Ready to cook a spiral ham? This easy, crowd-pleasing dish is perfect for Easter, Mother's Day, Christmas, or a good 'ole family picnic. Trash the premade glaze packet and make your own Honey Glazed Ham using warm honey, sweet brown sugar, pineapple juice, and rich, comforting spices of cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove.
Who doesn't love a Honey Glazed Ham? Spiral hams are one of my favorite meals to make not only for Mother's Day, Easter, or Christmas but also when making a ministry meal for a friend or serving a large crowd.
Serve this Honey Glazed Ham on homemade Parker House Rolls, a nice veggie side dish, some homemade cranberry sauce, and a Pineapple Poke Cake for dessert, and you've got yourself a delicious, easy, and memorable meal.
Spiral Hams are great because they are pre-cooked, pre-sliced, and only need to be heated through before serving. Most spiral hams also come with their glaze packet, which you can use if you prefer, but why use it when you can make your own amazing honey-glazed ham with just a few simple ingredients?
Honey Glazed Ham Ingredients
The best honey-glazed ham requires just a few simple ingredients:
- Spiral Ham: Choose a spiral ham that is roughly 6-10 lbs, bone-in, fully cooked, pre-sliced, uncured, and ready to cook with your homemade honey glaze.
- Honey: Use the best honey you can find! We have a local bee farm here in Charleston called Bee City, and I love using their hive honey. It's so good!
- Brown Sugar: I used light, but use dark if that's all you have.
- Juice: This depends on your preference. I used pineapple juice b/c it's what I had on hand, but apple, orange, mango, low-sodium chicken stock, or water are all great to use.
- Dijon Mustard: This deepens the flavor of the honey-glazed ham and helps pull the sauce together.
- Ground Spices: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves add richness to the dish and give it a warm and comforting kiss of flavor.
Regular bone-in hams are difficult to cut so spiral hams came about. Spiral hams are bone-in hams that are sliced by a machine or butcher in one long continuous cut, forming beautiful, easy-to-manage slices while keeping the shape of the ham.
Live by the logic that it takes 10-12 minutes per pound to cook a spiral ham at 325°F or until the internal temperature reaches 140°F.
The trick is cooking the ham low and slow, basting it with its own juices every hour, and not overcooking it! Pull the ham from the oven when it reaches 135°F because it will continue to cook and reach temperature while it rests.
How to Cook a Spiral Ham
Spiral hams come precooked so you are just warming them through and adding on flavor before serving.
The best way to cook a spiral ham is low and slow which can be achieved in two ways:
- Slow Cooker: Cooking honey glazed ham in the slow cooker is my preferred method. Place the spiral ham, cut side down, in the slow cooker, pour on the warm honey glaze, and set it on low for 2-3.5 hours (or until it reaches 140°F). Be sure to spoon the juices over the ham every 45 minutes to an hour or so.
- Oven: How long you bake the ham is dependent on its size. Place the ham cut side down, on a roasting pan, pour on half the honey glaze, cover with foil, and bake at 325°F for 10-12 minutes per pound or until the internal temperature reaches 140°F. During the last 20-30 minutes of cooking, remove the foil, pour on the remaining glaze, and return to the oven to achieve the glorious caramelized edges everyone loves.
How to Glaze a Spiral Ham
To glaze the spiral ham, combine the ingredients for the honey glaze in a saucepan and heat until all of the brown sugar is dissolved.
If cooking the ham in the slow cooker, pour all of the glaze on at once.
If baking the ham in the oven, pour half of the honey glaze on at the beginning, then pour on the remainder of the glaze during the last 20-30 minutes of the cooking process.
Side Dishes to Serve with Honey Glazed Ham
Whether serving a honey glazed ham for Mother's Day, Easter, or the holidays, these are my favorite go-to side dishes for spiral ham:
- Roasted Vegetables with Lemon and Parmesan
- Slow Cooker Baked Beans w/ Amaretto & Bacon
- Easy Southern Deviled Eggs
- Strawberry Cucumber Salad
- Easy Crushed Pesto Potatoes
Recipes Using Leftover Holiday Ham
Spiral Ham (Honey Glazed Ham)
Equipment
- 1 Slow Cooker 6, 7, or 8 quarts
Ingredients
How to Cook a Spiral Ham (Honey Glazed Ham)
- 6-10 lb spiral ham
- ⅔ cup honey
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup pineapple juice
- 1 tablespoon prepared whole grain or Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
Instructions
For the Ham Glaze:
- Add all of the ingredients to a saucepan and heat over medium-low heat.
- Continue to cook until brown sugar has completely dissolved. Remove from heat.
How to Cook a Spiral Ham in a Slow Cooker:
- Remove and discard the packaging from the spiral ham, including the small plastic disc on the underside of the bone.
- Place the spiral ham in the slow cooker, cut side down.
- Pour all of the honey glaze over the ham, place on the lid, and cook on low for 2-3.5 hours or until the internal temperature reaches 140°F. Using the large spoon, baste the ham every hour or so with the juices in the bottom of the slow cooker.
- Using two large spoons, carefully remove the ham from the slow cooker and place on a large serving platter. Cover with foil and allow to rest for at least 15 minutes before serving.
How to Cook a Spiral Ham in the Oven:
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Remove and discard the packaging from the spiral ham, including the small plastic disc on the underside of the bone.
- Place the spiral ham in the bottom of a roasting pan, cut side down. Pour half of the glaze over the ham and cover with foil, tenting the foil over the ham so it doesn't touch the surface of the meat.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes per pound, roughly 1 to 1.5 hours, or until the internal temperature of the thicket part of the ham reaches 140°F. Remove the foil and pour the remaining half of the honey glaze on top of the ham in the last 20 minutes of cooking time.
- Remove from the oven, cover with foil and allow to rest for at least 15 minutes before serving.
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