Copycat Honey Baked Ham

If you’re hosting this holiday or feeding a large group for any occasion, I highly recommend serving a homemade honey baked ham. It’s hard to beat the simplicity of a ham that is already fully cooked and sliced for you. Plus, it is easy to make it your own with a honey butter rub and layers of spiced sugar that sizzle to create the crunchy savory-spicy coating. Here’s how to make a honey baked ham that tastes even better — and is less expensive — than the one you can buy at the shop.

Read more: 40+ Easy Leftover Ham Recipes for the Week Ahead

• City ham: Cured with a brine and may be smoked. These hams are more moist and less salty than country hams. They are sold fully cooked, and you can choose between bone-in or boneless, and spiral-sliced or uncut hams. This is the type of ham that is often served on the holiday table, and the one that this recipe calls for.
• Country ham: Cured with a dry rub, hung to dry and aged for at least six months. They have a drier texture and more salty flavor than city ham. Country hams are most readily available as slices, although you can buy whole, unsliced country hams as well. They are usually sold uncooked, so it must be cooked before serving. It’s a Southern specialty often eaten with buttermilk biscuits and used to make red-eye gravy. 

When buying a city ham, look for a few key terms on the label. 

• Bone-in or boneless: I always opt for a bone-in ham, because of the extra flavor it provides — plus I love using the bone to season split pea soup after the holidays have passed.
• No extra ingredients: The ingredient list should be short, preferably just ham. Try to avoid ham with added water or juices, which dilute its flavor.
• Whole or spiral-cut: A whole, uncut ham is less likely to dry out in the oven, but it can be difficult to slice evenly. Spiral-cut hams are conveniently pre-cut into slices that only need to be trimmed away from the bone.  
• Shank end or butt end: Whole hams can weigh up to 15 pounds, so they are usually cut into two pieces and sold separately. This is why you see half hams on the market. Butt end hams are leaner, but the bones can be tricky to cut around when slicing. Shank end hams are slightly fattier, but they have just one straight bone to contend with. Both butt and shank end hams work with this recipe.  

• Bone-in ham: Buy 1/3 to 1/2 pound per person.
• Boneless ham: Buy 1/4 to 1/3 pound per person.

Bake ham at a low temperature of 275°F to keep it moist. 

Because city hams are already cooked, the serving temperature is a matter of preference. The ham is already cooked, but if serving warm, heat the ham until it reaches an internal temperature of 120°F to 140°F. 

• 275°F oven: Bake about 20 minutes per pound (2 to 2 1/2 hours total).
• 350°F oven: If you need to heat the ham more quickly, you can bake the ham at 350°F for about 10 minutes per pound (1 to 1 1/2 hours total).

You can also serve the ham at room temperature, as that famous ham shop recommends. To serve the ham at room temperature, remove the ham from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before serving to take the chill off. 

Apply the honey butter and spiced sugar coating once the ham has reached an internal temperature of 120°F if serving warm, or 30 minutes before serving if opting for room temperature.

• Make honey butter. Combine equal parts softened unsalted butter and honey and sprinkle in a bit of salt. Spread the honey butter all over the outside of the ham. You can use a spatula, but a pair of clean hands is the most efficient way to spread the butter. The sweet butter will melt into the spiral-sliced ham, flavoring the meat and keeping it moist. 
• Broil layers of spiced sugar. Stir together granulated sugar, ground cinnamon, paprika, ground ginger, onion powder, garlic powder, ground nutmeg, and kosher salt. Generously coat the ham with about 1/3 of the spiced sugar, pressing it into the honey butter. Broil until the sugar melts and bubbles. Repeat layering the spiced sugar and broiling two more times. The final broiling step may take slightly longer — between 1 1/2 to 2 minutes — to melt all of the sugar. Remove the ham from the oven and let the sugary coating cool and crisp before slicing.