The Easy Ham Glaze Recipe You'll Use Year-Round (2024)

Don't spend extra money on a glazed ham. Make your own with a store-bought ham and this easy ham glaze recipe.

When it comes to holiday celebrations, it’s hard to beat a brown sugar glazed ham. Hams are big enough to feed the whole family, and still have leftovers. And since it’s already cooked, all you need to do is gently reheat it in the oven.

If you’re looking for a picture-perfect centerpiece, you’ll want to a ham glaze recipe to steal the show. The glaze not only flavors the ham with brown sugar, savory mustard and tangy vinegar, but the sugars also caramelize, giving your ham a lightly crispy edge and an appealing finish.

Once you know how easy it is to make a brown sugar glaze with ingredients you have on hand, you’ll never buy an expensive glazed ham again!

Also, try our top ratedEaster ham recipesfor all of your holiday gatherings.

When to use this ham glaze

The glaze goes on for the final 15 to 30 minutes of cook time, so you definitely don’t want to glaze the ham in advance. It’s best to wait until the ham is heated to an internal temperature of 130°F before hitting it with this easy ham glaze. That way, the sugars will caramelize instead of burn.

Check here- how to cook a frozen ham to make it tender, juicy and flavorful.

Key Ingredients in a Ham Glaze

With so few ingredients, you know they’ll all be working extra hard to flavor and tenderize your ham.

  • Brown Sugar: You can’t have a brown sugar glaze without the ingredient that gives it its name! Unlike white sugar, brown sugar has molasses in it, creating a distinctly caramelizing quality and an ever-so-light smoky hint.
  • Dijon Mustard: To balance the sweetness coming from the brown sugar, Dijon mustard offers a spicier, less acidic flavor than regular yellow mustard. Less acidity is exactly what we’re looking for since that will be added through the vinegar.
  • Apple Cider Vinegar: Apple cider vinegar is a powerhouse ingredient to keep in your pantry. While it has many uses, the most basic is its ability to tenderize meat. Because of the apple base, it will add sweeter flavor to your ham than regular white vinegar would.

How to Make a Ham Glaze

This recipe yields about 14 servings.

Ingredients

  • 1 fully cooked bone-in ham (5 to 7 pounds)
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Editor’s Tip: We always opt for bone-in ham so we can use the bone to make split pea and ham soup.

Directions

Step 1: Prepare the ham

To cook the ham, preheat the oven to 325° and grab a shallow roasting pan or a large casserole dish. (Be sure to choose the best ham.) Place the ham on a rack and score the surface of the ham with 1/4-inch deep cuts in a diamond pattern. This opens up the outer layer of the ham, allowing the glaze to soak into the meat. For a traditional look, insert whole cloves into each diamond point of the ham.

Cover the ham with a piece of foil and bake for 1-1/2 to 2 hours, until a thermometer reaches 130°.

Editor’s Tip: If you don’t have a rack for your roasting pan, you can use an oven-safe cooling rack. Better yet, elevate the ham by lining the bottom of the pan with onions, carrots or potatoes. The vegetables will taste great as they cook in the ham drippings!

Step 2: Ready the glaze

While the ham is baking, combine the brown sugar and mustard in a small bowl. Add enough vinegar to create a thick paste. You may not need all the vinegar.

Step 3: Glaze away

The Easy Ham Glaze Recipe You'll Use Year-Round (1)TMB studio

Remove the ham from the oven and discard the piece of foil. Spread the glaze over the ham using a high-heat resistant spatula. The glaze will be thick, but the heat of the ham will help you spread it evenly. Bake the ham, uncovered, for an additional 15 to 30 minutes, until it reaches an internal temperature of 140°.

Tips for Making Ham Glaze

The Easy Ham Glaze Recipe You'll Use Year-Round (2)TMB studio

How can you make this ham glaze recipe your own?

Our brown sugar glaze recipe is very basic, but it has incredible flavor. Feel free to have some fun with it! You can remove the vinegar and replace it with orange or pineapple juice, or you can increase the mustard to 2 tablespoons and add 1/4 cup of honey to make a honey mustard glaze.

Is glazing a ham necessary?

It isn’t necessary to glaze a ham. However, it does enhance the flavor of the ham and elevates the ham with a beautiful glazed look worthy of its place as the center of your holiday feast.

Do you put ham glaze on before or after cooking?

This glaze should be applied to your ham about fifteen minutes before the ham is finished cooking. Applying the glaze when the ham is almost done helps keep it thoroughly coated upon serving and prevents the glaze from drying out from over-cooking.

What else can you glaze?

Don’t feel like you have to use this ham glaze recipe just for special occasions. Brush it on ham steaks before cooking them, or use it to glaze other quick-cooking meats like salmon. You can also use it to glaze vegetables. After cooking the veggies, toss them in the glaze with a little melted butter.

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The Easy Ham Glaze Recipe You'll Use Year-Round (2024)

FAQs

How do you get glaze to stick to ham? ›

After the ham has cooked for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, brush the surface with some of the glaze. Then pop it back into the oven, uncovered, for another 20 minutes or so. Pull it out and brush on more glaze, then pop it back in the oven. Then pull it out and brush on more glaze!

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.

When should I put my glaze on my ham? ›

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 honeybaked ham glaze made of? ›

Heat the honey, corn syrup, and butter in a double boiler to make the glaze. Brush the glaze over the ham and bake in a foil-lined pan for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, brushing every 15 minutes or so with the glaze. Broil the ham for a few minutes before removing it from the oven.

How do you get glaze to stick to meat? ›

Apply it at the very end of cooking process, as prolonged cooking can cause the high sugar content to burn and become bitter. When grilling or broiling, brush the glaze with a pastry brush, or when cooking in a pan, pour the glaze in, allow it to simmer and reduce until it becomes sticky in the pan.

Why is my glaze not sticking? ›

Condensation on your frozen cakes and pastries will prevent your chocolate mirror glaze from adhering to the surface, causing it to slide off. To avoid this, only take a few cakes or pieces of pastry out of the freezer at a time and glaze them immediately. Then move on to the next batch.

What are the three basic ingredients in a glaze What does each ingredient do? ›

Glazes need a balance of the 3 main ingredients: Silica, Alumina and Flux. Too much flux causes a glaze to run, and tends to create variable texture on the surface. The texture may vary from shiny, where the glass is balanced, to matte where the excessive flux oxides may form visible, possibly lumpy, crystals.

Should I use the ham glaze packet? ›

While the included honey glaze packets are meant to save time, making a homemade glaze is simple and worth the extra time for a better, fresher flavor. Making a homemade glaze also gives you the freedom to create different flavors and unique ingredient combinations to elevate your pre-cooked ham.

What are the three materials glaze is made up of? ›

A BASE GLAZE is a mixture of these three basic groups: SILICA, FLUX AND ALUMINA.

Do you glaze a ham covered or uncovered? ›

Cover with foil. Bake 2 to 2½ hours or until browned and heated through (140°F). For the last 45 minutes of cooking, uncover and spoon glaze over ham (if you're using a glaze).

Can I glaze a precooked ham? ›

Because most hams sold at grocery stores are smoked and fully cooked, they only require heating before eating. However, glazing a ham adds that special final touch if you want to wow your crowd with extra flavor and texture.

Can you overcook a glazed ham? ›

Can you overcook a glazed ham? Yes, you can. Overcooked ham can become dry. Cook the ham for 1 hour at 200ºC or until warmed through, basting it every 15 minutes.

Why not heat honey baked ham? ›

HoneyBaked Ham® and Turkey Breasts are best served directly from the refrigerator – simply thaw and they're ready for the table. If you prefer your meat warmed, gently heat on low heat, only by the slice, not heating the entire ham or turkey breast. Heating may cause the meat to dry out and lose flavor.

Is HoneyBaked ham the same as heavenly ham? ›

Heavenly Ham is now HoneyBaked Ham and Cafe.

Why does honey baked ham taste so good? ›

First, our Honey Baked Ham products start with a rigorous selection process, then the meat is smoked for up to 24 hours with our special blend of hardwood chips. The result is that every rich and flavorful bite, and every slice, is fall-apart-in-your-mouth perfect. There's something about that sweet, crunchy glaze.

Do you put glaze on ham before or after cooking? ›

Temperatures of around 325 F to 350 F are perfect. Because the temperature is so low, we can simply apply the glaze to the ham about 30 to 60 minutes before the ham is finished cooking.

Do you leave ham uncovered after glaze? ›

Brush ham all over with ⅓ Glaze (Glaze will have thickened so return to heat to loosen, about 30 seconds). Leave ham uncovered to caramelize surface and bake until the ham reaches an internal temperature of around 140 degrees F, approximately 20-30 minutes, spooning juices over ham every 10 minutes.

Do you cover ham when baking with a glaze? ›

If you don't cover your ham while cooking it will quickly dry out. Instead: Put some aluminum foil over your ham while it's cooking. It is recommended that the ham is covered for at least half of the cooking process and only removed during the last half when you glaze it.

Why is my ham glaze not thickening? ›

If you allow your glaze to cool off too much, you'll have a much harder time getting your thickening agents fully incorporated. When thickening glazes after the fact, low, steady heat is the key to achieving a smooth, consistent texture and unobtrusive flavor.

References

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