodness of thinly sliced spiral ham, especially when the glaze forms a thin crust around the edges. We eat multiple slices off the platter before it even hits the table!
Here's why this recipe will become your new favorite for Thanksgiving, Christmas and/or Easter:
- Sugar-free glaze: Instead of a traditional sweet glaze made with honey or brown sugar, this ham is glazed with a wet rub made with oil, dijon mustard, garlic and herbs. This bakes into a savory, aromatic crust around the edges of the spiral slices and helps to lock in moisture.
- Ideal amount: A four pound spiral ham is the perfect size for serving 8-10 people, with minimal leftovers. Of course, if you have leftovers, you can always use them to make my air fryer ham and cheese sliders!
- Frees up oven space: When you have turkeys, side dishes and pies fighting for oven space, moving your ham to the air fryer takes a little bit of stress out of your holiday cooking.
Table of Contents
Ingredient notes
- Ham: I tested this recipe with a 4 pound bone-in spiral sliced ham and a 3 pound boneless ham (not spiral sliced). Both worked well, but there was a slight difference in air frying time, which I include in the recipe notes. Make sure your ham is labeled fully cooked or pre-cooked. Also, make sure it fits in your air fryer. You'll need to buy a quarter spiral ham. Anything bigger is just too large for the air fryer.
- Oil: You'll need oil as the base for the wet rub. I used olive oil, but avocado oil also works well. The oil is important as it helps lock in moisture and juices when the ham is wrapped in foil.
- Dijon: For the best texture and flavor, I prefer whole grain dijon mustard for the glaze. I tried smooth dijon, but it has a sharper flavor and I missed the texture from the mustard seeds.
- Apple cider vinegar: Just a little helps to balance out some of the saltiness from the ham. You can use white vinegar if you prefer.
- Garlic: I used garlic powder instead of fresh garlic. Garlic powder has more even coverage in the rub and it doesn't easily burn like fresh garlic.
- Dried herbs: I prefer dried herbs for the rub as fresh herbs are more likely to burn. You also need 3 times the amount of fresh herbs as they're less potent than dried. I used rosemary and thyme, but feel free to change things up with dried oregano, sage or Italian seasoning.
How to cook ham in the air fryer
Step 1: In a small bowl, mix together the glaze ingredients.
Step 2: Place two long pieces of heavy duty foil in the air fryer basket so they overlap diagonally. Place the ham in the basket cut side (flat side) down. Fan out the spiral slices as best you can.
Step 3: Pour ⅓ of the glaze onto the ham and use a brush to spread it out over the surface and in between the slices.
Step 4: Cover the ham with the foil, being careful not to seal it too tightly.
Step 5: Air fry at 320F for 25 minutes. Carefully open the foil and pour half of the remaining glaze on the ham, brushing it all over and in between slices. Reseal and air fry at 320F for another 25 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the ham reaches 140F.
Step 6: Open the foil and fold or cut down the sides of the foil to create a bowl. Brush on the remaining glaze.
Step 7: Air fry at 380F for 5-8 minutes, or until the top of the ham is browned and crisped up.
Step 8: Let the ham sit for 10 minutes, then slice and serve.
Expert tips
- Air fryer size. My air fryer is a 5.8 quart basket style and the maximum it could hold was a 4 pound bone-in spiral ham. I haven't tested this recipe in a toaster oven style air fryer.
- Size of ham. It's not just the weight of the ham that matters. It's also the shape. I bought a quarter spiral ham so there was at least 1-inch space between the top of the ham and the top heating element. But, the sides of the ham were still a bit too big to fit into the air fryer basket, so I had to trim a little bit off the sides.
- Use foil. I don't normally use foil in the air fryer, but when cooking a ham, it's essential. The foil helps to lock in moisture and prevent the ham from drying out. It also catches the juices and excess glaze so it doesn't drip down into the air fryer drawer, where it can burn and start smoking.
- Browning at the end. Before you finish, remove the foil from the top part of the ham and increase the air fryer temperature to 380F. This will brown and crisp up the edges of the ham. Keep an eye on the ham at this point. It can burn and dry out quickly at a higher temperature.
- Boneless ham: Even though the boneless ham I tested was smaller (3 pounds), since it wasn't pre-sliced, it took a little longer to heat through in the air fryer (about 10-15 minutes longer). While I prefer the ease of a spiral ham, a boneless, unsliced ham doesn't dry out as easily.
Storing and reheating leftovers
Fridge/freezer: Leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days, or 2-3 months in the freezer (especially if you vacuum seal leftovers like we do).
Reheating: To reheat leftover ham in the air fryer without drying it out, just wrap a few slices in foil with a tablespoon of water. Air fry at 320F for 5-8 minutes, or until heated through.
Air fryer ham FAQs
This could happen if the ham was wrapped too tightly in foil so the hot air couldn't circulate around it. To fix this, don't increase the air fryer temperature as this will dry out the ham. Instead, add a tablespoon of water or broth to the foil packet, reseal it loosely and continue air frying for another 10-15 minutes. To prevent this in the future, make sure to fan out the spiral slices and loosely wrap the ham with foil.
This usually happens if the ham is overcooked, cooked on a higher temperature or cooked without being wrapped in foil. To keep your ham from drying out, cook it low and wrap it in foil. And, when it comes to exposing the ham and browning the top, keep a close eye on it. You only need to air fry it at a higher temperature for 5-8 minutes.
There are so many side dish options for ham! If it's for the holidays, like Christmas or Easter, these air fryer fingerling potatoes or roasted Brussels sprouts with prosciutto are the perfect side dish. If it's a more casual meal, you can't go wrong with a pasta salad like my broccoli caesar pasta salad or Italian bow tie pasta salad!
More holiday recipes
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📖 Recipe
Air Fryer Ham with Savory, Sugar-Free Glaze
Ingredients
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons whole grain dijon mustard
- 1 ½ tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried rosemary
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3-4 pound spiral sliced ham, (quarter spiral ham, bone-in)
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix together the oil, dijon, vinegar, dried herbs, garlic powder and pepper.
- Place two long pieces of heavy duty foil in the air fryer basket so they overlap diagonally. Place the ham in the basket cut side (flat side) down and fan out the spiral slices as best you can.
- Pour ⅓ of the glaze onto the ham and use a brush to spread it out over the surface and in between the slices.
- Cover the ham with the foil, being careful not to seal it too tightly.
- Air fry at 320F for 25 minutes. Carefully open the foil and pour half of the remaining glaze on the ham, brushing it all over and in between slices.
- Reseal and air fry at 320F for another 25 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the ham reaches 140F.
- Open the foil and fold or cut down the sides of the foil to create a bowl. Brush on the remaining glaze.
- Air fry at 380F for 5-8 minutes, or until the top of the ham is browned and a little crisped up.
- Transfer the ham to a platter or cutting board and let it sit for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes
- Air fryer size. My air fryer is a 5.8 quart basket style and the maximum it could hold was a 4 pound bone-in spiral ham. I haven't tested this recipe in a toaster oven style air fryer.
- Size of ham. It's not just the weight of the ham that matters. It's also the shape. Make sure there is at least 1-inch space between the top of the ham and the top heating element. If the sides of your ham are too big to fit into the air fryer basket, just trim a little bit off the sides to make it fit.
- Use foil. I don't normally use foil in the air fryer, but when cooking a ham, it's essential. The foil helps to lock in moisture and prevent the ham from drying out. It also catches the juices and excess glaze so it doesn't drip down into the air fryer drawer, where it can burn and start smoking.
- Cold center. If your ham is still cold in the center after 50 minutes in the air fryer, don't increase the air fryer temperature as this will dry out the ham. Instead, add a tablespoon of water or broth to the foil packet, reseal it loosely and continue air frying for another 10-15 minutes. To prevent this in the future, make sure to fan out the spiral slices and loosely wrap the ham with foil.
- Browning at the end. Keep an eye on the ham at this point. It can burn and dry out quickly at a higher temperature.
- Boneless ham. This recipe also works with boneless ham (which is not pre-sliced). Just expect to increase the air frying time. Depending on the size of your ham, the extra time could range from 10-20 minutes. While I prefer the ease of a spiral ham, a boneless, unsliced ham doesn't dry out as easily.
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Nutrition Facts per Serving
Disclaimer
Nutrition information is an estimate only and will vary depending on the substitutions made and the brands used.
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