A honey-baked ham Recipe Homemade tastes just as delicious for a fraction of the price you’d pay at a store! The salty, hickory smoke flavour of the ham is perfectly balanced by the sweet, sticky honey and brown sugar glaze, which also has savoury hints of warm spices.
Honey Baked Ham Recipe
A go-to method for spiral-cut ham. In the past, I hate how I always end up with some dry bits, but not here.
I love the cook’s illustrated method for spiral-sliced ham, so I used the same method here, just replacing the orange maple they used with a different glaze.
Many ham recipes (of the same weight) cook at 375 degrees for up to 3 hours, but why? The ham is already fully cooked and needs to be warmed before serving.
Here the ham is first brought to room temperature in hot water, so it heats more evenly in the oven. From there it’s wrapped in an oven bag for quick cooking and a moist finish.
Then finally it is unwrapped and covered with glaze and heated at a high temperature to help it brown and caramelize a bit.
It’s the perfect protein for a holiday feast!
Homemade Honey Baked Ham Recipe Ingredients
- Perfectly cooked spiral-sliced ham
- Unsalted butter
- honey
- Light brown sugar
- Dijon mustard
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Ground cinnamon
- ginger
- Ground cloves
- Fresh orange peel (optional)
- And you will need it to 1 oven bag
Scroll down for the full printable recipe.
How to Make Honey-Baked Ham
- Let the wrapped ham rest in the hot water for 90 minutes, changing the water halfway through.
- Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Unwrap ham and transfer to oven bag.
- Bake the ham in a roasting pan in the oven until the centre registers 100 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, about 1-1 1/2 hours (about 10 minutes per pound).
- Meanwhile, prepare the glaze and allow it to cool slightly.
- Remove the ham from the oven. Increase oven temperature to 375 degrees. Cut the oven bag and roll it down to expose the ham. Brush all over with 1/2 the glaze.
- Bake in the oven for 5 minutes then remove and brush with the remaining glaze. Bake for 10 minutes more. Remove from oven, tent with foil, and let rest 10 minutes before carving and serving.
The perfect holiday ham
This is a very tasty holiday ham, trust me! Everyone is likely to go back for a second slice, and luckily there are plenty.
If you don’t like a hint of orange, I’d suggest skipping the orange zest, as it adds a noticeable orange zip, but I’d definitely recommend leaving everything else as is.
What if I don’t have a frying pan?
If you don’t have a frying pan (I know they’re a pain to store) you can use a disposable one that grocery stores sell this time of year. They are very fragile, so handle carefully.
It may be tempting to use a larger pan, but I don’t recommend this because the ham won’t brown well in the end.
What should I serve with this ham?
And why not finish with Vanilla Bean Cheesecake or Peppermint Bark Cheesecake?
Honey baked ham
Amazingly delicious holiday ham! Baked in an oven bag and cooked at low temperature does not end up with dry pieces. That sweet honey glaze is the perfect finish to the salty hickory smoked ham.
Servings: 16
preparation15 minutes
Cook1 hour 50 minutes
Prepared in: 3 Hours 45 minutes
- 1 (8 – 10 pounds) Fully Cooked Spiral Sliced Ham*
- 2 teaspoons Unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 Cup Packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 3/4 teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon Ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon Fresh orange peel (optional)
- 1 Oven bag
- With the plastic or foil covering of the ham intact, cover the ham with hot tap water in a large container (or a clean sink that plugs up well). Let rest for 45 minutes.
- Drain the water and cover it again with hot water and let it rest for 45 minutes. Finally, adjust the oven rack to the lowest position and preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
- Unwrap the ham and remove the plastic disc from under the ham bone. Place the ham in the oven bag and the wrap bag so that it fits snugly around the ham. Tie the bag and cut off the excess plastic at the top. Cut 4 small slits in the top of the bag.
- Place the ham cut side down in a large roasting pan and bake in the preheated oven until the centre registers 100 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, about 1 – 1 1/2 hours (about 10 minutes per pound).
- When baking is finished, melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the brown sugar, honey, mustard, pepper, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves and cook until the sugar dissolves, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in the orange zest and let cool until the consistency of honey, about 10 minutes (rewarm the ham as needed if it’s too thick when ready to glaze).
- Remove the ham from the oven. Increase oven temperature to 375 degrees. Cut the oven bag and roll it down to expose the ham. Brush all over with 1/2 the glaze. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes then remove and brush with the remaining glaze. Bake for 10 minutes more. Remove from oven, tent with foil, and let rest 10 minutes before carving and serving.
- Recipe Source: Cooking Method Cook’s Illustrated
*Purchase a ham that does not add water.
The recipe was originally published as “Honey Glazed Ham