Dr. Pepper Glazed Ham

Savory & sweet ham (but not too sweet)!  I cooked a 4-lb sliced Cure 81 Classic Sliced ham (pre-cooked).  Very easy and great flavor.  I wanted as much sauce as possible so did not reduce the sauce ingredients even though I only cooked 4-lbs of ham. I baked the ham @ 250F for 1-hour 10 minutes so I could get the full effect of the ham baking in the sauce.  I will definitely make this again. (+Instant Pot instructions added 1/2/2023)   

Ingredients

·         10-pound spiral sliced ham

·         ¾ cup brown sugar

·         ½ cup Dr. Pepper

·         2 teaspoons Dijon* Mustard

·         ½ cup crushed pineapple**

Instructions

1.           Remove the ham from the packaging. Place the ham, cut-side down, in the roasting pan or baking dish and wrap the ham and pan tightly with foil.

2.           Adjust an oven rack to the lowest position and heat the oven to 250 Degrees

3.           Bake the ham until the center registers 100 Degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours, depending on the size of the ham. (About 17 minutes per pound) – or you can buy it pre-cooked and it will cook for a lot less time.

4.           While the ham bakes, bring the sugar, Dr Pepper, and mustard to a simmer in a medium saucepan and cook until syrupy and reduced to 3/4 cup (about 8 minutes)

5.           Remove the ham from the oven and roll back the sides of the bag or the foil to expose the meat. Carefully tip out the juices that have collected in the pan into your sink. Brush the ham with the Dr Pepper glaze and then spoon 1/2 cup of crushed pineapple over the ham and glaze.  Return it to the oven, uncovered, for about 30 minutes. (Check the ham occasionally and if it appears to be browning too much, tent it with a piece of foil.) Remove the ham from the oven and brush it again with the Dr, Pepper glaze. Tent the ham loosely with foil and let it cool for 30 to 40 minutes before slicing and serving.

*I don't care for Dijon Mustard and since there is no REAL substitute, I used an acceptable substitute--plain old prepared yellow mustard--works great and still tastes amazing.  I chose to NOT add the **crushed pineapple (I only had a large can and decided that the Dr. Pepper would add enough sweetness).  I will try it sometime with the crushed pineapple, since I like layering flavors.  

+add trivet to bottom of Instant Pot. Add 1 cup of water to bottom of pot. In a large, double layer of aluminum foil, set  sliced ham in the middle.  Fold excess foil up on all sides, forming a bowl.  Pour prepared glaze over ham.  Pinch top of foil together to enclose ham & glaze.  Cook 14 minutes on pressure cook.  Quick release at end of cook time.  Reserve glaze to drizzle on ham when serving.

adapted from https://www.sixsistersstuff.com/recipe/dr-pepper-glazed-ham/