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This Air Fryer Baked Ham cooks up perfectly juicy with a sweet and spicy brown sugar-mustard glaze.
Do you always struggle with having enough oven space when you’re cooking a holiday meal? Or maybe you struggle with different dishes needing to bake or roast at different temperatures? Our Air Fryer Baked Ham recipe is a great solution!
What is an air fryer?
An air fryer is the newest craze in small kitchen appliances. It’s basically a counter-top convection oven that cooks and crisps (aka ‘fries’) by circulating hot air above and around the food.
How to you make a baked ham in the air fryer?
Jack and I are very new to the air fryer owners crowd, but it really did a great job with this Air Fryer Baked Ham!
We first placed a pan lined with foil (for easy clean-up) in the bottom of our air fryer. Then we poured some rum in the bottom of the pan before placing a 2 to 3-pound pre-cooked, boneless ham cut side down.
Next, we coated the ham with a buttery brown-sugar glaze flavored with mustard, ground cloves and soy sauce.
We covered the ham with parchment paper and heated it through for about 30 minutes. Then we removed the parchment, and spooned more of the glaze onto the ham. We also raised the temperature of our air fryer, and let the ham cook until the glaze perfectly caramelized into a gorgeous mahogany crust that was sweet and sticky.
Our Air Fryer Baked Ham stayed nice and juicy. And that glaze is amazing!
What kind of air fryer should I buy?
The variety of air fryers on the market is quite staggering with all different price points. We looked at top-rated models, small and large capacity versions, and after reading multiple reviews, we came to the conclusion that they all basically did the same thing, just with different bells and whistles added. We purchased this Dash 6-quart air fryer because it was a large capacity model, had good reviews, and it was relatively inexpensive (under $100). (We didn’t feel it was worth spending double for the top-rated model since the reviews were pretty much the same as this one.)
Serve your Air Fryer Baked Ham with any of the following side dishes:
- Pineapple Raisin Sauce
- Perfect Mashed Potatoes
- Oven Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon
- Green Beans Almondine
- Pearl Onions in Cream Sauce
We love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Air Fryer Baked Ham
Before you begin: A 3-pound ham just fit in our 6-quart Air Fryer so plan accordingly. Ours was a cooked ham cut in half so it had a flat surface and a rounded top which is pretty typical of smaller cooked hams.
Ingredients
1 3–pound cooked boneless ham
1 cup dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons country mustard (or a mix of Dijon and whole grain mustard)
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1/2 cup dark rum
Instructions
Preheat air fryer for 15 minutes on 400 degrees F.
Score the ham both directions with shallow narrow cuts, about ¼ inch between slices.
In a small bowl, mix brown sugar, mustard, melted butter, ground cloves, garlic power and soy sauce to form a thick paste.
In a small pan that fits in your air fryer basket (I fit a cake pan in mine), line the pan with foil and overhang about six inches. Press into the pan.
Pour in the rum and place the ham cut side down.
Brush or spoon on one quarter of the glaze.
Fold a piece of parchment over top then another piece of foil over the parchment so the entire ham is covered. Then fold up the sides from the bottom foil.
With oven mitts, lower the foiled pan into the air fryer basket and slide closed.
Lower temperature to 375 degrees F and cook for 30 minutes.
Raise temperature to 400 degrees F.
Slide basket out and place on a heat proof surface. Remove top foil and parchment, brush or spoon on another quarter of the glaze and close the basket with nothing covering the ham.
Set timer for five minutes. Glaze again and set for five more minutes. Coat with remaining glaze and cook five more minutes. Total 45 minutes from start.
Remove ham to your cutting board and slice.
Serve ham with our pineapple raisin sauce as shown above, or simply serve with the liquid at the bottom of the pan and serve on the side.
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Just cooked this and the sauce on its own is fantastic
Thanks Val!
I made this recipe in our air fryer last night. We didn’t have any dark rum in the house so I substituted Bourbon and I served the ham with the juices from the pan (didn’t make the pineapple raisin sauce). Everything turned out great and all four of us at the table thought it was fantastic. And so easy!
Thanks for yet another delicious recipe!
You’re welcome Rick – I like the idea of swapping in bourbon!
Question: I do not have an air fryer, but my oven has the convection feature. Would the cook times be the same? Have thought about getting an air fryer, but don’t know if I have room!
Hi Raquel – The air fryer definitely cooks faster, so just plan for some extra time in a regular convection oven. We’re just getting started using the air fryer ourselves…stay tuned for some more recipes in the coming weeks! 🙂