Julie Clark
Updated:
How to Cook a Ham
This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
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.
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.
How much ham should I buy?
If you’re cooking a spiral cut ham, plan for almost one pound per person. That doesn’t mean that each person will eat one piece of ham, because you’re accounting for unusable serving parts of the spiral ham.
- For 6 people: 5 1/2-6 pound ham.
- For 12 people: 10-12 pounds ham.
- For 16 people: 14-16 pound ham.
Ingredients for Oven Baked Ham
- 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.
- Initial bake. Cover either the ham itself or the pan with aluminum foil. Bake for 20 minutes at 350ºF.
- 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.
- 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.
How Long to Cook a Ham
It will take about 10-15 minutes per pound to heat the spiral sliced ham to 140ºF. With an oven temperature of 350ºF, plan for it to take about 1 ½ to 2 hours for a 10 pound ham.
**We LOVE our Thermoworks instant-read thermometer to quickly test burger temperatures. This digital meat thermometer is AMAZING. Get it here.**
How to Carve a Ham
A spiral ham is one of the easiest hams to carve, since it is already sliced and has natural “breaks” in the ham.
Place the ham on the flattest side (usually the bottom) and use a sharp knife to cut around the bone. Many times the meat, since it is already sliced will just fall off into smaller pieces. If not, cut the slices of ham into serving-size pieces.
What to Serve with Ham
What goes with this easy baked ham? Try a few of these side dishes:
- Italian green beans
- Mashed potatoes
- Dinner rolls
- Cream corn
- Cheesy Herb Stuffing
- Pineapple casserole
- and make our best carrot cake recipe for dessert!
How to Cook a Ham
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
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
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 leftovers with ham:
Best ham recipe! The mixture of the ginger ale and OJ is delish! It gives the ham a fresh taste! Do not skip this step! I didn’t use a spiral ham. I did use a bone in ham and scored it! Basted it as directed and it was sooooo good! Thank you for sharing!
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!
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?
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…..