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Ham Glaze

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By Pillsbury Kitchens
Updated Oct 21, 2024
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Nothing adds more flavor to a holiday ham than a delicious brown sugar ham glaze. If you're looking for the perfect combination of sweet and savory, then a brown sugar ham glaze is just what you need. This simple yet flavorful recipe is guaranteed to impress your family and friends.

It's hard to believe that something so delicious could be so easy and require so few ingredients, but that’s exactly the case with this ham glaze recipe.

The brown sugar ham glaze creates a sticky, caramelized coating that perfectly complements the salty savoriness of ham. Whether it's for a holiday feast or a special family or friend dinner, this recipe is a surefire way to elevate your ham to a whole new level of deliciousness. Give it a try and watch as your guests go back for seconds! Enjoy!

How to Make Ham Glaze

With only a few ingredients this ham glaze recipe is super simple to make. Whether it’s your first time baking a ham or you’re a holiday ham pro, our step-by-step instructions are sure to result in a memorable meal. Take a look at our quick overview of how to make our easy ham glaze, then read on for the full ingredients list and recipe.

Prepare the Ham

Use a sharp knife to score the outside of the ham with quarter-inch-deep parallel lines, one inch apart. Then score diagonally in the other direction to create a diamond pattern. Place the ham on a roasting rack in a shallow roasting pan (no need to grease or spray), and heat in the oven.   

Make the Glaze

In a small saucepan, mix brown sugar, corn syrup, cider vinegar, and mustard. Heat until the sugar is dissolved.

Glaze the Ham

During the end of ham baking process, you’ll apply a generous amount of glaze all over the ham with a pastry brush three times, in ten-minute increments. This allows the brown sugar glaze to build up on the ham and get nice and sticky.

Putting the Glaze on the Ham

You’ll notice in our ham glaze recipe that we have you brush the ham with the glaze three times during the end of its baking process.

While this may seem like a strange thing do, it allows the glaze to build up on the ham, which gives it more flavor and creates a delightfully sticky coating. We wait until the end of the cooking process to ensure the glaze doesn’t burn during the ham’s time in the oven.

Because the glaze contains brown sugar and corn syrup, it can easily burn if applied to the ham too early. By waiting, we can still give our ham a delicious, caramelized finish without any of the bitterness that would come if we burned the glaze. 

What to Serve with Glazed Ham

With a ham glaze recipe this easy, you’ll have loads of time for side dishes.

Mashed Potatoes are always a good choice, and this smooth and creamy version is one of our top-rated ones.

Instant Pot Three-Cheese Macaroni and Cheese is a cheesy explosion and is a natural to serve with ham.

3-Step Lemon-Pepper Asparagus is a quick, easy and elegant option, and no ham dinner would be complete without crescent rolls. Try this delicious slice and serve garlic butter crescents version for a fun twist on a holiday classic.  

Frequently Asked Questions

How Often Should I Glaze the Ham ?

While it may seem like overkill to brush the glaze on the ham three times during the cooking process, we do it in our ham glaze recipe for a good reason.

Each time you baste or brush the ham with the glaze, you create a layer of flavor. When the ham goes back in the oven, the glaze thickens and dries slightly on the ham, making it sticky. That stickiness makes the next layer of glaze adhere to the ham without slipping off. So, each time you baste, you’re building a thicker layer of glaze. The thicker the layer, the better the flavor! 

What Cut of Ham is Best for This Recipe?

You can have the best ham glaze recipe in the world, but you also need to have the right ham to put it on. When it comes to buying the right ham for your holiday table, you have several choices.

Overall, bone-in hams tend to have more flavor and a better texture, which is why we like to use bone-in ham for this ham glaze recipe. You’ll often see two options when it comes to bone-in hams in the meat section of your grocers.

Butt Ham: Also called the rump or sirloin end, comes from the upper portion of the leg. The butt has good flavor and tender meat, but it also contains the hip bones, which make it difficult to carve. For that reason, we recommend the shank end in our easy ham glaze recipe.

Shank Ham: Comes from the lower part of the leg, above the ham hock. You’ll recognize this cut when you see it, as it’s the cut most associated with baked ham. It contains just one bone, the femur, which is much easier to carve around. It’s also typically the more economical of the two cuts.

Spiral Ham: You may also see hams that have been spiral cut in the grocery store. These hams have been presliced, which is a nice convenience, as it makes carving easier, but precutting the ham also means it can dry out more easily during the cooking process. 

Can I Use This Recipe for Different Proteins?

While we love this glaze on ham, there are other options when it comes to using this versatile glaze. Try it on your holiday turkey, or on another type of pork roast, like the loin or tenderloin. You can even use it on chicken.

What’s important to remember is that no matter what protein you’re slathering all this glazed goodness on, you must apply it toward the end of the cooking process, as you don’t want it to burn. 

Ham Glaze

  • Prep Time 25 min
  • Total 3 hr 0 min
  • Ingredients 5
  • Servings 12
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Ingredients

  • 6 to 8 lb fully cooked smoked bone-in ham
  • 1 1/4 cups packed dark brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup light corn syrup
  • 1/4 cup cider vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Instructions

  • Step 
    1
    Heat oven to 325°F. Place ham on rack in shallow roasting pan. Roast 12 to 16 minutes per pound or until instant-read thermometer inserted in thickest part of ham reads 120°F.
  • Step 
    2
    Remove ham from oven. Pour drippings from pan. Cut fat surface of ham lightly in uniform diamond shapes.
  • Step 
    3
    Meanwhile, in small saucepan, mix brown sugar, corn syrup, cider vinegar, and Dijon mustard. Cook over low heat 1 to 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until brown sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.
  • Step 
    4
    Brush 1/2 cup of the glaze on ham. Roast uncovered 10 minutes longer, and brush another 1/2 cup glaze on ham. Roast for another 10 to 15 minutes or until thermometer reads 135°F. Brush remaining glaze on ham. Cover ham with tent of foil; let stand about 10 minutes or until thermometer reads 140°F.
  • Step 
    5
    Place ham on carving board or platter face down. Using sharp carving knife, cut in half next to bone.
  • Step 
    6
    Place boneless side of ham fat side up; cut slices. Cut remaining slices from bone-in portion, cutting away from bone.

Nutrition

290 Calories
7g Total Fat
26g Protein
30g Total Carbohydrate
26g Sugars

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 Serving
Calories
290
Calories from Fat
60
Total Fat
7g
11%
Saturated Fat
2 1/2g
11%
Trans Fat
0g
Cholesterol
65mg
22%
Sodium
1600mg
67%
Potassium
400mg
11%
Total Carbohydrate
30g
10%
Dietary Fiber
0g
0%
Sugars
26g
Protein
26g
% Daily Value*:
Vitamin A
0%
0%
Vitamin C
0%
0%
Calcium
4%
4%
Iron
10%
10%
Exchanges:
0 Starch; 0 Fruit; 2 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Skim Milk; 0 Low-Fat Milk; 0 Milk; 0 Vegetable; 4 Very Lean Meat; 0 Lean Meat; 0 High-Fat Meat; 1 Fat;
Carbohydrate Choice
2
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

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