Baked Ham with Brown Sugar Glaze
With just a few simple steps, this beautiful Baked Ham with Brown Sugar Glaze can adorn your table. And even better be in your tummy. It's easier than you think!
Not too awfully long ago, I said to my mother-in-law, "You know, I've never baked a ham." I'm not sure why I had never baked a ham up to that point ... I just never had. "Well, there's nothing to it," she replied.
Since then, I've become quite practiced at "the art" of baking a ham. And my mother-in-law is right just like with her delicious stovetop pork roast, when it comes to baking a ham there's truly nothing to it. Except -- buying a great ham.
Truly, if you want moist, tender, juicy, and fabulously flavorful ham ... buy a great ham.
After that, it's just hard to go wrong.
Perhaps if you totally ignored the timer and let the ham go waaaaaay too long in the oven ... or didn't pay attention when setting the oven temperature and set it waaaaaay too high ... you could mess it up. So let 's just not do that, okay? Other than that, I think it is just hard to go wrong with a great ham.
I suppose what makes a great ham can come down to a matter of preference, but I firmly believe a great ham is a bone-in whole ham. No pre-cut, spiral-cut, or any-cut stuff for us. No pressed-together-without-a-bone stuff either.
In our kitchen, it's got to be a whole bone-in ham. And while you can buy these in 'regular' grocery stores, I feel very blessed to have one of the best meat suppliers around at which to buy my meats Shuler Meats.
When my hubby Mark and I went to buy this particular ham, Mr. Wayne was kind enough to cut the hefty almost 25 pounder into two halves for us. That way we could enjoy it just 12 or so pounds at a time ... 'cause while I looooove ham leftovers, 25 pounds of ham at once would have been a tad much.
Once you've got a great ham, simply place the ham, fat and all, in a rimmed roasting pan ... no water, no oil, no nothing ... just a dry roasting pan ...
... and cover the ham with foil.
Then bake that beautiful ham for 30 minutes per pound in a 325 degree oven.
Now sure, you can get a little fancy ... and score the skin and fat, even making a diamond pattern or something if you'd like. You can stud the cuts with whole cloves. And I'm sure myriad other fancy things.
But us? We go simple. Just a ham and some foil popped in the oven.
And simple sure tastes good.
When there's 30 minutes left in the ham's baking time, make the glaze by combining some brown sugar, fresh orange juice {or pineapple juice}, and ground cloves ...
... and mixing it up until it forms a thick paste.
Remove the ham from the oven, slice off the fat so the brown sugar glaze can reach and flavor the meat itself ...
Very loosely re-cover the glazed ham with foil and continue baking for the last 30 minutes of the baking time.
Then if you're like me, wait very impatiently for that last 30 minutes to pass ... just waiting and waiting to dive into that moist and juicy meat. Jussssst about the time you can't stand it any more, it will be done.
And believe me, you'll have a beautiful Baked Ham with Brown Sugar Glaze ready to grace your table and satisfy your tummies.
And see? As my mother-in-law said, there's truly nothing to it.
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Yield: varies based on size of your ham
Baked Ham with Brown Sugar Glaze
Follow a few simple steps to bake a moist, juicy, and flavorful ham with brown sugar glaze. It's easier than you think!
prep time: 15 Mcook time: 30 Min per pound total time: varies
ingredients:
- 1 fully cooked, bone-in ham {whole or half a ham}, any size
- 3/4 c. brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
- 1 T. pineapple juice or fresh orange juice
instructions:
How to cook Baked Ham with Brown Sugar Glaze
- Place ham in a rimmed roasting pan and cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes per pound. {So, for example, a 5 lb. ham would bake for 2 1/2 hours. An 8 lb. ham would bake for 4 hours, etc.}
- One half hour {30 minutes} before the ham baking time is done, make the glaze by mixing the brown sugar, cloves, and fruit juice to form a paste.
- Remove ham from the oven and slice off the skin and fat. Spread brown sugar glaze all over the ham.
- Loosely re-cover ham with aluminum foil and return to oven. Continue baking for the remaining 30 minutes of the baking time.
- Let stand, covered, for 10 minutes before slicing to serve.
Got ham leftovers? You might also enjoy these other tasty ham dishes:
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