This holiday season, make the most delicious brown sugar orange glazed spiral ham. It only takes about 5 minutes to prep, and the simple 5 ingredient glaze is absolutely mouthwatering! It’s all cooked until tender and juicy, then basted until perfectly sticky and caramelized!
This is one of my Holiday Main Dish recipes I know you’ll want to keep on hand!
I don’t know about you, but I’m having a hard time believing that Thanksgiving is just a couple of weeks away! I know it’s such a cliche, but I swear this year truly is flying by.
While a great turkey is a classic dish on your holiday table, a juicy and perfectly glazed ham is always welcome!
In our family, we usually serve both turkey and ham… because the leftovers are just amazing, and then there’s more of them!
Usually we have my Copycat Honey Baked Ham, but this glazed ham is rapidly becoming one of my favorites, and will be on the holiday table this year.
How to make an orange glazed spiral ham?
This is just an overview; the full ingredients and directions are in the recipe card toward the bottom of this post.
- Add ham to baking dish. If you’d prefer, you could use a roasting pan, or line either pan. It’s all up to you!
- Combine glaze. It doesn’t take long to heat this up, you just want it well combined and smooth.
- Glaze and bake. The baking process is divided into 3 sections, to really make sure the ham is well glazed and sticky.
- Rest and serve. Letting the ham rest for a few minutes helps the juices redistribute so you get a nice juicy ham.
Helpful Tip!
This recipe was developed and tested using a fully-cooked spiral-cut ham, which is what the vast majority of hams in the grocery store are. This recipe will work with a raw ham as well, but those will likely needed to be ordered from a butcher and you’ll have to follow their cooking instructions, as they’ll be different than the one shown here for a fully-cooked ham.
Variations of this recipe
- Ham – this recipe works best with a bone-in spiral sliced ham, which are all fully-cooked and either cured or smoked. Just discard the packet of glaze that the ham comes with and use the glaze listed in this recipe.
- Bourbon – replace about 3 Tbsp of the orange juice for 3 Tbsp of bourbon.
- Mustard – instead of dijon mustard, you could try using a grainy mustard. It adds a different texture and appearance, plus great flavor!
- Pineapple – if you love the flavor of pineapple with ham, try replacing half or even all of the orange juice for pineapple juice.
- Brown sugar – typically I use light brown sugar, since that’s what I keep on hand. But if you prefer dark brown sugar, that will also work well in this recipe!
- Spices – I purposefully left out spices and seasonings, as I feel that the flavors of the glaze ingredients and the saltiness of the ham are more than enough. However, if you’d like to try using some smoked paprika, black pepper, white pepper, red pepper flakes, or more traditional cloves, please feel free to experiment!
FAQ’s
We prefer to use a bone-in fully-cooked (smoked) spiral sliced ham from the grocery store (such as Smithfield). The bone adds flavor and we love how the spiral cut not only makes slicing easier, but the glaze can really get into all the crevices and add so much more flavor!
It could certainly be warmed up in one, but you won’t be able to get the sticky glaze and caramelized edges like you do in the oven. If oven space is at a premium, I would suggest warming it in the slow cooker, then placing it on a baking sheet or in a baking dish, basting with the glaze, and broiling until it’s as sticky and caramelized as you’d like.
Making a baked spiral ham ahead of time
I’ve not made this entire ham ahead of time, so I can’t guarantee the flavor and freshness if you make it that way.
However, you could combine the glaze ingredients and keep it refrigerated for a couple of days.
Storage
Leftovers should be refrigerated in an airtight container and consumed within 4 days. Leftovers can also be frozen.
Depending on the size of your ham and the size of your family or gathering, you might have quite a bit of ham leftover, so here are my personal favorites to use up those leftovers (aside from a classic ham sandwich!).
More Holiday Main Dish Recipes:
My Favorite Baking Dish!
This baking dish is the perfect size for roasting a spiral ham like this one! Of course you can use any baking dish or roasting pan you’d like, but we really like this one.
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @the_chunky_chef on Facebook and Instagram!
Ingredients
- 8 – 10 lb. bone-in fully cooked spiral-sliced ham
- 1 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1/2 cup orange marmalade
- 3 Tbsp Dijon mustard
Garnishes
- orange slices for the serving platter
- rosemary and thyme sprigs for the serving platter
Instructions
Preheat
- Preheat oven to 325°F and lightly grease a 9×13" baking dish, or roasting pan.
- Place ham in the baking dish, with the large and flat side down (you can cook it on it's side if you prefer it that way).
Make glaze
- In a small saucepan, add brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, orange juice, orange marmalade and dijon mustard.
- Whisk to combine, and heat over MED heat until simmering. Cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes. Set aside, off the heat.
Glaze and first bake
- Spoon about half of the glaze over the top of the ham. Cover loosely with foil, and bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes.
Baste and second bake
- After 40 minutes, uncover the ham and baste with a bit more of the glaze, recover with the foil, then return to the oven for another 20 minutes.
Baste and final bake
- Uncover the ham and discard the foil. Baste with the rest of the glaze, and return to the oven, uncovered, and bake the final 20 minutes.
Optional broil
- If you'd like extra caramelized edges, feel free to broil for a few minutes to really get the glaze nice and sticky. Just be sure to watch closely so the ham doesn't burn.
Rest and serve
- Allow the ham to rest at room temperature for 5-10 minutes. Baste with some of the juices from the pan if desired, then serve warm.
Want to save this recipe for later? Click the heart in the bottom right corner to save to your own recipe box!
Chef Tips
- For easier cleanup, feel free to line the bottom and sides of the baking dish/roasting pan with 2 layers of aluminum foil or parchment paper.
- I’ve estimated this recipe serves about 12, but you’re free to divide the 8-10 lb ham up into as many servings as you’d like.
Nutrition Disclaimer
The Chunky Chef is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
L Nelms says
Can you give me the appropriate cooking times for a 13 lb bone in spiral precooked ham?
The Chunky Chef says
A google search probably would have gotten you a quicker answer, but a general rule is 18-20 minutes per pound.
Frances Lucero says
I made this today. I would have given it a five star, but 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar is too much. I am going to make it again for Christmas and cut back on the balsamic vinegar. Thank you
Sandra says
Oh, this is so perfect! A great addition to our holiday menu!
Allyson Zea says
This is absolutely perfect for Thanksgiving! Thanks for the easy recipe!
Erin says
Looks beyond delicious! I would love to make this!
Beth says
I love the combination of sweet and citrus flavors with this ham. It’s perfect!
Jodi says
Sounds yummy! I love ham at Thanksgiving. Thanks for the recipe!