Impress your friends and family with this delicious homemade Honey Baked Ham recipe! It's perfect for holiday dinners, like Easter, Thanksgiving or Christmas, or special occasions throughout the year. It's roasted with a sweet honey glaze, then finished with a caramelized brown sugar crust on the outside. This ham is juicy, sweet, flavorful, and surprisingly easy to make at home!
Line the bottom of a roasting pan with a large piece of aluminum foil (for easy clean-up).
Place the ham, flat side down, on a rack in the roasting pan and pour 2 cups of pineapple juice (or water) in the bottom of the pan.
Combine the melted butter, honey and dijon mustard in a bowl, then massage it all over the ham, getting in between the slices.
Cover the ham loosely with foil and bake for 12-15 minutes per pound of ham. For a 10 pound ham, you'll need to cook the ham for at least 2 hours.
While the ham is cooking, combine the brown sugar, salt, garlic powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, paprika and allspice in a bowl.
After the cooking time on the ham is finished, remove the ham from the oven.
Turn the oven from bake to broil on low. Move one rack in the oven to the lowest position. Remove the other racks, so that you can place the ham back in the oven on the lowest possible rack.
Tilt one corner of the roasting pan up, so that the liquid flows to the other corner. Reach a tablespoon or small measuring cup in the roasting pan and remove ¼ cup of the liquid from the bottom of the roasting pan. Place this liquid in a small saucepan, along with half of the brown sugar spice mixture.
Cover the tops and sides of the ham with the remaining half of the brown sugar mixture.
Place the ham back in the oven on the lowest oven rack to broil for 2-3 minutes, or until the sugar starts to caramelize over the ham, but does not burn. Watch the ham in the oven during this time. Do not walk away! Remove the ham from the oven when it’s light brown and bubbling on the outside.
Place the saucepan with the drippings and brown sugar mixture on the stove over high heat. Stir and bring the mixture to a boil. After the mixture boils, let it simmer for 1 minute, then remove it from the heat.
Brush this mixture over the ham, then place the ham back in the oven on the lowest rack, under the broiler for 2-3 minutes. Once again, watch the ham during this time to make sure that the glaze caramelizes on the ham without burning.
Remove the ham from the oven and let it rest for 15-20 minutes at room temperature before serving.
See the notes section below for how to slice the ham.
Notes
This recipe will work for any size ham, but using the measurements in this recipe, you’ll want a ham that’s 8-12 pounds. If your ham is smaller, around 4-6 pounds, you’ll want to cut the ingredients in half for the glaze. I recommend preparing ½ pound of meat per person for a meal.
To slice the ham:
Place a carving fork in the back of the ham. Slice around the bone in the middle of the ham with a pairing knife. Cut as close to the bone as possible, so you don’t leave any ham behind. The slices will naturally start to fall off the ham. Place the slices of ham on a serving platter.
With the remaining unsliced portion of the ham, once again, place a carving fork in the back side of the ham, about 1/2 inch from the back end. Use a large chefs knife to slice the remaining ham however thick or thin you’d like the slices. If the slices are still stuck on the bone, use the pairing knife to remove the slices from the bone.
You can make this recipe ahead of time. If you’d like to keep the sliced ham warm before serving, place it in a slow cooker on warm with 2-3 tablespoons of liquid from the roasting pan. This will keep it moist, tender and hot, until you’re ready to serve the ham.
If using a frozen ham to make this recipe, move it from the freezer to the refrigerator 3 days before making this recipe. This will allow it to thaw completely.
If you don’t have a roasting pan, place the ham on top of a wire rack inside of a rimmed baking sheet, or baking dish.
This recipe is naturally gluten free.
Store leftover ham in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 6 days. You can reheat the ham, or eat it cold. To reheat leftover honey baked ham slices in the oven, wrap them in foil and reheat them at 350°F for 10-15 minutes, or until warm.