Holiday brown sugar ham is a classic that everyone loves. From fully cooked canned ham to the pre-cut spiral ham, everyone has a favorite. Jazz up your spiral ham with a brown sugar and honey glaze that gets perfectly caramelized in the oven. It is so irresistible and will be the most talked about favorite holiday meal for years to come.
Unbeatable Holiday Flavors
Classic ham flavors that stand out. This recipe uses brown sugar, spicy mustard, honey and smoked paprika in the glaze. The ham will have many different layers of flavor. The first layer comes from brushing this mixture on before the ham goes into the oven. As the ham bakes, the mixture will melt and start to drip into all of the spiral openings of the ham.
After two hours of baking, you will brush on the remainder of the prepared glaze and add on whole cloves. During the last 10-15 minutes of baking, the glaze will caramelize and create a thick crust. The whole cloves will release the most amazing spicy holiday fragrance.
Brown Sugar, Mustard & Honey Glaze
- Brown Sugar – I used light brown sugar but you can use light or dark, whatever you have in the pantry. Dark brown sugar means that there is more sweet molasses in the sugar making it more dark in color and sweet in taste.
- Mustard – The recipe calls for a more spicy brown mustard to add to the holiday flavors. Mustard will add acidity to help break up the sweetness of the brown sugar and honey, they all complement each other.
- Honey – There are a lot of different honey types on the shelf. Pick your favorite. My all time favorite is Clover Honey. It’s a light sweet all purpose honey.
The brown sugar, mustard, and honey glaze is a two part recipe. It will get used two different ways. The first way will be to brush on the mixture before baking. After the ham goes into the oven, the remainder of the mixture is turned into a glaze. On the stovetop, pour the mixture into a small pot and heat over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. The stove-top glaze will thicken up so that it can coat the ham.
Picking the Right Ham
At the grocery store, you will see several different options with price points. For this recipe, you will want to make sure it is a fully cooked, pre-sliced spiral ham. I usually get it with the bone-in.
When trying to determine the weight of the ham, aim for about 1 lb per person (bone-in), but you can never go wrong with ham leftovers. You can make soup, sliders and more!
Calculating Cooking Time
Don’t let it fool you, even a pre-cooked ham needs to cook until it is 160F, usually it takes 12-14 minutes per pound.
For this recipe, the ham will bake for 2 hours at 325F. After 2 hours, the brown sugar-mustard- honey glaze is brushed on and the ham will bake at 425F for 10-15 minutes, uncovered. This will let the glaze caramelize for the perfect crust and pan drippings.
Classic Holiday Brown Sugar Ham
Ingredients
- 9.5 lb Fully Cooked Bone-In Spiral Ham
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- ½ cup Brown Spicy Mustard
- ¼ cup Clover Honey
- 1 tsp Smoked Paprika
- Whole Cloves
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325F. Get out a roasting pan and remove the rack, or use a baking sheet.
- If there is one, remove the plastic cover on the bone and place the ham in the roasting pan, on the side so that the spiral slices are vertical.9.5 lb Fully Cooked Bone-In Spiral Ham
- In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, mustard, honey and smoked paprika. Stir until evenly combined.1 cup Brown Sugar, ½ cup Brown Spicy Mustard, ¼ cup Clover Honey, 1 tsp Smoked Paprika
- Using a brush, paint the brown sugar mixture over the ham. You will use about 1/3 of the prepared glaze. Cover the entire ham, making sure to brush over the spiral ham slices so that the glaze can melt and drip into the openings of the slices.
- Flip the ham so that the cut side is down in the roasting pan. The spiral slices will be horizontal and parallel to the bottom of the roasting pan. Cover with foil, tightly clamping around the edge of the pan. Bake at 325F for 2 hours.
- While the ham is in the oven. Add the remainder of the glaze mixture to a small pot and, on the stove top over medium heat, let it cook for about 3-5 minutes, until the brown sugar has dissolved. Stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
- After the ham bakes for 2 hours, take it out of the oven. Reset the oven to 425F. Remove the foil. Add the cooked glaze to the top of the entire ham. Add whole cloves to the top of the ham, evenly spacing them about two inches apart.Whole Cloves
- Bake, uncovered at 425F for 10-15 minutes. The ham should be 160F. Rest for 30 minutes before serving.
