Honey and brown sugar glazed holiday ham is a timeless classic. It will be the star of any holiday feast, boasting tender, juicy meat bathed in a shimmering sticky-sweet glaze. With its caramelized crust and melt-in-your-mouth tenderness, this holiday ham recipe is guaranteed to wow your guests and become a treasured family tradition.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Simple and easy to make: This recipe is straightforward and doesn’t require a lot of complicated steps or ingredients.
- Sweet and savory flavor: The combination of honey and brown sugar creates a sweet and sticky glaze that beautifully complements the salty ham. It’s a classic flavor combination that’s sure to please everyone at the table.
- Moist and tender ham: The slow baking process helps to keep the ham moist and tender, even if it’s a pre-cooked ham.
- Leftovers: Leftover ham is a gift that keeps on giving. You can use it in sandwiches, omelets, soups, and more. Even if you don’t have a large crowd, you can still enjoy this recipe for days after the holidays.
Ingredients – Here’s What You’ll Need
- The Ham: I used a seven-pound bone-in fully cooked half ham studded with whole cloves in this recipe. I like to use the butt portion as opposed to the shank portion primarily because of its appearance.
- The Sweet and Savory Glaze: The glaze for this impressive ham was a combination of sweet and savory. The sweet part consisted of honey and brown sugar. For the savory part, used apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and a bit of black pepper.
- The Decorations: I love how pineapple and cherries look on a holiday ham, so I added some canned pineapple slices with maraschino cherries in the center, secured with toothpicks that I had soaked in water.
Simple Steps for Making the Honey and Brown Sugar Glaze
Making the glaze for this show-stopping ham was super simple. I added the brown sugar, honey, Dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and black pepper to a medium bowl. Then, I whisked the ingredients together until I had a thick and smooth glaze.
That’s it for the glaze!
Simple Steps to Preparing the Ham
- I placed the ham cut side down on a plate. Then, using a sharp knife, I scored the ham with diagonal cuts about ¼-inch deep to form diamond shapes.
- Then, I place a whole clove in each of the diamond shapes.
- I lined a large roasting pan with a rack with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Then, I placed the ham cut side down on the rack in the roasting pan.
- I positioned the pineapple slices with cherries in the middle around the ham and used toothpicks to secure them to the ham. Previously, I had soaked the toothpicks in water to keep them from burning in the oven.
- Once the pineapples and cherries had been secured on the ham, I inserted the temperature probe and added a cup of water to the bottom of the roasting pan. The purpose of the water was to keep the ham moist while cooking.
Baking the Ham
I placed the uncovered ham in a preheated 325°F oven. After 20 minutes, I removed the ham, and brushed it with the honey and brown sugar glaze.
Every 20 minutes thereafter, I removed the ham and brushed it with the glaze until its internal temperature reached 140°F. This took a total of 2 hours and 20 minutes from the time that I first put the ham in the oven.
Once the ham had reached the 140°F temperature, I removed it from the oven. I removed the temperature probe, and let the ham sit, uncovered for about 20 minutes before serving it.
I removed the ham from the roasting pan and placed it on a carving board. Before Susan carved the ham, she removed the pineapples and cherry.
I served the ham with scalloped potatoes, Susan’s green bean casserole, and homemade crescent rolls. The ham was moist and tender, and delicious.
We made sure to save some of the ham for sliders (stay tuned). Yum!
Frequently Asked Questions
Covering the ham is a matter of personal preference. Covering helps retain moisture while leaving it uncovered promotes browning and crispiness. I opted for the browning and the crispiness. However, I added water to the roasting pan to help with the moisture retention.
Trimming the fat from the ham is optional. However, some fat helps keep the ham moist. My ham didn’t have much fat on it, so trimming was unnecessary.
Scoring the fatty side of the ham with a diamond pattern allows the glaze to penetrate deeper and creates crispy bits.
Resting the ham for 15-20 minutes allows the juices to redistribute, resulting in a juicier ham.
Leftover ham can be incorporated into sandwiches, omelets, soups, salads, pasta dishes, and more. In some ways, the leftover ham is tastier!
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Honey and Brown Sugar Glazed Holiday Ham
Equipment
- Roasting pan with rack
- Meat thermometer
- 18 to 24 Toothpicks, soaked in water for 30 minutes
Ingredients
Honey and Brown Sugar Glaze
- 1 cup (7.5 ounces) light brown sugar
- ¼ cup (3 ounces) honey
- 2 Tablespoons (1 ounce) Dijon mustard
- 3 Tablespoons (1.5 ounces) apple cider vinegar
- ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Ham
- 6 to 7 pound bone-in fully cooked ham (See Tip 1)
- 20 to 30 whole cloves
- 6 to 8 canned pineapple rings, drained
- 6 to 8 maraschino cherries, drained
- Honey and Brown Sugar glaze from above
- 1 cup water
Instructions
Honey and Brown Sugar Glaze
- Whisk together the brown sugar, honey, Dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and pepper in a medium bowl until the glaze is thick and smooth. Set aside.
Ham
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a large roasting pan with a rack with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Set aside (See Tip 2)
- Place the ham and cut side down on a plate. Cut ¼-inch-deep slashes, 1-inch apart, lengthwise and crosswise across the top of the ham to form diamond shapes. Place whole cloves in each of the diamond shapes.
- Place the ham cut side down on the rack in the prepared roasting pan. Position pineapple slices with cherries in the center on the ham, secured with toothpicks.
- Insert the temperature probe into the ham, being careful not to tough the bone. Pour one cup of water in the bottom of the roasting pan.
- Place the ham, uncovered in the preheated 325°F oven. Remove the ham after 20 minutes, and brush liberally with the glaze. Return the ham to the oven.
- Continue baking ham, brushing with glaze every 20 minutes, until the glaze is a deep golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 140°F, about 2 hours and 20 minutes total cooking time.
- Remove from the oven and allow to sit for 20 minutes before carving. Remove the temperature probe and the pineapples and cherries.
- Yield: 12 servings.
Video
Tips/Notes
- My preference is the butt cut of the ham as opposed to the shank cut. The meat in the butt cut tends to be more moist, tender, and flavorful.
- The reason for lining the roasting pan is to minimize the cleanup.
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