Easter Ham

Easter is just days aways and this classic Easter ham is easy to prepare, juicy, delicious and will leave you with the best leftovers to repurpose.

The ham turns tender and juicy on the inside, while the outside is sweet, sticky and slightly crispy from the citrus glaze.

Recipe highlights

This ham is juicy and covered in a deliciously bright orange sticky glaze.

Baked ham is an easy holiday main dish because we are basically just reheating the ham and glazing it.

A glazed ham takes the stress and guess-work out of holiday meal planning, everyone loves ham and it feeds a crowd.

The best part about cooking ham for any holiday are the endless possibilities with the leftovers! Make sandwiches, scrambled eggs, soups...there are so many options.

Recipe Ingredients

In this recipe I used a Smoked spiral-cut ham. You can use regular spiral-cut ham as well.

• Smoked spiral-cut ham: We get our ham smoked from a local smokehouse. But any spiral, bone-in ham works for this recipe.
• Thyme: Adds herby notes to the ham glaze that contrasts with the sweet honey and orange marmalade.
• Orange Juice: to add more flavor citrus to the glaze. The bright orange juice adds brightness to the glaze.
• Dijon honey mustard: Adds a punchy savory flavor that balances out the sweet glaze.
• Orange marmalade: I like to use orange marmalade in the glaze as a quick way to get my glaze sweet and with those bits of orange peel texture.
• Honey: Adds texture and sweetness to the glaze.
• Cornstarch slurry: Help thicken the glaze and gives it the shinny look.
• Pineapple slices: These are optional and mostly a garnish in this recipe, but I love to add them because they add a festive touch to the dish.

How to glaze a cooked ham

Since our ham is smoked and fully cooked, all we need to do is reheat the ham to the safe eating temperature of 140°F in the thickest part of the ham.

To reheat a cooked ham, I first bake it covered in foil for about 1 hour. The time will depend on how many lbs. of ham you are reheating.

It is important to cover them ham up in order to avoid drying out the meat.

To reheat the ham, I use a roasting pan with rack, this way I place the ham on the rack and add liquid to the roasting pan to create steam and keep the ham juicy.

You can store your ham in an airtight container or zip-top bags. Ham will stay fresh in the fridge for 7 to 10 days.

Step by step instructions

Combine the mustard, chopped thyme and orange juice.

Place ham in the roasting rack. Add liquid to the roasting pan and brush the ham with the mustard mix.

Cover the ham with aluminum foil and bake for about 1 hour.

Make the glaze by combining the orange juice, orange marmalade, honey and cornstarch slurry (cornstarch and water).

I also like to add a couple of tablespoons of the pan drippings to the glaze because it gives it a nice flavor.

Remove them ham from the heat, brush it the ham with about ½ of the glaze and bake covered for about 1 more hour or until it reaches a temperature of 140°F.

I like to add the pineapple slices at the bottom of the roasting pan to caramelize with the glaze. I reserve those for serving and leftover sandwiches.

Remove from the oven, add the remaining glaze to the ham and bake uncovered for about 5 minutes until the glaze starts to caramelize.

Keep a close eye on your ham to prevent it from burning, turn the ham as necessary to caramelize it evenly.

What to serve with ham

This easy Easter Ham is part of a traditional Easter menu.

Side dishes that go well with ham are mashed potatoes, creamed corn, green beans and dinner rolls.