Recipe For Baked Ham With Easy Brown Sugar Glaze
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This recipe for baked ham features the easiest 3-ingredient brown sugar glaze. You’re going to want to keep reading to discover the secret ingredient that makes this glaze so tasty!
This recipe for baked ham is from my great-grandmother Lela. Her easy 3-ingredient glaze includes brown sugar, yellow mustard, and… coke! Yep, there’s no , , or used in this . The addition of coke makes this glaze so tasty and ham so succulent everyone will be going back for seconds.
A good and simple baked ham makes the perfect main course for any meal and any occasion, including Easter and Christmas dinner. The added bonus is that once you bake a juicy ham, you usually have the leftovers to make at least three more meals. The hambone in and of itself is a goldmine for the best pot of pintos you could ever hope to eat or you can use it to flavor a comforting pot of senate bean soup.
One of my favorite things to do with baked ham leftovers is to reheat some Jordan rolls the next morning, split them in two, and layer warmed slices of ham in between them for a quick, easy, and darn good breakfast. Coffee washes it down just right. There are already several recipes on SouthernPlate.com using leftover ham. So glaze that ham and get it baking, but be sure to save the ham bone with a little meat still on it! Just pop it in a gallon size bag and stick it in the freezer.
Okay, now that I am sufficiently hungry, let’s get this show on the road!
There is another great ham recipe in my cookbook so be sure and check it out! It is one of many which are exclusive to my cookbook, so they will never be on SouthernPlate.com.
Recipe Ingredients
- Smoked ham
- Yellow mustard
- Brown sugar (either dark or )
- Coke of choice
In a small bowl place your brown sugar, mustard, and coke.
Give that a good stir.
It will become a lot more liquified than you expect it to.
On the off chance it doesn’t (you know, atmospheric pressure, leprechaun interference, whatever) you can always add another tablespoon of coke.
Line a rimmed (or sided) baking pan with aluminum foil, heavy-duty if you have it.
If you don’t have heavy-duty, just use regular. No sense in spending extra money when you don’t have to.
Place ham in the middle of the foil-lined pan.
Brush half of your glaze over the ham (just the parts that you can get to).
If you don’t have a brush just use a big spoon and put gobs of the glaze on the ham and then smear it around a bit.
Most of the gadgets we have in the kitchen are pretty much space taker-uppers anyway.
Seal that up well and roast ham in a 350-degree for 1 hour.
After your ham is baked it will look like this.
Peel the tin foil back and baste ham with the remaining glaze.
Return to oven and bake ham for 30 minutes more uncovered, or until lightly browned.
Remove the from the and allow it to sit for 10 minutes before slicing. Slice ham how you like and enjoy!
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 your 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!
This glaze is delicious!
Feels good when people like your cooking, doesn’t it?
Storage
- Store leftover ham in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Serve cold or quickly reheat in the microwave.
- You can also store glazed ham leftovers in a freezer-safe container or ziplock bag in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before serving.
Recipe Notes
- You can use any coke you like in this , whether that’s diet coke, diet Dr. Pepper, or a simple can of Coca-Cola.
- I definitely recommend using a baking dish with sides. It’s inevitable that the ham juice will leak out and if it gets in the bottom of your oven you will have quite the smell in your house.
- I use an electric knife that I got for about $25 (like the one pictured HERE*) to slice my glazed ham, but a nice sharp regular knife will work just fine.
- You could also substitute the coke for if you prefer a more traditional . Another option is , if you dare!
- Decorate your with for a festive touch!
- There are many different cuts of : , , bone-in … I recommend the latter for this .
Recipe FAQs
What do you serve with this baked ham recipe?
You can serve your baked ham in so many different ways. For the main meal (if this is a holiday or ), serve it alongside side dishes like mashed potatoes (we also have a sweet potato version) and fresh green beans. Another option is to serve it for lunch on a sandwich or with your favorite salad.
You may also enjoy these ham recipes:
Ham Egg and Cheese Casserole (Insta Pot or Oven!)
Ham Salad (Recipes SHOULD be easy!)
Smoked Ham and Veggies Pasta Salad
How to Cook A Ham & Get At LEAST 4 Meals Out Of It!
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.
Nutrition
*And by the way, if you purchase that knife through Amazon, Southern Plate gets a very small commission from Amazon that goes towards helping us keep up the site.
Never be afraid to try. Remember, amateurs built the ark.
Professionals built the Titanic.
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!