Bourbon Glazed Ham is an easy, flavorful ham recipe with a simple glaze of bourbon, brown sugar, and orange juice. Ready in just a few hours.
The holidays aren’t complete without friends and family gathering around the table and enjoying a meal together. Whether you make my signature Brown Sugar Glazed Ham, this new Bourbon Glazed Ham, or one of my many other Holiday Main Dishes, you’ll eat well while making memories this holiday season.
Table of contents
Sabrina’s Bourbon Glazed Ham
It goes without saying, but would it be Christmas dinner without a tasty holiday ham sitting at the center stage of your table? The bourbon glaze in this recipe has a sweet, rich flavor and is a perfect upgrade to your traditional ham.
There is something about the way the smoky, salty ham pairs so beautifully with the sticky caramel bourbon glaze. Make sure you get a nice size portion of that crunchy, barely charred crust – it is really the best part. If you serve it for Thanksgiving, I’m sure there will be a debate whether the ham crust or the turkey skin is the most addicting!
I prefer to use a bone-in ham for this recipe and not a boneless one because the bone really adds a deeper flavor. It also helps to keep the moisture in so you don’t need to worry about ending up with dry meat. I also love a spiral cut pre-sliced ham because it makes serving easy!
How to Make
Time needed: 2 hours and 45 minutes.
- Prep Oven
Move the oven rack down to the bottom rungs so the whole ham will fit with space over the top. If you have 2 racks, take one out to make room. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
- Prep Ham
Place the ham flat side down in a roasting pan. Pour ¼ cup of the bourbon evenly over the top.
- Bake
Bake the ham in the preheated oven for 90 minutes.
- Make the Glaze
Add the brown sugar, remaining bourbon, orange juice, zest, mustard, and coriander to a small bowl. Whisk until well mixed.
- Glaze
Once the ham is done, spoon the glaze mixture evenly over the entire top. Return to the oven.
- Finish Cooking
Bake for an additional 30 minutes until the coating is well browned and it is heated through. If the glaze starts burning, tent foil over the top and remove in the last 5 minutes of cooking.
- Rest and Serve
Allow the ham to rest for 15-20 minutes before carving the slices and serving.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 8 pound cooked ham , bone-in, spiral sliced
- 1/2 cup bourbon , divided
- 2 cups brown sugar , packed
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 1 teaspoon ground mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Place the ham in a roasting pan and pour ¼ cup bourbon all over the top of it.
- Place in the oven, covered with foil, for 90 minutes.
- Stir together the brown sugar, ¼ cup bourbon, orange juice, ground mustard, coriander and cinnamon to a small bowl and mix.
- Pour over the ham and cook for an additional 30 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to rest for, covered loosely with the foil, for 15 minutes before serving.
Nutrition
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Tips for Baking Ham
Because hams come pre-cooked, they’re easy to use and only require you to follow a few tips to ensure you’re allowing its natural flavors to come out.
- When placing the ham into the roasting pan, make sure that the fat side is up and if it is spiral sliced, the cut side should be facing down.
- Also, make sure that you’re leaving the ham uncovered while it’s in the oven. If you’re using a boneless ham and are worried about it drying out, you can always add a little bit of water underneath the roasting rack to help with moisture.
- Don’t put your glaze on too soon or it will burn. You want to add your glaze in the last 25-30 minutes of baking, giving it enough time to get that deep caramel color and rich flavor, but not so much time that it burns entirely.
How to Store
- Serve: Don’t leave cooked ham out at room temperature for longer than 2 hours.
- Store: Place the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator. It will last for up to 3-4 days.
- Freeze: You can freeze leftovers for up to 3-4 months. Make sure that it’s placed in an airtight freezer-safe container or storage bag.
Frequent Questions
If you prefer not to cook with alcohol, you can substitute vanilla extract to mimic the bourbon flavoring. Use up to 2 teaspoons of non-alcoholic vanilla extract. I would also recommend adding a couple tablespoons of maple syrup plus water to replace the volume of the 2/3 cup of bourbon in your glaze.
You might be thinking that this recipe isn’t gluten-free because bourbon has either wheat, barley or rye included in their “mash.” Thankfully, due to the distillation process all the gluten is removed making it now, gluten-free. Also, because you’ll be cooking with this bourbon, there’s no need to buy an expensive brand (unless you’ll be sipping it later). Any store brand will work perfectly.
You can certainly cook your ham without a glaze. You can also use a spice rub on the ham to give it some flavoring without adding the glaze to it, however we suggest just altering the glaze to your liking instead of skipping. It adds so much flavor and texture to your dish!
According to the USDA, pre-cooked package ham should be heated until it reaches an internal temperature of 140 degrees. Insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the ham, avoiding the bone, to check to make sure it’s done.
Variations
- Orange: Bring out the orange flavor of this glaze by adding some extra zest, orange marmalade or thinly cut round orange slices around the top before baking.
- Mustard – In addition to the ground mustard, add some honey dijon or stone ground mustard to the glaze to add some depth and bit of spice.
- Sweet: If you want a bit more sweetness to your ham glaze, substitute ⅓ cup of the brown sugar with honey or maple syrup.
- Slow Cooker: Add a small amount of water to the crockpot, add the ham and spoon on the glaze. Cover and cook on low for 2 1/2-3 hours. Just make sure that the slow cooker you’re using is the right size for the ham that you’re cooking. The lid should fit snugly.
More Delicious and Easy Baked Ham Recipes
The following pics are from previous versions of this post:
This is an excellent recipe for glazed ham, if you like a bourbon flavor to it. The orange juice and orange zest give it a bit of zing as well. I used dark brown sugar, because I was honestly trying to get rid of it. I think it worked out quite well. I did bake the ham with the cut side down to make it easier to keep steady while checking on it during the cooking process as well as for ease of pouring the glaze over the ham. I would make this again.
Enjoyed reading your feedback Paul and thanks for the five star review!
Best ham ever!! Used a really good bourbon,Knobs Creek, and that ham was delicious!!! Everyone raved and we had not much left. Great recipe.
Appreciate your review Grace! Thanks so much!
This was SO good! I made two hams for Christmas yesterday because we wanted leftovers. There were a couple family members who aren’t big ham fans, and you know what? They were converted! Everyone said it was the best ham they’d ever eaten, and they requested I make it again next year. The only question I had was if I should have uncovered it after I added the glaze so that it would crisp up some. I had an irrational fear that I might dry it out, so I left it covered, but I’m thinking I shouldn’t have. Thanks for the delicious recipe!
Used this recipe for Christmas ham and it was deelish! We had an 11.5lb Sugarland already cooked ham with bone in and made 1.5x the recipe of the glaze. We all thoroughly enjoyed it and will definitely make it again.
I would rate this recipe higher than 5 stars if I could. My family thought it tasted better than “ honey baked hams”
Thanks Nancy!
This was absolutely delicious. I used the pan juices as a sauce and it was terrific. Smelled so good too.
This was a good start for a recipe. I will definitely be making it again, with a few tweaks! The ham edges crisped up wonderfully, while the rest stayed nice and moist. I don’t like drinking bourbon, but it definitely works well on ham!
made theis recipe used jack daniels honey whiskey
Hi Sabrina,
One question.
After the bourbon glaze is applied should I cover the ham again with foil to finish cooking,or leave foil off?
Thank you
Oh my goodness was this a fabulous recipe. I didn’t have Bourbon so used spiced rum and it turned out better than any ham recipe that I have ever made. Thank you so much !
The best ham ever! We made it as our main dish for Christmas this year. It turned out as beautiful and delicious as shown on the recipe. Love it!
Hi – I made one last year from a different recipe and found that the bourbon mix really didn’t permeate much past the skin and it was quite dry. I want to retry and your recipe sounds good. I have a 4.2kg leg with the bone in.
I was planning on serving it on Christmas Eve / Christmas Day and Boxing Day. It will be warm on Christmas Eve but the other 2 days I intend to serve cold. You think it would work? Thanks for a great recipe
So sorry your question got caught in my spam filter so I’m just now seeing it. The glaze will really only permeate the skin a bit but not a ton. I hope you had a safe and happy holiday.
What a juicy looking ham!! So much flavor in this! And, I can’t believe how easy it is to prepare & make.
Thanks, Kristyn. I’m so glad you enjoyed it.
The glaze on this ham was to die for! Such a great recipe!
I’m happy to hear you enjoyed it.
This bourbon-glazed ham is the perfect ham for Christmas! So simple and juicy.
It’ll be the star of the dinner table.
I do not like spiral hams if I use a bone in ham take off the fat score it then use the glaze will this work
Yes 🙂
Contradictory wording, the recipe calls for foil cover and the notes say uncovered?
“if the glaze starts burning to tent it with foil”. Giving advice that in the last 30 minutes of cooking, you can re-cover the ham if needed. Hope that helps.
I do not like spiral hams will this work with a bone in ham
Yes 🙂
if the ham is already cooked why will it take 90 min once glaze is put on
do you have a certain brand of ham that would work better for the glaze..
would the ham from costco work for the glaze
thank you in advance
It just takes that long to reheat to serving temperature. Any pre-cooked ham will work for this.