Moist and caramelized Brown Sugar Glazed Ham is the perfect recipe for Easter dinner, Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas dinner, or any other holiday and celebratory meal hosted with family and friends! The sweet glaze from the brown sugar marries perfectly with the warmth of the ham! Only a handful of ingredients makes this ham extra special and easy to make!
There’s just something about a glazed baked ham that stirs excitement and a sense of expectancy for good quality time with loved ones around the table. That’s certainly my experience and using a pre-cooked spiral ham for this purpose helps to substantially reduce the overall cooking time so that I do actually get time to partake in the festivities!
The basting sauce keeps this holiday ham beautifully moist and tender, while also boosting the natural flavor of the meat and infusing it with spices and seasonings. Finish off your ham with a brown sugar glaze to get that inviting caramelization effect that no one will be able to resist! We use apricot jam or our favorite apricot pineapple jam on our glazed ham. Some of our favorite side dishes to enjoy with this delicious ham are Duchess Potatoes, Cornbread Sausage Stuffing and Streusel Topped Sweet Potato Casserole!
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Why You’ll Love this simple Brown Sugar Glaze Ham?
- Made with simple ingredients.
- Great for any meal, doesn’t even need to be a holiday dinner!
- Yields lots of leftovers to be used for breakfasts, lunches or dinners.
- Quick to make if you purchase an already baked ham!
Ingredients:
- Spiral cut pre-cooked ham – Fresh or Frozen bone-in ham or boneless ham
- Spices – ground cloves, ground nutmeg, ground ginger, ground mustard
- Apricot jam or preserves – homemade or choose your favorite store-bought brand
- Orange juice – fresh or store-bought (helps create a great flavor for this orange brown sugar glazed ham)
- Granulated sugar – basic white sugar
- Light brown sugar – for the delicious glaze
- Salted butter – mixed with the brown sugar on the simple glaze
For a full list of ingredients, step-by-step instructions, and their measurements, 📋 please view my printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Substitutions and Variations
- Change up the ingredients in the basting sauce: A honey glaze is great to use as a sweetener or even maple syrup. Simply use honey or syrup instead of the brown sugar.
- Warming spices also go very well with ham.
- You could substitute orange marmalade or peach preserves for the apricot preserves. We also like to add some dijon mustard or yellow mustard into the sweet preserves for a deeper flavor.
🔪 Instructions:
PREP: Preheat oven to 275°F.
Step 1: In a small saucepan, combine basting sauce ingredients: cloves, nutmeg, ginger, ground mustard, jam, orange juice, and the sugar.
Step 2: Heat over medium, stirring occasionally until the sugar and jam have dissolved into a liquid sauce. Simmer for 1-2 minutes.
Step 3: Remove the spiral cut ham from its packaging. Place the whole ham, cut side down, on a rack in a large roasting pan. Use a pastry brush to coat the ham with the basting sauce. The sauce will be runny, some will run down into the roasting pan and that is fine. Baste the sauce between the layers of ham as much as possible.
Step 4: Cover the ham and pan with aluminum foil and bake in the oven for about 2 ½ hours. (The ham is already cooked through, so you are heating it to serving temperature, typically internal temperature of 140°F.) Check the ham every 30 minutes or so and brush the juices up over the ham to baste it (optional).
When the ham is heated through, remove it from the oven and discard the aluminum foil. Increase the oven temperature to 425°F.
Step 5: Combine the glaze ingredients (sugar, butter, and brown sugar) in a small saucepan.
Step 6: Heat over medium until the butter is melted and the mixture forms a paste.
Step 7: Brush the brown sugar ham glaze all over the outside surface of the ham.
Step 8: Place the ham back into the oven (no cover) and cook for 10-20 minutes longer until the sugar glaze caramelizes. Be careful not to burn the glaze. Remove from the oven. Slice fully cooked ham and serve after allowing the ham to sit for about 10 minutes.
GARNISH/SLICE/SERVE: Enjoy this brown sugar glazed ham warm with your favorite side dishes!
Recipe Tips for Brown Sugar Glazed Spiral-Cut Ham
- I’ve used a pre-cooked ham for this recipe to cut down substantially on the overall cooking time. When preparing a pre-cooked ham, always follow the heating recommendations on the ham packaging and you can also go ahead and discard any glaze or rub that comes with the pre-cooked ham since you’ll be making your own with this recipe.
- You can cook a ham from scratch although it’s going to increase the cooking time by about 2-2.5 hours. Cooking time is usually 20 minutes per pound of ham when cooking it from scratch instead of using a pre-cooked ham.
- You have the option of serving your ham warm or cold depending on whether you’re serving a cold lunch/dinner or want a warm meal.
- You can cook the pre-cooked ham with the basting sauce for less time (or skip the basting sauce completely) and simply use the glaze recipe and instructions for a caramelized coating.
- While it’s completely optional, if you want to caramelize the glaze on your ham much faster, place the ham under the broiler for a couple of minutes after applying the glaze. If you do use the broiler, make sure to keep a watchful eye on your ham as it is more susceptible to burning or burning the top without caramelizing the sides.
Recipe FAQs
This cooked ham can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator once completely cool for up to 5 days. You can also wrap your ham in aluminum foil before storing in an airtight container to help prevent it from drying out.
When storing leftover ham, consider keeping any juices from the cooking process in a separate container in the refrigerator so that you can add it to a baking dish when the time comes to reheat the ham for serving. It’s a great way to prevent your ham from drying out when reheating. Cover your ham in a baking dish with aluminium foil with the juices when you reheat in the oven.
If you’ve got leftover ham sitting in the fridge then consider making additional meals out of it to feed the family or guests over the following days. This ham is wonderful both warm or cold. Leftover ham can also be wrapped up tight and stashed in the freezer for a taste of the holidays down the road.
Try these dishes for your leftover ham:
* Ham and cheese muffin cups
* Broccoli and Ham quiche
* Ham sandwiches
* Ham, cheese and hash brown frittata
So many side dishes to choose but some of our favorites are:
* Perfectly Creamy Mashed Potatoes
* Homemade Dinner Rolls
* Cranberry Jello Salad
* Artichoke Rice Salad
* Steamed Green Beans
Other Main Meal Ideas for Any Occasion
If you tried this Brown Sugar Glazed Ham Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you liked it in the 📝 comments below.
Brown Sugar Glazed Ham
Ingredients
- 10-15 pound spiral cut pre-cooked ham
Basting Sauce Ingredients
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon
ground mustard
- ¼ cup apricot jam or preserves
- 8 oz. orange juice
- ½ cup granulated sugar
Glaze Ingredients
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup salted butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 275°F.
- In a small saucepan, combine basting sauce ingredients: cloves, nutmeg, ginger, ground mustard, jam, orange juice, and the sugar.
- Heat over medium, stirring occasionally until the sugar and jam have dissolved into a liquid sauce. Simmer for 1-2 minutes.
- Remove the ham from its packaging. Place the ham, cut side down, on a rack in a large roasting pan.
- Use a pastry brush to coat the ham with the basting sauce. The sauce will be runny, some will run down into the roasting pan and that is fine. Baste the sauce between the layers of ham as much as possible.
- Cover the ham and pan with aluminum foil and bake in the oven for about 2 ½ hours. (The ham is already cooked through, so you are heating it to serving temperature, typically 140°F.) Check the ham every 30 minutes or so and brush the juices up over the ham to baste it (optional).
- When the ham is heated through, remove it from the oven and discard the aluminum foil. Increase the oven temperature to 425°F.
- Combine the glaze ingredients (sugar, butter, and brown sugar) in a small saucepan.
- Heat over medium until the butter is melted and the mixture forms a paste.
- Brush the glaze all over the outside of the ham.
- Place the ham back into the oven (no cover) and cook for 10-20 minutes longer until the sugar glaze caramelizes. Be careful not to burn the glaze. Remove from the oven.
- Slice and serve after allowing the ham to sit for about 10 minutes.
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Notes
- I’ve used a pre-cooked ham for this recipe to cut down substantially on the overall cooking time. When preparing a pre-cooked ham, always follow the heating recommendations on the ham packaging and you can also go ahead and discard any glaze or rub that comes with the pre-cooked ham since you’ll be making your own with this recipe.
- You can cook a ham from scratch although it’s going to increase the cooking time by about 2-2.5 hours. Cooking time is usually 20 minutes per pound of ham when cooking it from scratch instead of using a pre-cooked ham.
- You have the option of serving your ham warm or cold depending on whether you’re serving a cold lunch/dinner or want a warm meal.
- You can cook the pre-cooked ham with the basting sauce for less time (or skip the basting sauce completely) and simply use the glaze recipe and instructions for a caramelized coating.
- While it’s completely optional, if you want to caramelize the glaze on your ham much faster, place the ham under the broiler for a couple of minutes after applying the glaze. If you do use the broiler, make sure to keep a watchful eye on your ham as it is more susceptible to burning or burning the top without caramelizing the sides.
Nutrition
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