Skip the expensive pre-made version of this holiday dish and make your own homemade honey glazed ham. It’s simple and quick to make the glaze from scratch and you can even use a store bought, pre-cut ham to save big!
Ah honey baked ham, its golden glaze covering a spiral cut ham adds perfection to any plate.
Made with brown sugar and real butter, this recipe is wonderfully easy to create and has the added benefit of saving you money too! Since the “real things” cost quite a lot, especially when you look at the simple ingredients!
Homemade Honey Glazed Ham
For as long as I can remember my dad always bought one of those fancy honey glazed ham from the specialty store for every holiday. It was a nice treat and everyone really enjoyed it!
But eventually he realized that he was paying way more than he had to… so he started making his own! And let me tell you, it knocks the socks off the specialty store version!
Using a Store Bought Ham
Usually grocery stores have holiday foods on sale during any holiday. We use these sales to grab things like potatoes, sweet potatoes, turkeys, and more… this includes hams! It’s a great way to stock up on items we like to eat all year, but at rock bottom pricing.
With a freezer and some canning know-how, those holiday sales turn into huge budget savers!
Depending on where you shop, they may even have their own version of the honey glazed ham. Find one of those cheap, on sale, store-brand hams and just toss out the glaze packet that comes with it.
Or, if you want to make this when spiral hams aren’t readily available in the store, you can buy a fully cooked ham shank and spiral cut it yourself by using a very sharp knife to cut the ham into very thin slices around the bone.
Making the Glaze
This glaze is cray easy to make and you don’t even have to dirty a single pan to heat it on the oven!
Just brush honey all over the outside of the ham (once it’s cut, if you’re doing that yourself), then roll it around in all the spices.
Then you can caramelize the glaze in the oven on 500° until it’s all golden and crispy. At that point you can either serve warm, or chill and serve cold!
Get the full details of this delicious homemade honey baked ham recipe below, and check out my From Scratch Holiday Cookbook for even more classic dishes made with real ingredients!
- Spiral cut ham, or bone in, fully cooked ham shank half*
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 4 Cups sugar
- Honey
- Slice your ham if it’s not already spiral cut, taking care not to cut all the way to the bone or the meat may not hold together properly as it is being glazed.
- Turn the ham onto its flat end and cut around it starting at the bottom. This way you can then spin the ham as you slice around and work your way up.
- Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl, the pour the contents onto a wax paper lined surface.
- Brush honey onto the outer layers of the ham to help the spices stick, then roll the ham through the spices, coating the surface well.
- Do not coat flat end, only the outer layers.
- If you are heating it to caramelize the sugar (recommended), rub the mix inside the slices of meat as well. Otherwise, only coat the outer layers.
- Serve cold, or place ham on baking tray and broil at 500° until sugar caramelizes.
- Watch it closely to make sure it doesn’t burn.
- Remove from the oven and serve warm, or cool and serve chilled.
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