Classic Baked Ham
on Nov 29, 2020, Updated Jan 18, 2025
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
The classic, perfect baked ham — shiny with a tangy sweet glaze, crosshatched, ideal for Christmas, Easter, and any large gatherings that call for a ham.
There are a whole bunch of holidays when you can expect (or at least not be surprised) to see an old-fashioned glazed ham anchoring the meal. Easter, Christmas, holiday parties, potlucks, brunches, baby or bridal showers. This is that perfect holiday ham recipe with a brown sugar ham glaze. It’s ideal for large gatherings (because hams are generally large) that need a crowd-pleasing main course to anchor a table or (often) a buffet. And, leftover ham is amazing and can be used in so many different ways! You can also save the cooking juices and use them in soups and stews and collard greens and such for extra flavor, but know that they can be very salty.
Serve baked ham with all of the traditional sides. I love this holiday family favorite with butternut squash casserole, sautéed string beans, baked macaroni and cheese, and mashed potatoes or mashed sweet potatoes. And grilled pineapple would be unbelievable as a pairing.
Table of Contents
The classic, perfect baked ham — shiny with a tangy sweet glaze, crosshatched, ideal for Christmas, Easter, and any large gatherings that call for a ham.
Baking Pre-Cooked Ham
Almost all hams are sold smoked or cured — in other words, fully cooked. You can buy an uncooked ham and cook it from scratch yourself, but they are harder to find. And unless you get yourself a very good ham and a very good recipe, you may find yourself with a dry piece of meat.
Most baked hams we’ve all enjoyed were cooked before we bought them and then reheated thoroughly in the oven. Often, there is a shiny glaze on the ham, frequently one with sweetness to it. Cloves are another very popular flavor. This recipe is for that quintessential, iconic, traditional ham that we all want on the holiday table: tender, glazed, crosshatched, and studded with whole cloves.
Kitchen Smarts
A spiral-cut ham is easier to slice and serve, but an uncut ham will stay juicier in the oven while baking. If your game has a bone, you’ll want to carve around that.
Ingredients
- Smoked or cured ham – The recipe works for both bone-in and boneless ham. See the chart below to help you plan how large of a ham you need for your guests. And, don’t forget to start thawing a frozen ham about a day ahead of time!
- Brown sugar – Light or dark brown sugar works great and is a classic ingredient in the glaze for oven-baked ham.
- Maple syrup – Along with the brown sugar, maple syrup gives the ham’s glaze that signature sweetness. Make sure to use real maple syrup!
- Dijon mustard – Adds a nice piquant contrast to the glaze’s sweetness.
- Whole cloves – Poke a clove in the middle of each diamond crosshatch shape. This gives the ham that old-fashioned ham look and feel.
How to Make Glazed Ham
- Prepare and bake the ham: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Trim the ham, removing any excess fat. Score the ham, which means to make crosshatch cuts all over the surface, about 1/2 inch deep and 1/2 to 1 inch apart. Place the ham in a roasting pan. Bake the ham for 1 1/2 hours.
- Make and add the brown sugar glaze: Stir the sugar, mustard, and maple syrup together in a small bowl. Remove the ham from the oven and raise the temperature to 375 degrees. Use a brush to coat the ham with the brown sugar mixture, using about half of the glaze. Carefully insert a clove into the center of each cross-hatched diamond, if desired.
- Finish baking the ham and serve: Return the ham to the oven and bake for another 60 to 90 minutes, brushing on some additional glaze every 30 minutes or so if you have the time and are in the kitchen. The ham should have an internal temperature of 165 degrees; check with an instant-read or meat thermometer. Transfer the ham to a cutting board and let sit for at least 20 minutes. You are welcome to let the ham cool for longer or even come to room temperature as well. Slice the ham, thinly or thickly, with a sharp knife and serve warm or at room temp.
Kitchen Smarts
Adding the glaze about halfway through the cooking time allows it to become nice and shiny and infuse the ham with flavor without starting to burn. If the ham does start to brown too quickly, you can tent it with foil and continue baking.
FAQs
There is no need to cover the ham with foil in this recipe unless the top starts browning too quickly. If the exterior starts to get too dark before the ham is heated through, you can loosely cover the ham with foil until the ham is hot. Remove the foil for the last few minutes of baking to crisp up the outside a bit.
The ham bone is terrific as the base of a stock or added to a soup for flavor. You can also use it to make Southern Collard Greens (use the ham bone instead of the bacon to flavor the greens). Also, add it when cooking Hoppin’ John or Arroz con Gandules. You can also freeze the ham bone for another time. Wrap it well in plastic wrap, then aluminum foil, label it, and freeze it for up to 6 months.
When buying a ham for a crowd, plan on 1/4 to 1/3 pound per person if it is a boneless ham, 1/3 to 1/2 pound per person if the ham is bone-in. If the ham is part of a larger spread, then you can reduce the per-person amounts. But don’t forget how wonderful leftover ham is, so don’t be skimpy! Also while some people will eat more, others will eat less, so this rule of thumb evens out as an average.
I like to bake my ham at 300 degrees as higher heat can cause the sugars in the glaze to burn. You will still get a beautifully browned exterior at this temperature, but it will be less likely to get too brown on the outside.
A frozen ham will take about 4 to 6 hours per pound to defrost in the fridge. Never thaw a ham at room temperature, which could cause bacteria to form. For a 4- to 5-pound ham, it will take about a day, meaning 24 hours, in the fridge.
Since the ham is already cooked, it’s really about heating it through and developing the sweet glaze on the exterior. I cook my ham for a total of 3 hours. About half of that time is without the glaze, so about 1 1/2 hours, and then another 60 to 90 minutes with the glaze, which will get nice and shiny.
How Much Ham Per Person
Remember to size up if you want leftovers!
| People | Bone-In Ham | Boneless Ham |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 2 to 3 pounds | 2 pounds |
| 6 | 3 to 4 pounds | 2 1/2 to 3 pounds |
| 8 | 4 to 5 pounds | 3 to 3 1/2 pounds |
| 10 | 5 to 6 pounds | 3 1/2 to 4 pounds |
| 12 | 6 to 7 pounds | 4 1/2 to 5 pounds |
Leftover Ham Sandwiches
Leftover homemade oven-baked ham makes sandwiches that are a notch above what you can buy sliced at a deli. I like my ham sliced very, very thin for sandwiches, as thin as I can manage, but you may feel differently. A bit of mustard, maybe some mayo, a slice of cheddar, possibly lettuce and tomato, some sturdy white country bread, and boy, howdy, have you got yourself a sandwich.
What to Serve With Baked Ham
More Holiday Main Dish Recipes
- Easy Roasted Thanksgiving Turkey
- Jewish Brisket
- Lemon-Garlic Semi-Boneless Leg of Lamb
- Fall-Apart Roasted Pork Shoulder
Pin this now to find it later
Pin It
Classic Baked Ham
- 1 10-pound smoked or cured bone-in ham (approximately)
- 1 cup light or dark brown sugar
- ½ cup Dijon mustard
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 5 teaspoons whole cloves (optional)
- Position a rack in the lower third of the oven, making sure there is room for the ham to fit. Preheat the oven to 300 F.
- Cut off the ham’s tough outer skin and any excess fat and toss. Score the ham, which means to make crosshatch cuts all over the surface (see photos), about 1/2 inch deep and 1/2 to 1 inch apart. Place the ham in a roasting pan.
- Bake the ham for 1 1/2 hours.
- Stir the sugar, mustard, and maple syrup together in a bowl. Remove the ham from the oven, and raise the temperature to 375 F. Use a brush to coat the ham with the brown sugar glaze, using about half of the glaze. Carefully (the ham is hot! Insert a clove into the center of each cross hatched diamond, if desired.
- Return the ham to the oven and bake for another 60 to 90 minutes, brushing on some additional glaze every 30 minutes or so if you have the time and are in the kitchen. The ham should have an internal temperature of 165 F; check with a meat thermometer.
- Transfer the ham to a cutting board and let sit for at least 20 minutes. You are welcome to let the ham cool for longer, or even come to room temperature as well.
- Slice the ham, thinly or thickly, and serve warm or at room temp.
This is a delicious recipe and made my store-bought ham extra special. The dijon mustard adds just the right amount of tang to the glaze. My ham was only about five pounds so I cut the ingredient quantities in half, worked great. I’ll be making baked ham this way again!
This is such a delicious baked ham recipe, and I love the simple list of ingredients. This allows the ham flavour to shine, whilst adding a delicate sweetness. Superb and ideal for the Easter table.
We loved this ham recipe. The glaze was absolute perfection!
This baked ham was a nice, simple recipe – and the glaze was amazing!
This looks perfectly done with simple and few ingredients . Wonderful share!