This glazed ham is coated in a sweet brown sugar and honey glaze, then baked until golden brown and caramelized. The ultimate holiday ham that’s super easy to make and always gets rave reviews.
You can never go wrong with ham for the holidays and this glazed version is both beautiful and delicious. Serve your ham with loaded mashed potatoes and bacon wrapped green beans for a festive meal that your family and friends will love.
Ham is a classic main course around the holidays, and the nice thing about buying a ham is that most of the work is already done for you. Hams come pre-smoked, fully cooked and spiral cut, all you have to do is add some flavorings and you’re ready to go. This glazed ham has a rich and delicious glaze that gets perfectly caramelized in the oven. Best of all, it’s super easy to make!
Glazed Ham Ingredients
This is a simple recipe that features a smoked ham coated in a glaze made with common ingredients including butter, brown sugar, honey, apple cider and spices.
How do you make ham glaze?
Place the glaze ingredients in a pan and simmer until a thick, syrupy mixture forms. Brush half of the glaze over the ham while it heats up. The rest of the glaze gets added at the end of the baking time and the oven temperature is increased to ensure a browned and crispy exterior.
Tips for the perfect dish
- You’ll need to reserve half of the glaze to use after your ham is mostly cooked through. You can store the glaze at room temperature or in the fridge. The glaze may start to harden as it sits – simply microwave the glaze in 30 second increments until it’s liquid when you’re ready to use it.
- Leftover ham will stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for 2 months.
- While I prefer to use a spiral cut ham for this recipe, you can also use an uncut ham and score it in a cross hatch pattern before you glaze it.
Recipe FAQs
A ham needs to cook for about 20 minutes per pound in the oven at 325 degrees F. This is for a standard half ham around 7-8 pounds. If you choose to cook your ham in a slow cooker, it will take about 3-4 hours on low heat.
You can plan on serving about 3/4 pound of ham per person for a standard bone-in half ham. If you’d like a lot of leftovers at the end of your meal, you can increase this amount to 1 pound of ham per person.
The overwhelming majority of hams are already cooked, all you’re actually doing is warming your ham through to the proper food safe temperature. A ham is ready to eat when a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the ham reads at least 145 degrees F.
Got leftover ham? That’s a great situation to be in because there are so many different things you can make with leftover ham. I have compiled a whole list of 18 Leftover Ham Recipes for your perusal.
There are two common ways to cook a ham. You can bake a ham in the oven, or cook it in a crock pot. You can actually heat your ham through either way for this recipe, but if you choose to use a crock pot, you’ll have to transfer your ham to the oven for the final step of the recipe.
Glazed Ham Variations
I typically make this recipe as written, but sometimes I use other ingredients depending on what I have on hand.
- Juice: Instead of apple cider, try using pineapple juice, cranberry juice or orange juice.
- Spices: Skip the cinnamon and nutmeg, and try pumpkin pie spice, allspice with a pinch of cloves, cinnamon with a pinch of ginger, or even a bit of cardamom.
- Sweetener: Feel free to use maple syrup instead of honey. If you don’t have a liquid sweetener on hand, use an extra 1/4 cup of brown sugar instead.
What to serve with ham
I recommend serving a variety of side dishes with your ham, including a potato dish, a green vegetable, and an additional starch like stuffing. Here are some of my favorite side dish options.
- Glazed Carrots
- Slow Cooker Creamed Corn
- Mashed Sweet Potatoes
- Pomegranate Roasted Brussels Sprouts
- Cranberry Jello Salad
Slow cooker glazed ham
This ham is a great candidate for the slow cooker. Place the ham in a slow cooker and pour half the glaze over the top. Cook for 3-4 hours on low heat. Transfer the ham to a pan and pour the remaining glaze over the top. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes until browned.
This glazed ham is sure to become a favorite with your family as it has been with mine!
Glazed Ham Video
Glazed Ham for the Holidays
Ingredients
- 8 lb bone in spiral cut ham
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup apple cider
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch of nutmeg
- cooking spray
- cranberries and herbs for garnish optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Coat a baking pan with cooking spray.
- Add the butter, brown sugar, honey, apple cider, cinnamon and nutmeg to a pot. Place the pot over medium heat.
- Bring the pot to a simmer and cook for 5-7 minutes or until glaze is syrupy.
- Place the ham in the pan and pour half of the glaze over it. Cover the ham with foil. Reserve the remaining glaze for later user.
- Bake the ham for 2 1/2 hours. Uncover the ham.
- Pour the remaining glaze over the ham. If the glaze has started to harden, you can microwave it for a few seconds to loosen it back up.
- Increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees F.
- Place the ham, uncovered, in the oven. Bake for another 15-20 minutes or until glaze is caramelized and browned.
- Transfer the ham to a serving platter and garnish with fresh herbs and cranberries. Spoon pan drippings over the ham. Slice the ham, then serve.
Notes
- You’ll need to reserve half of the glaze to use after your ham is mostly cooked through. You can store the glaze at room temperature or in the fridge. The glaze may start to harden as it sits – simply microwave the glaze in 30 second increments until it’s liquid when you’re ready to use it.
- This recipe calls for apple cider the juice, do not use apple cider vinegar as it is not the same thing.
chris says
How did you cut it so nicely and evenly?
Sara says
This is a spiral cut ham so it was sliced like this when I bought it!
Bri says
I’m hoping you can answer this question relatively quickly, I plan to make this tomorrow for an early Christmas dinner. Is it possible to stop after step 5 so I can use my oven for a few appetizers, then pick back up where I left off an hour later? I would prefer to use the oven method for your recipe instead of using the crock pot method if possible! Thank you in advance!
Sara says
You can keep the ham covered at room temperature for an hour, but you’ll want to make sure when you do the final bake that the internal temperature is at least 145 degrees F so it’s safe to eat. Hope this helps!
Anita says
That glaze on the ham looks so good I wish I can sink my teeth on my screen! This is just the perfect thing to serve for the holiday. 🙂
Krissy Allori says
Loved the glaze on this ham! Looking forward to making it again for Christmas dinner.
Haley Williams says
A holiday classic! Definitely use this recipe for the holidays
Emily says
Ham is all about the glaze, and this one is just perfect! Always a winner for the holidays!
Andrea Metlika says
This ham looks totally irresistible. I would eat this any day not just holidays.
Kimberley Pereda says
No need to wait holiday just to eat like this. I can cook this everyday since my kids love the ham and at the same time this recipe of yours. I really enjoyed cooking and eating this food.
Beth Pierce says
What a great recipe that never gets old! I will save this for every holiday; it will be a hit at Easter, indeed!
Morgan Eisenberg says
Looks too crispy and delicious, maybe I’ll have to try a test ham before Easter 🙂
Dannii says
Ham is a must at Christmas time. Even better when you have loads of leftovers.
Jen says
Just started to think about Easter dinner and this would be perfect! So delicious!
Natalie says
This ham looks fab! I mean, look at that glaze… it’s mouth-watering delicious. This recipe came just in the right time. I was juts looking for ham recipe for Easter. This is definitely something that my family would enjoy much. I’m saving this!
blair villanueva says
Oh my this glazed ham is perfect for Christmas dinner! You gave me an idea what to prepare 😀
Farrah less says
Normally we serve turkey for Thanksgiving dinner then ham for Christmas Eve. Just because my family loves to try both on a separate occasions. I love adding pineapple on our Ham after we baked it. I will also try your recipe for glazing I bet it will come out juicy and tasty.
Athena says
I actually just made a spiral cut ham yesterday – sadly, yours looks so much better and tastier!
Cindy Dent Gordon says
I have always just cooked the ham in the glaze. It never turns out as “glazed” as I would like. I am going to try this recipe for a change. Thanks for sharing!
Rachel says
I am in! This looks delicious. I am just ready for all the holidays and all the food!
Gladys Parker says
You ham looks both beautiful and delicious! I think I’ll try it. I tried to make a glazed ham with pure maple syrup and other ingredients for Easter and well, it just didn’t look as good as it should have and the taste was 100%. Oh well another holiday, another ham recipe.
Kristy Bullard says
This sounds delicious! I love a good glazed ham – especially the spiral cut hams!