Honey Baked Ham

Hone baked spiral cut ham on a platter decorated on the side with fresh rosemary and green grapes.

This copycat honey baked ham is moist, juicy with crispy, fat charred edges and crunchy ham glaze.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 1 25

Total Time 1 35

Servings

Calories 978kcal

Ingredients

9 pound bone-in spiral cut ham
¼ cup honey
6 fl oz Sprite Ginger or Ginger Ale or 7UP (½ soda can) or water

Ham Glaze

1 cup brown sugar
½ cup granulated white sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon sweet paprika or smoke paprika
⅛ teaspoon allspice

Ham Sauce

½ cup of sugar spice mixture above
¼ cup honey
2 cups ham juice
2 tablespoons cornstarch

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Combine brown and white sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, paprika and allspice. Set aside. Reserve ½ cup mixture for ham sauce.
WARMING HAM - Line roasting pan with heavy duty foil for easy cleanup. Use a wire rack that fits inside the pan.
Remove all packaging from ham and pour ham juice (if there’s any) in the pan. Place ham flat side down on the wire rack. Pour 6 fl oz Sprite Ginger or Ginger Ale or 7Up or water.
Spread ¼ cup honey all over ham using a hard basting brush and in between slices, if desired except on the cut side. You can use a little over ¼ cup but save some for the sauce.
Cover pan tightly with heavy duty foil to keep ham moist. Follow the heating instructions that came with the ham. I am using Sams Spiral Cut Premium Smoked Ham with Natural Juices and the heating instruction states to warm ham at 325 degrees F for 10-12 minutes per pound and DO NOT OVERHEAT.
I always follow the lesser cooking time. 9 pounds at 10 minutes per pound is 1 ½ hours, placed on the 2nd rack of the oven. Note: I took ham out of oven 10 minutes earlier. Read post above for more tips.
Take ham out of the oven and remove cover. Baste ham with juices and let it sit for a few minutes. Transfer ham in the foil cover and pour ham juice in a container.
APPLY HAM GLAZE. Rub 1 cup sugar spice mixture all over ham using your hands. Apply some in between slices, if desired. If you have some leftover, read my tips below.
BROIL. Pre-heat oven then turn to BROIL. Place ham in pan and broil at HIGH (500) between 2 to 5 minutes until glaze is bubbly, melted and caramelized to a golden bronze color. Keep an eye on the glaze, it can burn easily.
Remove from oven and rest for 5 minutes. Transfer to platter.
MAKE HAM SAUCE. In a small bowl, dissolve 2 tablespoons cornstarch in ½ cup warm ham juice and set aside. In a sauce pan, combine ¼ cup honey, ½ cup sugar spice mixture and 1 ½ cups ham juice and bring to a boil then lower heat. Add cornstarch mixture stirring constantly until syrupy. Turn off heat.

Notes

This step is optional. We prefer the fat charred on the side with more meat. Consider using the leftover sugar spice mixture for a 2nd broil. After the 1st broil, allow a few minutes until you are able turn the ham on its side. Sprinkle leftover sugar spice mixture on top of ham and broil for 2 to 3 minutes. Again, keep an eye on the ham and don’t overcook the glaze to prevent it from burning.
Save the remaining ham juice. You can drizzle juice on ham when reheating.
Refrigerate leftover ham up to 4 days. Longer than 4 days, freeze it in an air tight container up to a month and 3 months if vacuum sealed.
Fry, bake, broil or microwave to reheat slices of ham.
FYI, at the store they use a blow torch on the glaze instead of broiling.
There are more tips on the post. Read how to broil on gas oven or electric oven.

Nutrition