Simple Grilled Pineapple Rum Ham

A spiral sliced ham, slathered in a slurry of rum and pineapple and smoked to imbue the cured ham with all that smoke and sweetness. This holiday ham can be cooked on any kind of grill or even the oven and is so simple that anyone can do this. We highly recommend using the grill to save the oven for sides and pies. Scroll down to learn how to make this grilled pineapple rum ham.

The Inspiration for this Holiday Ham

I recently performed a live grilling demonstration for current and potential clients of an IT company. Yes, I can do a live grilling demo for your company too. So in the demo I was doing, the one mentioned in this Spatchcocked Turkey post. I also cooked a holiday ham (because this is what I serve my guests on Thanksgiving – that turkey and this ham). I took a traditional spiral ham recipe and added crushed pineapple to it.

Well, someone watching the demo mentioned they use rum in their holiday ham. So I decided to try that with the pineapple and I just happened to try this rum ham recipe on Thanksgiving. I normally don’t recommend trying a new recipe on a crowd, particularly on such an important meal, but I went for it and it was magical. Simple yes, and also amazing.

Yes, I was taking pics of what I was cooking for Thanksgiving, but that way I can bring you Grilled Pineapple Rum Ham right after.

You just might want to give this a try for Christmas as it was a huge hit for me for Thanksgiving.

Or if you want something slightly different, you can check out this grill-glazed spiral ham.

My next iteration of the holiday ham will be based on this one from my friend Irene.

Check out our Honey Bourbon Ham. 

Grilled Pineapple Rum Ham Ingredients:

• 1 spiral sliced ham
• 1 packet of spiral ham seasoning
• 1/2 cup of rum
• 20 ounces crushed pineapple in heavy syrup
• 2 disposable aluminum pans

Four ingredients, one of which is the ham and the flavor packet that comes with it and a couple disposable aluminum pans. Told you it was simple.

OK, a couple of clarifications here. As you can see on the right side of the pic above, I have a bottle of “Rum Alternative.”  I went down and checked my liquor cabinet in the basement for some rum for this ham recipe. All I had was this stuff.

So I decided to give it a go.

I’m a firm believer in only cooking with ingredients that I’m willing to consume on their own so I poured a glass over some ice:

The “rum” was a little more peppery than I’m used to for rum, but it was still really good. So much so, I had a second glass later.

Feel free to use whatever rum you have for your rum ham. Non alcoholic rum is by no means a necessity here.

Also, the second ingredient is “spiral ham seasoning.”

That’s the flavor packet that you normally mix with something like 4 table spoons of hot water.

Hold the water.

We’re taking this to a whole other level.

How to Prepare Grilled Pineapple Rum Ham

Pour the spiral ham flavor packet into a mixing bowl:

Then add the rum:

That may have been more than a half cup.

I was eyeballing it here.

It’s not an exact science.

Now add in the pineapple, syrup and all:

What does pineapple do for ham?

This ham is cured. Usually salt is a big part of the curing process and thus ham can be very salty. The sweetness of the pineapple, and the pineapple syrup, cuts that saltiness beautifully.

I’m not ready for pineapple and ham on pizza, but this pineapple (and rum) ham is divine.

Give the glaze ingredients a good stir until the spiral ham seasoning dissolves.

Here you can still see the little bits that haven’t broken down in the liquid yet.

I gave it a rigorous stir until all the contents of the flavor packet dissolved.

That’s it. That’s the extent of the mixing and such. The glaze looks like runny applesauce.

See, simple! 

Then I placed the holiday ham in a double stack of disposable aluminum pans which makes it much easier to move the ham around. A single pan will bend and flex and count end in tragedy with a ham splashing to the floor.

Make sure to put the ham on its side:

Our goal is to get that glaze in between as many slices as we can so fan the spiral ham out:

Then spoon the glaze into the gaps between slices:

Flip it or roll it over to the other side and repeat the process before standing it up on the flat side and pour more of the glaze over the top:

Now our spiral pineapple ham is ready for the grill which we preheated to 300F:

And yes, that is a second glass:

I know, I know. I’m a wild man. That’s the difference between me pre-kids and currently with 4 of them!?!

How to Grill Pineapple Rum Ham

I put the ham into my Green Mountain Grills pellet cooker right after my spatchcocked turkey went into the cambro, so the pellet grill was riding 300F already. On a conventional charcoal grill bank the coals to one side and place a couple chunks of smoke wood on them and put the ham on the other side. Target temp inside the grill is between 275F-325F. On a gas grill, turn on the burner on the far side of the grill until the grill hits 300F (+/- 25F).

Then put a chunk of smoke wood over the hot burner and the ham on the other end of the grill:

Did I mention you could make this in the oven too? But what fun is that?

Just Keep Spooning

Feel free to spoon some of that glaze over the ham so it can thicken and caramelize:

Close the lid and let the grill work its magic.

The beautiful thing about this recipe is the ham is already cooked. We just have to warm it through.

After an hour or so our pineapple rum ham is browning up nicely:

Every 20-30 minutes, spoon the glaze over the top:

After a couple of hours the holiday ham is done.

This is why we doubled up the pans. In the end, there’s quite a lot of liquid in the pan and a single pan will crumple under that much weight quite easily:

One more thing. This ham was ready to serve but some of my guests were running late (ironic since this is normally the other way around).

So I just dropped the cooker down to 200 and left it there for about 45 more minutes till everyone arrived.

Here is our oh so simple ham inside ready for the masses, whom I am so thankful for not only being in my life but being with me on our day of Thanks:

To Serve the Simple Grilled Pineapple Rum Ham

Take the holiday ham out of the pan, which is now a couple inches deep with juices and pineapple and rum, and slice the ham off the bone but leave the pan with the juices right next to it. Then set a gravy spoon or a turkey baster in the pan so people can pour some of that lovely liquid over the top. That juice is a one way ticket to Flavortown. I could’ve poured it into a mug and sipped it like mulled wine. That might be hyperbole, but then again it might not.

Next year, I think I’m going to soak my ham with the pineapple and rum over night. Rum soaked ham sounds divine.

If you have any questions or comments about this simple, yet amazing, holiday ham, feel free to leave them below or send me an email.

Also, if you could leave us a great review with lots of stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ that would be most appreciated!

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Recipe Card for our Simple Ham:

Print Recipe

Grilled Pineapple Rum Ham

Grilled Pineapple Rum Ham is a spiral ham, slathered with pineapple, rum and other goodies, before being smoked on a pellet grill to holiday ham perfection.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time2 hours hrs

Course: Entree, Main Course

Cuisine: American, American Fare, Grilling, Thanksgiving Dinner

Keyword: Christmas, Christmas Dinner, Grilled Ham, Grilled Pineapple Rum Ham, Ham Recipe, Holiday Ham, Pellet Cooker, Pellet Grill, Pellet Smoker, Pineapple, Pineapple Rum Ham, Rum, Smoked Ham, Spiral, Spiral Ham, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Dinner

Servings: 16 people

Equipment

• 1 Green Mountain Grills Pellet Cooker
• 2 disposable aluminum pans

Ingredients

• 1 Spiral ham
• 1 packet Spiral ham seasoning packet
• ½ cup Rum
• 20 ounces Crushed pineapple In heavy syrup

Instructions

• Combine the spiral ham spice packet, rum and pineapple in a bowl and blend thoroughly until the spices all blend in
• Place the ham on its side with and fan out the slices of pork
• Spoon the pineapple/rum mixture over the ham
• Roll the ham over and repeat getting the pineapple/rum mixture into the ham all the way around
• Place the ham flat side down in the pan and pour the glaze over the top
• Preheat the smoker to 300F
• Set the pans with the ham in them into the smoker
• Spoon some of the glaze over the ham and close the lid
• Every 30-45 minutes spoon more of the glaze over the top of the ham
• After 2 hours, the ham should be browned nicely and ready to eat

Video

Scott Thomas

Scott Thomas, the Original Grillin’ Fool, was sent off to college with a suitcase and a grill where he overcooked, undercooked and burned every piece of meat he could find. After thousands of failures, and quite a few successes, nearly two decades later he started a website to show step by step, picture by picture, foolproof instructions on how to make great things out of doors so that others don’t have to repeat the mistakes he’s made on the grill.

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BBQ Grilling

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This article was initially published on: November 26, 2022