Traeger Smoked Ham Recipe with Pineapple Cherry Glaze
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This Traeger smoked ham is slow-smoked on the Traeger and brushed with a bright, tangy pineapple-cherry glaze that caramelizes into the most gorgeous finish. As a fresh spin a retro favorite, it's right at home next to my Traeger smoked turkey, pellet grill ribeye roast, and cranberry-orange holiday brisket.
Traeger Smoked Ham Recipe at a Glance
| Prep | Smoke | Cook Finish | Rest | Glaze | Servings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 min | 225°F (2 hrs) | 350°F (1-1.5 hrs) | 20 min | Pineapple-cherry | 14+ |
👍 Difficulty: Moderate
😋 Recipe Highlights: Natural sweetness from real food ingredients, delicious glaze, and tons of smokey flavor
🛒 Featured Ingredients: 6-8 pound boneless ham (see post for bone-in instructions if needed), honey, pineapple, frozen cherries, lime
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Perhaps you remember that retro holiday ham-the one covered in pineapple rings with a toothpicked maraschino cherry in the center of each slice? It's fun and nostalgic, but I always felt the flavors could shine a little brighter… and the presentation could look a little less, well, quirky.
I still love the pineapple-cherry combo, but I wanted a version that tasted fresher and more natural. Maraschino cherries have their place (cocktails, ice cream sundaes, etc.), but their sugary, artificial flavor can cheapen a beautiful ham.
Fresh or frozen sweet cherries bring a cleaner cherry flavor that complements the meat instead of overpowering it. This glaze is bright, fruity, and family-friendly-perfect for your next holiday gathering.
For this recipe, I used a 6-8 pound boneless ham from the grocery store, but you can easily adapt it for bone-in or spiral-cut hams. If you're using one of those, be sure to check the "How to Adapt for Spiral Cut or Bone-In Hams" section later in the post.
Jump to:
- Traeger Smoked Ham Recipe at a Glance
- Why You’ll Love This Traeger Smoked Ham
- Featured Ingredients
- How to Adapt for Spiral-Cut or Bone-In Hams
- Best Pellets for Traeger Smoked Ham
- How to Make Traeger Smoked Ham with Pineapple-Cherry Glaze
- Expert Traeger Ham Tips
- How to Keep Ham Warm for Serving
- Side Dish Suggestions
- Traeger Smoked Ham FAQs
- Other Traeger Recipes for Holidays
- 📖 Recipe
- 💬 Reviews
Why You’ll Love This Traeger Smoked Ham
Ditch the classic brown sugar ham-this double-smoked pineapple cherry glazed ham is a bright, fresh take on a holiday favorite. Sweet, savory, and incredibly juicy, it's ideal for Christmas, Easter, or any celebration.
Featured Ingredients
To make this easy Traeger smoker ham recipe, you need:
Boneless Ham – Use a 6-8 lb boneless pre-cooked ham. The great thing about most hams sold in stores is they come pre-cooked and just need to be heated to proper serving temperatures.
Using a bone-in or spiral ham? Check out the “How to Adapt for Spiral Cut Ham or Bone-In Hams” section below.
Pitted Sweet Cherries – Instead of candied cherries (like maraschino), we use pitted sweet cherries. Frozen cherries work well for this recipe, and I recommend that for convenience. Fresh cherries are also great–just make sure you pit them first.
Honey - Honey adds bright, natural sweetness that pairs perfectly with both pineapple and cherries. For an extra layer of flavor, consider a mild floral honey, like clover or orange blossom, which enhances the fruit notes without overpowering the ham.
Grated Ginger Root - Fresh ginger brings warmth and a subtle bite to balance the sweetness of the glaze. If you prefer convenience, a high-quality ginger paste works well too, though freshly grated will give a brighter, more aromatic flavor.
Whole Pineapple - After the initial smoke, surround your ham with pineapple slices. If you'd rather skip peeling a fresh pineapple, a large can of pineapple rings works perfectly-just drain them before adding to the smoker.
How to Adapt for Spiral-Cut or Bone-In Hams
Most grocery store hams come pre-cooked (be sure to check your package to verify), so all we need to do is bring it up to a serving temp of 145°F.
A bone-in ham takes longer to heat up, so a general rule of thumb is to plan an extra 5-10 minutes per pound more than what you’d need for a boneless ham. For example, for a 6 lb bone-in ham, plan for an extra 30-60 minutes cooking time.
A spiral cut ham will work just fine for this recipe. You do not need to score it (as described in step 2 in this recipe). Follow the same cooking instructions as outlined here, adjusting time as necessary if your spiral ham has a bone.
Best Pellets for Traeger Smoked Ham
For ham, I highly recommend a lighter, sweeter wood pellet variety, especially since store-bought hams come pre-smoked!
Maple, cherry, or apple pellets will work best. An all-purpose blend, such as the Traeger Signature Blend, will also work fabulously.
How to Make Traeger Smoked Ham with Pineapple-Cherry Glaze
Follow the steps below to make this easy pineapple cherry Traeger smoked ham recipe.
1. Preheat the Traeger.
Set your Traeger smoker to 225°F and allow it to fully preheat while you prep the ham.
Smoking the ham low and slow ensures a juicy, tender result.
2. Prep Ham & Smoke.
Score one side of your ham into a diamond pattern with a sharp knife, scoring about 1/2 inch deep and lines 1 inch apart (if your ham is spiral cut, you do not need to do this).
Line a pan with aluminum foil and roll up the foil edges to make a little bowl that can hold the ham with some pineapple juice. Put the ham in the foil cut side down, then pour 1 cup of the pineapple juice over the ham. Insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the ham.
Place the pan of ham on the Traeger grill grates and smoke at 225°F until the internal temperature reaches 115° to 120°F (about 2 hours) to flavor the meat.
3. Prepare the Glaze.
Toward the end of the smoke time, add the glaze ingredients to a medium saucepan. Zest the lime into the pot, then quarter the lime and squeeze in the juice.
Cook on medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Boil and cook, stirring frequently to prevent burning, until the mixture has reduced by half into a beautifully sticky glaze. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Cut the Pineapple.
Prepare your pineapple by peeling and coring it, then slice into half-moon slices and set aside.
If you have a pineapple cutting tool, it is useful but not necessary.
You can also use a large can of pineapple rings instead of a fresh pineapple if you prefer.
5. Add Pineapple & Glaze.
Once the internal temperature of the ham hits 115-120°F (about 2 hours), turn up the heat on the Traeger to 350°F.
Remove the ham from the Traeger briefly. Pull back the sides of the foil as needed and arrange your pineapple pieces around the ham. Pour your glaze over the ham and the pineapple.
6. Finish Ham.
Place back on the Traeger and cook at 350°F until the internal temperature of the ham reaches 145°F. This takes about 75-90 minutes but will be longer for bone-in hams.
Check on the glaze periodically to make sure it’s not burning. If it is darkening too much, you can make a foil tent over the ham to stop it. Be careful not to press the foil into the top of the ham or your glaze will stick to it!
Remove the ham from the Traeger when it reaches 145°F internally. Let the Traeger smoked ham rest for 20 minutes before slicing on a cutting board. Slice and serve with the cooked pineapple slices.
Expert Traeger Ham Tips
- Keep your Traeger stocked with pellets: Low temperatures use pellets faster than you might expect. There's nothing worse than running out mid-cook and getting that dreaded error message.
- Monitor your glaze: After brushing the pineapple-cherry-honey glaze, check it periodically to make sure it's not burning. Thicker hams may take longer to reach temperature, which can put the glaze at risk. If it starts to darken too much, tent the ham loosely with foil-just be careful not to press the foil onto the glaze, or it will stick.
- Score for flavor and presentation: Lightly score the surface of the ham in a diamond pattern. This helps the glaze soak in and gives your ham a beautiful, professional look.
- Low and slow is key: Smoking at 225°F ensures a juicy, tender ham. Patience here really pays off.
- Check internal temperature: Use a meat thermometer to make sure your ham reaches 145°F. This prevents overcooking and keeps the ham moist and tender.
- Rest before slicing: Tent the ham loosely with foil after removing it from the smoker and let it rest 10-15 minutes. This lets the juices redistribute for perfect slices every time.
How to Keep Ham Warm for Serving
If your Traeger smoked ham finishes early before your guests have arrived, go ahead and slice it after it finishes resting. You have a few options for keeping it warm:
- Turn on a slow cooker to High to pre-heat while the ham is resting. After resting and slicing the ham, turn the heat down to “Keep Warm” and put the ham, pineapple, and juices in the crockpot to keep warm.
- Arrange the ham slices back in your roasting pan with the pineapple and juices. Cover with foil and place the pan back on the Traeger with the temperature set to about 200-225°F. It will stay warm and juicy until it is time to serve.
- After slicing your ham, arrange the ham slices and the cooked pineapple on an oven-safe platter, drizzling some of the juices over the meat. Cover the platter with foil and put in your oven. If you have a “Keep Warm” mode, use that. Otherwise, set the temperature to 200°F for warming.
Side Dish Suggestions
Serve this Traeger smoked ham alongside some fresh salads, like my Kale Crunch salad, Turkish Red Cabbage salad, or my pomegranate kale salad.
My healthy sweet potato carrot casserole or my Blackstone asparagus also make great sides!
For more Easter recipes, check out my 30 Traeger Easter Recipes.
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Traeger Smoked Ham FAQs
Generally speaking, a boneless ham cooked at 325°F will need 10 to 15 minutes per pound. However, when you cook at two different temperatures like we do in this recipe, it takes longer.
The first couple of hours at 225°F are for flavor–they do not move the needle much on heating up the ham. Once we turn the heat up to 350°, it takes me about 90 minutes to get a 7 lb ham to 145°F internally. This amount of time can vary depending on how steady your Traeger is holding temp–sometimes windy days can have an impact.
The good news is that if you plan a lot of extra time, it’s very easy to keep your ham warm and juicy until it’s time to eat. I recommend erring on the side of having plenty of extra time. Check out my “How to Keep Ham Warm for Serving” section above for more info.
Yes, you can! To smoke a pre-smoked ham on a pellet grill, (sometimes called a “double smoked ham”) just follow this recipe! Since most grocery store boneless hams come pre-smoked, cooking them on a smoker or pellet grill will make them double smoked. It gives great flavor, and no, it’s definitely not TOO smoky. It’s perfect!
You can wrap ham in foil to smoke if you want, but it is best to leave the foil open on top. You want to allow the smoke to penetrate the ham without a barrier.
You can put foil over the top of the ham once it has smoked for a couple of hours and is covered with the glaze. At this point, it will have plenty of smokey flavor, and will help protect the glaze from burning.
Yes! If you use a bone-in ham, add 5-10 minutes per lb for the approximate cooking time (example: this recipe uses a 6 lb boneless ham and takes 3 hours and 30 minutes to cook. A 6 lb bone-in ham would add 30-60 minutes to the total time). Large hams take a very long time to bring up to temperature.
A spiral ham can be smoked on the Traeger, too. You do not need to do the scoring step if you use a spiral ham.
Other Traeger Recipes for Holidays
You’re going to LOVE this Smoked Traeger Ham with pineapple-cherry glaze! Give this ham a try–everyone will love it!
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear about it. Please leave a comment and review! It helps others find this ham recipe and makes a huge difference!
📖 Recipe
Traeger Smoked Ham with Pineapple and Cherry Glaze
Equipment
- Saucepan
- Sharp Knife
Ingredients
Ham
- 6-8 pound boneless ham
- 1 cup pineapple juice
Pineapple-Cherry Glaze
- 1 cup pineapple juice
- 1 cup pitted sweet cherries frozen or fresh
- 1/2 cup honey
- 2 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoon grated ginger root
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 large lime
- 1 whole pineapple can sub one large can pineapple rings
Instructions
- Turn on your Traeger as indicated per the manufacturer's instructions. Once it starts smoking, adjust the temperature to 225°F and let the grill preheat.
- Score one side of your ham into a diamond pattern with a sharp knife, scoring about 1/2 inch deep and lines 1 inch apart (skip if your ham is spiral cut).6-8 pound boneless ham
- Line a pan with foil and roll up the edges to make a little bowl that can hold the ham & juice. Put the ham in the foil cut side down, then pour 1 cup of the pineapple juice over the ham. Put a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the ham.1 cup pineapple juice
- Place the ham on the Traeger and smoke at 225°F until an internal temperature of 115°-120°F is reached (about 2 hours).
- Toward the end of the initial smoke, prepare the glaze. Add 1 cup pineapple juice, the pitted cherries, honey, dijon, grated ginger root, and cinnamon to a medium saucepan. Zest one large lime into the pot, then slice & squeeze the juice into the pot. Cook on medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Boil, stirring frequently to prevent burning, until the glaze has reduced by half and is beautifully sticky.1 cup pineapple juice, 1 cup pitted sweet cherries, 1/2 cup honey, 1 large lime, 2 tablespoon dijon mustard, 2 teaspoon grated ginger root, 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- Peel & core the pineapple, then cut into half-moon slices and set aside. You can also use a large can of pineapple rings to make this step easy.1 whole pineapple
- When the ham reaches an internal temp of 115°-120°F, turn the heat up to 350°F. Remove the pan briefly from the Traeger to add the pineapple and glaze. Arrange your pineapple pieces around the ham. Pour your glaze over the ham and the pineapple.
- Cook at 350°F until the internal temp of the ham reaches 145°. This will take 75-90 minutes or so (see notes if the ham is larger than 6-8 lbs). Check the glaze every 10-15 minutes to make sure it is not getting too dark–if it is, create a foil tent and cover the ham to shield the glaze from the heat. Be careful not to touch the glaze with the foil or it will stick.
- When the ham reaches 145°F internally, remove from the Traeger. Let the ham rest for 20 minutes before slicing. Serve with the smoked pineapple slices.
Video
Delicious! Just make sure you don’t put the glaze on too early–make sure the ham is getting close to temp before glazing so it doesn’t burn.