Baked Ham with Bourbon Orange Glaze
This post is sponsored by Sprouts Farmers Market. As always, all opinions and recipe are my own.
Elevate your holiday Baked Ham by adding an easy ham glaze that involves bourbon and orange. Perfect for Easter, Christmas dinner and any occasion when you’re feeding a lot of mouths, this baked ham recipe looks fancy but is easy to make. Makes one 11 lb. ham.
Ham has been a holiday tradition in our family since… forever. And since we’re hosting family this Easter, I wanted to revamp one of our family favorites.
Here’s the thing: Our family’s ham has never had a fancy glaze like this one does because, well, ham is de-freaking-licious on its own.
But my friends from Sprouts Farmers Market approached me a few months ago to see if I would be interested in making a super awesome and delicious glaze for a ham, and I said, “Absolutely!”
Why I love this recipe:
Whether you’re hosting a holiday dinner or attending, there are a lot of occasions where a Baked Ham is the perfect centerpiece to your meal. (Hello, Easter ham, Christmas ham, anytime-you-want-it ham.)
We’re highlighting a pre-smoked spiral cut ham and adding the most decadent glaze to add even more flavor.
Instead of using pineapple juice and brown sugar, like a lot of ham glazes do, we feature a combination of orange, honey and bourbon for the ultimate sweet-savory-sticky flavor.
It’s a bourbon glazed ham, y’all.
Recipes to serve alongside this ham: Mediterranean Scalloped Potatoes / Spinach Madeline / Toasted Pine Nut Green Beans / Bacon Collard Greens / Quick Rosemary Drop Biscuits / Homemade Mashed Potatoes
Need holiday entertaining assistance? Head on over to my Entertaining Recipe Index for more recipe ideas!
What you’ll need to make this recipe:
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- A rimmed baking sheet or a roasting pan
- Aluminum foil
- Saucepan
- Pastry brush
- Digital meat thermometer
Let’s talk ingredients!
In addition to the tools above, you’re going to need some ingredients to make this recipe, too! Chances are, you might already have some of them in your fridge or pantry. Scroll down to the recipe card for the full measurements and instructions.
In addition to these tools, you’re going to need some ingredients to make this ham recipe with an easy ham glaze, too.
- Bone-in spiral sliced ham — while you can make this recipe with any size spiral ham, keep in mine that you will need more or less glaze accordingly. My ham was a little bigger than 11 lbs., for reference.
- Orange juice — fresh squeezed is the best, but you can grab a container at the store, too. Just be sure there’s no pulp.
- Honey — use whatever you’ve got on hand. I always choose local honey if I can get my hands on it. This adds sweetness to our glaze, and there is no substitution for it.
- Mustard — we use a combination of honey dijon mustard and stone ground mustard here for balance. I would not swap one for the other because they bring in slightly different flavors.
- Unsalted butter — this adds some much-needed creaminess to our glaze, and there is no substitution for it.
- Bourbon — it needs to be drinkable, but not fancy. (So please, please, please do not use a sipping bourbon or whiskey for this glaze.) You may also use your favorite type of whiskey if you prefer that to bourbon.
- Navel oranges — we need the zest of these beauties! You could also juice them to use as the orange juice, but you’ll probably need more than two get enough juice.
- Worcestershire sauce — this gives a little savory umami flavor to our bourbon ham glaze without overwhelming it.
How to make a Glazed Ham
Bake the ham.
Preheat the oven, and line a large sheet pan with aluminum foil. These will be used to wrap and protect the ham, but they’ll also prevent the ham juices from leaking all over your sheet pan. I like to use 3-4 layers.
Remove the ham from its packaging, and place face down on the prepared baking sheet. You may also use a roasting pan for this step.
Cover the ham loosely with the foil, ensuring that the foil ends are crimped so juices don’t leak out. (If they do leak out, it’s not the end of the world, but it can make cleanup a bit more challenging.)
Depending on the size of your ham, the bake time will change, so you’ll have to do some math.
The packaging instructs to bake the ham 7-10 minutes per pound. The internal temperature needs to reach 120°F. Take this with an instant read digital thermometer.
So, for example, mine was 11 1/3 lbs., so I baked it for 100 minutes and checked the internal temperature to ensure it was up to temp.)
When the ham has finished this bake, remove from the oven.
How to make glaze for ham with bourbon and orange
When the ham is almost done with its initial bake, make the glaze in a small saucepan.
Combine the orange juice, honey, mustards, butter, bourbon, orange zest and Worcestershire sauce. Whisk until smooth.
Cook over medium heat and stir constantly. Stirring ensures the glaze, which calls for several sticky ingredients, won’t burn, and will instead bubble and cook down.
It’s going to take 20-25 minutes for the glaze to cook down, so buckle in. It’ll deepen in color and become thicker.
Cooking it for this long will ensure the alcohol cooks off, but you’ll have a little bourbon flavor in the glaze before it goes on the ham.
Glaze the ham and finish cooking.
Turn up the oven’s temperature.
Remove the foil from the top of the ham, and brush the prepared glaze on the ham.
Bake for 1-1.5 hours, brushing with the glaze every 15 minutes. If any parts of the ham start browning quickly or appear like they could burn, cover loosely with foil.
After the final glazing, bake the ham for an additional 30 minutes, or until it has become caramelized.
Remove from the oven, let cool and then carve before serving!
Erin’s Easy Entertaining Tips
Who wouldn’t love to serve this dish as a centerpiece for their holiday table?
Whether you’re hosting family for Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter, this ham recipe is a solid one to make.
Here are some ways to make ti easier on yourself:
- Make the ham glaze in advance. Store it in the fridge in an airtight container, and when you’re baking the ham, simply remove it from the fridge to come to room temperature before brushing on.
- Purchase your ham early. Sprouts carries holiday hams well in advance of holidays, so get yours at your earliest convenience.
- Adjust the recipe as needed. My ham was an 11 lb. ham, but you might have purchased a larger one. If so, consider making some more of the glaze so you have more than enough. If your ham is 5-6 lbs., consider cutting the glaze recipe in half.
Frequently Asked Questions
Y’all know I adore Sprouts, and I would adore them and their products even if I didn’t work with them.
That said, their ham should absolutely be on your holiday shopping list because it’s gourmet cured and packaged in its own natural juices for rich, hickory smoked flavor.
In addition to this, it’s always fresh and never frozen, and already spiral sliced. (So you don’t have to worry about cutting it—because that’s something I know I’ve fretted about.)
The best part about it is all you have to do is heat and serve it. I’d love for you to make this Bourbon Orange Glaze of mine, but honestly, the ham is delicious on its own.
If you’re making a bone-in ham, plan for ½ to ¾ lb. per person. Keep in mind that you’re estimating for the bone’s weight, and not just how much everyone will eat. For me, I estimated ¾ lb. per person because I’d rather have too much than not enough.
If you’re making a boneless ham, plan for ¼ and ½ lb. of meat per person.
Obviously, it depends on your group just how big the ham needs to be (because some groups are into the sides, while others are super into the meat), but you can use these parameters as a guideline.
When in doubt, I always purchase a larger ham because it stores well, can be used in leftovers like Ham Goo Sandwiches and even freezes well.
Depending on the size of your ham, the bake time will change, so you’ll have to do some math. The packaging instructs to bake the ham 7-10 minutes per pound. The internal temperature needs to reach 120°F for it to be safe to eat.
My spiral ham’s heating instructions said to bake the ham for 7-10 minutes per pound.
Absolutely. If you use a boneless ham, your cook time might change, as will the estimated amount that everyone will eat, but you can certainly use this glaze recipe on a boneless ham, too.
Keep in mind that if your ham is significantly smaller than mine, you can make less glaze by cutting the recipe in half.
Quick tips for making an Orange Glazed Ham
- If you don’t drink alcohol, you can skip the bourbon in the glaze. Just leave out that ingredient. 🙂
- Make the glaze in advance, and store it in an airtight container in the fridge. Let it come to room temperature while the ham does its initial bake.
- How to store: Store the cooked ham in the fridge, wrapped securely in foil, for up to a week.
- How to freeze: Remove the ham from the bone, and vacuum seal it. Freeze for up to a few months.
- This recipe should be naturally gluten free. Check the packaging of your ham, as well as the ingredients that you add into the glaze, to confirm this if you’re hosting someone who doesn’t eat gluten.
Other holiday sides to serve with this protein:
- Roasted Green Beans
- Cheesy Potato Casserole
- Wild Rice Salad with Dried Fruit and Almonds
- Baked Sweet Potato Cubes with Butter and Bourbon
Baked Ham with Bourbon Orange Glaze
Ingredients
- 11 ⅓ lb. Bone-In Spiral Sliced Ham
Bourbon Orange Glaze
- 1 cup orange juice
- 6 tablespoons honey
- ¼ cup honey Dijon mustard
- ¼ cup stone ground mustard
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup bourbon
- Zest of 2 navel oranges
- 1 ½ teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
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Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Line a large rimmed sheet pan with three layers of aluminum foil. You will use these to wrap the ham in.
- Remove the ham from its packaging, and remove the plastic from the bone end of the ham. Place the ham face down on the prepared, lined baking sheet.
- Cover loosely, but completely with the foil. Make sure the foil ends are crimped so juices don’t leak out of the foil.
- Once the ham is ready, bake for 100 minutes. (The packaging’s instructions say to bake the ham 7-10 minutes per pound, and that the internal temperature needs to reach 120°F, so if you have a smaller ham, please calculate your time accordingly.)
- When the ham is almost done with its first bake, make the glaze in a saucepan. Combine the orange juice, honey, mustards, butter, bourbon, orange zest and Worcestershire sauce. Whisk until smooth.
- Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 20-25 minutes, or until thick and bubbly. (Stirring constantly will ensure that it doesn’t burn, because if you’re not careful, it will.)
- When the ham has finished its first bake, remove from the oven and remove any pieces from the top of the ham. Roll them down, crimping near the bottom, so that the ham is exposed, but the foil still covers the bottom of the ham.
- Turn up the oven to 425°F.
- Brush the glaze over the uncovered ham, and place in the oven to bake for an additional hour (to 1.25 hours). Every 15 minutes, remove the ham from the oven and liberally coat the ham in glaze.
- After brushing with the last of the glaze, bake an additional 30 minutes, or until the ham is caramelized. If any parts of the ham look like they’re at risk to burn, cover loosely with foil.
- Remove the ham from the oven, and let cool for 15 minutes.
- Carve and serve warm!
Notes
Nutrition
About the Author:
Erin Parker is a Southern gal living in Texas with her husband and two daughters. She started The Speckled Palate to share what she was cooking as a newlywed… and over the years, it’s evolved to capture her love for hosting. Specifically, the EASIEST, lowest key entertaining because everyone deserves to see their people and connect over good food. Learn more about her…
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