Southern Baked Ham Recipe with 3-Ingredient Brown Sugar Glaze
Set this Southern baked ham recipe on the holiday table and watch everybody try to guess what’s in that shiny brown sugar glaze. It comes from my great-grandmother Lela, and her 3-ingredient glaze is just brown sugar, yellow mustard and a splash of Coke. A bone-in smoked ham bakes wrapped in foil for an hour, gets a second coat of glaze and bakes 30 minutes more uncovered, so you’re looking at about 1 hour 45 minutes plus a short rest before slicing.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Baked Ham With Brown Sugar Glaze
- Serves: 4
- Main Ingredients: approx 8-lb. smoked, ready-to-cook, bone-in ham, packed brown sugar, coke, yellow mustard
- Why You'll Love It: This recipe for baked ham features the easiest and tastiest 3-ingredient brown sugar glaze that makes your ham positively shine. Also, save that ham bone for other delicious recipes!
There’s no honey, ground cloves or pineapple rings in this ham glaze, and nobody misses them. A good baked ham is a wonderful main course for Easter, Christmas or any Sunday dinner, and the leftovers usually give me at least three more meals. One of my favorite ways to use them is to warm up some Jordan rolls the next morning, split them and layer in warm slices of ham for a quick breakfast with a cup of coffee. Save that ham bone with a little meat still on it, too. Pop it in a gallon-size bag in the freezer and it’ll flavor the best pot of pinto beans or Senate bean soup you’ve ever had.
There’s another great ham recipe in my cookbook that you won’t find on SouthernPlate.com, so be sure to check it out.
Why This Baked Ham Recipe Works
The Coke turns the brown sugar and mustard into a glaze that’s a lot looser than you’d expect, so it brushes right on and coats every part of the ham you can reach. Wrapping the ham in foil for the first hour keeps it juicy while it heats through, and then the second coat of glaze bakes uncovered so it can brown on the outside.
What You Need for Brown Sugar Glazed Ham
- Smoked ham: I use an 8-pound smoked, ready-to-cook, bone-in ham. Spiral-cut and boneless hams are out there too, but bone-in is the one I recommend for this recipe, and you get that ham bone for later.
- Brown sugar: Light or dark, whatever you have in the pantry.
- Coke: Any cola works, including Diet Coke or Diet Dr. Pepper. For a more traditional glaze, swap in orange juice, or try ginger ale if you dare.
- Yellow mustard: Just a tablespoon of plain yellow mustard balances out the sweetness.
Helpful Tips Before You Start
- Use a baking pan with sides. The ham juice will leak out, and if it gets in the bottom of your oven you’ll have quite the smell in your house.
- Heavy-duty foil is great if you have it, but regular foil works fine. No sense spending extra money when you don’t have to.
- No basting brush? Spoon the glaze over the ham in big gobs and smear it around.
- If the glaze doesn’t loosen up after stirring, add another tablespoon of Coke.
- I slice my ham with an electric knife I got for about $25, but a sharp regular knife works just fine.
How to Make a Baked Ham with Brown Sugar Glaze
1Stir the glaze
In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, Coke and mustard. It will turn a lot more liquid than you expect.
2Glaze and wrap the ham
Line a rimmed baking pan with foil and set the ham in the center. Brush half of the glaze over every part of the ham you can reach, then wrap the foil up and seal it well.
3Bake for 1 hour
Bake the wrapped ham at 350°F for 1 hour.
4Glaze again and bake uncovered
Peel the foil back without moving the ham and brush on the rest of the glaze. Return it to the oven uncovered for 30 minutes more, or until lightly browned.
5Rest and slice
Let the ham sit for about 10 minutes before slicing. If you need to serve it later, cover it with foil to keep it warm, but I suggest slicing within half an hour, because that’s about as long as anybody can stand waiting once they smell it.
What to Serve with Baked Ham
For a holiday or Easter ham, I like it with homemade mashed potatoes or mashed sweet potatoes, a pot of fresh green beans and a plate of Southern deviled eggs. Cheesy hashbrown casserole, candied sweet potatoes and a basket of homemade dinner rolls round it out nicely, and a cool tomato, onion and cucumber salad keeps things light. Planning a big holiday dinner? My holiday menu ideas have plenty more sides to pick from.
Baked Ham FAQs
How long do you bake a ham at 350 degrees?
For an 8-pound smoked, ready-to-cook, bone-in ham, I bake it wrapped in foil for 1 hour, then uncovered for 30 minutes more after the second coat of glaze. Hams vary, so check the label on yours for its heating instructions too.
Can you make a ham glaze without honey?
This one doesn’t use any honey at all. Brown sugar, yellow mustard and Coke make a sweet, tangy glaze that’s simple to stir together from what’s already in your pantry.
What can I use instead of Coke in ham glaze?
Any carbonated soda works, including Diet Coke or Diet Dr. Pepper. Orange juice makes a more traditional glaze, and ginger ale is fun if you want to try something different.
Southern Baked Ham with 3-Ingredient Brown Sugar Glaze
Ingredients
- 1 approx 8-lb. smoked, ready-to-cook, bone-in ham
- 1 cup packed brown sugar light or dark, whatever you have
- 2 tablespoons coke or your favorite carbonated soda
- 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
Instructions
- Line a large pan with a lip around it with aluminum foil. Place the ham in the center of the foil.1 approx 8-lb. smoked, ready-to-cook, bone-in ham
- In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, coke, and mustard to make your glaze. Brush half of the glaze over the ham. Wrap the entire ham well in foil. Place in a 350-degree oven for 1 hour.1 cup packed brown sugar, 2 tablespoons coke, 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
- Remove the ham from the oven and peel back the foil, but don't move the ham. Brush the remaining glaze over the ham and return to the oven, uncovered, for another 30 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Allow it to sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes or so before cutting. If you need to serve it later you can cover it with foil to keep it warm and let it sit on your stovetop. I suggest cutting it within half an hour of removing it from the oven because that is about as long as you'll be able to stand waiting once you smell it.
Notes
- Storage: Keep leftover ham in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Serve it cold or reheat it quickly in the microwave. Freeze leftovers in a freezer-safe container or bag for up to 3 months and thaw overnight in the fridge.
- Soda swaps: Any cola works, including Diet Coke or Diet Dr. Pepper. Use orange juice for a more traditional glaze, or ginger ale for something different.
- Use a pan with sides: The ham juices will leak, and they’ll smoke if they drip into your oven.
- Ham: This recipe is written for a bone-in smoked ham. Check your ham’s label for its heating instructions.
- For a festive touch: Decorate the ham with maraschino cherries.
Nutrition
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I know a few years back we moved to Tennessee for a year and they made fun of us for saying “pop” because everyone there said “coke”. I guess I’m just a northerner….actually midwesterner…..we gosh darn, maybe just a Kansan. 🙂
Since my hubby is a pastor, we tend to go running out the door Sunday morning, wolfing down our toast or bagel! So for Sunday lunch, we do a nice big breakfast. It might be an egg casserole, pancakes, waffles, french toast or just some plain ‘ole biscuits and milk gravy 🙂 The kids love the surprise of what we’ll make, and then it’s nap time for all!
Sundays were almost always spent at my grandparents’. We’d leave church, run home and change our clothes, then drive to their house for the day. They lived on a little farm and had a fruit and vegetable stand in the summer. (I’m pretty sure the stand was closed on Sundays though. Grandpa didn’t go to the fields on Sundays.) If it was sweet corn season, we just knew we’d be put to work shucking corn for dinner as soon as we got there 😉 After dinner, my brother and I would play outside — swinging on the willow tree or chasing the chickens — while everyone else visited. We’d stay clear through supper time…Supper was always whatever was left from dinner though because Granny only cooked ONE time on Sundays. (“Like it or lump it,” she’d say LOL!!) Then we’d stay and watch Wild Kingdom and Disney and eat popcorn from a big yellow bowl before we went home. 😉
I guess I don’t remember the meal as much as I remember how much fun we had running around there. Oh, and shucking that corn (which wasn’t fun).
Our Sundays now aren’t anything like that and I miss it. We eat together every night as a family but Sundays are spent running here and there. If I could throw my kids in a time machine, I’d dump ’em out on a Sunday at my grandparents’ and just watch ’em go!!! And yep, I’d make those little buggers shuck corn!
Nothing better than mama’s Sunday dinner……Always good!!! This is the way I cook my ham and I sometimes put mine in the crockpot…..works great, too! I think you’ve planned my menu for Sunday dinner this week. THANKS!!!
Sunday dinners……oh, how I miss them! My mom and sister and I would usually drive out to my Mamaw and Papaw’s house for Sunday dinner after church. Mamaw would cook ‘enough food for an army’: pot roast, ham, meat loaf, garden-fresh green beans cooked all day with bacon, scalloped potatoes (NOT the boxed kind!) or any other number of sides. Depending on the time of year, we would have sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, or green onions fresh from the garden. My papaw would take a green onion and sprinkle salt on his plate for dipping. Then, there would always be dessert of some sort, whether it was cake or pie, but Mamaw’s were the best in the county and often requested for church or family functions!
Mamaw and papaw have been gone for almost 11 years now, and how I miss those wonderful Sundays, spending precious moments with family and feeling so loved.
Mama used to get up very early on Sunday morning (WAY earlier than the rest of us) and cook a complete meal…usually 2 or 3 of every dish…meat, vegetables, dessert, and homemade biscuits!! The meat would usually be fried chicken, roast, or ham, and the desserts were usually cocount cake, chocolate sheet cake, or some type of yummy pie!! When we got home from church around 12:15, she would finish heating everything up and we would all eat together.
Before Mama passed away, she wrote out her recipes in her own handwriting. I made copies for all of our family members, and if we make those recipes exactly as she wrote them, they taste just like she made them herself!
One of Mama’s greatest talents was being a wonderful Southern cook, and I hope we can carry on her memory through her recipes that we cherish!
Christy- I love all the quotes and I love my Southern Plate cookbook even more. But most of all I love all the memories you bring to me from suppers
at my grandmothers house on Sunday with some of the same food you share with us everyday! By the way what is the difference in dinner and supper?
Being from GA our family always had supper!