Fall Apart Beautiful Boiled Ham Recipe – An Easy Crowd Pleasing Meal

A delicious boiled ham recipe that falls apart and melts in your mouth. This recipe is perfect for special occasions like Easter, Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner or anytime you are feeding a crowd of guests because its easy, doesn’t require a lot of your attention, and it works every time!  

Boiled ham is our families favorite way to eat ham.  One because it tastes damn good, but also because its as easy as filling a pot with water, adding some seasonings, a few vegetables and walking away.  

The simplicity makes it an awesome dish to feed a crowd of people, and the taste makes it the perfect choice for special occasions.  

Boiled ham dinner with scalloped potatoes is one of Kevin’s favorite meals so I like to make it for him once in a while, but I usually do this when we are having guests as well, just because its so good, everyone loves it, and its such an easy meal!  

I also get a ton of leftovers when I am boiling a ham so it makes lunches easy and delicious for Kevin and I over the next few days.  I usually pick a big ass ham regardless of how many people were having over just to make sure I have leftovers.  

A meal that’s easy for entertaining but also makes my life easier during the week as well is a win win!

What cut should you buy when boiling a ham?

You can use a couple of different cuts, but the main thing you want is to boil a ham with the bone in.  A picnic ham, country ham, or any dry-cured bone in cuts will work.

You can also use a fresh ham, but you don’t see those very often.  I think they would work really well actually and you would use the exact same method.

How long do you boil a ham?

A boiled ham should take about 20 mins per pound.  Start with this calculation, but then you can check the ham every once in a while.  If the meat starts separating from the bone really easy, that’s a good indication that it’s done.  You can also check the internal temperature with a thermometer.  If the meat in the middle reaches 155 degrees F ahrenheit then its probably done.

If you use the temperature method, make sure to wiggle the bones a bit too so you can make sure it’s really tender before you take it out.

This boiled ham recipe always comes out so dang juicy and tender when its done.  It pretty much just falls apart.  You don’t need any fancy sauce to go with this and we often eat it with plain old mustard, but honey mustard, or apple sauce or apple compote would be yummy too.  

I always make this boiled ham recipe with water because broth can get too salty, but you can use any liquid you choose.  I like it sometimes with Apple Juice or Apple Cider.  You could use Orange Juice…  Or a mix…  Whatever you feel like.  

Make this Boiled Ham even easier:

Butcher Box is a fabulous company that delivers grass-fed, pastured, free range, humanely raised meat products right to your door.   Grass-fed meat is full of healthy fats, omega-3s and antioxidants.  Even better, they have a fabulous price point (better than the same quality of meat in the grocery store) AND your order is delivered directly to your door! Its win win!

If you click the link below, you will get 10$ off your first order and free bacon!  They often sweeten the deal from time to time and you will see that offer by clicking on the picture as well.

Don’t forget to save the bone.  Once you get the meat off, throw it in a freezer bag and into the freezer.  Then later on, make split pea soup or some other ham soup with it.  It will make your soup so much better than ordinary broth!  

What to serve with your boiled ham dinner:

• easy celeriac soup – the absolute perfect soup to have with a boiled ham dinner.  As an starter or just served with the ham itself.
• scalloped potatoes – a “must have with ham” in our family
• our favorite layered salad – a staple on all our holiday dinner tables
• broccoli salad recipe – sooo good and even non broccoli lovers will like it
• grilled caesar salad – unique and delicious salad option.  Great for company!

Tools to make boiling a ham even easier

1. Kick Ass Stock Pot – this monster stock pot is awesome quality and will end up being your go-to for these boiled hams as well as soups
2. Slightly Smaller Enameled Stock Pot – a little smaller, but way prettier and cheaper.  Will do the trick nicely!  
3. Tongs – a necessity for getting your boiled ham out of the pot

If you’ve tried this boiled ham recipe then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let us know how it turned out in the comments below.  We love hearing from you!

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4.54 from 30 votes

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Fall Apart Boiled Ham

A delicious boiled ham recipe that falls apart and melts in your mouth. Perfect for special occasions and feeding a crowd of guests!

Course Main

Cuisine Canadian

Keyword boiled ham, christmast ham, cooked ham, easter ham, thanksgiving ham

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 3 hours

Total Time 3 hours 5 minutes

Servings 10 people

Calories 275 kcal

Author Julie & Debbie

Ingredients

• 4-6 lbs bone in shoulder ham this is sometimes called a picnic ham
• 2 large onions cut into quarters
• 3 sticks celery chopped in quarters
• 2 large apples cut in quarters
• 5 - 8 cloves garlic smashed but not peeled
• 2 bay leaves
• a few peppercorns
• 1 tbsp salt

Instructions

1. Rinse the ham well and put it in a big pot. Big enough so that all or at least most of it can be covered by the liquid.  Throw in all the other ingredients into the pot and fill with the liquid until the ham is covered or almost covered. Water or whatever liquid you choose.

2. Bring it to a boil and then lower the heat so its simmering.  Let it simmer for 3 - 4 hours or till you cant stand to smell the goodness anymore.  A good rule of thumb is at least 20 mins per lb.  But longer can make the ham more tender. 

3. Pull the Ham out of the pot, pull it apart, cut the fat and skin off and slice or pull it into pieces.

4. Serve it up and watch the ham melt in your mouth! So good!

Nutrition Facts

Fall Apart Boiled Ham

Amount Per Serving (1 g)

Calories 275 Calories from Fat 171

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 19g 29%

Saturated Fat 6g 30%

Cholesterol 70mg 23%

Sodium 2043mg 85%

Potassium 324mg 9%

Protein 24g 48%

Calcium 0.8%

Iron 5.5%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.