Moist and caramelized Brown Sugar Glazed Ham is the perfect recipe for Easter, Thanksgiving or any other holiday and celebratory meal hosted with family and friends!
There’s just something about a glazed ham that stirs excitement and a sense of expectancy for good quality time with loved ones around the table. That’s certainly my experience anyway, 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 pre-cooked 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!
How Should I Store Brown Sugar Glazed Ham?
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 aluminium 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.
What Should I Serve With This Ham?
While this Brown Sugar Glazed Ham is sure to be the highlight of any lunch or dinner, it’s just as important to pair it with some tasty side dishes, especially when feeding a hungry crowd!
Side dishes that will go well with this Brown Sugar Glazed Ham:
How Can I Use Up Leftover Glazed Ham?
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. Leftover ham can also be wrapped up tight and stashed in the freezer for a taste of the holidays down the road.
Here are some great meal ideas for leftover ham:
- Swap ham for the sausage in this Cheesy Egg Bake
- Ham and cheese muffin cups
- Broccoli and Ham quiche
- Ham sandwiches
- Ham, cheese and hash brown frittata
Tips For Making the BEST Brown Sugar Glazed 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.
- The great thing about the basting sauce is that it’s easily varied to suit your taste so feel free to add in whatever spice combinations you like. Honey is great to use as a sweetener, warming spices also go very well with ham, and you could substitute orange marmalade or peach preserves for the apricot preserves.
- 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.
Other Main Meal Ideas For Any Occasion
Brown Sugar Glazed Ham
Ingredients
- 10-15 pound spiral cut pre-cooked ham
Basting Sauce Ingredients
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon
ground mustard
- 1/4 cup apricot jam or preserves
- 8 oz. orange juice
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
Glaze Ingredients
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 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.
