Honey Baked Ham (Copycat)

With Easter fast approaching, there was one thing on my mind: what to have for dinner? It’s always nice to get together with the family and have a big meal! But it needs to be something special. I love a nice leg of lamb, and so does my father-in-law. Unfortunately, my husband and mother-in-law aren’t fans. That left me with my other favorite, a nice ham. I’m pretty fond of this Bourbon Orange Glazed Ham, but there’s only one ham that can top it. That’s right, the ham of all hams, a Honey Baked Ham. There are tons of copycat recipes to choose from, but this copycat recipe really sounded good to me. Let’s find out if it lives up to the name!

I am totally obsessed with this Copycat Honey Baked Ham Recipe! It is so simple and yet the results are absolutely insane. No wonder people pay $75 for these! Instead of glazing and roasting, we are rubbing it with dry sugar and hitting it with a kitchen torch. The crispy edges of this ham are like candy!

Recipe Author: Karen at The Food Charlatan
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The Ingredients

My shopping list was very short because I had everything on and except the ham. Literally all the spices, sugar, and honey were in my pantry, and the butter and dijon mustard were hanging out in the refrigerator. If you’re wondering, I used Sir Kensington’s brand of dijon. I fell in love with it when I made Dijon Tahini Green Beans last Christmas, and I have kept a jar around ever since.

The spiral sliced ham came from my usual grocery store (Winn Dixie these days). It was about $19 for 9 pounds. A little more than I remember in years past, but nowhere near the price of a Honey Baked Ham.

Honey Baked Ham (Copycat) Ingredients
Spiral sliced ham, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, paprika, ginger, dijon mustard, honey, sugar, and butter

The Process

The instructions with this recipe are pretty detailed, and they might seem intimidating because the recipe is 3 pages long. Don’t let the length fool you—this recipe is pretty easy to make as long as you have the right equipment. Here’s how my time was spent:

  • 9 minutes to prep
  • 2 hours 20 minutes to cook
  • 15 minutes to rest
  • 12 minutes to torch and make the glaze
  • 2 hours 56 minutes total

Prep & Roast

The first thing I did was put my ham into a roasting pan with a rack. The recipe says you can use a wire cooling rack on a sheet pan if you don’t have a roasting pan with a rack. I would be cautious with this method because my ham produced a lot of juices. I’m pretty sure my sheet pans would have overflowed because they are rather shallow. A baking dish might be a safer option.

After that, I mixed up the 3-ingredient honey glaze and rubbed it all over the ham. I used one hand to tilt the top of the ham so I could work the glaze in between the slices on all sides. Then I added water to the roasting pan, covered it all with foil, stuck in a meat thermometer, and started roasting.

The recipe does say to roast the ham for 20 minutes per pound. My ham was 9 pounds, so that worked out to 3 hours. However, the meat thermometer beeped after 2 hours 20 minutes.

Dry Rub & Glaze

I made the dry rub while the ham was in the oven, and it only took a few minutes to measure out and mix the spices and sugar. Once the ham was out of the oven and cooled, I poured the juices into a fat separator and applied the dry rub while it separated.

This was the fun part! I put on my grilling gloves, carefully picked up the ham, and gently rolled it in the dry rub that I had put into a sheet pan. The ham was so tender I was afraid it would fall apart, so I had to be very careful with it. Then I spooned the remaining loose sugar onto the ham and torched it until it caramelized. The instructions on how to do this were spot-on, and I didn’t have any trouble achieving that tasty candy-like coating.

All that was left was to add 1/3 cup of the pan drippings to a saucepan with the rest of the dry rub and mix. The juices were already hot, so they dissolved the sugar very quickly. I had my glaze/sauce made in no time at all. All that was left was to plate the ham, pour the glaze into a small bowl, and serve.

The pan drippings in a fat separator
The pan drippings in a fat separator

So how was it?

Clear & Accurate Directions
Accurate Time(s)
Appearance
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This was hands down the best ham recipe I have ever made! It added just enough sweetness and spice to the salty juicy ham. The outer edges were like candy, as promised. And if that isn't enough, you can add more sweetness with the glaze/sauce. Either way, you're in for a treat! The recipe is wonderfully detailed and explained the steps well so there was no confusion at all. The only "surprise" was my ham didn't take the full 20 minutes per pound to come up to temperature. It was ready 40 minutes sooner than I thought it would be, but I wasn't on a strict schedule--we just got to eat a little sooner than I thought we would. No complaints there! But I do recommend using a meat thermometer to ensure you don't overcook the ham and dry it out.
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The Hungry Pinner
The Hungry Pinnerhttps://www.hungrypinner.com
I'm Candice, and I'm The Hungry Pinner. I created this blog to share my love for cooking and my experiences with the MANY recipes I've found on Pinterest over the years. Join me as I blog my way through those recipes to find out if they are worth trying yourself.

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This was hands down the best ham recipe I have ever made! It added just enough sweetness and spice to the salty juicy ham. The outer edges were like candy, as promised. And if that isn't enough, you can add more sweetness with the glaze/sauce. Either way, you're in for a treat! The recipe is wonderfully detailed and explained the steps well so there was no confusion at all. The only "surprise" was my ham didn't take the full 20 minutes per pound to come up to temperature. It was ready 40 minutes sooner than I thought it would be, but I wasn't on a strict schedule--we just got to eat a little sooner than I thought we would. No complaints there! But I do recommend using a meat thermometer to ensure you don't overcook the ham and dry it out.Honey Baked Ham (Copycat)