How to Cook a Ham

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Everything you need to know about how to cook a ham for your holiday dinner. Start with a spiral ham and make a brown sugar glaze for a deliciously flavorful tender & juicy ham.

Don’t you just LOVE a comforting country ham dinner? Here we’re sharing a complete guide on how to cook a ham with a sweet glaze. Honey baked ham and fancy cranberry ham are delicious holiday hams, but this guide is everything you need to know about how to prepare a ham with a simple honey glaze.

a pastry brush brushing honey glaze over a sliced ham

Cooking Ham: What’s the Best Way?

What’s the best way to cook a ham? For the first 10 years of our married life I cooked everything in the slow cooker. Roast, pork chops, stew…yes, you guessed it. I even pulled out the slow cooker for ham. Since perfecting my cooking skills over the past 15 years, I’ve learned how to cook a dutch oven roast, grill a perfect garlic butter steak and pan-fry pork chops.

Learning how to cook a ham is no different. Slow-cooker ham is delicious and easy, but for a special occasion like a holiday meal an oven baked ham is the way to go. After all, it will look gorgeous on your Christmas dinner table. 

Prepping for Easter? Check out our Easter dinner menu.

How to Choose a Ham

There are three types of ham you’ll generally find in a grocery store: spiral cut ham, bone-in ham, boneless hams. Bone-in hams that are unsliced allow you to cut slices to your own desired thickness. Boneless hams obviously have the bone removed, then during the curing process the ham is pressed back together to get a uniform shape. Sometimes boneless ham will have a slightly different texture than traditional spiral-cut ham.

The best option for a holiday ham is bone-in spiral sliced ham. They are super easy because it comes perfectly sliced in sizes ideal for sandwiches or serving. Spiral sliced hams often come with a packet of glaze, but you can make your own glaze. Today I’ll be teaching you how to make the best glaze for ham.

SHANK END VS BUTT-END

The shank end of the ham is the lower part of the leg while the butt-end is the higher part. The shank end is the funnel-shaped piece of ham that is lean and makes a beautiful presentation. You are most likely familiar with the shank end for an Easter ham dinner. That is the cut featured in this post.

The butt-end cut is rounder and has a t-shaped bone in it. It is a fattier meat which means it is flavorful and rich.

Ingredients for Oven Baked Ham

ingredients for honey glazed spiral cut ham on a table
  • Spiral-sliced ham
  • Orange juice and ginger ale. These add flavor and sweetness, plus they tenderize the ham.
  • Maple syrup, honey and brown sugar. All three work together to add a caramelized crust to the baked ham.
  • Dijon mustard and black pepper. Two ingredients that give this ham glaze recipe a kick of spice and richness of flavor.

✨ See the recipe card for the full recipe and ingredients. ✨

How to Prepare a Ham

Learning how to cook a ham is easier than you may think. Follow these 4 steps:

  • Prepare. Place the ham in a shallow roasting pan (or 9×13″ pan). Pour a cup of ginger ale and a cup of orange juice overtop the ham. 
a ham in a roasting pan with orange juice and ginger ale
  1. Initial bake. Cover either the ham itself or the pan with aluminum foil. Bake for 20 minutes at 350ºF.
  2. Make the glaze. While the ham is baking, combine the syrup, honey, sugar, mustard and pepper in a small bowl to make the simple glaze. Mix well.
easy ham glaze in a white bowl with a pastry brush
  1. Baste and bake. Baste the surface of the ham with juices and brush with ham glaze. Bake again for 20 minutes. Continue baking the ham, basting the outside of the ham with the honey glaze every 15 minutes. Cook until the internal temperature of the ham reaches 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
a brush brushing sweet glaze over a sliced ham

How Long to Cook a Ham

It will take about 10-15 minutes per pound to heat the spiral sliced ham to 140ºF. In a 350ºF oven, plan for it to take about 1 ½ to 2 hours for a 10 pound ham.

a fork pulling back slices of a honey glazed ham

**We LOVE our Thermoworks instant-read thermometer to quickly test burger temperatures. This digital meat thermometer is AMAZING.  Get it here.**

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Make it a meal.

What goes with this easy baked ham? Try a few of these side dishes:

a pastry brush brushing honey glaze over a sliced ham
a pastry brush brushing honey glaze over a sliced ham

How to Cook a Ham

4.69 from 173 votes
Everything you need to know about how to cook a ham for your holiday dinner. Start with a spiralized ham and make a homemade honey ham glaze for a deliciously flavorful tender & juicy ham.
Servings 30
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours
Total Time 3 hours 10 minutes

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Ingredients
 

  • 10 pound fully cooked spiral sliced bone-in ham (weight is approximate)
  • 1 cup orange juice
  • 1 cup ginger ale

Ham Glaze

  • 1/2 cup maple syrup
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions
 

  • To prepare: Remove the ham from the refrigerator 1 hour before cooking. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
  • Place the ham sliced side up in a large roasting pan. Pour the orange juice and ginger ale overtop the ham.
  • Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes.
  • In a small bowl, combine the syrup, honey, sugar, mustard and pepper to make the simple glaze. Mix well.
  • Baste the surface of the ham with juices and brush with ham glaze. Bake again for 20 minutes. Continue baking the ham, basting the outside of the ham with the honey glaze every 15 minutes until the internal temperature of the ham reaches 140 degrees Fahrenheit. The cook time is about 10-15 minutes per pound of fully cooked ham. Plan for about 90-120 minutes of cooking for a ham, depending on the size of ham you have.
  • Remove the ham from the oven and allow it to rest covered for 10-15 minutes. Baste with the remaining glaze right before serving.

Video

Notes

If you’d like you can add ¼ teaspoon of ground cloves (1 teaspoon whole cloves) or ginger. I’ve done this occasionally to give the ham a “Christmas” flavor, but most of the time I leave out those two spices.

Nutrition

Calories: 420kcal | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 33g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 12g | Cholesterol: 94mg | Sodium: 1808mg | Potassium: 471mg | Fiber: 0.1g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 17IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 22mg | Iron: 1mg
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Calories 420
Keyword christmas dinner, easter dinner, ham dinner

How to Use the Ham Bone

Once you’re done serving the ham, you can use the leftover bone to make one of these two delicious soups.

Leftover Ham Recipes

Try one of our popular leftover ham recipes:

About JulieJulie Clark

About Julie Clark

I'm Julie Clark, CEO and recipe developer of Tastes of Lizzy T. With my B.A. in Education and over 30 years of cooking and baking, I want to teach YOU the best of our family recipes.

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Heidi
4 years ago

5 stars
Well it turned out amazing!! My family is big bbq sauce buffs so I added Heniz Hawaii bbq sauce the last 5 mins… that’s why the glaze looks a wee bit different. Thank you so much for your help today!!!!

Heidi
4 years ago

5 stars
Ok I’m excited and nervous, first time “cooking” ham. I have chosen the crock pot, I figure if I screw up I have a better chance saving it in there then the oven (under the foil). I wish you had a few more details on how to do it in the crockpot, I think I have a pretty good idea. I’ll post tonight and let you know if Mr. Porky made it through or if I really butchered him. (Ha ha).

Anonymous
3 years ago

5 stars
I use cloves and baste with ginger ale….delicious!

Anonymous
3 years ago

Is is okay to use a ham that is not sliced

Eliza Phillips
3 years ago

5 stars
Made this during the quarantine, absolutely loved it and I had everything I needed already in my kitchen. A hit with everyone in the house!

Anonymous
4 years ago

Yes their is. It says ham, ok and ginger ale

Anonymous
3 years ago

All I had was plain mustard not Dijon , is that ok ??

Bruce
3 years ago

4 stars
I wrap my ham tightly with foil but leave it so you can open the top of it to baste. It seems to keep from drying out and i baste and glaze half way through cook time then 15 min. before end i baste and glaze , when i remove it from oven i glaze again. Never had a dry ham….

Sarah
4 years ago

I cook a country ham, and I’m always looking for some way to make it a little juicier. I soak mine for for 24 hours before baking and I need a little help with a recipe for glazing.

Becca
4 years ago

Should ham be sitting on a rack in roasting pan?

Lil lisa
5 years ago

The OJ is right above the ginger ale and it says pour juices over the ham.

Brenda
1 year ago

5 stars
Best Ham EVER! I didn’t make the glaze, but I did put my 11 lb. Ham in my roaster and poured one cup of orange juice and one cup of ginger ale on it and baked at 350 for 3 or 4 hours covered in foil. It was delicious. More/most importantly it was delicious 2 days afterward ad you can microwave to reheat, skillet reheat, however you want to reheat it is great! It’s moist and tasty – I mean delicious. I’m going to do this from now on!

Tatyana
1 year ago

5 stars
I’ve made this recipe before and it was delicious. My boyfriends mom bought the butt of the ham and I am supposed to cook it. Will this work with the butt of the ham as well?

Laura D
2 years ago

5 stars
Omg this looks so DELICIOUS 😋 I’m gonna try it, can this be cooked In the crockpot 🤔 I love cooking in my Crock-Pot it makes meat turn out so tender…..

Mary Steinmetz
2 years ago

can i use diet gingerale