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 loved this post……it took me back to being a kid and having Chicken Fried Steak after church every Sunday of my life! After church, we would go to the restaurant that my Memom ran and she would make us the most amazing Chicken Fried Steak complete with mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans and rolls…..I have eaten all over the world and that is one of my fondest food memories. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, it is amazing how food can “take you back” to special times in your life!
I am still cooking Sunday dinners, and my kids and grandkids all come.. today its minute steaks, fried then a gravy made with the bits in the pan, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, maybe some green beans, a salad and biscuits.. its my grandsons birthday and he wants cheesecake for desert… lots of Sunday dinners come straight out of your cook book..
hugs Jo in Oklahoma
good memories, after church a short trip up to wisconsin. to grandmas… fried chicken, homemade soup, stuffing and hungarian pastries!
When I was a little girl, we often ate Sunday lunch with my Strickland grandparents. We would always have fried chicken and either a beef roast or a baked ham. Most times there was either turnip greens or collard greens, peas, butter beans or string beans. There woud be a fruit salad of some sort, home made corn bread, and often her home made biscuits. Dessert would be a caramel cake or a home made butter roll. It was served with ice tea. There would be home canned pickles, olives, and stuffed celery also. She did all that and still made it to church. We would sit down to a big family meal and later on in the afternoon, if it was summer time, we would have home made churned ice cream. I miss my grands very much and also my dad and all of the others that have gone on to their reward.
My favorite smell of Sunday dinner was roast beef cooked with onion soup. It wasn’t cooked in the crock pot like I prefer to do now, but in browning bags stuffed with meat and veggies.
I am planning to fix hamburger steak with mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes, and a green vegetable yet to be determined for my boys and their girl friends tomorrow. I love Sundays when my family comes together and a day that has always been held special is a day of family and counting our blessings.
I wasn’t born in the south, but I was raised by parents who were born and raised in the south. My mom always made big Sunday dinners, that we always looked forward too. It was the one night a week we would all sit down and eat together. I keep saying I am going start having Sunday dinner at my house.
my mom and i were just talking about this the other day because i asked her how she got so much done on sunday mornings when my brothers and i were little and still made it seem so unhurried. she and dad were always up before the rest of us, getting things put together so that when we got home from church, dinner would be almost ready. when my brothers and i were getting ready for church, mom was browning a roast, cutting up potatoes and carrots to throw in with it (unless it was a mashed potatoes day), making slaw, getting half runners ready to cook, and panning rolls from the dough she’d made the night before and kept in the fridge. i used to love to eat little pinches of the dough she’d hand me while she worked. (that might be weird but i loved it!) she’d also give me little bites of raw potato and let me sprinkle them with salt and eat them. when we got home after church, the smell of that roast in the oven met us before dad even unlocked the door. she starved us all to death while we waited for it to hit the table. we always had the same meal on sundays, and never ever tired of it. such precious memories. thanks for asking about our memories. i’ve just been able to spend a little time in my mind sitting at the counter watching my momma work on dinner. =)