Pineapple Glazed Ham
Pineapple Glazed Ham Recipe is a delicious main dish that's perfect for a holiday dinner, Sunday dinners, and is ideal for feeding a crowd. A simple homemade glaze made with pineapple juice, warm spices, and brown sugar creates a beautiful sticky finish and incredible flavor for your juicy ham.
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With only a few ingredients and minimal prep, this ham recipe is easy enough for even the beginner cooks to try, while still tasting like something fancy. Ham goes with any sides you like, like some Roasted Butternut Squash, Broccoli Cheese Bake, and some Pan Fried Asparagus.
Why Try My Recipe
This holiday ham recipe uses simple ingredients that you probably already have, that means no long lists to grab or extra trips to grocery stores. Making a spiral ham is great for feeding a crowd, especially a Christmas ham! You get lots of delicious meat with a simple glaze and it pairs with a variety of sides so it's compliments anything else you have in the works.
Plus, the leftovers are perfect for using in other recipes, like Ham and Cheese Sliders, dicing up for omelets, in Slow Cooker Ham and Cheese Hash Brown Casseroles, or using in lunch sandwiches. No need to pull out the roasting pan as we are just popping it on a lined baking sheet.
Let's Gather The Ingredients
- Butter: Gives it that silky texture.
- Brown sugar: Either light or dark will work.
- Pineapple juice: Gives a tangy tropical flavor
- Herbs and Spices: cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg
- Cornstarch: Helps to thicken the glaze.
- Fully cooked ham: A fully cooked, spiral-cut ham works best. The spirals allow the glaze to seep between slices for more flavor. No spiral ham? Use a sharp knife to core a criss-cross, diamond pattern into the surface of the ham so the glaze soaks in.
How To Make This Pineapple Glazed Ham
- Step 1: Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Unwrap the ham and remove the plastic disc. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, whisk together brown sugar, pineapple juice, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. In a small bowl, combine cornstarch and water to form a cornstarch slurry, then whisk into glaze. Allow to simmer until thickened.
- Step 2: Place ham flat-side down on the lined baking sheet. Pour half the glaze over the ham.
- Step 3: Cover tightly with foil and bake.
- Step 4: Remove foil and baste the baked ham a handful of times with pan juices. Bake again before brushing remaining glaze over ham. Return to the oven uncovered, basting a few more times before removing to rest before drizzling with pan juices, slicing, and serving.
Recipe Tips
- Position the ham flat-side down so it stays juicy throughout the whole baking process.
- Baste often during the for maximum flavor and juiciness.
- Line your sheet pan with foil, cleanup is much easier that way. This is especially helpful if serving as a holiday meal when you have a bunch of other things being made that will involve more clean up as well.
- Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4-5 days. You can freeze leftover ham slices for up to 3 months. Reheat slices in a covered baking dish in the oven at 325F until warmed through.
- You can add pineapple slices or crushed pineapple to the pineapple ham glaze for even more flavor and texture.
Recipe Faq's
Yes, you can prep some of this ahead of time. Just store the glaze in a sealed container. Keep it in the refrigerator up to 2 days. Warm before using.
Bakefor about 15 minutes per pound, or until it reaches an internal temperature of 140°F. If your ham is uncooked, plan for about 15 minutes per pound.
Yes — cover it with foil for the first part of baking to keep it from drying out. Remove the foil during the last 20–30 minutes so the glaze can caramelize and get that beautiful golden crust.
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Pineapple Glazed Ham
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar
- 1 ½ cups pineapple juice
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon cloves
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons water
- 10 pound ham fully cooked
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Unwrap your ham and check to see if there is a plastic disc on the flat side of the ham.
- Heat a medium saucepan and medium high heat and add the brown sugar, pineapple juice, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and bring to a simmer. Mix the cornstarch and water together to make a slurry and whisk that into the glaze. Bring to a simmer for 3-5 minutes until thickened.
- Then place your ham flat side down onto the covered sheet pan. Drizzle 1/2 of the glaze over the ham.
- Cover the ham with aluminum foil tightly. Bake for 1 hour then remove the foil and baste 5 or 6 times with the juices in the pan. Return to the oven for another hour. Then brush and other 1/2 of the glaze over the ham return the ham to the oven without the foil and bake another 30-45minutes (or until internal temperature reaches 140 degrees.) basting every 15 minutes with the juices.
- Remove from the oven and let rest 15 minutes drizzle pan juices over the top and serve!
