This Baked Ham with Orange Honey Glaze will be a perfect centerpiece for any holiday dinner. Juicy, tender ham baked in the oven and glazed with an amazing orange glaze. The ham glaze is made with orange marmalade, Dijon mustard, honey, fresh orange, cinnamon, and cloves.
If you want to try some more ham recipes and another ham glaze option, check out our Cherry Glazed Ham and don’t miss the ham leftover recipes.
Baked Ham
Turkey might dominate Thanksgiving almost completely but any other time, I am all for ham. I would choose ham over turkey any day but my family demands traditional turkey for Thanksgiving.
Since I’m outnumbered, I give my family what they want and I save ham for many other occasions. Ham is so flavorful, juicy, tender, and of course, there is glaze. Glaze takes ham from ordinary to extraordinary.
This Orange Honey Baked Ham is fantastic, it tastes just like Christmas. I’ve spiced up the glaze with cinnamon and cloves for that special holiday flavor burst.
Not to mention how easy it is to prepare, as long as you get the one that is already fully cooked.
What Ham To Choose
Most common ham that is available in grocery stores is called city ham. It’s fully cooked, comes with or without bone, and most are spiral cut. This ham can be bought as a whole or a half.
When choosing ham, I prefer to go for the bone-in ham when available, because it has a little more flavor and is actually more tender. That’s because it retains some of the fatty membrane around the bone.
City ham is a breeze to prepare because it’s already cooked. The goal is to get flavor infused into it with glaze and re-heat it through to the right temperature.
So for this recipe, I recommend the fully cooked, spiral sliced, bone-in ham. Boneless will work just as well and having it spiral cut will just make it easier on you.
Ham Glaze Ingredients:
After you choose the perfect ham for your holiday dinner, you need to grab the ingredients for the best ham glaze.
Orange marmalade – get the one you enjoy eating the most because the taste will translate into the glaze.
Honey – same as marmalade, the taste of honey should be something you like.
Dijon – make sure to use Dijon mustard or another gourmet mustard, not yellow mustard.
Garlic – for the best results, peel and press fresh garlic cloves.
Orange – use one ripe, medium orange and you will need the juice and the zest.
Spices – you will need ground cinnamon and ground gloves.
How To Make Ham Glaze
This glaze is amazing and perfect for the holiday ham. It’s really easy to prepare in about 15 minutes.
Simply combine all the ingredients for the glaze in a sauce pot and whisk together until fully combined.
Bring the mixture to simmer over medium heat and let it simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring often.
Some of the liquid will cook out and the glaze will be thicker.
This recipe does make enough glaze for a whole ham. If you have ham glaze leftover, you can use it for dipping.
Cooking Instructions:
Once you have the glaze done, preheat the oven to 325°. Set a rack inside the roasting pan and place a sheet of aluminum foil on top of the rack that is big enough to wrap the ham. Note, you may need to use a couple of sheet of foil depending on the size of the ham.
Take ham out of the package and discard the packet of glaze that came with it. Add a couple of spoonfuls of glaze on the bottom of the foil and place the ham on top of the glaze, flat side down.
Use about half the glaze and spoon it over the ham, all over the top and sides and let it seep a little between the cuts. Reserve remaining glaze for later. Wrap ham tightly in foil and bake for about an hour covered. (Check the times below.)
Take ham out of the oven and open the foil. Raise oven temperature to 400°. Glaze the ham all over and put it back in the oven, uncovered, for about 20-30 more minutes. The internal temperature close to the bone should be 140° when it’s ready.
Take out the ham and let it rest for a few minutes before serving. You can glaze it a little more if you wish.
How long to bake ham:
Since the ham is already fully cooked, the goal is to simply re-heat it throughout.
Baking ham for about 15 minutes per pound at 325º should do the trick. Bake time slightly varies if baking half or whole ham.
When calculating bake time, estimate 15-20 minutes per pound for half ham that’s 5-8 lbs. Estimate 10-15 minutes per pound for whole ham that’s 10-14 lbs.
Most importantly, internal temperature should be at 140° closest to the bone. (For boneless, measure it in the center of the thickest part.)
For the sticky, beautiful glaze on the outside, about 20-30 minutes before ham is done, increase the oven temperate to 400° and bake uncovered with remaining glaze.
**Note: If your ham is labeled “cook before eating,” cook ham at 350° until internal temperature reaches 160°.
Orange Honey Glazed Baked Ham
Ingredients
- 8-10 lb fully cooked, bone-in, spiral sliced ham
Glaze:
- 8 oz orange marmalade
- 6 garlic cloves pressed
- 4 Tbsp Grey Poupon Dijon mustard
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 Naval orange Zest and juice
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Note: If you did not get spiral sliced ham, use uncut one and just score skin on the top and sides of the ham with a knife. Make cuts across the skin that are about 1/4-1/2 inch deep, forming diamond shapes.
Glaze:
- Combine ingredients for the glaze in a sauce pot and whisk until evenly combined. Bring the mixture to simmer over medium heat.
- Let it simmer, stirring often, for about 10 minutes. Some of the liquid will cook off and the glaze will be thickened. Take off heat.
Baked Ham:
- Preheat oven to 325°
- Place a rack inside a roasting pan and add a couple of cups of water to the bottom of the pan.
- Take ham out of the package and discard the packet of glaze that came with it. Place ham on a couple of sheets of aluminum foil and glaze it all over with about half the glaze. Reserve remaining glaze for later.
- Wrap ham tightly in foil and place on the rack inside the roasting pan (flat side down if using half ham). Bake for about an hour covered.
- Take ham out of the oven and open the foil. Raise oven temperature to 400°.
- Glaze the ham all over and put it back in the oven, uncovered, for about 20-30 more minutes. The internal temperature close to the bone should be 140° when it’s ready.
- Take out the ham and let it rest for a few minutes before serving.
Notes
- Since the ham is already fully cooked, the goal is to simply re-heat it throughout.
- Baking ham for about 15 minutes per pound at 325º should do the trick. Bake time slightly varies if baking half or whole ham.
- When calculating bake time, estimate 15-20 minutes per pound for half ham that’s 5-8 lbs. Estimate 10-15 minutes per pound for whole ham that’s 10-14 lbs.
- Most importantly, internal temperature should be at 140° closest to the bone.
- For the sticky, beautiful glaze on the outside, about 30 minutes before ham is done, increase the oven temperate to 400° and bake uncovered with remaining glaze.
- **Note: If your ham is labeled “cook before eating,” cook ham at 350° until internal temperature reaches 160°.
Nutrition
Susan says
This glaze was delicious! My 2 year old granddaughter who doesn’t like ham ate two helpings of “Mimi’s ham”!
LyubaB says
So glad you liked it! 🙂