This Holiday Spiced Glazed Ham Recipe is so simple to make and tastes just like Christmas! It’s the perfect blend of citrus, spices, and sweetness.
The Baked Ham That Tastes like Christmas!
Yes, this ham tastes like Christmas! What does Christmas taste like you ask? Well, it’s hard to describe…you just know it when you taste it….but, it’s flavorful and sweet with hints of cinnamon, all-spice, cloves, and citrus.
Every Christmas my mom would special order a Honey Baked Ham from THE Honey Baked Ham store. I remember LOVING that ham and looking forward to the holidays because I knew that ham was on the way.
Well, that wonderfully delicious ham can get quite expensive….especially when feeding a BIG group. So I started experimenting trying to find the perfect glazed ham recipe. This is it…this Holiday Spiced Glazed Ham is so much better than the Honey Baked Hams we used to get and it costs a fraction of the price!
The only way to describe the taste of this ham is Christmas!
Seriously, that’s the feeling I get when I bite into a piece of this ham!
Anyway, you can usually get a pretty good deal on spiral sliced hams during this time of year…so I always buy an extra to freeze for later….yes, you can freeze a whole ham! 🙂
I also like to buy one solely to bake, dice, freeze….and then make Ham Bone Soup with what’s left.
Why bake, dice, and freeze?
Well, when I buy a spiral sliced ham for $2.49/lb I can bake it for dinner one night when it’s just the 4 of us and have plenty left over to make lots of other dishes. After dinner Hubs and I will grab some cutting boards and knives and dice the remainder of the ham into bite size pieces and place them into snack size ziploc bags to freeze.
We usually wind up with about 7-8 one pound packages of diced ham. This is super convenient for Saturday mornings when I want to make breakfast boats, a breakfast casserole, stuffed breakfast peppers, or arroz con pollo for dinner. I already have diced ham ready to go….and it tastes so much better than those packages in the grocery store!
This Holiday Spiced Glazed Ham recipe is also SUPER simple to make! I love how easy it is and it’s packed full of flavor!
Once you’re done eating DON’T throw away your ham bone….this is packed FULL of flavor and nutrients! I like to make ham stock (perfect for soups, stews, etc…use in place of beef stock or chicken stock).
But the BEST thing to make is Ham Bone Soup with Orzo Pasta….it’s incredible!
Yield: 8
Holiday Spiced Ham Recipe
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours5 minutes
This holiday spiced ham recipe tastes just like Christmas!
Spiral Sliced Ham (I like to get a hardwood smoked ham that's around 8-10 lbs)
1 Cup Orange Juice
3-4 Whole Cloves
1 Cup Brown Sugar
2 TBS All Spice
Instructions
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Place ham in a baking dish and pour Orange Juice over the ham.
Place 3-4 whole cloves on top of the ham.
Cover in aluminum foil and bake at 300 degrees for 90 minutes.
Remove ham from oven and set to side.
Mix together brown sugar and all spice in a bowl. (if the ham comes with a premade brown sugar spice packet then just mix that together....it's the same stuff)
Add 2 TBS of juice from the ham into the brown sugar and all spice bowl.
Mix brown sugar mixture well until it's fully combined.
Microwave for 30 seconds...note: place a napkin on top of the bowl to avoid splatter.
Remove aluminum foil from ham and remove whole cloves.
Remove most of the liquid from the bottom of the baking dish.
Pour brown sugar over ham and return to oven.
Raise oven temperature to 400 degrees.
Bake for additional 15 minutes.
Enjoy!
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
To Prepare Ahead: make the glaze up to 2 weeks in advance. Remove the rind from the ham and score it, return to the fridge up to 2 days ahead. On the day of, apply the glaze, bake and baste.
Because most hams come with a glaze packet that typically contains added sugars and preservatives, all you have to do is add water and let it cook until thickened (per MyRecipes). However, sometimes the easy route does not yield the most delicious results.
If the ham is a half ham weighing five to seven pounds, it should heat at 325°F for 22-25 minutes per pound. If it is a whole ham weighing between 10 to 14 pounds, heat the ham at 325°F for 18-20 minutes per pound. The internal temperature should be 140°F.
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Place the ham on a rack in a large baking pan and add about 1/4- to 1/2 inch of water to the pan. If the ham is labeled "fully cooked" (does not require heating), heat it in the oven for about 10 minutes per pound, or to an internal temperature of 140 F.
The glaze should not be applied until the final hour to 30 minutes, in order to avoid burning the sugars. What you're going to do with the glaze ingredients is just combine most of them into a paste, and then apply it to the ham. After that, the heat in your oven will take care of everything.
Take ham out of fridge 1 hour prior. Preheat oven to 160°C / 320°F (140°C fan). Arrange shelf in lower third so the ham will be sitting in the centre of the oven (rather than in top half of oven). Make Glaze per recipe.
Add water to keep ham covered. Take ham from the pan and while warm, remove the skin and fat as desired. If a sweet coating is desired, sprinkle the fat side with brown sugar and bread crumbs and bake in a 400 degree oven until brown (approximately 15 minutes).
The goal is to reheat the ham without drying it out. The best way to do this is to place the ham on a rack in a roasting pan. Add water to the bottom of the pan and cover the whole thing tightly with foil. Bake at 325F for 16-20 minutes per pound, until a meat thermometer registers 135F.
If you don't cover your ham while cooking it will quickly dry out. Instead: Put some aluminum foil over your ham while it's cooking. It is recommended that the ham is covered for at least half of the cooking process and only removed during the last half when you glaze it.
Whether you are cooking a bone in or boneless ham, pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees. Start by removing the packaging from the ham (and bone guard if you're cooking a bone in ham), and you can rinse the ham before cooking if desired.
A pre-cooked/smoked ham should be reheated for around 20 minutes per pound at 325 degrees. Every 15-20 minutes, glaze the ham. An optional step is to add a sprinkle of sugar after each glaze to build up even more of a crust, but this is personal preference.
Bake in the oven 12-15 minutes per pound (or cook according to specific package directions). Baste 1-2 times during the cooking time with ham juices that have accumulated in the bottom of the pan. Be sure to separate the slices as you baste. This ensures the ham will stay moist.
For years, I've been making my glazed ham the day before serving then just reheating it on the day of. It comes out 100% perfectly. The glaze is just as good as freshly made and the ham flesh doesn't dry out at all.
Bake at 325 F for 15 to 18 minutes per pound until a meat thermometer registers 140 F. Basting the ham as it heats will add to the moisture and overall flavor. Unwrap the ham, score it and apply the glaze; increase the heat to 400 F and bake for 15 to 20 minutes longer until the glaze is burnished.
Ham can be made up to 2 days ahead and served cold. If you want to serve it warm, it's best to make it on the day as it needs the same amount of time to re-heat as it does to cook. The glaze can be made up to 2 days ahead and kept in a clean jar in the fridge.
You can store perishable ham safely according to these time limits: Uncooked ham, fully cooked spiral-sliced or unsliced ham, 3 to 5 days; ham after home cooking, 3 to 4 days.
Introduction: My name is Dr. Pierre Goyette, I am a enchanting, powerful, jolly, rich, graceful, colorful, zany person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
