This Maple Glazed Spiral Ham recipe rivals any store-bought glazed ham and at a fraction of the price. Save yourself some money and make your own spiral ham at home!
Serve this easy glazed ham with Scalloped Potatoes and Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic and Goat Cheese for a delicious holiday meal.
Spiral sliced ham is one of the easiest main dishes you can prepare for a large group on Easter or for any holiday buffet. This convenient cut comes to us fully cooked and sliced so it’s just a matter of warming it through and adding a glaze. If you’ve had issues with dry, lifeless ham, this recipe will be a game changer.
The method I’m sharing today ensures a super moist and tender ham every single time. If your ham came with a glaze packet, toss it and make the simple but insanely delicious homemade maple glaze recipe instead.
Table of contents
FAQ and Valerie’s Tips
Bake a spiral ham at 325 degrees F for 10 to 14 minutes per pound or until it reaches an internal temperature of 140 degrees F when tested with an instant read thermometer. After adding the glaze, increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees F and return the ham to the oven for an additional 10 minutes to crisp the edges and caramelize the glaze.
The most important step you can take to ensure a moist ham is a low oven temperature. Remember, a spiral sliced ham is fully cooked and only requires a gentle reheating. Bake the ham low and slow at no more than 325 degrees F. and don’t be tempted to increase the oven temperature to speed things along. Also, be sure your ham is completely enclosed in foil for the initial cooking time.
Completely enclosing your spiral ham in heavy duty foil prevents it from drying out while cooking and also ensures the sweet glaze stays on the ham and not the bottom of the roasting pan.
When deciding how much ham you need for your group you should count on about ⅓ to ½ pound per person for a bone-in ham spiral ham. For instance, an 8 pound ham is plenty to serve 16. I always get a larger ham than I need because I’m all about having lots of leftovers, especially when it comes to ham.
Ingredient Notes
- Spiral sliced ham -During the holiday seasons you’ll find spiral sliced hams available at most major grocery store chains. I highly recommend the Kirkland brand Applewood Smoked Cured Spiral Ham available at Costco. This is the brand I typically use for my Easter ham and we love it.
- Pure maple syrup – The basis for the glaze is pure maple syrup. We aren’t talking pancake syrup which is mainly comprised of corn syrup. We’re talking 100% pure maple syrup. Check Trader Joe’s or your local big box store for a better price.
- Stone ground mustard – The rustic, graininess of stone ground or whole grain mustard adds a great element and helps balance the sweetness in the maple glaze. I love Inglehoffer Stone Ground Mustard but there are lots of good choices out there. You can substitute Dijon mustard if you’d like.
- Brown sugar – Either light or dark brown sugar will work just fine.
- Cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves – Just a touch of each give the maple glaze classic holiday flavor.
How to Make Glazed Spiral Ham
- Remove the ham from the packaging and place it, cut side down, on a large piece of heavy duty foil. You need the extra thickness and sturdiness of heavy duty foil for this task so pick some up if you don’t have any on hand.
- Enclose the ham completely in the foil. Be sure the opening is on the top so you’ll have easy access when it’s time to glaze the ham. Place the foil wrapped ham in a large roasting pan and transfer it to a lower rack in a preheated 325 degree F oven. Bake for 10 to 14 minutes per pound or until heated through.
Glazing a Spiral Ham
- Add the brown sugar, pure maple syrup, stone ground mustard, cinnamon, nutmeg and a dash of ground cloves to a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Bring the glaze mixture to a simmer for just a couple of minutes and remove it from the heat.
- Remove the ham from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Carefully peel back the foil, creating a foil bed for the ham, and pour about ¾ of the glaze over the top and sides.
- Return the uncovered ham to the oven for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, or just until the glaze has caramelized (watch it carefully to avoid burning). Remove it from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes. Spoon any glaze that has been captured in the foil over the ham as it rests and then brush all over with the reserved glaze.
Slice and Serve the Ham
Transfer the ham to a cutting board to slice and serve. It will slice up easily and beautifully in a manner of minutes and you can get on with your holiday meal.
Storage Tips
Transfer any leftover ham to a plastic storage bag or other airtight container and refrigerate within two hours. Use refrigerated ham within 3 to 4 days. For longer storage, wrap the ham in plastic wrap and then in a layer of foil or a freezer-safe plastic storage bag and freeze for up to 1 to 2 months.
How to Save the Ham Bone
Package up and refrigerate that meaty ham bone right after slicing your ham. A leftover ham bone can be refrigerated for 3 to 4 days in an airtight container or wrapped tightly in foil. For longer storage, wrap the ham bone in plastic wrap and then in a tight layer of foil and freeze it for up to 3 months. Allow your frozen ham bone to fully thaw in the refrigerator overnight before adding it to recipes.
There’s nothing more comforting than a pot of Baked Beans from Scratch or Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup in the days following the holiday.
Leftover Ham Recipes
I believe the best part of serving ham are the leftovers waiting for you the next day. There are SO many things you can do with leftover ham. Here are some of my favorites.
- Ham and Asparagus Strata
- Ham Fried Rice
- Instant Pot 15 Bean Soup
- Ham and Cheese Overnight Breakfast Enchiladas
- Slow Cooker Ham and Bean Soup
- Ham and Cheese Sliders
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Maple Glazed Spiral Ham
Ingredients
- 7 to 9 pound bone-in fully-cooked spiral sliced ham
- ½ cup pure maple syrup
- ½ cup brown sugar, light or dark
- 2 tablespoons stone-ground or whole-grain mustard
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 pinch ground cloves, no more than ⅛ teaspoon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Remove ham from packaging and enclose it securely, flat side down, in a very large piece of heavy duty foil. Close the foil so that it will open from the top. Place it flat side down in a large baking dish or roasting pan and transfer to the preheated oven. Bake for 10 to 14 minutes per pound or until heated through and the internal temperature of the ham reads 140 degrees F when measured with an instant read thermometer.
- Meanwhile, whisk together glaze ingredients in a saucepan over MEDIUM heat. Bring to a low boil then reduce the heat to LOW and allow to simmer for 3 to 4 minutes or until thickened and syrupy. Remove from the heat and set aside. The glaze will continue to thicken as it rests.
- After the initial cooking time, remove the pan from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees F. Open the foil to expose the ham and pour about ¾ of the glaze evenly over the top and sides. Return the uncovered pan to the oven for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, or just until the glaze has caramelized (watch carefully to avoid burning).
- Remove from the oven and allow it to rest in the foil for 10 minutes. Spoon any glaze that has been captured in the foil over the ham as it rests and then brush it all over with the reserved glaze.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is an estimate not a guarantee. For more accurate results, please refer to the labels on your ingredients at home.
Glaze recipe adapted from Dave Lieberman via Food Network
More Holiday Main Dish Ideas
This post was originally published on March 31, 2015. It has been updated with new text and images.
This was the perfect glaze! It tasted wonderfully. I bought maple syrup just for this recipe and I’m thankful I did. Family loved it. It caramelized beautifully. I will only make this glaze for now on. Thank you.
This ham was on our Easter menu too! So happy you loved it, Star. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. 🙂
Do you put the glaze on the ham and cook for additional 10 minutes after it reaches a 140 internal temp? Or at what point do you add it?
Yes. Once the ham reaches 140 degrees F, you can open the foil, add the glaze, and cook if for a short time just to caramelize the glaze a bit. Hope this helps!
This was a fantastic and easy recipe to use and follow. While I did not have a Kirkland ham ( I will look for one next time to try) the recipe was great. The ham was moist. I did not have maple syrup so I used honey instead and I did not have any cloves.. This was a hit by all. Next time I will use maple syrup. Made this for Christmas dinner yesterday.
Can you slice the ham after purchasing, keeping it tight and rewrap it, adding the glaze almost at the end of the cooking time.
I am serving a large buffet and trying to cut down on slicing prior to the meal.’
Hi Marian. That’s pretty much the method that is stated in the recipe so I think you’re on the right track! I think it will work out just fine.
I’m unable to go to the grocery store to find any of the delicious ingredients (aside from the ham.) Generic and Kraft is all that I have right now. Annnywaaay….I’m going to try the generic and whatever brand and see what happens. My Italian Mom always told me that if doesn’t look like it’s going to work, add more garlic. We’ll see. 🙂 Happy Easter.
Excellent recipe! The ham cooked perfectly and was super moist! Thank you for the recipe!
Valerie Suggestion you put the Pinterest pin up at the top or so it appears on the photo. The one you have does not take the photo with it. I tried several ways and I won’t post a pin without a photo. I finally found your “click here to pin it” but that was after I had given up but happened to come back.
Hi Barbara. I just recently updated how recipes are shared on the site and I can’t seem to recreate what was happening for you. There are sharing icons at the very beginning and end of every post on my desktop site and a bar at the bottom of my mobile site. In addition I include the vertical Pinterest image that links directly to the Pinterest pin to make it easy to repin. If you try again and still have this issue it would be helpful for me to know what device and browser you are using to access the post. Thanks!
Ok.. just came back and tried it again — the top pin worked this time (I tried it 5 times before) but I have to say the photo it brings up is not appealing nor does it say anything about what it is. There is no Pin to click on any other photo. I did pin from my browser again this time and got a number of photos to choose from, but not last time. Probably a glitch, who knows. I am using Chrome on a computer- not a phone. The good thing is…. I got the recipe and photo I wanted after all! Thanks!!!
Hi, has anyone tried this in a hot air fryer or turkey roaster? I won’t be able to use an oven.