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.
Hi Christy and All),
I grew up in the South – well, not really – Southern California, but my mom was an Okie and Dad was from Little Rock (my Gramma too). I remember dinners my mom and Grandmother cooked together sometimes. Grandpa passed when I was about 11 & we moved to Grandma’s house. She had her own apartment we built over the garage but spent most of her time with us. Our Sunday dinner’s were the best! Southern fried chicken, home canned green beens with bacon and onion. There was always some of the bacon fat in there too & they were yummy. I also loved the breaded, fried okra we made. I liked mine well done, but my dad liked his still soft (read, mushy : ( ). We always had mashed potatoes with cream gravy along with fresh creamed corn in the summertime. Oh, and homemade ice cream – what a treat! My family were also great pie makers. (Grandma made fried pies too – hers were filled with stewed apricots – yum!) Pecan pie was my mom’s favorite and I think of her whenever I bake one. I became the family baker at around 12 and loved to make yeast cheese bread for my dad too.
I’m really enjoying your site and have had a lot of fond memories rekindled on here. Among them, the country sayings folks shared. I grew up with a great many of them. I never fit the “CA Kid” mold, so somehow my “roots” stayed planted firmly in my southern heritage – and I thank the Lord for my family passing it along!
Deborah your experience with the young man that was mentally challenged brought a grin to my face. I have had the same thing to happen to me. It’s funny that one person can eat so much. By the way, we always had breakfast, dinner and supper. Supper consisted of leftovers from dinner. Now it is breakfast, lunch and dinner.
My Mom was a wonderful cook. We had fried chicken, roast, chicken and dressing etc. for the main part of our meals. She also baked delicious cakes (won blue ribbons when they were entered into the fair).
But sometime my Dad cooked Sunday dinner. It consisted of pork and beans, unheated, bologna, cheese, crackers, light bread, sardines (for him and my sis) Mom and I wouldn’t eat sardines, and maybe store bought cookies. He owned a small grocery store and those were his Sunday dinners. I remember once the preacher’s daughter came home with us for Sunday dinner. Mom fixed us sliced bananas with rich creamy milk for our dessert. Evidently it was one of those times when she wasn’t expecting company. But we enjoyed it anyway.
I’m sure we all enjoy our memories, especially as we get older. Hope we are leaving lots of good memories for our families.
I love Sunday’s in the south, I make a big lunch, even when my kids don’t make it in for the weekend, it was a tradition taught to me by my precious Moma.
This is my favorite memory of our Sunday dinners.
My dad pastored a Baptist Church when I was a child, (he still does at almost 80) he always brought folks home with us for lunch on Sundays. In the late 60’s a mentally challenged young man had started attending our church and dad felt he needed to bring him home with us for lunch, at this point I need to tell you, he was close to 7ft tall, weighed probably 250, and even at 14 I was terrified of him. Mom had her usual spread of fried chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, mac n cheese, hot rolls, ice tea and chocolate cake. We knew that company got the plates of food first so we started with the chicken, he put every piece on his plate except the 2 legs, next came the beans he took most of them, and on and on leaving very little in each bowl. We knew by the looks we were getting not to say a word, company was treated like royalty. Mom just silently got up fixed the 3 of us kids pb & j sandwiches and I kid you not he asked “could I have one of those?”. She smiled so sweetly and said “Here you go this ones your’s” as she gave him mine.
He spent many lazy Sunday’s with us and became like a member of the family, and we never again passed the plates to him first.
We always had a big Sunday breakfast before we went to Sunday School and church. I remember sitting in Sunday School wondering if anyone else there smelled like bacon or sausage. Now that I am much older I see the method to the madness of the big breakfast cook before church. When we got home, we weren’t starving and mom had time to cook a big dinner at a more leisurely pace. She worked all week and Sunday was her time to shine. She could pack a lot of mothering into an afternoon. There never was a certain menu but it was always a good meal.
My Mom cooked Sunday dinner until she passed away 2 years ago and I loved any thing she cooked, There was always a housefull on Sunday. Now we only get together for holidays and birthdays with my sister and I sharing the cooking, I miss my Mom.
When I was young, we had whatever. As I got older (with older siblings gone) we had fried chicken, steak, pork roast and veggies. My mom would cook 3 meats and lots of veggies. She made a lot of pies. Sometimes, banana pudding or cake, but my Dad loved pie.
My favorite Sunday dinner was my Mama’s fried chicken, home cut french fries with asparagus served with Hollandaise sauce. Salad would have been a slice of pineapple/or pear half, laid on a bed of lettuce, topped with a “dab” (as Mom used to say) of mayo and sprinkled with grated (done by hand, not “store-bought”) cheddar cheese. On special occasions there may be a marachino cherry perched on top of the mayo. For dessert, homemade chocolate pudding or a piece of homemade cake-hot milk, or devil’s food with vanilla ice cream on top. I lost my Mom on October 3rd-she was 96 and was still helping with the cooking every holiday-she even made my birthday cake last year when she was almost totally blind and on a walker. How I miss her home cooked meals, fixed with love, and the time spent with her in her little kitchen.