Brown Sugar Glazed Ham
Make a juicy, caramelized brown sugar glazed ham that the whole family loves. Begin by cooking the ham in the apricot sauce then caramelize with the brown sugar glaze.
Ingredients
- 10-12 pound spiral cut pre-cooked ham
Basting Ingredients
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground mustard
- ¼ cup apricot jam or preserves
- 8 oz. orange juice
- ½ cup granulated sugar
Glaze Ingredients
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup salted butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 275°F.
- In a small saucepan, combine the basting sauce ingredients. Heat over medium, stirring occasionally until the sugar and jam have dissolved. Simmer for 1-2 minutes.
- Remove the ham from its packaging. Place the ham, cut side down, on a rack in a large roasting pan.
- Use a pastry brush to coat the ham with the basting sauce. The
- sauce will be runny, some will run down into the roasting pan and that is fine. Baste the sauce between the layers of ham as much as possible.
- Cover the ham and pan with aluminum foil and bake in the oven for about 2 ½ hours. (The ham is already cooked through, so you are heating it to serving temperature, typically 140°F.) Check the ham every 30 minutes or so and brush the juices up over the ham to baste it (optional).
- When the ham is heated through, remove it from the oven and discard the aluminum foil. Increase the oven temperature to 425°F.
- Combine the glaze ingredients (sugar, butter, and brown sugar) in a small saucepan and heat over medium until the butter is melted and the mixture forms a paste.
- Brush the glaze all over the outside of the ham.
- Place the ham back into the oven (no cover) and cook for 10-20 minutes longer until the sugar glaze caramelizes. Be careful not to burn the glaze. Remove from the oven.
- Slice and serve after allowing the ham to sit for about 10 minutes.
Notes
Be sure that you are preparing a pre-cooked ham and follow the heating recommendations on the ham packaging. (Discard any glaze or rub sold with the ham as you are making your own.)
Ham can also be served cold. Cook with the basting sauce for less time (or skip the basting sauce completely) and simply use the glaze recipe/instructions for a caramelized coating.
Feel free to adjust the basting sauce spices and flavors. Honey is a great sweetener. Warming spices go nicely with a ham. Substitute orange marmalade or peach preserves for the apricot preserves if you’d like.
You can also place the ham under the broiler to finish off the glaze - this will caramelize the glaze much more quickly but is also more susceptible to burning or burning the top without caramelizing the sides.
Nutrition
Calories: 318kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 29g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 117mg | Sodium: 1772mg | Potassium: 463mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 111IU | Vitamin C: 42mg | Calcium: 18mg | Iron: 1mg