Air Fryer Ham Steaks

Air Fryer Ham Steaks are thick slices of ham slathered with a delicious brown sugar glaze. It is easily and quickly prepared right in your air fryer in less than 15 minutes. This makes it the perfect main dish for Sunday supper or Easter dinner.

Easy air fryer recipes are our favorite recipes! If you are looking for more great dinner recipes to make in our favorite kitchen appliance, try these Air Fryer Honey Garlic Marinated Chicken Thighs, delicious! Or make Air Fryer Turkey Burgers for a tasty dinner option, perfectly seasoned with curry and cilantro.

Brown Sugar Glazed Air Fryer Ham

The flavor of salty ham always pairs so well with a sweet glaze, that’s why this recipe features a mustard brown sugar sauce that gets basted onto the ham slices as it cooks.

This thick, gooey rich glaze is a mix of brown sugar, melty butter, and dijon mustard. Adding in an optional pinch of cinnamon and ground cloves will give you more of a traditional ham taste.

And with so much flavor, everyone will think you spent hours in the kitchen cooking this ham when you actually spent less than 15 minutes making it. This is what makes it so great for a weeknight dinner idea.

Ham steak can be a great alternative to baking up a whole ham, especially when you are short on time. If you have more time, try double smoked ham on a pellet grill. It also works well if you are only serving one or two people. Sometimes you don’t need as much ham as a whole ham makes.

If you love ham as much as we do, then you definitely want to try some of these pork recipes in the air fryer.

I made these Best Damn Air Fryer Pork Chops over the weekend, try them if you are wanting a delicious recipe that are made with just a few pantry staples.

Another favorite are these Air Fryer Pork Chops without Breading, made with a rosemary garlic butter. They are hard to resist and are great for a keto diet or if you want to make gluten free pork. Stuffed Pork Chops, made with cheese and a sun dried tomatoes, it makes a great dinner option.

What is Ham Steak?

Ham steaks are usually pre-cut slices of ham that come from a whole ham. You can buy them prepackaged at the grocery store and each slice is normally 1/4″-1/2″ thick.

They come in boneless ham steaks and bone-in ham steaks. And for this recipe we want to use fully cooked ham, not raw ham also known as gammon steaks. Getting pre-cooked ham steaks will ensure that they cook quickly since they are already fully cooked.

This air fryer ham steak recipe is perfect for feeding a couple of people or cook in batches and easily make more than one steak in the air fryer.

What to Serve with Ham Steaks?

These air fried ham steaks make the perfect choice for an easy dinner, PLUS they pair well with most side dishes. Making one amazing comfort food meal! Here are some of our favorite sides that go great with a thick slice of ham.

Serve with our favorite cheesy garlic mashed potatoes, air fryer sweet potato cubes, or some frozen air fryer French fries.

Some fresh veggies like this air fryer broccoli with parmesan, green beans, air fryer squash and zucchini, or oven baked asparagus parmesan, will pair perfectly with this ham.

It’s even good as a part of breakfast, served with this apple oatmeal, mug omelets, or cinnamon roll pancakes and some scrambled eggs.

Recipe Ingredients

Here are the simple ingredients to make this air fried ham recipe. Check out the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

• Ham: The ham you want is the thick slab of ham. It comes prepackaged and is about 8 ounces of ham.
• Butter: Melted butter gives a rich flavor and loosens up the glaze a bit. I use unsalted butter.
• Brown Sugar: Adds a sweetness to the glaze.
• Mustard: Dijon mustard will give you a tangy, sharp flavor.
• Pepper: Freshly ground black pepper will give you the best pepper flavor.
• Paprika: I like to use smoked paprika, but plain paprika will also work.

How to Make Ham Steaks in Air Fryer

It’s easy to make this tasty air fryer meal! Here are the basic instructions. Check out the recipe card below for full instructions.

STEP 1: Preheat the air fryer.

STEP 2: In a microwavable small bowl, melt the butter. Add in the mustard, brown sugar, pepper, and paprika. Mix together the glaze well.

STEP 3: Place the ham into the air fryer basket and cook.

STEP 4: Open air fryer and flip the ham steak over. Baste on a layer of glaze. Cook.

STEP 5: Open air fryer and flip the steak over again, basting the other side. Cook.

STEP 6: Serve immediately along with any leftover sauce.

Tips for Success

• Single layer. It is best to cook one ham steak in one layer at a time so that it will cook evenly.
• Basket style air fryer. The air fryer model I have is the basket-style air fryer. It is perfect for cooking a thick ham.
• No cooking spray. I don’t recommend using cooking spray in your air fryer because it can cause the coating to break down.

Recipe Variations

• Sweeter ham. If you would like a sweeter glaze, just change a few things in the glaze recipe. Use regular yellow mustard in place of the dijon. Then mix the butter, yellow mustard, paprika, brown sugar, pepper, 1 tablespoon maple syrup, 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves. Follow the rest of the directions.
• Different mustard. Change out the dijon mustard for stone ground mustard, yellow mustard, or spicy mustard.

Best Type of Ham to Use

If you are wondering what type of ham to get for this recipe, here is a run down of what I like to use. I will usually get an 8-ounce ham slice. I like to use a boneless, precooked ham so it cooks really quickly (nothing like a quick dinner). I don’t like to use ham that is already presweetened, so no honey ham or maple flavored ham for this recipe. I do like hickory smoked ham or just a plain ham.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you heat ham slices in the air fryer? It is so easy to make tasty ham steak. Just add the ham to the preheated air fryer and baste it while it’s cooking.

What is the best way to heat up a ham steak? The air fryer is a great option since it’s the easiest way to heat up slices of ham is in the air fryer. But ham can also be cooked on the stove or in the oven.

Are all ham steaks fully cooked? No, not all ham slices that are at the store are pre-cooked. Ham that is not cooked is referred to as gammon steak or gammon joint. We want to use the pre-cooked version for this recipe.

Are there different ways to season ham steaks? Yes, you can definitely season the steaks differently. You can use whatever different seasonings you like on your ham. You could even just spread on maple syrup or honey and cook it.

How do you air fry gammon steaks? Since a gammon steak is uncooked ham, you will need to cook it for 2-5 minutes longer or until the internal temperature is 145°F when checked with a digital thermometer.

How do you heat up a precooked ham steak? It’s simple to heat up ham, you just put the ham in the air fryer and heat it up since technically it is already cooked.

How to Store & Reheat

How to store leftover ham slices? Let the leftover ham steak cool and put in an airtight container or covered well with aluminum foil. It should last about 3-4 days in the fridge. You can use leftover ham diced up in scrambled eggs, ham and cheese sandwiches or sliders, in a casserole or add to soups.

How do you reheat ham steaks? Heat up cold ham steaks by preheating the air fryer to 370°F. Place ham slices inside preheated air fryer and cook until heated through, around 10-12 minutes flipping halfway through.

Can I Freeze Ham Steak?

How to freeze it? Let the ham cool completely before putting into an air tight, freezer safe container. can be frozen for 2 months, just be sure to label with the recipe and date.

How to thaw it? Thaw frozen cooked ham on a plate in the refrigerator overnight until defrosted.

Try these other recipes!

• Air Fryer BBQ Chicken
• Air Fryer Turkey Breast (Bone-In)
• Brussel Sprouts with Bacon in the Air Fryer
• Frozen Chicken in the Air Fryer
• Cornish Hen in Air Fryer

If you’ve tried this ham steak in the air fryer recipe, don’t forget to give me a star rating and leave me a comment below in the comment section. I love to hear from people who have made my recipes.

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