Easy Baked Ham Recipe

This Easy Baked Ham Recipe will earn a permanent spot on your holiday menu. A juicy ham recipe with the most addicting brown sugar and butter glaze that caramelizes on the ham. This is honestly one of our favorite holiday meals.

Why You’ll Love This Easy Baked Ham Recipe

Not only are we excited to share this Easy Baked Ham Recipe with you, we have lots of helpful tips and details to make this recipe look and taste it’s best!

However, if you’re ready to dive right into making this crazy delicious ham, scroll down to the recipe card or click the “jump to recipe” button above the first photo.

• Easy Holiday Recipe: We don’t just have to save ham for the holidays, but we seem to make it quite often. It feeds a crowd and it’s so easy to make.
• Affordable: A large ham like this one easily feeds up to 10 adults for just a few dollars a person.
• Nostalgic Flavor: For those of us that always had a holiday ham growing up, this baked ham delivers a nostalgic memory.

What Kind Of Ham Should I Buy?

We like using a bone-in ham because I it tends to be juicier, plus the presentation is on point. But you can also use a boneless ham for this recipe, it’s really what you prefer.

The brown butter glaze for this ham will also work on a spiral sliced ham, just follow the directions for cooking the ham on the packaging and use this brown butter glaze during the last 30 minutes of the cooking time.

If you’re oven is going to be tied up with a turkey or side dishes, try our Crock Pot Ham with peach glaze. Absolutely delicious and is always a crowd pleaser!

How To Make

Baked hams are one of those dinners that look so impressive when you put it on the table, but often people don’t realize how easy they are to make.

All you need to do is remove the tough skin (or rind) from your ham and score it. Run your knife along the bottom edge of the skin and run your fingers between the skin and the fat of the ham. The rind should remove fairly easily without much effort.

Score the ham by making a diamond pattern along the fat, about 1 inch diamonds work best. Of course it doesn’t have to be perfect, but we find that this size turns out looking beautiful.

Scoring the ham also creates crispy edges for the glaze to stick onto and caramelize. Literally my most favorite part of the ham, especially when the glaze is as tasty as this one is.

• STEP 1 – Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the rind, score the ham and place it on a roasting rack in a roasting pan. Pour the chicken broth into the bottom of a large roasting pan along with butter, garlic and bay leaves.
• STEP 2 – Cover the roasting pan with foil and bake for 2 hours, basting with the juices from the roasting. Remove the ham from the oven. Carefully remove the ham and rack from the roasting pan and place onto a heat safe surface.
• STEP 3 – Drain the juices into a pot and then place the ham and rack back onto the roasting pan. Cover the ham with foil to keep warm. Bring the liquid to a boil and let reduce for 5 minutes. The butter will darken and get brown during the cooking time. Whisk in the brown sugar and mustard and then remove from the heat.
• STEP 4 – Baste the ham with half of the glaze and return to the oven, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Remove the ham from the oven and baste again with the remaining glaze and bake another 20 minutes.
• STEP 5 – When the ham registers 160 degrees, remove the ham from the oven and place it on a board. Let the ham rest, covered with foil for at least 15 minutes before slicing.

The bottom of the baking pan is where the magic happens! We added a lot of butter to the bottom of the pan, chicken broth, garlic and a bay leaf. As the ham cooks, the juices will run down and add to the butter mixture which creates the glaze.

How Do You Slice Ham?

Once the ham is done, let it rest for 15 minutes tented with foil before slicing. Turn the ham on its side and slice to your desired thickness until you reach the bone in the center. Keep slicing the ham this way and then turn it over to the other side and slice the rest.

Alternately, you can stand the ham upright and carve down the bone into 3-4 inch thick pieces. Then cut those pieces into thinner slices. Either way works, it’s all what you feel the most comfortable doing.

You can also use a ham stand for easier slicing, but I don’t really feel like they are necessary. A sharp knife and a cutting board will work just fine!

One thing we know is that this glazed ham recipe is going to be on your permanent holiday menu! Recipes like a baked ham look so beautiful when serving, they always please a crowd. Add in the flavor or this buttery, brown sugar glaze and it’s a solid home run.

What Side Dishes Go Well With Ham?

We’ve got side dishes by the dozens here to share with you! Just head to our “Side Dish” menu and start browsing. We’ve got tons of recipes including casserole recipes, roasted vegetable recipes, and of course our favorite mashed potatoes.

AND if you end up having leftover ham, you have got to try our favorite Pasta Fazool recipe. Grandma’s recipes are always the best!

• Perfectly Creamy Mashed Potatoes
• Pineapple Upside down Stuffing Recipe
• Glazed Carrots and Brussels Sprouts
• Apple Rum Sweet Potatoes
• Creamed Spaghetti Squash Casserole with Bacon
• Buttered Carrots with Streusel Topping
• Grandma’s Best Stuffed Artichokes

Easy Baked Ham Recipe

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5 from 2 reviews

• Author: Dan
• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 3 hours
• Total Time: 3 hours 5 minutes
• Yield: 10 servings 1x

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This butter glazed Baked Ham is one of the easiest and most delicious ham recipes ever! Juicy and moist with a caramelized brown butter exterior!

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Ingredients

• 8–10 pound bone-in cooked ham
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 1/2 sticks butter, sliced
• 7–8 garlic cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• For The Glaze:
• Drippings and liquid from the roasting pan
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Pour the chicken broth into the bottom of a large roasting pan along with the slices of butter, garlic and bay leaves.
3. Remove the rind from the ham (optional), then score the ham into a diamond shape pattern. Place the ham on a baking rack and into the roasting pan. Cover the roasting pan with foil and bake for 2 hours, basting with the juices from the roasting pan after the first hour.
4. Remove the ham from the oven. Carefully remove the ham and rack from the roasting pan and place onto a heat safe surface. Drain the juices from the pan into a pot (discarding the bay leaves), then place the ham and rack back onto the roasting pan. Cover the ham with foil to keep warm.
5. Bring the liquid to a boil and let reduce for 5 minutes the butter will darken and get brown during the cooking time. Whisk in the brown sugar and mustard and then remove from the heat.
6. Baste the ham with half of the glaze and return the ham to the oven, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Remove the ham from the oven and baste again with the other half of the glaze and bake for another 20 minutes.
7. When the ham registers 160 degrees on a thermometer, remove the ham from the oven and place it on a board. Let the ham rest, covered with foil for at least 15 minutes before slicing.

Recipe Notes

The cooking time in this recipe is for a 10 pound ham, adjust the cooking time higher or lower depending on the size ham you have. The usual cooking time is about 20 minutes per pound, until a thermometer registers 160 degrees.

• Category: Dinner
• Method: Oven
• Cuisine: American