You can never go wrong with ham for the holidays and this glazed version is both beautiful and delicious. Serve your ham with loaded mashed potatoes and bacon wrapped green beans for a festive meal that your family and friends will love.
Glazed Ham Ingredients
To make this simple glazed ham recipe you will need a smoked spiral cut ham, butter, brown sugar, honey, apple cider, cinnamon and nutmeg. You may want herbs or cranberries for a garnish. When you want a main course for a holiday like Christmas, Thanksgiving or Easter, try this one or some of my other favorite Christmas recipes like honey baked ham, smoked turkey or slow roasted prime rib.
How Do You Make Glazed Ham?
Start your glazed ham by making a glaze for your ham. To make the glaze, place butter, brown sugar, honey, apple cider, cinnamon and nutmeg in a pan and simmer until a thick, syrupy mixture forms. Brush half of the glaze over the ham before putting it in the oven. When the ham is almost done, heat up the remaining glaze and pour it over the ham. Increase the oven temperature and cook the ham a few more minutes for a perfect caramelized glaze.
Tips For The Perfect Dish
You’ll need to reserve half of the glaze to use after your ham mostly cooks through. You can store the glaze at room temperature or in the fridge. The glaze may start to harden as it sits – simply microwave the glaze in 30 second increments until it’s liquid when you’re ready to use it. While I prefer to use a spiral cut ham for this recipe, you can also use an uncut bone-in ham and score it in a cross hatch pattern before you glaze it. Leftovers will stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for 2 months. First time making a ham? Check out my full tutorial on how to cook a ham! Keep any leftover ham and make one of my leftover ham recipes like ham bone soup, scalloped potatoes and ham or ham casserole.
Glazed Ham Variations
I typically make this recipe as written, but sometimes I use other ingredients depending on what I have on hand.
Juice: Instead of apple cider, try using pineapple juice, cranberry juice or orange juice. Spices: Skip the cinnamon and nutmeg, and try pumpkin pie spice, allspice with a pinch of cloves, cinnamon with a pinch of ginger or even a bit of cardamom. Sweetener: Feel free to use maple syrup or molasses instead of honey. If you don’t have a liquid sweetener on hand, use an extra 1/4 cup of brown sugar instead. Tangy: Add a teaspoon of Dijon mustard for a tangy glaze.