- People pay a lot of money
for store-bought honey baked hams
to enjoy during the holidays
like Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas
but I have a news flash for you guys,
it is shockingly easy to make
your own copycat honey baked ham at home.
All you have to do is thaw a pre-cooked ham from the store,
slather it in a sticky sweet honey glaze
and then pop it in the oven
until the inside of the ham is warmed through
and the outside has this gorgeously glossy
and caramelized crust.
I promise you that once you make
this honey baked ham recipe at home,
you will never buy it from the store again.
So let me show you how to make it.
When you buy a ham from the store,
it'll look a little something like this,
usually wrapped in foil and plastic.
The most important thing is to thaw your ham in the fridge
for one to two days, and then bring it to room temperature
for about two hours before cooking
just as you do with a turkey.
Now keep in mind that the ham is pre-cooked,
which is what you want
and it'll often come with a little packet of glaze,
but since we're adding a glaze
that tastes much better and without processed ingredients,
you can just chuck that packaged one into the trash.
Continue cutting the plastic off of the ham
and I think it's kind of funny that mine
is all wrapped in gold foil.
It reminds me of the golden ticket
from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."
So I'll take that as a positive indication
that this is a winning ham.
Well, I should say that I know it's a winning ham
because I've already eaten up
all of the leftovers after this video.
Now when you're at the market, you have a few options
when it comes to buying ham.
You can buy regular or spiral cut
and boneless versus bone in.
I recommend you buy bone in as it's extra juicy
and the bone will go from the middle of the ham
through to the top.
And the spiral cut means that all of the carving work
is already done for you and it's super easy to serve up.
You can see how it's individually sliced here
and that's always a bonus during busy holidays.
To bake the ham, you'll need a roasting pan
and I'm actually gonna ditch the roasting tray
that's normally in mine as it's sloped on the sides.
So I'll replace that with a simple flat roasting rack
as we'll cook the ham flat side down.
So place the rack in the roasting pan and then add the ham,
which should be about eight to 10 pounds on top.
There's one big reason you want the ham slightly elevated
and that's because you're gonna add two cups of water.
This keeps the ham nice and moist while cooking
and it prevents the glaze from burning
on the bottom of the pan
without the need for extra aluminum foil,
which is always a bonus.
All right, let's make the honey glaze
by adding one cup of coconut sugar to a bowl
along with 2/3 cup of honey.
And I just love that the coconut sugar
imparts a slightly caramel flavor to the honey glaze.
To that, add 1/3 cup of fresh orange juice from one orange,
two tablespoons of Dijon mustard for a subtle spice.
And then for more spice and flavor,
add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg,
1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
and 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger.
Whisk that altogether so there's no lumps
and that it's fairly smooth.
Often recipes will have you simmering the glaze on the stove
for a few minutes to allow the sugar to dissolve
but honestly, I don't think it's really necessary.
And I'm all for cutting out unnecessary steps
and extra dirty dishes.
So once you've got your glaze ready,
brush about 1/4 of it all over the ham very generously.
You'll have plenty of glaze for this recipe
so don't worry about running out.
(gentle music)
Cover your glazed ham with aluminum foil
as this will lock in the moisture
and prevent the ham from drying out.
And I think we can all agree that a moist and juicy ham
is far more delicious than one that's dried out.
You may need two separate pieces of aluminum foil
to fully cover your ham or you can buy the extra wide foil,
which is what I'm using today.
Then pop that in an oven that you've preheated
to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and cook it for about 90 minutes
for an eight to 10 pound ham.
And don't forget that I've always got more details
and a printable recipe card
on the full recipe blog post page,
which is linked in the video description.
Now even though this ham will cook for about an 90 minutes,
you're gonna wanna reglaze it at 30 minute intervals.
So that's why I set my timer for 30 minutes
and then I'll take the ham out
because it's just easier to add more glaze
when it's up on my stove
and I'm less likely to accidentally spill glaze
on the inside of my oven
if I try to do it while it's still in the oven.
So just peel the aluminum foil back
and add another 1/4 of the glaze all over the ham,
making sure to get the glaze
and all those nooks and crannies.
Then place the ham back in the oven and continue cooking it
or I should say warming it through as it's already cooked.
And just remember to add more glaze
at 60 minutes and 90 minutes.
I won't show you all of the different intervals
because it's just more of the same,
but at 90 minutes, take your ham out of the oven
and then crank up the heat to 425 degrees Fahrenheit
to caramelize the outside of the ham.
Remove the foil completely as you don't need it anymore.
And if you'd like to double check the temperature,
it should be about 110 degrees Fahrenheit at this stage
with a ham fully done at about 130 degrees Fahrenheit,
which it will be after another 15 to 20 minutes in the oven.
So thoroughly coat the ham in the last bit of glaze
and place it back in the oven uncovered
for 15 to 20 minutes.
Depending on how your oven cooks,
you could also turn on the top broiler
to get it extra crispy.
Just be careful not to burn it if you do go that route.
When your honey glazed ham is done,
it will look beautifully golden on the outside
with a gorgeously shiny, slightly caramelized glaze
and your kitchen will smell all sorts of amazing
from the sweet honey and spices.
Just look at all those beautiful pools
of glaze on certain layers of the ham.
Those are always my favorite pieces to snag
because let's be honest,
it's the outside edge that everyone loves.
Let the ham cool for a few minutes
and then remove it from the pan to a serving platter.
I probably should have let this cool
for a few minutes longer
because it's getting a little toasty on my fingers
but when you serve it up, place the ham on its side,
and the spiral cut ham slices will just fan out beautifully.
(gentle music)
When you're serving up the ham, all you have to do is cut
around the bone in the middle and then plate up the slices.
Because the ham was already spiral sliced,
it makes serving it up a breeze.
But for an example of what not to do, it's slicing off
all of the sweet honey glazed edges like this.
I know this is not the right way to cut the ham
but as I'm the only one eating this ham,
I get to enjoy the best parts first.
And believe me, when I say this honey glazed ham
is knock your socks off delicious.
I hope you enjoyed today's video,
and if you did, make sure to give it a thumbs up,
share it with your family and friends,
especially for a little holiday inspiration.
And I will see you again in the next video.
(gentle music)