Brown Sugar and Mustard Glazed Spiral Ham
The American holiday centerpiece: a fully cooked spiral ham heated gently under foil, then brushed twice with a glaze of dark brown sugar, grainy mustard, cider vinegar and fresh orange until it is sticky and glossy.
Edited by JP Lambiase
Change the estimate
Swaps change the price only: cook any meat to its own safe temperature. Where these numbers come from
In America, ham is the holiday meat that shows up at Thanksgiving, Christmas and above all Easter. Garden & Gun asked food historians why (Kinsey Gidick, March 24, 2021:). Virginia curemaster Sam Edwards of Edwards Virginia Smokehouse said hogs were harvested as early as December, so hams cured and smoked over the winter were ready by Easter. Historian Robert Moss said Americans never took to lamb, the Easter meat in much of the world, and that lamb prices swung far more than beef or chicken; historian David Shields of the University of South Carolina said good sheep pasture was scarce in most of the South. Today's centerpiece is usually a fully cooked spiral-sliced ham, which USDA FSIS says can be eaten cold or reheated to 140°F (Ham and Food Safety, see the baseline above). The glaze is the American part: sugar, mustard and something sharp, brushed on at the end.
🇺🇸 This one is American
The American holiday centerpiece: a fully cooked spiral ham heated gently under foil, then brushed twice with a glaze of dark brown sugar, grainy mustard, cider vinegar and fresh orange until it is sticky and glossy.
🇺🇸 The original
The old American ham is the salt-cured country ham: soaked, simmered and sliced thin, a Virginia tradition older than the country. See the Virginia Country Ham, Soaked and Simmered recipe.
📖 Myth check: Is Hawaiian Pineapple Ham From Hawaii? → 📖 Origin story: Why Do We Eat Ham at Christmas and Easter? →
Why it works the kitchen science
Low oven, then hot
325°F under a loose foil tent heats the thick center without drying the thin spiral slices, and the last 30 minutes at 375°F uncovered sets the glaze.
Sugar, acid and mustard
Brown sugar brings caramel, cider vinegar and orange cut the sweetness, and grainy mustard keeps the glaze from tasting like candy.
🧰 You'll need 8 items
Everything the steps call for. Tick off what you have before you start.
Appliances
Pans and pots
Tools
Supplies
Step by step
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 325°F. Set a rack in a large roasting pan, take off the ham's wrapping and the plastic disk over the bone, and set the ham cut side down on the rack.
- Step 2
Make the glaze: bring the brown sugar, mustard, vinegar, cinnamon, paprika, chili powder, orange zest and juice, garlic, salt and pepper to a gentle boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Boil 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until slightly syrupy.
- Step 3
Brush half the glaze over the ham, working it between the slices. Pour about 1 inch of water into the pan without letting it touch the ham, and tent the pan loosely with foil.
- Step 4
Bake about 10 minutes per pound (80 to 90 minutes for 8 lb), until the center reads about 120°F.
- Step 5
Uncover and raise the oven to 375°F. Brush on half the remaining glaze and, once the oven is hot, bake uncovered 15 minutes.
- Step 6
Brush on the rest of the glaze and bake 15 minutes more, until sticky and browned and the center reads 140°F.
✓ What it should look like - Step 7
Move the ham to a platter, rest 10 minutes and carve along the bone; spoon the pan juices over the slices.
Brown Sugar and Mustard Glazed Spiral Ham
Serves 14 · one 8 lb ham, about 14 servings with leftovers · 2 hr 20 min total
Ham
- 1 fully cooked, bone-in spiral-sliced ham (about 8 lb), labeled "ham" or "ham with natural juices"
Glaze
- 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup grainy brown mustard
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- Finely grated zest and juice of 3 medium oranges (about 3/4 cup juice)
- 2 cloves garlic, grated
- A pinch each of kosher salt and black pepper
Equipment: Oven, Roasting pan, Small saucepan, Instant-read thermometer, Chef's knife and cutting board, Measuring cups and spoons, Pastry brush, Aluminum foil
Method
- Heat the oven to 325°F. Set a rack in a large roasting pan, take off the ham's wrapping and the plastic disk over the bone, and set the ham cut side down on the rack.
- Make the glaze: bring the brown sugar, mustard, vinegar, cinnamon, paprika, chili powder, orange zest and juice, garlic, salt and pepper to a gentle boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Boil 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until slightly syrupy.
- Brush half the glaze over the ham, working it between the slices. Pour about 1 inch of water into the pan without letting it touch the ham, and tent the pan loosely with foil.
- Bake about 10 minutes per pound (80 to 90 minutes for 8 lb), until the center reads about 120°F.
- Uncover and raise the oven to 375°F. Brush on half the remaining glaze and, once the oven is hot, bake uncovered 15 minutes.
- Brush on the rest of the glaze and bake 15 minutes more, until sticky and browned and the center reads 140°F.
- Move the ham to a platter, rest 10 minutes and carve along the bone; spoon the pan juices over the slices.
Adapted from Ree Drummond, "Amazing Glazed Ham," Food Network. Her recipe serves 14 to 16 from a 7 to 9 lb ham; we call it 14 for an 8 lb ham. She lets the ham stand 1 hour at room temperature first; we go straight from the refrigerator and allow a little longer. She gives no internal temperature; the 140°F target and the 325°F minimum oven are from USDA FSIS ("Ham and Food Safety", USU Extension copy:). Her salt and pepper amounts are not given; ours are a pinch each. Food Network. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
Tips
- Read the label. America's Test Kitchen suggests a ham labeled "ham" or "ham with natural juices" over "ham, water added" for better texture.
- Make the glaze up to a day ahead and warm it before brushing.
- Save the bone for the Senate bean soup in our Senate Navy Bean Soup with the Leftover Ham Bone recipe.
- Leftovers keep 3 to 5 days in the refrigerator (FSIS); reheat leftover slices to 165°F.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Americans eat ham at Easter because the winter's hams were ready by spring. Disputed: Sam Edwards gives the curing calendar (Garden & Gun, 2021); Robert Moss and David Shields point instead to Americans' weak taste for lamb, volatile lamb prices and poor Southern sheep pasture. All can be true; none is proven to be "the" reason.
- Heat a spiral ham to 140°F. Disputed as a quality call: USDA FSIS says to reheat a plant-packed cooked ham to 140°F (and that it is also safe cold); America's Test Kitchen heats its spiral ham to only about 100°F before glazing and warns against going past 120°F. We use the FSIS number.
- The oven must be at least 325°F. Documented (FSIS). ATK's spiral ham uses 250°F in an oven bag; that is below the FSIS minimum, so we do not use it.
- Glaze only at the end. Folklore as a rule, but sound advice: sugar burns over a long bake, so every source here brushes it on late.
- Always let a ham warm up on the counter first. Folklore: Ree Drummond does it for 1 hour; FSIS gives no such step, and we skip it.
Every other ham
Virginia Country Ham, Soaked and Simmered
A dry-cured, aged country ham scrubbed, soaked overnight, held just below a simmer until tender, then rubbed with brown sugar and dry mustard and glazed in a hot oven, for paper-thin slices on biscuits.
Slow-Roasted Fresh Ham
The leg before it becomes ham: an uncured, bone-in fresh ham salted overnight with brown sugar, rosemary and thyme, roasted slowly in an oven bag and finished with a maple, molasses and mustard glaze.
Pineapple and Brown Sugar Glazed Ham
The mid-century "Hawaiian" ham: a spiral ham pinned all over with canned pineapple rings, wrapped tight and baked low, then roasted hot with a brown sugar, pineapple juice and two-mustard glaze until sticky and golden.
Crackly Honey-Glazed Spiral Ham (Copycat)
A spiral ham heated under foil with honey, then coated in a spiced sugar and melted with a kitchen torch or the broiler into a thin, crackly shell. Inspired by the HoneyBaked Ham Company's famous store ham; not official.
Senate Navy Bean Soup with the Leftover Ham Bone
The soup the US Senate restaurant has served for more than a century: dried navy beans simmered three hours with a meaty leftover ham bone, finished with diced ham and onion browned in butter.
Skillet Ham Steak with Maple Red-Eye Gravy
A bone-in ham steak browned in bacon fat, then a quick pan gravy of broth, maple syrup and espresso powder, swirled with butter: the Southern country breakfast classic as a 30 minute dinner.
Swedish Christmas Ham with Mustard Crust (Julskinka)
Sweden's Christmas ham: a cured ham simmered gently until 158°F, cooled, then spread with egg, two mustards and sugar, dusted with breadcrumbs and baked hot into a golden crust, served cold on the julbord with the broth saved for dipping bread.
Galician Cured Pork Shoulder with Turnip Greens (Lacón con Grelos)
Galicia's Carnival feast: a whole salt-cured pork foreleg soaked for two days, boiled until it falls from the bone, and served with chorizo, potatoes and turnip greens cooked in the same broth.
Ham Baked in Bread Dough (Schinken im Brotteig)
The Viennese Easter ham: a cured ham simmered with caraway, fennel and coriander, wrapped in a rye and wheat bread dough with a braided top, and baked until the crust is dark and the ham inside is steaming.
Filipino Christmas Ham with Pineapple Glaze (Hamon)
The Noche Buena ham: a bone-in ham poached for an hour in pineapple juice and brown sugar, scored, spread thickly with pineapple jam and baked hot until dark and glossy.
British Gammon Simmered in Cola with Treacle and Mustard Glaze
A mild-cure gammon joint simmered for over two hours in cola with an onion, then skinned, studded with cloves, painted with black treacle, patted with mustard powder and demerara sugar and blasted in a very hot oven.
Meatballs of the World
Italian-American Meatballs
Big, tender meatballs braised for an hour in red sauce over spaghetti. The one most Americans grew up with.
Pallottine (Abruzzo Meatballs)
Tiny meatballs, smaller than a marble, tossed right through square spaghetti alla chitarra. No bread at all.
Swedish Meatballs (Köttbullar)
Small, soft meatballs browned in butter, in a cream sauce made from the same pan, with lingonberry jam on the plate.
Danish Frikadeller
Pork meatballs shaped with a spoon and fried slowly in butter, crusty outside and soft in the middle.
Königsberger Klopse
German meatballs that are never fried: poached, then served in a creamy white sauce with capers.
Spanish Albóndigas in Almond Saffron Sauce
The tapas bar classic: small meatballs in a golden sauce thickened with fried almonds and bread.
Mexican Albóndigas with Chipotle and Mint
Soft meatballs with rice and fresh mint inside, simmered in a smoky tomato and chipotle broth.
Izgara Köfte (Turkish Grilled Meatballs)
Small, flat meatballs kneaded hard, rested cold, and charred on a hot grill pan.
Lion's Head Meatballs
Big, soft pork meatballs, stirred into a sticky paste, fried to set, then braised in a savory sauce.
Chicken Tsukune
Japan's chicken meatball: kneaded sticky, grilled on skewers, glazed with sweet soy tare, dipped in egg yolk.