Bone-In Ham Cooked in Beer

  4.6 – 111 reviews  • Whole

We have been using this recipe for the past five years. The ham is actually made tender by the beer. It’s presumably Wisconsin-specific to use beer. It seems that we use it to a lot of uses. But don’t worry, other from perhaps a little hint on the bottom regions, the finished ham won’t taste like beer. I was initially extremely wary of beer because I don’t enjoy it at all, but after learning that the ham I had for Christmas at a friend’s house the year before had been made with beer, I gave it a try and have been hooked ever since.

Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 8 hrs
Total Time: 8 hrs 15 mins
Servings: 30
Yield: 30 servings

Ingredients

  1. 20 pounds bone-in ham
  2. 1 (20 ounce) can sliced pineapple
  3. 2 (12 fluid ounce) cans beer

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease an 18 quart roasting pan.
  2. Place the ham, with the fattier side up, in the roaster. Use toothpicks to secure pineapple rings on the ham. Pour the beer over the ham. Place lid on roasting pan.
  3. Bake 6 to 8 hours, or until cooked through.
  4. Remove the pineapple rings and let sit 15 minutes before slicing.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 605 kcal
Carbohydrate 5 g
Cholesterol 148 mg
Dietary Fiber 0 g
Protein 52 g
Saturated Fat 14 g
Sodium 2838 mg
Sugars 3 g
Fat 40 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Brittany Vasquez
Used a turkey roaster, placed Aldi Appleton Farms smoked ham cut side down on a 1/2 inch rack and it was tasty and juicy. Used a quart of beer, 20 oz pineapple slices. After cooking, set pan aside to cool and put wax paper on top touching liquid. Remove wax paper when cool, the fat sticks to the wax paper like magic. Toss in trash and you can safely pour the beer liquid down the drain. Everyone liked the ham. Will definitely do it again.
Mary Alvarez
Moistest ham I ever made. That said I really think having a large pan with a good fitting lid is key – I don’t think foil works as well.
Richard Evans
This was an amazingly simple and tasty recipe! I will do this with every ham I make. The only thing I didn’t do was add the pineapple because my family doesn’t like that extra bit of sweetness, but it still turned out amazing. I cooked an 11 lb ham, cooked it for four hours and basted it every hour.
Maureen Rodriguez
This is the driest ham I have even eaten. The flavor was good and I have some black-eyed peas soaking in it right now for tomorrow night’s dinner. I shall not make ham using this method again though.
John Sharp
This is the driest ham I have even eaten. The flavor was good and I have some black-eyed peas soaking in it right now for tomorrow night’s dinner. I shall not make ham using this method again though.
David Velez
I can not believe how good this turned out! After reading several reviews of “adjustments,” we opted to not make any and make it as is. We used a 13lb bone in ham, one can of pineapple rings, and dumped the juice on top, and 2 bottles of Sierra Nevada Winter Warmer Lager. We basted it twice during 4 hours of cooking. It was an absolute hit! Melt in your mouth ham, from a non-ham loving family.
Rick Thompson
Reheated a fully cooked 7 5 lb bone in ham in roaster. Used 1 beer, oven set at 325 degrees for 15 minutes/lb. Delicious!!!
Victoria Burke
I was raised Beer baking my ham. i am 35 now. I am baking one as I am typing. I am from Philadelphia. I have always used Colt 45 Malt Liquor. I removes a lot of the Ham’s salt content and leaves the meat tender
Tony Holland
I followed the recipe and it turned out great. Very moist
Meghan Hall
Turned out delicious! Great recipe!
Michelle Dunlap
I didn’t have pineapple rings so I just put chunks over the top and in the pan. I poked the ham all over with a big fork and poured the beer and juice over the ham., I covered with foil and basted it 4 or 5 times during cooking. It was wonderfully moist and tasty. Everyone voted thumbs up for this one,
Amy Mendoza
I am not a ham lover. This was the best ham I have ever eaten. It fell of the bone. Moist and delicious!
Stacey Gonzalez
I am a beer drinker, so I thought, OK, beer and ham, what could go wrong. OMG! This was the BEST ham I have ever had! I baked the ham in my Mother’s oven baking kettle that has been passed down to me. The glass lid broke years ago, so I covered the ham with heavy duty aluminum foil. I put my 7 lb. bone in ham in the pot with a 16 oz can of Budweiser Beer (not my preference, but it was left by a former boyfriend). I cut up 4 rings of pineapple and put them in with the beer. Baked at 325 degrees for 3 hours. I made a baste with the pineapple juice and brown sugar. Basted every 20 minutes or so. When I took the ham out of the oven I turned the ham over and let the flat end sit in the juices for 20 minutes, then took it out and put it on a plate. I could not stop cutting of pieces. So Good and Super Moist!! I will definitely share this with friends!
Denise Hernandez
my mother has baked ham using beer and pineapple juice for over 40 years. The best way to bake it! DO NOT try it on a spiral sliced ham-will not work the same. We also score the ham before baking and push whole cloves at the corners.
Caleb Wilkerson
I’m really glad I tried this very easy, very simple recipe! It puts a really different twist on ham. It turned out really really unique is the best way I can put it. The meat pulled back from the bone and was separating at the fat seams which was fine. It was really tender, but not mushy which is great. The strangest part is that the texture of the meat reminded me most like corned beef! There was no taste of beer (yay!) It wasn’t juicy, but wasn’t dry either(I’ll cut the time down next time). I struggle with saying this made a great ham because it turned out nothing like you would expect ham to be. Never the less, whatever it turned out to be is GREAT! I always read through the reviews before I try anything, so I opted for diced Gala apples instead of the pineapple and only used one can of Coors light (it’s what I had) for a 12 lb. half shank ham. I baked it in a dark deep roaster with a stream-tight foil tent at 325°/15 min per lb. (per ham directions) basted with pan juices at the 1hr mark only. You should really try this, but do so before a presentation to guests so you’ll know what you’re getting.
Steven Marshall
I’m really glad I tried this very easy, very simple recipe! It puts a really different twist on ham. It turned out really really unique is the best way I can put it. The meat pulled back from the bone and was separating at the fat seams which was fine. It was really tender, but not mushy which is great. The strangest part is that the texture of the meat reminded me most like corned beef! There was no taste of beer (yay!) It wasn’t juicy, but wasn’t dry either(I’ll cut the time down next time). I struggle with saying this made a great ham because it turned out nothing like you would expect ham to be. Never the less, whatever it turned out to be is GREAT! I always read through the reviews before I try anything, so I opted for diced Gala apples instead of the pineapple and only used one can of Coors light (it’s what I had) for a 12 lb. half shank ham. I baked it in a dark deep roaster with a stream-tight foil tent at 325°/15 min per lb. (per ham directions) basted with pan juices at the 1hr mark only. You should really try this, but do so before a presentation to guests so you’ll know what you’re getting.
Peter Miller
This is a great recipe. After trying it as written, we changed it up a little. We used dry cider (Hatchet, Scrumpy’s, Blackthorn, Original Sin, the original English version of Strongbow-don’t use the malty US version, anything with low sugar content and no malt) and chopped apples instead of pineapple. We cooked it in a slow cooker rather than the oven on both occasions. It was amazing.
Nicole Weber
I was going to do a crock pot version of this but it wouldn’t fit in (10 lbs bone-in). So I used a stock pot and modified it with whole green beans (frozen) and thick sliced potatoes. I glazed the top of the ham with Hoisen Sauce (about 3 teaspoons) I wanted it to be flavorful and I know potatoes sometimes absorb flavor. Sealed it with aluminum foil, put the lid on that bad boy and voile! (is that the right word?)I had my veggies, starch and meat in one pot. Tender, flavorful, and leftovers will be amazing.
Nancy Hernandez
Very good as written
Brian Ellis
I used pale ale and also basted with a glaze. Best ham ever!!
Raymond Walker
This is a good recipe, we made it tonight. My ham was only 10.5lbs. so my cooking time was less. I roasted at 275 for 4hrs. Basting with the pan liquid every hour. Hot, juicy and tender! It was delicious and loved by all. Like other users I used the pineapple juice from the can as well as 11oz of beer. The only hint of beer flavor you’d get was from the cut side pieces. We used a ginger-honey-wheat hefewiezen and it paired well. Would definitely recommend as we’ll be making it again for sure.

 

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