Brown Sugar Glazed Ham slathered with the most delicious sweet sticky fragrant brown sugar glaze. This meal is perfect for Sunday dinner, Easter, or for holiday entertaining. No boring, dry and bland meat here. Just an exceptionally good main dish that will gather all the people around the table!
No Easter celebration would be complete without a nicely scored spiral baked ham basted with a sticky syrupy sauce. Even if we’re in the middle of the crisis, it doesn’t mean that we can just celebrate Easter inside our homes. In fact, it’s the perfect time to celebrate one as the world would come out healed and, hopefully, better than who we were used to when this is all over. Agree?
A little bit of fixing here and there and you’ll have one scrumptious Easter meal to share with your loved ones. But of course, there are a couple of things that I want to share with you before you start thawing your ham in your fridge.
What is the Best Ham to Buy?
Honestly, I thought at first that Easter ham won’t be sold out that much as people are buying more essential grocery items and ingredients just right before we were told to stay-at-home. But it turns out that people are already buying ham in advance that I ended up driving out to downtown just to buy the ham that I want.
For years, I always go with bone-in, fully-cooked, spiraled ham. This type of ham has already been cured and pre-sliced before they were packaged. It’s also juicier and more flavorful compared to boneless ham.
All of you have to do is warm it in the oven and apply its accompanying glaze sold together with it, or in my case, I make one from scratch to infuse more flavors in it.
How to Score a Ham?
Scoring means to make shallow cuts across the ham’s surface to allow the glaze to get through the ham. Although it isn’t necessary for spiraled ham. But when you think of it, the more cuts on the ham means the easier it is for the flavor to permeate into the meat.
To score a ham, use a chef’s knife and cut shallow slits through the skin of the ham that’s 1/4 inch deep and about 1 inch apart in a diamond pattern for visual presentation.
Brown Sugar Glaze
If you’ve enjoyed my Pineapple Honey Baked Ham, you’ll totally be going to dig in this ham recipe. The brown sugar glaze is certainly packed with tons of flavor. It has that fruity notes from the orange and pineapple juice and with sweetness from honey and brown sugar. I even threw in warm flavors like allspice, nutmeg, and a bit of zing from ground ginger to create layers of flavor. And of course, my trusted Creole seasoning for that touch of heat.
So yes, this isn’t your regular-kind-of-usual ham glaze. The medley of flavors is actually beyond delicious!
How Long to Cook Glazed Ham?
It all depends on the size of your ham, but usually, it’s around 10-14 minutes per pound at 325 F covered tightly with foil. It should also register at 120°F when inserted with an instant-read thermometer on the thickest part of the ham. So let’s say if you have a 5-pound ham, that would take an hour for you to bake it in the oven.
Can You Make Ahead of Time?
Yes, you can! Make the ham as per recipe and let it cool. Then transfer it to a tray, cover it with a foil and store in the fridge for 2-3 days. Once ready to serve, simply warm it up in the oven. You might need to make an extra glaze though to serve with it.
Another option too is to simply make the glaze alone ahead of time and store it in the fridge for up to 5 days. Then rewarm it over low heat until it simmers before you apply it on the ham.
What to Do with Leftover Ham?
Got some leftover Easter ham? Don’t worry, I’ll share with you below on how to make use of your leftover ham.
What to Serve with Glazed Ham?
How To Cook Honey Glazed Ham
Remove ham from refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for about 1- 2 hours. If desired, score the top of the ham, diagonally, about ¼ inch deep and 1inch apart. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Place the ham cut- side down in a large roasting pan. Place foil paper over ham. This helps heat up the ham without drying it out until it’s time to glaze it. Another option would be to add liquid. You can also add about ½ cup of wine or water to the bottom of the roasting pan to keep it super moist. While ham is roasting make the glaze.
In a medium pan, whisk together all of the Brown Sugar Glaze ingredients. Let the butter melt, while stirring often, until brown sugar dissolves, about 1-2 minutes. Set aside.
How To Glaze a Ham
Bake ham until the center registers 100 – 110degrees F (approximately 10-14 minutes per pound). Remove ham from oven, increase oven temperature to 400 degrees F. While the oven is heating up, carefully unwrap ham from foil and discard foil. Brush with liquid from ham, use the liquid to add to the glaze to make it. Then pour about 1/3 of the ham glaze all over the ham, brushing in between the cuts to coat every visible inch of the ham. Return to the oven and bake uncovered for 12-15 minutes. Remove ham from the oven, again, add more juice from the ham carefully brush with more glaze about ⅓ more. Return to the oven one last time, sprinkle with brown sugar, and bake for another 10 minutes or until brown sugar browns up. Remove from the oven, let the ham rest about 10-20 minutes before slicing. Serve with remaining glaze.
Brown Sugar Glazed Ham
Ingredients
- 1 8-10 pound (3.6 - 4.5 kg) cooked and smoked cured ham , shank end
Brown Sugar Glaze
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- ½ cup orange juice
- ½ cup pineapple juice
- ½ cup honey
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons Creole seasoning
- 2 -3 tablespoon s fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 1 large lemon)
- ½ cup brown sugar or more , for sprinkling and for the glaze
Instructions
- Remove ham from refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for about 1- 2 hours. If desired, score the top of the ham, diagonally, about ¼ inch deep and 1inch apart.
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.
- Place the ham cut- side down in a large roasting pan. Place foil paper over ham. This helps heat up the ham without drying it out until it’s time to glaze it.
- Another option would be to add liquid. You can also add about ½ cup of wine or water to the bottom of the roasting pan to keep it super moist. While ham is roasting make the glaze.
- In a medium pan, whisk together all of the Brown Sugar Glaze ingredients.
- Let the butter melt, while stirring often, until brown sugar dissolves, about 1-2 minutes. Set aside.
- Bake ham until the center registers 100 - 110degrees F (approximately 10-14 minutes per pound). Remove ham from oven, increase oven temperature to 400 degrees F.
- While the oven is heating up, carefully unwrap ham from foil and discard foil. Brush with liquid from ham, use the liquid to add to the glaze to make it.
- Then pour about 1/3 of the ham glaze all over the ham, brushing in between the cuts to coat every visible inch of the ham.
- Return to the oven and bake uncovered for 12-15 minutes. Remove ham from the oven, again, add more juice from the ham carefully brush with more glaze about ⅓ more.
- Return to the oven one last time, sprinkle with brown sugar, and bake for another 10 minutes or until brown sugar browns up.
- Remove from the oven, let the ham rest about 10-20 minutes before slicing. Serve with remaining glaze.
Tips & Notes:
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
Nutrition Information:
Dawn says
Hello, I bought a spiral ham for Easter.
I’m going to try this glaze. The ham is already
cooked do I need to cook it that long?
Ann says
This came just in time..I plan to do a ham this week
ImmaculateBites says
Awesome! Do let me know how it works out for you. Thanks