This honey glazed ham is a spiral cut ham, coated in honey and spices, then baked to golden brown perfection. An easy holiday ham recipe that looks super impressive and is sure to get rave reviews from family and friends.
You can never go wrong with a ham for a special occasion, whether it’s ham with pineapple and cherries, coca cola ham, or this delectable honey glazed version. Be sure to add a side of homemade dinner rolls, Instant Pot cranberry sauce and Christmas salad for a fabulous meal.
When it’s time for me to host family and friends for the holidays, like for Christmas, Easter or Thanksgiving, I always make this honey glazed ham. It’s a show stopping main course that happens to be easy to make.
If you have ham leftovers, check out my favorite leftover ham recipes like ham bone soup, scalloped potatoes and ham and ham salad.
Table of Contents
Honey Glazed Ham Ingredients
To make honey glazed ham you will need a spiral cut ham, brown sugar, butter, honey, Dijon mustard, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice. You may want fresh herbs for a garnish.
How Do You Make Honey Glazed Ham?
To make this honey glazed ham recipe, first place butter, brown sugar, honey, mustard and spices in a saucepan. Mix everything together and simmer it on the stove until thickened. Place your ham in a roasting pan and pour half of the glaze over the ham. Next, cover the ham and bake it until it’s warmed through. Uncover the ham, and pour the remaining glaze over the top. Increase the oven heat, then bake the ham for an additional 15-20 minutes or until it’s caramelized and browned. Slice and serve the ham!
Tips For The Perfect Ham
- I prefer to make this recipe with a bone-in spiral ham. You can also use a bone-in half shank, and score the top in a diamond pattern to let the glaze soak in. Another option is a boneless ham, but this cut is more likely to dry out which is why I always choose bone-in ham.
- I often use light brown sugar for the glaze. You can use dark brown sugar for a stronger molasses flavor.
- I typically use clover honey; however, other honey varieties will also work, such as blackberry, buckwheat, orange blossom or wildflower.
- I recommend preparing the ham glaze just before you use it. The glaze will harden in the fridge if you try to make it in advance. If your glaze thickens up more than you’d like, you can microwave it for about 30 seconds to loosen it back up again.
- First time making a honey glazed ham? Check out my full tutorial on how to cook a ham!
- Save your leftovers to make a big pot of ham and corn chowder or make sandwiches like my ham and cheese sliders for dinner the next night.
Quick Tip
You can brush the honey glaze onto the ham in order to cover the roast.
Recipe FAQs
A ham needs to cook for about 15 minutes per pound in the oven at 350 degrees F. This is for a standard bone-in half ham around 7-8 pounds in size.
You can plan on serving about 3/4 pound of ham per person for a bone-in ham, or 1/2 pound of ham for a boneless 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 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 meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the ham reads at least 145 degrees F. Be sure that the thermometer does not touch the bone, as this can lead to an inaccurate reading.
Follow Me
Flavor Variations
I typically make this honey glazed ham as written, but sometimes I use other ingredients depending on what I have on hand.
- Juice: Instead of honey, try using 1/2 cup of apple cider, pineapple juice, cranberry juice or orange juice.
- Spices: Skip the cinnamon and nutmeg, and try pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon with a pinch of ginger, smoked paprika or even a bit of ground 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.
- Honey Baked: If you want a traditional honey baked ham, try my recipe for honey baked ham.
- Garnish: You can use fresh herbs like thyme, rosemary, sage or parsley for garnish. You can also use small fresh fruit like cranberries, figs, apples or grapes.
Once you see how easy this honey glazed ham is to make, you’ll be preparing it for every holiday! For more menu inspiration, check out my Christmas recipes or my list of 35 holiday entertaining recipes.
Side Dishes You’ll Enjoy
Candied Sweet Potatoes
55 mins
Southern Cornbread Dressing
1 hr 15 mins
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
40 mins
Squash Casserole
45 mins
Honey Glazed Ham Video
Love This Recipe?
Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
Honey Glazed Ham
Ingredients
- 8 lb bone in spiral cut ham
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch of nutmeg
- pinch of cloves
- pinch of allspice
- cooking spray
- fresh herbs and fruit for garnish optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a baking pan with cooking spray.
- Add the butter, brown sugar, honey, mustard, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice to a pan. Place the pan over medium heat.
- Bring the pan to a simmer and cook for 3-5 minutes or until glaze is syrupy.
- Place the ham in the pan and pour half of the glaze over it. Cover the ham tightly with foil. Reserve the other half of the glaze for later use.
- Bake the ham for 2 hours. Uncover the ham.
- Pour the remaining half of the glaze over the ham. If the glaze has started to harden, you can microwave it for 30 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 fruit. Spoon pan drippings over the ham. Slice the ham, then serve immediately.
Notes
- I prefer to make this recipe with a bone-in spiral ham. You can also use a bone-in half shank, and score the top in a diamond pattern to let the glaze soak in.
- I typically use light brown sugar for the glaze. You can use dark brown sugar for a stronger molasses flavor.
- I typically use clover honey; however, other honey varieties will also work, such as blackberry, buckwheat, orange blossom or wildflower.
- I recommend preparing the glaze just before you use it. The glaze will harden in the fridge if you try to make it in advance. If your glaze thickens up more than you’d like, you can microwave it for about 30 seconds to loosen it back up again.
Winner, winner…ham dinner! We loved this honey glazed ham. Better than some we’ve ordered even. Great recipe, thank you!
I’m going to really impress my family when I make this and they realize it was homemade! Delicious!