This brown sugar Honey Glaze for Ham is the perfect way to finish ham for any occasion. Flavored with orange juice and warm baking spices, it’s super simple and takes just about 5 minutes to make. You are going to love the golden sugary crust on your honey-baked ham.
This recipe will take your holiday ham from everyday to sensational. It’s perfect to serve for holiday meals like Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas Dinner, as well as family dinner any time of year. You can serve in with a delicious bone-in ham or drizzle on ham slices.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Simple Ingredients: Orange juice, honey, brown sugar, and spices you already have on hand.
- Works on Any Ham: Spiral-cut boneless, bone-in or ham steaks
- Foolproof Method: Clear steps for basting ad baking without drying out the ham.
Easy Honey Glaze for Ham
Spiral ham wouldn’t be complete without a sweet, spiced glaze to coat the whole thing as it finishes in the oven. This perfectly balanced honey glaze recipe is made with brown sugar, honey, orange juice and warm spices like cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.
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The end result is a shiny, sweet, incredibly moist ham. Just brush it on during the last 20 minutes of heating and voila—perfection. You can also use this recipe to make any number of ham glazes, using some of our suggestions below.
If you are a spiral ham newbie, hop on over to our complete guide on How to Cook a Spiral Ham for step-by-step instructions and answers to your most frequently asked questions.
Key Ingredients
- Brown Sugar – we usually use light brown sugar for this recipe. If you want a slightly stronger flavor, you can do with dark brown sugar.
- Honey – the better the honey, the tastier the glaze. Try to find pure honey. Or, substitute maple syrup to make a maple glaze instead.
- Orange Juice – use fresh squeezed or bottled orange juice. Pineapple juice also makes a delicious substitute.
- Spices – for this recipe, we use cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Other options to try would be using pumpkin pie spice, ginger or even a little cardamom.
How To Make Honey Glaze for Ham
- Bring to a boil. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the brown sugar, honey, orange juice, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. While stirring, bring to a rapid boil and boil for about 5 minutes.
- Cool then use. Remove the sauce from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes, then brush or drizzle the glaze over the ham about 20 minutes before it has finished cooking.
Helpful Tips
- Start with a warmed ham: Bake uncovered to heat the ham through before glazing. Glaze in the last 20-30 minutes.
- Score the surface: Lightly score the fat in a diamond pattern so the glaze sticks to the ham.
- Simmer the glaze: Cook it for a few minutes to dissolve sugar and thicken slightly so it clings to the ham.
- Baste in layers: If you’re making a crusted ham, brush on the glaze 2-3 times during the last 20-30 minutes for a shiny, even coat.
- Tent with foil if needed: If the glaze is brownig too fast, loosely cover with foil to prevent burning.
- Rest before slicing: Let the ham sit 10-15 minutes so juices redistribute.
- Since spiral cut hams are already smoked ham and cooked before you purchase, you just need to heat the ham through.
- This glaze works great on a whole ham or you can just drizzle a little brown sugar honey glaze on a small portion too. Just keep any remaining sauce in an airtight container in the fridge.
- This honey glaze for ham recipe will thicken as it cools. Keep that in mind when making ahead of time. If you need to re-heat, do it on a low temperature and stir to break up the sugar. If needed, add a couple of tablespoons of water.
Recipe Variations
- Pineapple Glaze: Use pineapple juice and a little crushed pineapple; great with ham’s salty-sweet flavor.
- Spicy Honey Glaze: Add red pepper flakes, cayenne, or hot honey for heat.
- Maple-Honey Glaze: Replace half the honey with pure maple syrup; add a pinch of cloves.
- Cherry Glaze: Substitute cherry juice for the orange juice.
- Honey Dijon: Add a half tablespoon of Dijon mustard to the glaze while boiling.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Just apply the honey glaze, then cook a ham on low for about 4 hours. Halfway through, you may want to stop and baste the ham with the juices at the bottom of the crockpot.
Maple syrup is a great alternative to honey. Or, for something a little different you can substitute fruit preserves, such as cherry, apricot or plum. Basically anything sweet and syrupy can be used in place of honey for your ham glaze.
You always want to add the glaze to your ham towards the last 15-20 minutes of cooking time so that the glaze doesn’t burn. You want the sugars to caramelize slightly, but any further and they will begin to burn.
Definitely! You can make the honey glaze for ham recipe up to 1 week in advance, store in the fridge, and reheat slightly just until it is loose enough to brush or drizzle onto your ham.
Storing and Reheating
- How to Serve: You can serve with ham glaze as a sugar coated crust on your warmed ham or you can serve it on the side and your guests can add it to their ham slices.
- Storing Instructions: store honey glaze sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
- Reheating: before using, you may want to warm the glaze to loosen it up. You can reheat it in the microwave, or else transfer to a pot and warm slowly over low heat just until it is loose enough to drizzle or brush. You can add a tablespoon or two of water to thin it if needed.
Best Sides For Ham Everyone Will Love
Honey Glaze Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
Instructions
How to Make Honey Glaze for Ham
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the brown sugar, honey, orange juice, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. While stirring, bring to a rapid boil and boil for about 5 minutes.
- Remove the sauce from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes, then brush or drizzle the glaze over the ham about 20 minutes before it has finished cooking.
- After glazing, return the ham to the oven, uncovered, and bake for an additional 20 minutes until the glaze is a little crispy and the internal temperature reaches 140 degrees F.
How to Cook a Honey Baked Ham
- Preheat oven to 275 degrees.
- Remove all packaging, including the plastic disk on the underside of the ham.
- Place ham in a 9" x 13" glass baking dish, or similar shallow roasting pan, and cover tightly with foil or a lid.
- Place in a preheated 275 degree oven and cook for 1 hour 20 minutes – 1 hour 50 minutes, or about 10 minutes per pound of ham. About 20 minutes before it has finished cooking, remove from the oven and add the glaze.
- After glazing, return the ham to the oven, uncovered, and bake for an additional 20 minutes until the glaze is a little crispy and the internal temperature reaches 140 degrees F.
- Remove the ham from the oven, cover with foil to retain the heat, and let it rest for 15-20 minutes before slicing. Spoon the juices over the ham before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
- How to Serve: You can serve with ham glaze as a sugar coated crust on your warmed ham or you can serve it on the side and your guests can add it to their ham slices.
- Storing Instructions: store honey glaze sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
- Reheating: before using, you may want to warm the glaze to loosen it up. You can reheat it in the microwave, or else transfer to a pot and warm slowly over low heat just until it is loose enough to drizzle or brush. You can add a tablespoon or two of water to thin it if needed.
Nutrition
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This Honey Glaze for Ham Recipe is made with brown sugar, orange juice and warm baking spices. It’s perfectly balanced and makes the most incredibly moist and delicious honey-baked ham for any occasion.
Categories:
Christmas, Dairy-Free, Easter, Gluten-Free, Holiday Favorites, Nut-Free, Sauces & Condiments, Thanksgiving,
thank you very much for an easy but delicious recipe
As a beekeeper in NW Alabama, you can imagine I used my homegrown buckwheat honey, the recipe was fantastic!
so I making a iron steak on the grill and i thought honey glaze well i kinda had to tweek a bit of it since i didnt have brown sugar or ground up cloves but it was amazing. needed to put more of the glaze on but I still loved it
I followed your recipe and it worked out perfect! Thank you!
I was asked to bring a ham for an office dinner on very short notice. This recipe was super easy and delicious. I like fresh fruit in most of my dishes so I added chopped apples and chunk pineapple in the baking pan to give it a personal touch.
This is a fabulous ham recipe!
I’m so glad you loved it, Amy! Thanks for letting me know!
This was a quick and easy glaze……so flavorful.
I will definitely use this recipe again.
Trudy, I’m so happy you loved it and it turned out so great!
Yay! I was looking for a glaze idea to send to my mom and this recipe is perfect. Thanks for the easy instructions!
I dont think I ever thought of adding orange juice to a ham glaze, but this is just amazing! thank you for sharing this recipe!