It’s a little retro, maybe even a little kitschy, but Pineapple & Cherry Ham is delicious, and if you serve this recipe for your next Holiday gathering, we’re sure everyone will love it.
Our Pineapple & Cherry Ham recipe is straightforward and easy to follow, no matter what your level of cooking skill. We’ll start with one of our award-winning LGCM hams, then score it, and stud it with whole cloves to infuse it with aromatic flavor.
Next, we’ll adorn the ham with pineapple slices and maraschino cherries for a picture-perfect presentation and a delicious sweet flavor to counterbalance the subtle smoky and salty flavor of the ham.
What really stake this Pineapple & Cherry Ham apart though is the addition of a lemon-lime soda glaze. Your favorite lemon-lime soda combined with brown sugar and the syrup from the canned pineapples will create a mouthwatering glaze that caramelized beautifully in the oven!
Skip down to the ingredients to get cooking, or keep reading to see the answers to a few common questions you may have about Pineapple & Cherry Ham.
What type of ham should I use?
We recommend using half of a bone-in Lake Geneva Country Meats cured and smoked ham. Our half hams generally weigh about 8 pounds and feed 6 – 10 people. The size and shape of our bone-in ham make it perfect for decorating with cloves, pineapples, and cherries.
If you’re hosting a bigger group, you can use a whole ham instead, it will just take slightly longer to warm the ham through.
While spiral sliced hams are easy to carve, they aren’t a good fit for our pineapple & cherry ham recipe, because they will dry out faster, and won’t hold the pineapples & cherries.
If you’re looking for an easier-to-carve ham option, we suggest using one of our boneless hams instead of a bone-in ham. These hams will usually weigh around 8 pounds each, and will feed closer to 12 – 20 people since there is no bone weight to account for in the weight of the ham.
How do I carve a ham?
Carving a bone-in ham can seem intimidating because it’s not always clear where the ham bone is located inside the chunk of meat. However, just a few quick slices will get the meat from the bone and leave you with easy slicing.
To see step-by-step instructions (and pictures!) of how to carve a bone-in ham, we recommend reading this guide from Taste of Home.
Do I actually eat the pineapples and cherries with my ham?
Yes, you can definitely eat the fruit from this pineapple & cherry ham recipe!
Some people really enjoy the ham and fruit together and some people just enjoy the flavor left behind on the ham from this cooking method.
It’s up to your personal taste if you eat the fruit or discard it after cooking. Personally, I love the ham and fruit together, but either way is fine!
Can I prepare my pineapple & cherry ham ahead of time?
Holiday entertaining is stressful! You may be going to multiple locations and everyone wants to eat on time.
You can decrease your stress levels by preparing your pineapple & cherry ham ahead of time. Just follow all of the steps up to baking, including covering the ham with foil, and place the ham in the refrigerator up to 24 hours before you bake it.
When you’re ready to bake, take the ham out of the refrigerator and bake.
How do I prevent the pineapples and cherries from burning?
To avoid burning the fruit toppings, place your oven rack on the lowest level, away from the top heating element. Keep a close eye on the ham during the last 40 minutes of baking, and cover it with foil if the pineapples and cherries start to brown too quickly.
What if I can’t find pineapple in syrup to use for my pineapple & cherry ham?
Pineapples in juice can work in a pinch, but the syrup is preferred for a thicker, more luscious glaze. If you end up with the pineapples in juice, use the juice + an extra teaspoon of brown sugar for a thick glaze, or don’t add the brown sugar for a thinner glaze. It’s up to your preferred taste!
We hope we answered all of your questions. If you’ve read through this recipe and decided a pineapple & cherry ham is maybe a little too much for you, you can read our basic ham cooking instructions right here.
What do you think of this recipe? Did it work out for you? Leave us a comment or rating below with your feedback; we appreciate you sharing.
Have fun cooking – we’ll see you soon at Lake Geneva Country Meats!
