Have you had honey baked ham before? To be honest I just tried it for the first time this year, and realized I have been missing out!
I can’t believe I waited so long to try this classic holiday dish, but I can tell you for sure I will be making it again and again.
I love the salty, smoky flavor and the crunchy sweet exterior. Preparing and putting it in the oven is a breeze, the hard work is trying to keep yourself from sampling too much as the delicious smells fill your home. I first tried this at my friend Irina’s house and decided to make it for our community group Christmas party this week. It was a hit! Just make sure that you have enough for leftovers, because it’s even more delicious the next day. Whether it’s on a melted swiss sandwich or in a creamy ham and corn chowder, you’ll be glad you saved some.
Follow this quick tutorial for the honey baked ham with special homemade glaze, you won’t regret it!
Ingredients For Honey Baked Ham With Homemade Glaze:
For the ham:
1 large 8-12lb ham (pre-cooked & spiral sliced)
1/3-1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups water
For the glaze:
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
Directions For Honey Baked Ham With Homemade Glaze:
Preheat your oven to 275°. Or, if you prefer, you can heat the ham in a crockpot on low for three hours.
Remove ham from packaging and score the top portion with a sharp knife. Cut about 1/2 of an inch into the meat and criss cross to make a diamond shape.
Rub the brown sugar over the top and sides. The amount of sugar you use depends on the size of the ham.
Pour 2 cups of water (or enough to cover the bottom) into a large baking dish and set the ham flat side down.
Cover with foil and bake for 2-3 hours until hot all throughout. If you’d like, the temperature can be bumped up to speed up the process.
While the ham is baking, prepare the honey glaze.
This ham came with a pre-made glaze but I didn’t use it because does not even come close to tasting as good as this simple homemade one. (The main ingredients in the pre-made package are high fructose corn syrup and canola oil…but no honey!)
To prepare the glaze combine brown sugar, honey, and soy sauce in a small pot over medium-low heat and stir occasionally until brown sugar is dissolved and glaze is hot. The soy sauce adds a salty umami element to the glaze, don’t skip it!
When the ham is thoroughly heated, uncover it and pour the glaze over the top. Finish by broiling for about five minutes (until the top crisps up). Make sure you watch it closely because the sugar in the glaze can cause it to burn very quickly. This creates the most irresistible crunchy, caramelized pieces of ham!
Carve and serve with your favorite side dish like these roasted garlic mashed potatoes and pomegranate goat cheese green salad!
xoxo,
Yuli
Ingredients
For the ham:
- 1 large 8-12lb ham (pre-cooked & spiral sliced)
- 1/3-1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 cups water
For the glaze:
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
Instructions
For the ham:
- Preheat oven to 275°
- Remove ham from packaging and score the top portion with a sharp knife
- Rub 1/3-1/2 cup of brown sugar over the top and sides
- Pour 2 cups of water (or enough to cover the bottom) into a large baking dish
- Set the ham flat side down into the dish and cover with foil
- Bake for 2-3 hours until hot all throughout
- Uncover ham, pour the glaze over the top and broil for about 5 minutes (until the top crisps up)
- Carve and serve!
For the glaze:
- Combine brown sugar, honey, and soy sauce in a small pot over medium low heat and stir occasionally until brown sugar is dissolved and glaze is heated.
I usually make my holiday ham in the crockpot to free up my oven for my side dishes. With the turkey frying it’s a lot easier to have everything ready at the same time. Your instructions said to heat the ham for 3 hours before adding the glaze. But you didn’t give any other instructions for the crockpot. I’m sure I could guesstimate but I’d like to use your recipe this year and wondered how you did yours in the crockpot. Thanks for the great recipes!!
Hi Patty,
You can certainly make this in the crockpot as well. Follow the directions as if you would bake it in the oven and cook in the crockpot on low for 3-4 hours, just until ham is warmed through. You don’t want to cook it for longer because it will dry out the ham. Then finish it up in the broiler with the special glaze for approximately 5 minutes or until golden brown on top. Enjoy and thanks for the comment!