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Our Pineapple Raisin Sauce is the perfect, delicious accompaniment to a holiday ham.
Like many families, a baked ham is on the menu for holiday dinners at our house including Christmas and Easter. Our Pineapple Raisin Sauce is a wonderful, easy sauce to serve along with your holiday ham!
My husband Jack has been making this Pineapple Raisin Sauce recipe for as long as I can remember, and it wouldn’t be a holiday meal without it! In fact, he always gets rave reviews from our dinner guests whenever we serve it. (And, more often than not, someone asks him to share the recipe.)
How do you make Pineapple Raisin Sauce?
This Pineapple Raisin Sauce is a wonderful blend of sweetness from the raisins, pineapple, and brown sugar, savory from the cloves and ginger, and some Dijon mustard gives the sauce a little flavor kick that perfectly complements a salty baked ham! We’ve used a mix of both dark and golden raisins here for more visual appeal, but any raisins you have on hand will work for this delicious sauce.
Although this Pineapple Raisin Sauce looks very fancy, it is quite easy to make and chances are you have most of the ingredients in your kitchen cabinet. We used crushed canned pineapple to make today’s recipe, but feel free to use fresh pineapple if you prefer.
It also only takes about fifteen minutes to prepare – and it can easily be made in advance and reheated just before serving.
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Pineapple Raisin Sauce
The perfect Pineapple Raisin sauce to accompany baked ham.
Ingredients
4 teaspoons corn starch
2 6-ounce cans pineapple juice
1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup raisins
Instructions
In a small cup, dissolve corn starch with enough of the pineapple juice to make a slurry. (A slurry is cold liquid mixed with cornstarch until smooth and glossy.) Set aside.
Mix all other ingredients in a medium-sized sauce pan and bring to a boil over low heat.
Add slurry mixture and stir until thickened. Remove from heat.
Serve over sliced baked ham.
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Notes
Sauce may be thinned with additional pineapple juice if it becomes too thick.
Can I add liquor to sauce
Sure Bill – if you’d like, you can substitute a small amount of the pineapple juice for liquor.
Can you tell me when the receipe says to use enough juice to make a slurry if I am using the remainder of the 2 pineapple cans in the sauce
Hi Mary – To start, you’ll use just some of the juice to make the slurry – basically dissolving the corn starch in the juice before adding it to the sauce. And yes, you will use the remainder of the juice in the ingredients list in the sauce.
You must be related to my mother. Your Pineapple Raisin Sauce is very similar in taste as to what I remember mom making. Thanks for publishing it.
You’re very welcome Rich! Happy Easter!
Pineapple Raisin Sauce
This never got thick. Was the 20 oz can of crushed pineapple supposed to be drained. How can I fix this?
Hi Sue – No – you want the juice from the crushed pineapple for the sauce. You can try simmering it longer and/or adding more corn starch. That should do the trick!
I do not really ever cook but I have missed my fathers meals that I had to step up and give it a go. This was so delicious and my mother dared to say it was better than his sauce. I did omit the mustard and add extra cornstarch. Perhaps next time I just need to start it much earlier and simmer longer. Amazing!
So glad you enjoyed the recipe and it brought back some fond family memories.
pretty hard to bring something to a boil over low heat – you may want to correct this
If you have the heat too high, it will stick. You’ll be surprised how quickly it thickens and starts to bubble under a low flame.
My Grandmother would make a small bowl of this just for me at Holidays I loved it so much!
Don’t think it had mustard in it but I will try it that way…
Also a nice gift when invited to dinner in a glass jar and paper wrapped.
What a great gift idea David! Thank you for the suggestion! I hope our version is as good as the sauce your Grandmother used to make for you!
I have made this twice and it’s really good. We don’t have raisin fans so I left them out. I also reduced the sugar to 1/2 cup as we felt it was sweet enough.
Thanks Chris – so glad you enjoyed the recipe. We also appreciate knowing that the sauce made with less sugar and no raisins still tastes delicious!
Just wondering how far in advance I can make this sauce?
Hi Charlotte – A few days in advance (maybe 2-3 days) should be fine. Enjoy!
How much is just one serving size? I’m trying to get this recipe for my mother, and she would like to know whether it’s two teaspoons, one tablespoon, etc. Thanks so much.
Hi Jody – We’d estimate about 1/4 cup per serving.
Hubby and I used to buy something similier at our local grocery store years ago but haven’t been able to find it again. I even tried making it myself but never got it right so was excited when I saw this and am anxious to try this……thank you for sharing!!
Thank you for writing to us Donna! I hope you enjoy the recipe! Happy holidays!