Brown Sugar Mustard Glazed Ham is the perfect tasty centrepiece for your Christmas dinner table! We guarantee you will fall in love with this glaze.
Alongside our Churro Nutella Christmas Tree and our Garlic Herb Butter Roast Turkey, this Brown Sugar Mustard Glazed Ham recipe is one of our absolute favourite Christmas dishes.
BAKED HAM
More often than not, trying to bake a ham at home for Christmas results in a dry, bland tasting ham creating more stress than it’s worth. Well, I’m here to prove that you don’t have to be intimidated by baked ham!
We like to think that we have perfected the art of Christmas ham after banging out our classic Maple Glazed Ham and Honey Baked Ham to raving reviews. That’s we decided to concoct a fool-proof baked ham recipe which is guaranteed to provide you with delicious, juicy results.
Follow this recipe and you will have the perfect salty, sweet ham with charred, crispy edges and a mouth-watering glaze to serve your friends and family for Christmas.
HOW TO MAKE GLAZE FOR HAM
The best glaze for a baked ham will usually contain either honey, brown sugar or maple syrup. The saltiness of the ham and the sweetness of the glaze complement each other perfectly. All three of these ingredients give-off a dark, syrupy consistency which works perfectly as a glaze.
For this glaze, I went for a combination of butter, brown sugar, honey, crushed garlic cloves and dijon mustard, giving the glaze a tangy kick.
From here, you’re free to improvise if you’d like to continue adding flavours. You can add spices like traditional ground cinnamon or ground cloves. If that’s not your thing, leave them out.
Most recipes call for decorating the ham with whole cloves between each cut. Personally, I didn’t appreciate chewing on hidden cloves every few bites; however, you can add them if you wish. I believe this brown sugar mustard glazed ham has enough flavour without the addition of cloves, but each to their own!
HOW TO COOK GLAZED HAM
Believe it or not, the perfect ham only requires three steps:
- Remove rind –- so easy, you can peel it off!
- Baste ham with a super easy Brown Sugar Mustard Glaze
- Bake, basting every 15 minutes!
WHAT IS THE BEST CUT OF HAM TO BAKE?
For the tastiest results, aim for a fully cooked bone-in ham. When cooking our brown sugar mustard glazed ham, we went for a ‘half leg’. To be more specific, we used the shank end of the leg.
The other type of ‘half leg’ which is the butt end (shaped like a dome), contains part of the hip bone and is harder to carve. It has less meat, although it’s very tender and packs a lot of flavour.
If you want value for your money, go for the type I have pictured here.
HAM RIND ON OR OFF?
For some reason, this is the most controversial step — taking the rind off. In testing with the rind still on, I found the rind became chewy and gummy as the ham cooled and tough to eat.
Also, the glaze flavours stopped at the rind with no flavours seeping into the fleshy part of the ham.
For this reason, I suggest trimming the rind off. Fully cooked ham rind does not crisp. We tried broiling, baking at high heat and deep frying.
HOW TO REMOVE HAM RIND
When you buy your ham, you’ll notice right underneath the rind there is a gorgeous layer of fat. DON’T trim this away. This fat melds with your glaze and turns into a beautiful crispy, sticky coating and is DIVINE.
Removing ham rind:
- Cut a line through the skin around the shank end.
- Insert a sharp knife between the rind and fat and run it along to detach both layers.
- Using your fingers, gently separate the rind from the fat. You can insert your hand deeper into the ham to keep detaching it so it’s easier to peel the rind off.
- Peel off and discard the rind.
- Run knife, cutting into the fat layer about ¼-inch deep to lightly score diamond pattern all over the surface.
For a full video demonstration, head to the bottom of the blog.
Once your ham is in the oven, it’s time to get started on your glaze.
TIPS FOR THE BEST GLAZED HAM
My biggest piece of advice is not to simmer the glaze for too long, as you will end up with a hard caramel once it begins to cool. It also becomes extremely difficult to slather onto the outside of the ham when glazing. You want to bring it to a gentle simmer and take it off the heat quickly.
I added the pan juices from the ham into the glaze once there were pan juices to use, and WOW! My ham wasn’t salty though, so make sure you do some taste testing before adding the juices and add however much you need to achieve your preferred flavour.
HOW TO BASTE A HAM
Glaze, baste, baste some more and glaze. GO NUTS with it. The more the merrier, and ’tis the season, right?
I wish smell-ernet was a thing because this brown sugar mustard glazed ham smells unbelievable!
My favourite part is slicing through my glazed ham like butter and watching the juices burst out with each slice. THERE’S NO DRY HAM HERE!
Happy Holidays everyone!
WHAT TO SERVE WITH GLAZED HAM
Whether you’re making this for yourself or bringing it to a holiday gathering, these side dishes will complete your lunch or dinner:
Garlic Parmesan Scalloped Potatoes
Honey Dijon Apple Bacon Cranberry Salad
Easy Soft Dinner Rolls
Brown Sugar Mustard Glazed Ham Recipe Video
Try our Honey Baked Ham or our Maple Glazed Ham!
Brown Sugar Mustard Glazed Ham
Ingredients
- 8-10 pound bone-in cooked ham
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup unsalted butter reduce fat or full fat
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup honey
- 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 4 cloves garlic smashed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300°F | 150°C and arrange a rack in the lower third. Remove any plastic packaging or netting from the ham. Trim away the rind and discard. Set the ham aside to rest at room temperature for 1-2 hours.
- Line a baking tray or dish with several sheets of aluminium foil or parchment paper if you prefer (it will make cleanup a lot easier).
- Remove the rind or skin of the ham (refer to steps in post), ensuring you leave the fat on. Using a sharp knife score a 1-inch-wide diamond pattern (don’t cut more than ¼ inch deep) over the entire ham. Place the ham in the baking tray; pour ⅓ cup of water into the base of the pan and cover the ham with two pieces of foil or parchment paper and bake for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat the butter in a small pot or saucepan over medium heat until golden browned. Add in the brown sugar, honey, mustard, cinnamon and cloves, stirring to mix together well until the brown sugar has completely dissolved, (about 2 minutes).
- Reduce heat to low and add in the garlic. Allow it to become fragrant, cooking for a further minute or two until the glaze just begins to simmer, then set it aside and let cool to lukewarm (the glaze should be the consistency of room-temperature honey).
- After 30 minutes baking time, carefully remove the ham from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 425°F | 220°C. Discard the foil or parchment paper and pour ⅓ of the glaze all over the ham, brushing in between the cuts to evenly cover. Return to the oven and bake uncovered for 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, brush with another third of the glaze and some of the pan juices, and repeat again after 15 minutes more minutes of baking until a dark golden-brown crust has formed, (about 30 minutes total). For added depth of flavour, mix some of the ham pan juices together with the glaze in the pot which will help keep it runny enough for brushing. If your crust is still pink after there suggested baking time, turn on your broiler (or oven grill), and allow it to broil for 2-5 minutes, while keeping an eye on it so it doesn't burn from the sugar.
- Let the ham rest 10-20 minutes before slicing.
jorge says
Love it I’ve been useing it for about 2 yrs now every one just loves it
Emma says
Karina this recipe was so easy for a noob like me to follow and it was the most delicious meal i’ve ever made! Thank you so much for the recipe. I will be using this every year during the holiday season ♥️
Sandra says
Hi Karina, I cook but am not a fan of ham. One year I decided to give your ham recipe a go as everyone else in my family likes it. They no longer like it, they love it, and so do I! Thank you for sharing. This is now our family’s go-to ham recipe. Delicious!
Karina says
Hi Sandra, I’m so happy to hear that my ham recipe has become a family favourite for you all. It warms my heart to know that it brought joy to your table. Thank you for giving it a try and sharing your wonderful experience.
Seneida says
Thanks so much! I enjoy cooking new things! Tho I have cooked ham many times this recipe is by far the yummiest, and easiest!
Lucy says
Best recipe ever
Sue Cascio says
This glaze made our ham come out DELISH! Super easy and even better the next day. I had to cook at 350° since I had 2 other sides in the same even, but it came out perfect (just had to cook it longer).
Thanks for a keeper of a recipe!
Joannie says
This recipe was so delicious. My family loved it!
Wendy says
OMG! I had a plain ordinary pre-cooked ham from Costco and decided to “spiff it up a little”! This is the BEST recipe of anything I think I’ve ever made, especially from the millions on Pinterest! We all remember licking spoons when making cakes and cookies….I was constantly finding excuses for that, and “just another taste”! (And I NEVER sample what I’m cooking!)
It was so good I sliced up the whole ham and marinated all the pieces! Thank you!
Jessica says
Omg, delicious 🤤 I used just a small ham (no bone) for two people and used this glaze and it came out AMAZING. Will be saving this recipe.
T says
Here on NYE 2022 and used this recipe- amazing results. We had some pinkness in the fat still remaining so I cheated a bit by drizzling honey over the ham at the end 5mins which darkened perfectly. The glaze was still so amazing (the glaze is a winner and I wish I made more for dipping in everything in!) This is a recipe we are comimg back to for sure!! My 11 and 4year olds really enjoyed this too.
MaryAnn Coy says
Hi, We used this recipe together for our Christmas Dinner yesterday and it was excellent. I have oven roasted many hams over the year from whole brined and smoked hams for pigs we raised when I was growing up, to small canned hams I cooked when I was single and working the holidays. I’ve done more than a few in the slow cooker, seethed in pineapple juice. or even in the microwave on occasion when I had no access to an oven.. But this years ham at 12 lb, was too large for anything but roasted in the oven. Fortunately it was a spiral sliced ham with the rind and excess fat trimmed. I have always oven roasted using just the pan juices and I’ve never try sealing it in foil for moistness. This is the first time I’ve ever used a glaze on ham. It cam out almost perfectly. Perhaps if I had used the broiler unit to finish but I’d never used the broiler on this stove. It’s taken me a year and a half to get use to the stove top and oven’s idiosyncrasies, so I didn’t want to ruin things by using a unit I was not used too! The glaze was perfect, just not as crispy like a broiler would make it, maybe next year. I made a few changes to the glaze used pineapple from a can of rings I toothpicked to the ham (I love these Pineapple rings). Used dark brown sugar, substituted Maple Syrup for honey, since honey is so very expensive this year, added a 20 Oz can of drained crushed pineapple juice, and, a half teaspoon of ginger to the spices. Basted it at the beginning, at 1 hour, 2hours and 21/2hours. Turned up to 400°. Basted with pan juices at 15 and 30 minutes. Removed from the oven, and let set for a few minutes then removed to a serving platter,. The slices opened out nicely so my husband poured the pan juices over the spices and top of the ham. Then let it sit for it’s 20 minutes rest. I wanted a complimentary sauce to serve on the ham, but I couldn’t find just what what I was looking for. So I made another batch of glaze, without garlic this time, and decreased the spices by half. I made the same changes as the first time. Including adding the 20 Oz of crushed pineapple. I reduced it by half but it was still too thin and my husband was carving so I added a 2Tb cornstarch to 2 Tb cold water slurry and added it to the sauce. That made it nice and thick. We tried the ham with just the glaze and it was excellent, with the.sauce it was also excellent. Flavor is incredible this recipe is a keeper. For sides, since the ham was so rich, we kept it very simple, with baked sweet potatoes and steamed asparagus. Mince Pie ala mode for dessert. A very yummy Christmas dinner. Will be saving this recipe to use again.