Honey Baked Ham Recipe

Juicy on the inside and crispy and delicious on the outside, Honey Baked Ham with a sticky glaze on top is the perfect Holiday dinner recipe. 😍😍

I love to make this Honey Baked Ham Recipe for Christmas Dinner. Its a one pot dinner recipe which is super easy to make and honestly our family favoruite.

We cannot even think of Christmas Dinner without this. 😀😀

People usually associate Thanksgiving with roast turkey, but why not do your next Thanksgiving by trying my perfect Honey Baked Ham?

And why just limit yourself to Thanksgiving when it comes to making Honey Baked Ham? You can enjoy the succulent and juicy combination of the savory-sweet tasting of Honey Baked Ham on any occasion of the year, like Easter, Christmas, or just any weekend to make it a special one. 🥰🥰

All you need to do is follow our recipe down below and you can make a restaurant-style Honey Baked Ham right at the comfort of your kitchen! 

Jump to:

• 🥘 What ingredients do you need to make Honey Baked Ham? 
• 👩‍🍳 How to make Honey Baked Ham 
• 😋 How to Store Leftover Honey Glazed Baked Ham? 
• 🤔 How to Freeze Leftover Ham?
• 💯 Tips for making your Honey Baked Ham even better 
• Honey Baked Ham Recipe

🥘 What ingredients do you need to make Honey Baked Ham? 

The name Honey Baked Ham might sound fancy and intimidating, but its ingredients are anything but that.

You can find all the ingredients listed down below at any of your local grocery stores. Although we suggest you that when it comes to buying Ham, make sure that you buy it from the local good quality butchers for the best quality meat experience! 

1. Ham (bone in or boneless) - I found this article from Midwest Living very helpful about choosing the best quality of Ham.

Worried about how much Ham to buy? Give a read to this and you'll know exactly how much!

2. Melted Unsalted Butter 

3. Fresh and good quality Honey 

4. Granulated sugar 

5. Kosher salt 

6. Onion powder 

7. Ground Cinnamon 

8. Ground nutmeg 

9. Ground Ginger 

10. Ground Cloves 

11. Smoked Paprika

12. Allspice 

👩‍🍳 How to make Honey Baked Ham 

You absolutely do not need to be a Michelin Star Chef to make this recipe of Honey Baked Ham.

It is quick, simple, and will not take you more than an hour. Its preparation does not take that long either unlike when you make a Roast Turkey!

You have no business of making any stuffing here. All you need to do is make an amazing Honey glaze and combine that with the Baked Ham. How to do that? Keep reading and I’ll tell you exactly how to! 

STEP 1: How to Peel the Rind off Ham

This is the most interesting and fun part about cooking Ham. You got to remove the hard brown skin (rind) of the Ham, before you use it

You do not want to cook the Ham with the rind on. The thing with the Rind is that however much you cook, it will still be chewy and inedible.

So to remove the rind, just follow the mentioned steps

• Cut through the Ham rind around the bone handle
• Now, cut down from the top to the bone handle
• Run a sharp knife along the rim of the rind, use your fingers to remove the rind.
• Be careful to just peel off the rind and not the Ham. You'll easily understand the difference between Ham and Rind, once you start removing the Rind. It won't come off easy, so just run your fingers back and forth, running the knife in between several intervals and pulling off the rind with your fingers to get rid of the rind.

DO NOT Remove the Fat. The light whitish color fat over the Ham is what soaks up the flavors of the sauce and caramelises like a dream giving you that perfect crispy top over the Ham.

Make sure you DO NOT PEEL OFF THE FAT, While removing the rind off the Ham.

STEP 2: HOW TO SCORE FAT ON HAM

Scoring Fat or cutting Diamond marks on the Ham fat is an important step of preparing the Ham before use. Remember to just score about 75% (1/4 inch deep) of the fat and not cut through very deep or else the diamonds will loose and fall off after baking.

• It serves so many purposes. Firstly, it gives you so many caramelized edges to the Ham making it ten times more flavorful and delicious
• More caramelization means more flavors.
• It creates crevices which allows the glaze to seep right into the meat making them so much more flavorful
• Also this gives the Ham that beautiful look which we all love.
• Insert cloves in each cross section or center of each diamond.

STEP 3: HOW TO MAKE HONEY BUTTER GLAZE FOR HAM

Now take a medium sized mixing bowl and combine the melted butter and honey in it. Make sure that the melted butter you are using is warm. You can also use warm honey but this is optional.

Now take another large bowl and mix all the other ingredients together in it, which includes: (1)granulated sugar; (2) kosher salt; (3) onion powder; (4) ground ginger; (5) ground cinnamon; (6)nutmeg powder; (7) ground cloves; (8) paprika and lastly; (9) allspice. 

Dump this mixture in a saucepan. Heat over medium high heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Do not simmer until the sauce thickens as this has sugar and it will harden upon simmering making it impossible to baste. So just simmer until the sugar dissolves.

STEP 4: BAKE THE HAM

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Arrange rack in the lower third
• Line a baking dish with several Aluminium Sheets or parchment paper
• Place the ham in the baking dish. Scrunch up a foil and prop the handle up. This will ensure even browning of the Ham..
• Brush about half glaze over it.
• Pour Water or Orange Juice over the baking dish
• Bake for 1 - 2 hours

STEP 5: BASTE BASTE BASTE!

• The trick to perfectly cooked and glazed Ham with browned top is proper basting
• Baste every 30 minutes
• Baste a lot. The Ham will gradually turn golden brown with a thick caramel coat on the top
• If some of the bits on the top are browning too much protect them with a foil patch
• After the Ham gets cooked Baste a lot. This is exactly the time when you get that gorgeous top layer of caramelised fat. So baste a lot. As the Ham cools the glaze will thicken automatically.

Your Honey Baked Ham is now ready! You can serve it both warm or cold. We suggest you serve it with mashed potatoes and green beans on the side for a whole meal! 

Serve Baked Ham with these favorite Holiday sides

Mashed Potatoes

• Garlic Mashed Potatoes
• Southern Buttermilk Ranch Mashed Potatoes
• Creamy Mashed Sweet Potatoes
• Garlic Mashed Cauliflower with Cream Cheese and Sour Cream

Green Bean Side Dishes

• Green bean Casserole from scratch
• Green Beans Almondine Recipe
• Chicken and Green beans
• Crispy Fried Green Beans in Air-Fryer
• Cheesy Green Beans
• Maple Mustard Glazed Green Beans

Stuffings

• Cranberry Pecan Stuffing in Crock Pot
• Grandma's Sausage Herb Stuffing
• Mom's Turkey Stuffing Recipe
• Sweet Potato & Mushroom Thanksgiving Stuffing

Casseroles

• Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole
• Sweet Corn Casserole {5-ingredient} with Jiffy Mix in the Crockpot
• Buffalo Chicken Casserole
• Cheesy Cauliflower Casserole
• Eggplant Casserole
• Broccoli Rice Casserole
• Broccoli Casserole with Ritz Crackers and Mayonnaise

Mac and Cheese

• Roasted Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese
• Instant Pot Mac and Cheese
• Buffalo Cauliflower Mac and Cheese
• Broccoli Mac and Cheese
• Pumpkin Mac & Cheese
• Baked Mac and Cheese

Salads

• Healthy Black Bean and Corn Salad with Lime Dressing
• Mexican Corn Salad
• Refreshing Pomegranate Orange Salad
• Feel-Good Apple Orange Salad With Walnuts and Mint Leaves
• Deli-style Creamy Classic Macaroni Salad
• Creamy Cucumber Red Onion Salad with Dill and Sourcream

And ofcourse with Cranberry Sauce and some delicious Thanksgiving Desserts or Christmas desserts!

STEP 6: SERVE

• Remove from the oven and allow cooling for about 20 minutes before serving
• Wrap the handle with Parchment paper and ribbon
• Remove the cloves
• Surround the Ham with fresh Orange slices or fresh Cranberries or Pineapple Slices and green fluffage.
• Glaze with remaining Pan juices
• Slice into very thin slices and serve!

😋 How to Store Leftover Honey Glazed Baked Ham? 

This recipe of Honey Baked Ham is so good that you should not expect any leftovers in the first place.

But if by any chance you do end up with leftovers then don’t worry. You can easily keep your leftover honey baked Ham fresh for months just by following some storing tips.

All you need to do is cut the leftover Ham into large pieces and wrap individual pieces with foil. If you have leftover slices, you can freeze it away in a ziplock bag. It should stay fresh for upto a week.

Pack your leftover ham in an airtight container and store it securely in your fridge.

Whenever you want to have your refrigerated Honey Baked ham again just take it out of the fridge and reheat it in the microwave for a few minutes until heated through.

You can also re-apply some extra glaze if you feel it’s not flavourful enough due to all the hours it spent in the fridge. 

REMEMBER that Glazed Ham does not store well. You can store it max for just about a week but not longer than that. It will start to stink.

🤔 How to Freeze Leftover Ham?

Glazed Ham can stand upto a week in the refrigerator or freezer but NOT longer than that.

However unglazed, raw Ham can be stored for a long time.

Just pack your slices of Honey Baked Ham in a ziplock bag or a freezable air-tight container ( of a good quality) and place them in the freezer of your fridge.

You can keep frozen Ham easily for three months. Whenever you want to use your frozen Honey Baked Ham again just let it thaw overnight in the refrigerator and then use it. 😍