Brown sugar glazed ham is an easy, flavorful recipe for juicy ham with a sweet and salty, caramelized outside, perfect to serve to a crowd for a holiday meal.

Ham is a holiday meal staple, and this simple recipe gives you all the tools to glaze your own at home for big flavor and a satisfying and delicious end product.

A perfectly cooked ham, covered in glaze is garnished by some parsley and orange slices on a white square dish on top of a blue with small white striped hand towel.

Homemade Glazed Ham Recipe

Which side of the holiday protein debate are you on: team turkey or team ham? Personally, I like a little bit of both on my plate, and if you're a ham lover, then this brown sugar glazed ham recipe is going to be right up your alley. To make it super-simple, you just start with an already cooked ham, add the flavorful glaze ingredients, and bake it for a few hours. If you want to start with an uncooked ham, you definitely can do that, but make sure the correct internal temperature is reached before serving to ensure it's properly cooked.

This recipe creates juicy, big-flavored, slightly sweet and salty slices of ham every time, and it's the perfect option for a holiday dinner where you have a big crowd to serve. And, it's the dish that keeps giving because glazed ham leftovers are seriously divine on rolls, sandwiches, or just by itself with other holiday fixin's. You'll love this easy, scrumptious, rich ham recipe that is a great recipe for any big gathering or holiday meal.

A perfectly cooked, browned ham is sitting in the middle of tin foil that covered it while cooking.

Do you have to glaze a ham?

Glazing a ham is optional, but I think it adds the best flavor and texture to the end product, and keeps the ham nice and moist. I love this glaze because it's a little sweet and a little savory and it goes so nicely with a salty ham.

How do I cook a precooked ham?

I love getting a precooked ham and glazing it to add more flavor and a caramelized texture to the outside. To cook it, preheat your oven to 325 degrees F., and add ⅓ of your glaze to the ham before wrapping it in foil and placing it in a baking dish in the oven. Cook it for about 15 minutes per pound of meat, until the internal temperature is 100 to 110 degrees F.

Remove from the oven, and increase the oven temp to 400 degrees F. Unwrap the foil, add another ⅓ of glaze, and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, until the glaze caramelizes. Remove from the oven, add the remaining glaze, and tent with foil for about 10 minutes before carving and serving the ham.

A white plate has a silver fork angled on it next to mashed potatoes that have butter melting on them, green beans, stuffing, and two slices of ham. The plate is on top of a skinny striped red and white towel.

Why is my ham tough?

Ham requires slow, long cooking in order for it to become really tender. It's a dense cut of meat, so low and slow is the way to go for juicy, tender, melt-in-your-mouth ham. A 15-pound precooked ham will take about 3 hours of cook time to get it glazed, heated, and ready to eat.

How do you keep a ham from drying out?

Using water, stock, or a glaze will help to keep ham moist. Also, covering it tightly with foil for the majority of the cook time helps to lock in moisture and keep the meat nice and tender.

The perfectly cooked, browned ham is sitting in the tinfoil that had covered it while being cooked and a hand is holding a sauce pan full of glaze that is cascading out of the pan and down the ham.

How to make glazed ham:

Whisk together the brown sugar, orange juice, honey, white vinegar, yellow mustard, onion powder, garlic powder, and cinnamon.
Cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves.
Brush ⅓ of glaze over the ham, and then tightly wrap it in the foil.
Bake the ham until heated through or the center registers 100 to 110 degrees F. Remove from the oven.
Unwrap the ham.
Brush another third of the glaze over the ham, and return the ham to the oven.
Remove from the oven, and brush on the last of the glaze.
Tent with foil, and let the ham rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving hot.