What makes Honey Baked Ham better?

After curing, our hams spend up to 24 hours smoking—at least twice as long as the industry standard—over a select blend of hardwood chips. The long smoking process gives Honey Baked Ham its rich, smoky flavor our customers love.

Do you cover Honey Baked Ham when cooking?

Caramelize: leave ham uncovered and bake for 10- 20 minutes, until it reaches 130 degrees F, spooning juices over ham after 10 minutes. This gives the ham deeper caramelized flavor through and through before we add the sugar crust.

Do you put the glaze on a ham before you cook it or after you cook it?

The glaze should not be applied until the final hour to 30 minutes , in order to avoid burning the sugars. What you're going to do with the glaze ingredients is just combine most of them into a paste, and then apply it to the ham. After that, the heat in your oven will take care of everything.

What is honey glaze made of?

Making it is as simple as bringing just three ingredients to a simmer—honey, light brown sugar, and butter. The combination of honey and brown sugar provide a deep sweetness, while butter mellows and thickens the glaze for a sweet topping.

How do you keep Honey Baked Ham moist?

First, before placing the ham in the oven, wrap the top of the pan with aluminum foil . This helps to retain the moisture that you added as well because the juices won't escape while baking, keeping the area where your ham is cooking moist.

How much does an 8 lb Honey Baked Ham serve?

A: The 7.5 to 8.5 Lb. Ham serves 12 to 14 for dinner servings.

Which is better bone-in or boneless Honey Baked Ham?

Bone-in ham has more flavor and is much more juicy than boneless. Generally, both bone-in ham and boneless hams are sold fully cooked. Just take a look at the package and make sure it says fully cooked or ready to serve.

What temperature do you bake a Honey Baked Ham?

Wrap the foil completely around the ham, adding additional foil if necessary to cover. Bake at 275 degrees F for 2.5-3 hours, until an internal temperature of 140 degrees F is reached (3 hours total is about right for a 10lb ham, you may need more or less according to the size of your ham.)

Can you eat Honey Baked Ham without cooking?

The answer, in short, is if it is cured, smoked or baked, ham is considered “pre-cooked,” and would not technically need to be cooked . This includes the ham that is purchased at the deli.

Do I cook Honey Baked Ham with the foil it comes with?

Keep the Honey Baked Ham in its original foil wrapper or remove the wrapper and wrap with your own foil to keep it from drying out . Maintain the oven temperature at about 275°F to 300°F. A general time guide is to heat for 10 minutes for every pound of ham.

What is the white stuff on honey ham?

Some cuts expose a few white spots with a limestone-like consistency, which are the result of prolonged curing. These show that the ham is of the highest quality. Technically they are crystals of an amino acid called tyrosine .

What is in the glaze packet that comes with ham?

Because most hams come with a glaze packet that typically contains added sugars and preservatives , all you have to do is add water and let it cook until thickened (per MyRecipes). However, sometimes the easy route does not yield the most delicious results.

What is brown sugar glaze made of?

directions. Combine 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, 1/2 teaspoons dry or prepared mustard, 1/8 tsp cinnamon and 3 tablespoons dry sherry (optional), 3 tablespoons vinegar and 3 tablespoons water.

What is glazed ham made of?

The glaze I went for is a combination of butter, brown sugar, honey, Dijon mustard (adding a nice tang to the ham) and crushed garlic cloves . From here you can add in spices like the traditional ground cinnamon and ground cloves, or leave them out.

5-Ingredient Baked Honey Ham Recipe (2024)

No need to spend a lot of money or time on your favorite holiday ham; this year, make your own version with this 5-Ingredient Baked Honey Ham Recipe. It’s ridiculously easy and always a hit.

Video: Watch Us Make This Recipe
Why This Honey Baked Ham Stands Out
Key Recipe Ingredients
Substitutions and Variations
Step-By-Step Recipe Instructions
Pro Tips for success
What to Serve With Honey Baked Ham
Commonly Asked Questions
Did you make this?
5-Ingredient Honey Baked Ham Recipe Recipe
More to Cook and Eat

Video: Watch Us Make This Recipe

Why This Honey Baked Ham Stands Out

So Easy: Not only is this honey baked ham unbelievably easy to make, it’s restaurant-quality ham for a fraction of the price.
All the Occasions: Perfect for Christmas, Easter, or anytime your family craves a simple yet amazing ham.
Affordable: This Honey Baked Ham tastes like you’ve spent much more time on it than you really did; expect requests for the recipe.
Family and Friends: This is the easy honey ham recipe you’ll return to over an over again because your family will request it on repeat. We love it paired with this Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes or this Garlic-Butter Roasted Potatoes!

Key Recipe Ingredients

You’ll need just 5 simple ingredients for the best ham recipe:

Brown Sugar provides a warm molasses sweetness to the sauce. Be sure to pack it down tight when measuring.
Whole Grain Mustard, sometimes known as country style mustard, is key to the delectable honey mustard sauce. It’s not your average yellow mustard.
Honey works together with the brown sugar to bring a tantalizing sweetness to the salty ham. This honey is my favorite, as it’s raw, unfiltered, organic, and affordable.
Apple Cider or Juice brings a sweet acidity to the basting sauce. Be sure you’re getting sweet cider and not cider vinegar.
Spiral-Sliced Ham is easies to use, as it will already be pre-sliced. However, you can use a regular ham and slice it thinly yourself.
Tip: Here’s a tidbit about coarse ground or country style mustard, with visible mustard seeds within. It makes a notable difference in flavor. We use it for this Honey Mustard Chicken with Curry, which tastes amazing.

Substitutions and Variations

Mustard: We highly recommend using the whole grain mustard with whole seeds, as it has the best depth of flavor, but you can also use dijon mustard or honey mustard, if you prefer.
Ham: We’ve found spiral-sliced, bone-in ham to work really well. However, you also use boneless ham and slice it thinly yourself. Similarly, you can use a regular bone-in ham and slice it thinly prior to using in the recipe.
Brown Sugar: You can use either light brown or dark brown sugar. Dark brown sugar will give a deeper, darker flavor and color.
Cider/Juice: Our recipe calls for apple cider, which has more depth of flavor and sweetness than regular apple juice. However, you can use 100% apple juice if you can’t find apple cider. Please note: do not use apple cider vinegar, which is completely different from apple cider.
Corn Starch: This honey baked ham sauce is more like an au jus, rather than a gravy, and will be thinner and juicier in texture. If you’d like your sauce thicker, make a cornstarch slurry with fully dissolved cornstarch and water. See recipe card for details.

Step-By-Step Recipe Instructions

Make Sauce: Mix together apple cider, brown sugar, mustard, and honey in a bowl. Mix well to fully incorporate basting sauce.
Bake:Place ham in a 13×9 or similar-sized baking dish. Coat ham with a generous amount of sauce. Bake for 60-70 minutes, basting thoroughly every 15 minutes.

For full list of ingredients and instructions, please see recipe card below.

Pro Tips for success

Ham: Be sure to get the spiral sliced ham if you want ease of slicing; plus, the juices really sink in with the pre-sliced ham cooking in the oven.
Sauce: Basting sauce can be made several days ahead of time and reheated when ready to use.
Baste: Don’t skimp on the basting sessions – baste ham every 15 minutes during baking, for juicy results.
Serving: To serve the ham slices in a dish, simply arrange the slices in your choice of serving dish and brush the sauce in between slices and on top. This ensures that every slice will be juicy and flavorful!
Make Ahead: Do the “serving” step above, cover, and keep warm until ready to serve. Always serve with extra sauce.

What to Serve With Honey Baked Ham

Potatoes

Smashed Potatoes (Extra Crispy!) – super fun to make and extra crispy, even better than tater tots!
Garlic Herb Roasted Potatoes – garlicky potatoes that pair with any meal.
Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes (5 Ingredients) – comes together super quick, and turns out creamy-delicious every time.

Grains

Wild Rice Pilaf – the flavors are incredible, as are the textures and colors.
Gluten-Free Wild Rice Stuffing – festive and delicious, a perfect pairing with ham.
Quinoa Sweet Potato Salad – nutritious and delicious, yet easy to prepare.

Breads

French Bread Recipe – this simple recipe makes 2 gorgeous loaves.
Easy Sourdough Bread – rather than slicing it for sandwiches, cut it up into squares.
How to Make Homemade Dinner Rolls – these take only about an hour!
Parmesan Garlic Pull-Apart Bread Rolls – simple, delicious, and irresistible.

Vegetables

Easy Roasted Vegetables Recipe – so easy and hugely flavorful.
Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Butternut Squash – beautifully festive!
Kale Brussel Sprouts Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing – pairs well with all your holiday meals.
Best Broccoli Apple Salad – stays crispy for hours.

Commonly Asked Questions

Can I use an unsliced ham instead of a spiral-sliced ham?

For ease of slicing and basting, we do recommend using a spiral-sliced ham. However, you can also thinly slice your own ham prior to cooking.

How long do you bake ham for?

For a 4-5 pound ham, bake at 350F for 60-70 minutes or until edges are nicely browned.

Did you make this?

Please give us a rating and comment below. We love hearing from you!

5-Ingredient Honey Baked Ham Recipe

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This homemade Honey Baked Ham has the most delicious honey mustard sauce. The sauce is more of a saucy au jus, rather than a gravy. See notes if you want a thick sauce. Spoon plenty of it over the slices of ham, and watch it disappear!

Prep Time: 10 minutes mins

Cook Time: 1 hour hr

Servings: 20

Author: Amy Dong

Ingredients

4-5 lbs ham, spiral-sliced, fully cooked
1 cup apple cider, the sweet juice – not vinegar
¼ cup brown sugar, firmly packed
¼ cup whole grain mustard, prepared mustard jar with whole mustard seeds
¼ cup honey

Instructions

Heat oven to 350F with rack on lower position.
Mix together apple cider, brown sugar, mustard, and honey in a bowl. Mix well to fully incorporate basting sauce.
Place ham in a 13×9 baking dish. Coat ham with a generous amount of sauce. Bake for 60-70 minutes, basting thoroughly every 15 minutes.
To serve pre-cut slices of ham, arrange slices neatly on a serving dish and brush more sauce all over ham slices. Serve with leftover sauce (see note).
If serving ham whole, be sure to have sauce available for drizzling. The sauce is what makes this ham so great!

Equipment

Basting Brush
Baking Dish, Oven Proof

Notes

We like bone-in, spiral sliced ham best. You can also slice ham yourself and arrange it neatly on a baking dish and proceed with the recipe.
Honey mustard sauce is more of a saucyau jus consistency, rather than a thicker gravy texture.
For thicker sauce: place sauce in a saucepan and bring to a low boil. In a small bowl, stir and dissolve 1 TB cornstarch in 2 TB cool water to make a cornstarch slurry. Stir in slurry a little at a time to the boiling sauce, adding only as much as needed until sauce is thickened to your liking.
This ham is amazing with Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes or Garlic-Butter Potatoes!
If you enjoyed this recipe, please come back and give it a rating. We ❤️ hearing from you!

Click here to add your own private notes.

Nutrition (per serving)

Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free, Low Lactose

Method: Bake

More to Cook and Eat

Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes Recipe – this comforting potato dish is absolutely scrumptious.
Wild Rice Pilaf – this is hands-down our favorite rice pilaf ever. Tender, hearty, nutritious, and delicious!
Ham Potato Vegetable Soup – Here’s what we do with leftover ham. It’s always a hit!
How to Make Sliders (Ham and Cheese Sliders Recipe) – a favorite party appetizer or finger food, for all the game days and fun gatherings.