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Take your spiral ham to the next level with this Honey Baked Ham Recipe. It is delicious and easy to make with simple ingredients.
Spiral cut ham is one of our favorite hams to cook for Easter, Christmas and Thanksgiving. You can easily make this copycat honey baked ham recipe as your holiday meat and impress your friends and family.
If you have to much ham leftover, make sure to make use it in one of these leftover ham recipes.
Table of Contents
Why This Recipe Works
This Spiral ham recipe is easy to make. Learn how to cook a honey baked ham with these simple steps. We love adding this honey butter glaze to our holiday ham as it gives it the best flavor.
The glaze adds the perfect amount of sweetness to this savory meat. We love to add the glaze before we cook it and baste it on the ham as it cooks.
What is the Best Ham to Buy?
When we are searching for the best ham, we look for a high quality ham. We like to make a ham with a bone-in ham for the best flavor. Ham that are purchased at your local grocery stored are already pre-cooked and should indicate on the package.
Make sure to read the labels closely when purchasing a fully cooked ham. They could be full of water, which may not give you the best flavor.
We love to save the ham bone for soups and beans. Freeze the ham bone in plastic wrap and foil for a delicious addition.
Ingredients
- Spiral Sliced Ham
- Butter (melted)
- Honey or maple syrup
- Dijon Mustard
- Granulated Sugar or brown sugar
- Ground Cinnamon
- Ground Nutmeg
- Ground Ginger
- Ground Cloves
- Allspice
Scroll to the bottom of the post for the full list of ingredients or recipe.
Variations Ideas
- Bourbon – For a delicious option, you can add in bourbon. Instead of adding in water, you can add in bourbon.
- Slow Cooker – Feel free to make this ham in your slow cooker instead of the ham. If you are wanting to save your oven for casseroles and side dishes, make your ham in the slow cooker.
- Ham – Feel free to choose a ham that you prefer. We love the spiral ham but you can use a smoky flavor ham to make this recipe.
- Room Temperature Ham – If you ham is pre-cooked or smoked you do not have to bake it at all. You can serve ham cold or warm. Add a honey and butter mixture to the ham and then broil it.
How to Make a Honey Baked Ham
- Step 1 – Heat Oven – Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Step 2 – Prepare Ham – Remove ham from fridge and unwrap the ham and discard any glaze or seasoning packets that came with the ham.
- Step 3 – Place ham in pan – Place the ham flat side down in a roasting pan lined with foil.
- Step 4 – Prepare Glaze – In a small saucepan, add the butter, honey, dijon mustard, sugar and seasonings. Heat on low heat and stir until the sugar is just dissolved. There is no need to bring it to a boil.
- Step 5 – Brush ham with glaze – Baste the ham with approximately ⅓ of the honey glaze. Make sure to get into the slices of the ham if possible. Add approximately 1 cup of water to the bottom of the roasting pan.
- Step 6 – Cover ham – Cover the ham loosely with foil. Bake for 2 hours and 40 minutes (20 minutes per pound). Heat until the ham reaches an internal temperature of 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Step 7 – Baste Ham – Baste the ham again halfway through the cooking time with approximately ⅓ of the mixture.
- Step 8 – Turn oven to broil – Remove the ham from the oven and switch the oven to the broil setting. Remove the foil from the ham and baste the ham with the remaining glaze.
- Step 9 – Broil Ham – Place the uncovered ham back in the oven. Then broil it for a few minutes until the glaze starts to caramelize (watch it closely).
- Step 10 – Remove Ham – Remove from the oven. Let the honey glazed ham rest for 5 minutes and then it’s ready to slice, serve and enjoy. This ham can be served warm or cold – it’s delicious either way!
Recipe Tips
- Baking Ham – Make sure to bake the ham in a roasting pan or a baking sheet that has a rimmed edge. Discard any of the seasoning packets as your will make your own glaze. Be careful as there maybe ham drippings when you remove the ham from the package.
- Heating Glaze – Place the ingredients in a sauce pan and heat over low heat. You do not need to bring the glaze mixture to a boil.
- Baste ham – We recommend basting the ham before placing in the oven and then half way through cooking it. Make sure to get the sugar mixture into the slices of the ham for the best flavor.
- Check Ham for doneness – Even though your ham is precooked. Feel free to use a meat thermometer to make sure is heated thoroughly.
- Cutting Ham – Spiral hams are usually precut, but you still might need to slice with a sharp knife. Make sure to get as much meat off the bone as possible. But leaving a little meat on the bone is great too.
- Ham Rest – After baking the ham, we recommend allowing the ham to rest for at least 15 minutes. This helps to lock in the juices to give you the best flavor.
- Covering Ham – We recommend to cover the ham while it is baking. This helps to lock in flavor and keeps it juicy.
Do you Bake Ham Covered or Uncovered?
For best results we recommend covering the ham with foil. If not covered the ham could easily get dried out. Make sure to add water to the bottom of the pan to keep the ham moist.
How to Store and Freeze Leftovers
Refrigerate the leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days. If you have a lot of holiday ham leftover, place in the freezer. If stored properly the ham will last about months.
Frequently Asked Questions
We recommend cooking the ham at 325 degrees. Cooking ham at low heat and slow makes the juiciest ham.
Depending on the size of your ham, we usually bake it for 20 minutes per pound. Keep it mind that you can slow cook the ham on low.
We glazed the ham prior to placing in the oven. Then half way through the cooking time, we baste the ham with the honey mixture. We make sure to get in the layers to give it the best flavor.
More Easy Ham Recipes
- Bourbon Glazed Ham Recipe
- Easy Crockpot Spiral Ham Recipe
- Christmas Ham
- Peach Glazed Ham Recipe
- Thanksgiving Ham Recipe
- Slow Cooker Ham Recipe
- Try more Christmas Ham Recipes
We love hearing from you. If you make this Honey Baked Ham, please leave us a comment.
Honey Baked Ham
Ingredients
- 8 pounds Spiral Sliced Ham
- 2 Tablespoons Butter melted
- 1/4 cup Honey
- 1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
- 1 1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground Ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground Cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon Allspice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Unwrap the ham and discard any glaze or seasoning packets that came with the ham.
- Place the ham flat side down in a roasting pan lined with foil.
- In a small saucepan, add the butter, honey, dijon mustard, sugar and seasonings. Heat on low heat and stir until the sugar is just dissolved (you do not need to bring it to a boil).
- Baste the ham with approximately ⅓ of the mixture and try to get into the slices of the ham if possible. Add approximately 1 cup of water to the bottom of the roasting pan.
- Cover the ham loosely with foil. Bake for 2 hours and 40 minutes (20 minutes per pound) until the ham reaches an internal temperature of 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Baste the ham again halfway through the cooking time with approximately ⅓ of the mixture.
- Remove the ham from the oven and switch the oven to the broil setting. Remove the foil from the ham and baste the ham with the remaining glaze.
- Place the uncovered ham back in the oven and broil it for a few minutes until the glaze starts to caramelize (watch it closely).
- Remove from the oven. Let the ham rest for 5 minutes and then it’s ready to slice, serve and enjoy!
