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Learn how to cook a Spiral Ham, including how to make a simple honey glaze. A Honey Glazed Spiral Ham is the perfect centerpiece for your Easter table!

Complete your Easter meal by serving this ham with my favorite Cauliflower Mash, a baked Cauliflower Cheese, these Cheesy Garlic Green Beans, or my favorite Simple Strawberry Spinach Salad.

A plate piled high with honey baked ham.

*Today I’m partnering with Sharp Home USA ~ Sharp creates quality home appliances that make life easier!

Contents

A Mouthwatering Honey Glazed Ham

There is no need to order a Honey Baked Ham for Easter! It truly is simple to do.

A spiral ham is a bone-in pork roast that is smoked, baked, and precut in a spiral shape. These hams are popular for home cooks because all you need to do to prepare it is heat it up and add a glaze.

This sweet and smokey meat is the perfect addition to your holiday table. It’s delicious served with mashed potatoes (or my sneaky Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes!), a baked cauliflower cheese, asparagus, and a Strawberry Spinach Salad.

Ditch the glaze packet the ham comes with. Whisk together a few simple ingredients to make your own – it’s worth the extra step!

What You’ll Need

8-11 pound Spiral Cut Ham (these are usually precooked, but double check the packaging!)
Honey
Dijon Mustard
Rosemary (optional, but adds a lovely flavor!)
Black Pepper

A spiral cut ham shown on a blue broiler pan.

Whisk Up a Honey Ham Glaze

Popular sweeteners for a ham glaze are honey and brown sugar. I prefer honey, because it’s a less processed option. It has a delicious flavor that’s ideal for creating the glossy, chewy exterior of a ham, and also helps seal in moisture during the last bit of cooking!

You need 3 flavors for a good ham glaze:

Sweet: Honey or brown sugar
Tangy/Acidic: Mustard, balsamic vinegar, and apple cider vinegar are good options!
Spicy: You can use cinnamon and nutmeg, For this version, I kept it simple and clean with rosemary and black pepper.

The 4 ingredients needed to make a simple honey ham glaze.

How to Cook a Spiral Ham (without drying it out!)

Step 1: Preheat oven to 250º F. Place the ham in a shallow baking dish or on a broiler pan to catch the juices. Bake the ham for 2-3 hours depending on its weight. The glaze is added during the last 30 minutes!

Step 2: In a small bowl, whisk together honey, dijon mustard, finely chopped rosemary (or crush dried rosemary if that’s what you have on hand!), and black pepper. I warm my honey to make it easier to mix and brush on to the ham.

Step 1 shows baking the ham to reheat it, and step 2 shows making a honey glaze.

Step 3: During the last 30 minutes of baking time, glaze the ham, then return to the oven. I do this 3 times with about 10 minutes of baking time. The ham needs to come to 135º F internally. The honey glaze not only gives the ham a beautiful glossy appearance and a sweet bite around the edges, it seals in the juices as the ham warms up, keeping it from getting dry. Using a meat thermometer to make sure you don’t heat the ham over 135º F also ensures it stays juicy.

Step 4: Pull the ham out of the oven, and wrap it in a piece of foil. Allow it to rest for 15 minutes. This settles the juices so they stay in the meat and keep it moist.

Step 3 shows glazing the ham, and step 4 shows letting the ham rest to settle the juices.

I baked my ham in my Sharp European Convection Oven. It’s the perfect oven for all holidays! It has a roomy interior, with smart features, like the built-in temperature probe.

After my ham has cooked a couple of hours, I set the internal temperature probe to 135º F, and the oven will alert me (and turn off!) when the ham is done. This is super helpful on busy holidays when I have multiple other dishes I am preparing.

Hop on over to the Sharp Home USA website to see if their state-of-the-art appliances are the perfect fit for your dream kitchen!

How Long to Cook a Spiral Ham

Spiral cut hams are precooked, so they only need to be heated throughly. It’s best to cook them at a low temperature to ensure even heating, without overcooking the outside and drying out the ham.

Cook your spiral ham in a shallow baking dish or on a broiler pan to catch the juices (and turn them into gravy!)

It will take about 14 minutes per pound to cook a ham. This means:

8 Pounds: ~ 1 hour 52 minutes
9 Pounds: ~ 2 hours 6 minutes
10 Pounds: ~ 2 hours 20 minutes
11 Pounds: ~ 2 hours 34 minutes
12 Pounds: ~ 2 hours 48 minutes

Cook the ham to an internal temperature of 140º F. To reach this temperature, bake the ham until it reaches 135º F, and it will come to temperature while it’s resting.

The Sharp European Convection Oven has a built-in temperature probe, perfect for roasting meats. You can also use a handheld meat thermometer.

A ham baking in a Sharp European Convection Oven.

How to Cut a Spiral Ham

The ham will come with evenly cut pieces in a spiral around the bone. After the ham is baked, and it has rested for at least 15 minutes, it’s ready to slice.

Use a carving knife, and place it against the bone, shaving off slices down and around the bone. I typically cut 4 sections off the bone for large, thin slices of meat.

Any meat that is left on the bone can later be boiled off to make a delicious soup stock!

How to Serve Ham

Build a delicious Easter or holiday meal around this honey baked ham!

Storing and Reheating Leftovers

Storing Leftovers: Wrap leftover sliced ham in an air tight container or resealable bags. Because ham is cured (salt & sugar are preservatives!), it can be refrigerated up to a week.

Freeze Leftovers: If you can’t get to all the leftovers in a week, wrap leftover ham in an air tight container, and freeze up to 3 months. Allow to thaw before reheating.

To Reheat: Place ham in a shallow baking dish with a lid, or cover with foil. Preheat oven to 250º F, and reheat for about 30 minutes. Ham can also be reheated in a frying pan if cooking smaller portions.

A plate with ham, mashed cauliflower and brussels sprouts.

What to do with Ham Leftovers

Use it in a Ham Casserole, like this Low Carb Broccoli Casserole (in place of the Canadian Bacon).
As a pizza topper: Try it with pineapple on top of a sweet potato pizza crust.
Try these Teriyaki Chicken Burgers with a slice of ham, or skewer it up with chicken and vegetables on these Teriyaki Hawaiian Chicken Skewers.
Make some Pizza Stuffed Chicken Breasts.
Try a Ham Soup recipe – which allows you to use the bone to flavor the soup stock!

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