This delicious smokey and sweet Pineapple Honey Glazed Ham is made with just 10 minutes of prep time and is the perfect main course for your holiday dinner!
Table of contents
Baked Ham with Pineapple Honey Glaze
Special occasions are a time for family and friends, so it’s always nice to be able to spend less time in the kitchen and more time socializing.
This tasty pineapple glazed ham is easy to prepare and so flavorful with the best brown sugar, honey pineapple glaze that caramelizes perfectly.
Using a boneless spiral-cut ham, rather than bone-in ham, makes it super easy to serve. It’s also a great way to get the juices to fall in between each slice.
What Type of Ham Should Use?
The easiest is boneless, precooked spiral sliced ham. (Or you can slice yourself).
As with any meat, bone-in cut may have a bit more flavor and moisture, so it really is up to you.
It’s a personal preference but in my opinion using a pre-cooked, smoked ham is the way to go.
What To Serve with Holiday Ham
There are endless possibilities for side dishes that can accompany this pineapple-glazed ham.
Potato Side Dishes
- Crockpot Loaded Mashed Potatoes
- Hashbrown Casserole
- Scalloped Potatoes
- Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes
- Southern Potato Salad
Vegetable Side Dishes
Ingredients/shopping list
- Boneless Ham: 4-6 pounds is what I use and it serves about 10 people. Even if serving fewer people, you’ll never run out of ways to use up leftover ham.
- Canned pineapple rings: Placed on the top of the ham so that as it cooks the juices penetrate the meat and the sugar on the rings caramelize boasting incredible flavor.
- For the glaze: Brown sugar, honey, and pineapple juice, reserved from the can of rings come together easily to make a thick, pourable glaze that adds color and a crust around the edges of each slice.
- Maraschino cherries: An optional decoration that has been a staple tradition on ham for decades.
Variations/ Substitutions
1: Add a tablespoon of Dijon mustard to the glaze ingredients to strike a sweet and tangy balance. (spicy brown mustard is also wonderful)
2. For a flavor variation, add ¼ teaspoon of any or all of these spices to the glaze: cinnamon, nutmeg, paprika, and ground cloves.
3: Omit the cherries if you’re not a fan. They are optional!
4: Orange juice and pineapple juice combined have amazing flavor. Use them both for a twist.
How to Make Honey Glazed Ham
This easy recipe will come together in a few steps and then it’s hands-off cook time before finishing with the glaze!
Step 1: Prepare the ham by placing pineapple ring slices all around the surface of the meat, securing them with toothpicks, and placing a maraschino cherry in the middle of each ring.
Step 2: Add 1 cup of water to the bottom of the roasting pan to keep it moist as it cooks. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes.
Step 3: In a small saucepan, cook brown sugar, honey, and pineapple juice over medium heat until it thickens.
Step 4: Once the 45 minutes is up for the ham, remove it and brush the entire surface of the ham, pineapple, and all, with the honey mixture.
Step 5: Cook for another 10 minutes and repeat the brushing of the glaze mixture 3 more times until the pineapple begins to brown.
Step 6: Once it’s finished, remove it from the oven and enjoy!
Tips
- Checking for doneness. Use a thermometer for an accurate reading. It should be 120 degrees at the thickest part of the meat.
- Glaze everywhere! Brushing the glaze overtop the ham is one thing, but don’t be shy. Make sure to get it into all the cracks and crevices flavoring every inch of those slices!
- For serving, you can either keep the pineapple rings (and cherries) on the ham while you present it to the table or remove them and serve them on a platter on the side.
- Omit the sugar. It does give the glaze its stickiness and thick consistency, but if you’re worried about overdoing it on the sweetness, you can skip it.
FAQ’s
Keep refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4-5 days.
If you’re reheating a large portion, you can use the oven. Make sure it’s on low, as you don’t want to dry it out.
The microwave can also be used if you are heating a single serving.
Use whatever you’ve got left and make an upgraded ham and Swiss for lunch! Dice it up and add it to soups like split pea soup and ham and potato soup. You can also make this ham and cheese puff pastry, or just enjoy leftover ham slices warmed up with your breakfast eggs and toast.
If you like this recipe, please leave us a comment and rate the recipe below. You can also find us on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram!
Pineapple Honey Glazed Ham
Ingredients
- 4-6 pound ham
- 1 can pineapple rings
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup honey
- 1 cup pineapple juice reserved from can
- 1 jar maraschino cherries optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F
- Cover the ham with the pineapple slices using toothpicks to secure.
- Place cherries in the middle of slices if desired.
- Place ham in a large baking dish and add one cup of water around the bottom of the dish.
- Cover the ham with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes.
For the glaze:
- In a medium saucepan, add the brown sugar, honey and pineapple juice.
- Cook over medium heat the mixture thickens.
- After ham bakes for 45 minutes, uncover the ham and brush the entire ham with the brown sugar glaze.
- Then cook for an additional 10 minutes.
- Repeat the brushing of the glaze over the ham three more times until the pineapple begins to brown.
- Remove ham from the oven and serve.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclosure
Nutritional facts are estimates and are provided as a courtesy to the reader. Please utilize your own brand nutritional values to double check against our estimates. Nutritional values are calculated via a third party. Changing ingredients, amounts or cooking technique will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
Sharing of this recipe to social media is both encouraged and appreciated. Please share the direct link back to the recipe. Copy/Pasting and/or screenshots of the recipe to any social media is strictly prohibited. Content and photographs are copyright protected
Leave a Reply