Name: Brown Sugar–Mustard Glazed Ham
Total time: 5 hours and 25 minutes, including resting
Yield: 10 servings
Ingredients: 1 10-lb. smoked bone-in ham with rind, preferably shank end; 1 cup unsweetened apple juice or apple cider; ½ cup whole grain Dijon mustard; ⅔ cup (packed) light brown sugar; ¼ cup honey

A partially sliced Christmas ham coated in a brownsugarandmustard glaze set on a platter garnished with rosemary atop a...

Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Beatrice Chastka, Food Styling by Anna Billingskog

Total Time
5 hours and 25 minutes, including resting

The stakes are high when you’re making a holiday-worthy brown sugar–mustard glaze for ham. A baked ham takes a long time to cook, which is nerve-wracking when you have guests in the next room, hungrily eyeing each other over the remains of a cheese platter. And then there’s the ham itself: when done properly, the best ham is moist, both sweet and salty, tender and irresistible. When not done properly...it’s the opposite.

This glazed ham recipe will take the stress out of your Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter main dish, because it includes a few nifty tricks designed to stave off these potential issues. Buying the ham with the rind on provides a type of insurance against dryness, as does cooking it under a protective blanket of parchment paper and foil. Once your holiday ham is cooked through, cut off the skin to reveal the delicious fat underneath, which renders more easily once you cut it into a diamond pattern (also, it looks cool—might as well awe those guests). Finally, the brown-sugar-mustard glaze recipe is a simple concoction that caramelizes on top, leaving a crisp, flavorful edge that people will fight over.

This honey–mustard glazed ham rests for a generous 45 minutes before carving, which offers the host time to sort out side dishes—or simply sit down for a few minutes. The shank end of the ham is easier to carve than the butt end, so you’re not performing surgery just before eating, either.

Read our guide to cooking ham for more tips and tricks.

Ingredients

10 servings

1 10-lb. smoked bone-in ham with rind, preferably shank end

1 cup unsweetened apple juice or apple cider

½ cup whole grain Dijon mustard

⅔ cup (packed) light brown sugar

¼ cup honey

Preparation

Step 1
Preheat oven to 325°. Place one 10-lb. smoked bone-in ham with rind, preferably shank end, in a large roasting pan and pour 1 cup unsweetened apple juice or apple cider over. Cover ham completely with parchment paper, then cover pan with heavy-duty foil, crimping tightly around edges to seal. Bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of ham registers 145°, 3½–4 hours. Remove ham from oven and increase oven temperature to 375°.
Step 2
Remove foil and parchment and spoon off liquid from roasting pan; discard. Trim rind and all but a ¼"-thick layer of fat from ham; discard. Using a long sharp knife, score fat in a crosshatch pattern, spacing cuts about 1" apart and avoiding cutting into flesh. Spread ½ cup whole grain Dijon mustard over fat, then pat ⅔ cup (packed) light brown sugar over mustard, pressing firmly to adhere. Drizzle ¼ cup honey over. Return ham to oven and bake, basting occasionally with any glaze that slides into pan, until well glazed, 30–35 minutes. Transfer ham to a large platter; let rest at least 45 minutes.
Step 3
Slice ham and serve warm or at room temperature.

Editor's note: Looking for more ham recipes? Check out our collection, including more ham glazes and a spiral cut ham for your slow-cooker. And here’s our guide to what to do with leftover ham.

Leave a Review

Reviews (99)

Can you start with a raw ham?
- Olga O
- Chicago, IL
- 12/21/2021
This was the easiest ham recipe I have ever used and it was the best ham I have ever made! We did substitute unsweetened cranberry juice in place of the apple juice, because that is what we had on hand. Waiting to add the sugar until the last 45 minutes allowed us to use the drained off juices to make a delicious tangy gravy! Our ham was only 6.5 pounds, and we used the 20 minutes per pound rule-of-thumb which worked out beautifully. Others have mentioned that the cook time listed in this recipe is a little long, and it does appear to be. I recommend checking the temp of your 10 lb ham around the three-hour mark. Try this recipe, you will be so glad you did!
- Nate & Chrissy
- Eugene, OR
- 12/31/2020
Yum! Very simple recipe, looked, tasted and smelled great! I had to use oj as no apple juice on hand but seemed a fine substitution. I was afraid the cooking time seemed too long, but trusted the instructions and it was perfect!
- catherine31
- 10/26/2020
Coronavirus made it a very small Easter this year so we decided to try something new. My parents and boyfriend loved the flavor of the ham! We left the apple juice in the bottom after putting it back in and my dad loved putting the juice over the ham(if you like mustard you’ll like the juice too)
- bhoose
- Oklahoma City, OK
- 4/12/2020
Perfect recipe - wouldn’t change a thing.
- cindyinmilford
- Milford, MI
- 12/28/2019
no
- jansan1
- 4/23/2018
The best ham I've ever prepared or eaten. Anywhere.
- tonantzin
- North Carolina
- 4/1/2018
Excellent recipe! Dinner guests went back for seconds and thirds. I will definitely make it again--the ham was moist and tender, and the glaze was delicious.
- sourlemon
- Vancouver
- 4/1/2018
This is a delicious ham. I used a pre-cooked small (1.7Kg/3.7lb) ham, and made my own modifications to the recipe as such. I cut out the entire first part of the cooking at 325. I cooked it at 375 for about 25 minutes after glazing it then 325 for another 30-40 minutes and I put some apple juice and water in the roasting pan to keep it nice and moist, and I kept spooning the mixture onto it. My bastardized version of this recipe was delicious, but very likely not half as good as the full proper version, cooked exactly as directed. Nonetheless I enjoyed it mightily.
- markjohnsen
- Vancouver, BC
- 12/26/2017
Made this last night for Christmas Eve. Only had one tiny piece of parchment paper - I am unclear on how to completely cover a ham with parchment paper anyway since you'd practically have to use a staple gun to get it to stick - so used aluminum foil instead, then also wrapped the pan as directed with more foil. The ham was just over 10 pounds so baked it the allotted 3 hours 45 minutes, at which time the temp was about 145 degrees. Took it out of the oven and let it cool for a while, then cut off the rind and fat. Smeared Koop's mustard over, after which remembered about scoring it. Scored right though the mustard, then packed on the brown sugar (mix of light and dark brown). I had part of a jar of an apple jelly that didn't set, so used that in place of honey. Baked it 30 minutes more, scooping up the glaze that oozed off and basting the ham with it. Took it out of the oven, wrapped in foil, and let sit while we had a drink and I finished the other dishes. Sliced it up and served with pickled apricots and Asian pears, blue cheese au gratin potatoes, Brussels sprouts with browned butter & pistachios, and a green bean-Mandarin salad. We all liked the glaze and the ham was perfectly cooked. But I miss that familiar cloves taste, so next time I will puncture the ham with cloves, then spread with mustard and coat with brown sugar.
- toe2toe
- 12/25/2017
I have made this numerous times with no modifications. Its my "go to" holiday (any holiday!) recipe.
- Anonymous
- Los Angeles, CA
- 10/11/2017
This ham recipe turned out wonderful. My husband always says bone in hams are not worth the fuss. After having this recipe, he has changed his mind and affirms we will make this again. Thanks for a delicious and easy recipe.
- luxen
- Calgary, AB
- 12/24/2016
This was the best ham ever and now our family's go to ham recipe! We got a ham with the bone in and skin still on... If anyone finds this ham dry... Something went wrong... Just the wrong ham... Or error in the process because this ham is to LIVE for!!!! Yum yum yum... This is our ham this Easter! Proud enough to serve it to a chef!
- ElysiaS
- Canada
- 4/2/2015
Are you kidding me? After 3 hours in the oven, wrapped in parchment and foil, this ham looked and tasted totally wasted and falling apart. I drained off 4 cups of liquid and saved it for the ham and bean soup I am making now. (I skimmed off about a third of a cup of fat first.) The ham itself was dry and hard, and I'm hoping the soup will redeem me with my husband who had never seen or tasted such a mess of an Easter ham. I give this recipe a zero fork.
- rtrunzo
- Tucson AZ
- 4/26/2014
Superb. Simple, easy to prepare, and the whole grain mustard helps the glaze adhere to the ham. I substituted the rest of a jar of locally produced currant jam for the honey and it worked out beautifully. As others have noted, we didn't miss the cloves at all.
- Beth415
- Long Island, NY
- 12/23/2013