Pineapple Baked Ham Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why do people put pineapple on ham? ›

With just a few simple ingredients including fresh pineapple, brown sugar, and a fully cooked ham, this recipe is perfect for any occasion. The pineapple adds a sweet and tangy flavor to the savory ham, making it a crowd-pleaser that will leave everyone asking for seconds.

Don't bother decorating the outside of your ham with fresh pineapple, as the enzymes in the fruit will turn the meat to mush.

The ham cooking instructions below cover all bases, but generally, a half ham will cook in 1½–2¼ hours, while a whole ham could need anywhere from 2½–4½ hours. Allow around 20 minutes per pound for an uncooked half ham; and 18–20 minutes per pound for an uncooked full ham.

Place the ham on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Insert an oven-safe thermometer into the center of the ham. (It should not touch the bone of a bone-in ham.) Bake, uncovered, in the preheated oven until ham registers the desired temperature (140°F for pre-cooked ham).

Cooking a ham in cola will impart a slight sweetness to the ham, which is foiled by the saltiness of the meat itself. However it is only the outside of the ham that will really pick up the sweetness, it does not penetrate all the way through the ham.

Peach preserves, hot pepper jelly, and maple syrup work as sweet bases for glazes that add sheen as well as distinct flavor. Tasty additions such as aromatics, herbs, and spices switch up a traditional ham and make it truly memorable.

For the juice, I would recommend basic orange juice, perhaps cut with a little extra lime juice for complexity and acidity.

Know the soaking time: As pineapple is acidic in nature, the resting time for the marinade should not be more than 12 hours. Soaking the meat in pineapple juice for longer may result in the cooking of the meat in the marinade.

Heat oven to 325°F. Remove all packaging materials. Place ham, cut/flat side down, on rack in shallow roasting pan; cover tightly with aluminum foil. Heat approximately 18 to 23 minutes per pound until heated through.

Cook all raw fresh ham and ready-to-eat ham to a minimum internal temperature of 145 °F (62.8 °C) as measured with a food thermometer before removing meat from the heat source. For safety and quality, allow meat to rest for at least three minutes before carving or consuming.

Do you cover ham with foil when baking? ›

If you don't cover your ham while cooking it will quickly dry out. Instead: Put some aluminum foil over your ham while it's cooking. It is recommended that the ham is covered for at least half of the cooking process and only removed during the last half when you glaze it.

Tips for Making the Best Baked Ham

Cook it cut-side down: Place the ham cut-side down in your pan to prevent it from drying out while baking. Cover it while cooking: Help the meat retain moisture by covering the ham or pan with aluminum foil before putting it in the oven.

The Kitchn explains that the best way to keep ham from drying out in the oven is to simply cover it with some aluminum foil or place it in a baking bag. This will trap any moisture as it evaporates and prevent the ham from drying out.

The glaze should not be applied until the final hour to 30 minutes, in order to avoid burning the sugars. What you're going to do with the glaze ingredients is just combine most of them into a paste, and then apply it to the ham. After that, the heat in your oven will take care of everything.

In the case of pineapples, the bromelain is actually a mixture of two enzymes classed as proteases that break down proteins. These proteases target the large protein molecules in meats (specifically the connective proteins called collagen), and break them down into shorter segments.

However, what many people do not know is pineapple has an enzyme called bromelain that softens muscle fiber. This enzyme reacts with the protein in the meat to break it down and increases the meat's potential to absorb more moisture. This is the reason why pineapple is one of the most preferred tenderizers.

But the Hawaiian pizza, topped with ham and pineapple, was not an Italian invention. And despite the name, it did not come from the US island state of Hawaii either. The pizza was actually created in Canada in 1962 by a Greek immigrant called Sam Panopoulos.

You'll often find pineapple served alongside meats and poultry in countries such as Brazil. This fruit contains a group of digestive enzymes called bromelain that may ease the digestion of meat . Bromelain breaks down protein molecules, meaning your small intestine can more easily absorb them.