How to Make a Honey Baked Ham

Learn how to make a honey baked ham at home. Get that famous sugary crunch on your spiral honey ham in this popular copycat recipe. From the classic baked ham with a simple brown sugar glaze to the gorgeous Christmas cranberry ham, there’s just nothing like a perfect ham dinner for a holiday meal.

This year learn something new…how to make a honey baked ham. Just in time for Easter dinner, you can make this spiral-cut ham with brown sugar crust at home for a fraction of the price. This copycat honey baked ham recipe will look beautiful on your holiday table!

There are a lot of recipes for copycat honey baked hams, but the best comes from a book full of “secret” recipes by Todd Wilbur. If you love trying to recreate restaurant classics at home, you should definitely check it out. We tweaked his recipe slightly and are sharing how to get that crispy sugary crust in this homemade honey-baked ham recipe.

Ingredients for Honey Baked Ham

• Spiral cut ham. So what does spiral cut mean? It means there is one continuous cut around the bone of the ham.The slices of ham are thin and even, making it really easy to serve to guests.
• Honey. Because it’s a honeybaked ham! 🙌
• White and brown sugar. You can do any ratio of white sugar to brown sugar that you’d like, but we prefer a little more brown sugar. That molasses flavor in brown sugar is unbeatable.
• Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, paprika, ginger, onion powder. These are all strong spices you only need a small amount of each to add flavor.

✨ See the recipe card for the full recipe and ingredients. ✨

How to Make a Honey Baked Ham

• Place the ham in a shallow roasting pan (or 9×13″ pan). Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Pour the honey over the entire ham. Cover either the ham itself or the pan with aluminum foil.
• Bake, covered, for about two hours. It will take about 10-15 minutes per pound of ham to heat the spiral sliced ham to 140ºF. In a 350ºF oven, plan for it to take about 1 ½ to 2 hours for a 9-10 pound ham. Baste with pan juices once or twice while the ham is cooking, if desired.
• While the ham is baking, mix together the sugar and spices.

• When the ham is fully heated, pat the sugar mixture all over the outside of the ham.

• Place the ham under the broiler (make sure it is not too close to the top broiler. If it is, move it to a lower oven rack).
• Set the oven to broil on high for 4-5 minutes. Watch the ham closely! When food is cooking under the broiler it can start to burn very quickly. You’re looking for the sugar to start bubbling and caramelizing.
• The sugar will be VERY HOT so let the ham rest for a few minutes so that the sugar cools.

Heat the ham in a slow cooker.

If necessary, use the slow cooker to free up the oven. Slow cooker ham is delicious!

To heat the ham in the slow cooker, place the unwrapped ham in the slow cooker, then pour a cup of water in the bottom of the slow cooker. Drizzle the honey over the ham, cover and cook on low for 3 hours or until the ham is heated through.

Then add the sugar topping and place it under the broiler to caramelize it.