Brown Sugar Glazed Ham
on Nov 14, 2019, Updated Aug 21, 2024
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Brown sugar glazed ham is an easy, flavorful recipe for juicy ham with a sweet and salty, caramelized outside, perfect to serve to a crowd for a holiday meal.
Which side of the holiday protein debate are you on: Team Turkey or team ham? Personally, I like a little bit of both on my plate and if you’re a ham lover, then this brown sugar-glazed ham recipe is going to be right up your alley. This recipe creates juicy, big-flavored, slightly sweet, and salty slices of ham every time, and it’s the perfect option for a holiday dinner.
To make it super simple, you just start with an already-cooked ham, add the flavorful glaze ingredients, and bake it for a few hours. If you want to start with an uncooked ham, you definitely can do that, but make sure the correct internal temperature is reached before serving to ensure it’s properly cooked.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Ham is a holiday meal staple, and this simple recipe gives you all the tools to glaze your own at home for big flavor and a satisfying and delicious end product.
- This ham is perfect for a holiday dinner where you have a big crowd to serve. And, it’s the dish that keeps giving because glazed ham leftovers are seriously divine on rolls, sandwiches, or just by itself with other holiday fixin’s. You’ll love this easy, scrumptious, rich ham recipe that is a great recipe for any big gathering or holiday meal.
- I love this glaze because it’s a little sweet and a little savory and it goes so nicely with a salty ham.
Recipe Ingredients
- Ham – bone-in spiral sliced works beautifully!
- Brown sugar
- Orange juice
- Honey
- Vinegar – white
- Mustard – yellow
- Seasonings – onion, garlic powder, and cinnamon
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Brown Sugar Glazed Ham
- Whisk together all the ingredients and cook until sugar dissolves.
- Brush the glaze over the ham, wrap it in foil, and bake.
- Remove from the oven, glaze ham again, and return to oven.
- Brush final glaze over the ham. Then tent with foil and let ham rest before serving.
Recipe FAQs
Glazing a ham is optional, but I think it adds the best flavor and texture to the end product and keeps the ham nice and moist.
To cook it, preheat your oven to 325 degrees, and add 1/3 of your glaze to the ham before wrapping it in foil and placing it in a baking dish in the oven. Cook it for about 15 minutes per pound of meat, until the internal temperature is 100 to 110 degrees. Remove from the oven, and increase the oven temp to 400 degrees. Unwrap the foil, add another 1/3 of glaze, and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, until the glaze caramelizes. Remove from the oven, add the remaining glaze, and tent with foil for about 10 minutes before carving and serving the ham.
Ham requires long, slow cooking in order for it to become really tender. It’s a dense cut of meat, so low and slow is the way to go for juicy, tender, melt-in-your-mouth ham. A 15-pound precooked ham will take about 3 hours of cook time to get it glazed, heated, and ready to eat.
Expert Tips
- Using water, stock, or a glaze will help keep the ham moist. Also, covering it tightly with foil for the majority of the cook time helps to lock in moisture and keep the meat nice and tender.
- Give yourself time when cooking a ham to prevent it from getting tough. A 15-pound precooked ham needs about 3 hours to cook and glaze.
- This recipe works with an uncooked ham too—just make sure the meat comes to proper internal temperatures before serving.
More Holiday Recipes to Consider
Simple Gingerbread Recipes
The Perfect Icing for Gingerbread Cookies
Cut Out Cookies
Sugar Cookie Icing Recipe for Perfect Holiday Decorating
Simple Gingerbread Recipes
Homemade Gingerbread Syrup: Cozy Holiday in a Bottle
Simple Gingerbread Recipes
Easy Gingerbread Sandwich Cookies
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Brown Sugar Glazed Ham
Equipment
- pastry brush Silicone is easy to wash and won't leave little bristles behind.
- internal meat thermometer This is SO easy to use!
Ingredients
- 1 large fully cooked ham, (bone in, spiral sliced is fine, about 15 pounds)
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup orange juice
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Remove the ham from the fridge, and let it rest at room temperature for at least 2 hours. This helps the meat to cook evenly once in the oven.
- Preheat the oven 325 degrees F.
- In a small saucepan, whisk together the brown sugar, orange juice, honey, white vinegar, yellow mustard, onion powder, garlic powder, and cinnamon.
- Cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture starts to simmer. Simmer for 1 to 2 minutes until the mixture thickens just a bit. Remove from the heat.
- Tear two large pieces of foil off the roll (enough to wrap the ham in), and overlap them.
- Place the ham in the center of the foil.
- Brush 1/3 of glaze over the ham, and then tightly wrap it in the foil.
- Place the ham in a baking pan, flat side down (mine fit in a 9×13-inch pan).
- Bake the ham until heated through or the center registers 100 to 110 degrees F. (This takes about 15 minutes per pound of meat.) Remove from the oven.
- Turn the oven temperature up to 400 degrees F.
- Carefully unwrap the ham (you can throw away the foil or open it up and let it line the bottom of the pan).
- Brush another third of the glaze over the ham, and return the ham to the oven.
- Let the ham cook for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, or until the glaze has started to caramelize and looks dark and sticky but not burnt.
- Remove from the oven, and brush on the last of the glaze.
- Tent with foil, and let the ham rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving hot.
Notes
- You can use this recipe with an uncooked ham too—just make sure the meat comes to proper internal temperatures before serving.
- Homemade glazed ham is such a delicious and simple holiday dish that’s rich, flavorful, moist, and melt-in-your-mouth good. It cooks for a while, but hands-on time is minimal!
- I typically use a fully cooked, bone-in ham. Spiral cut for easier serving.
- Store leftover ham in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or freeze slices for up to 2 months.
Can you make this glaze and make ham the day before Easter and how would warm it up on Easter and how long??
Thank you
It takes about the same to warm up as it does for the original recipe so I don’t recommend it. You can make the glaze ahead of time and stick it in the fridge though!
Hello! Can I use Manuka honey in the glaze?
Yes sounds wonderful!
Can this be cooked in a slow cooker? Would I still wrap in foil?
I haven’t tried it but I bet you could if the ham fits. I wouldn’t worry about the foil if the lid is fitting properly.
Hi, it mentions it takes the ham 15 per pound to get to 100 degrees. Most other recipes say 140 degrees. Is the 100 degrees correct?
Ham in the US is sold precooked so you are just heating it to serve not to cook it, so 100 degrees is fine and won’t dry it out. Check your packaging but odds are your ham is already cooked.
Can you use pineapple juice in place of Orange juice?
Ohhh that sounds excellent, I do think it would work wonderfully.
This was amazing!
This glaze was incredible!!
Best ham I have ever made!!
Can you do this on a smoker? If so, would you leave it unwrapped?
I honestly don’t know but it sounds amazing!
This glaze is delish! For some reason my glaze never thickened up though.
This Ham glaze recipe was fantastic! The glaze was delicious. I followed the recipe & cooked the ham as written at 15 minutes per pound with the 15 minutes at the end with more glaze & not covered. The ham was tender & the gravy tasted awesome. Thank you so much for this recipe. It is definitely a keeper.
I love that you are making ham and June, I want to too!
My husband said it was the best ham I ever made. This will be my go to glaze from now on.
This looks delicious! Thanks for tasty recipe!
I’m making it again next week and am so excited!