Learn how to cook spiral Ham without drying it out, it is easier than you might think. My copycat Honey baked ham recipe is a perfectly moist spiral ham. With a honey sugar crust, most of the work is done in your crock pot.
Spiral sliced hams come pre-sliced for convenience and I would imagine most have tasted the delicious flavors of honeybaked hams, but they are expensive, as in $93 dollars expensive!
Pick up a Costco honey baked ham which is even less expensive than the supermarkets and you save loads of money AND you get a honey ham that will have people coming back for seconds!
This recipe has me dreaming of creamy and cheesy Potatoes au Gratin (Potatoes Dauphinoise) with sides of Easy Corn Casserole, Classic Green Bean Casserole with Bacon and Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Honey.
Today I’ll show you how to make your own honeybaked ham without drying it out. Picture it, a sweet spicy glaze dripping into the spiral slices coating the entire bone-in ham with deliciousness and an amazing sugary crust!
I enjoy giving precise details in my recipe posts to lead my readers through any questions. If you’re just here for the printable recipe, you can Jump to Recipe to head straight there!
Absolutely loved this recipe, everyone raved about it. This is the only way I will cook my ham from now on!
Lori
My family requests ham for every holiday meal, we typically have ham at Thanksgiving, Christmas dinner and for Easter dinner! Just think of the savings on honeybaked ham, times three!
Then after the meal, I will serve up my Award Winning Key Lime Pie, this crazy good no bake Tiramisu, a simple classic Shortbread recipe or try my gluten-free apple pie.
The point is, I love this Honey Glazed Spiral Ham Recipe, and I think you will too! So let’s dive into how to cook spiral ham without drying it out!
Why You Will Love this Recipe
- Pre-sliced ham | Whether you choose to get a Costco ham, grocery store ham, or a Kirkland Ham, as long as you are cooking a Spiral Ham, you are good!
- Never Dry |This honey baked ham recipe is started in the crock pot, making your whole ham even more moist and juicy.
- Tried and True | Copycat honey baked ham is a flavor you won’t soon forget. Check out the list I have included at the end of this recipe!
Simple Ingredients for honey baked spiral ham
- Spiral Sliced Ham | Get the bone in sliced ham to make your life much easier! If you buy a boneless ham you might have to spiral slice it yourself and well that’s the whole point!
- Butter | Butter makes everything better! But in this recipe, the melted butter and honey make the perfect moist, browning glaze!
- Honey and Sugar | While the honey is used for the ham honey glaze, the sugar combines with all the fragrant spices to form that iconic candied topping of authentic honey ham.
- Seasonings | The seasonings are the best part of this honey ham recipe. The specific seasonings I use are seasoned salt, onion powder, garlic powder, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground ginger, ground cloves, smoked paprika, and allspice.
Get the full recipe in the recipe card below.
Recommended Tools
- Love this travel-friendly crockpot!
Healthy Twist
- NOTE | I wouldn’t call this honey baked ham recipe healthy; it’s for the holidays, and it’s all about balance!
- Toss away the glaze packet that comes with the Costco spiral ham; I am always leery of packaged seasonings having hidden MSG, gluten or preservatives.
- Seasoned salt adds more flavor dimension to your savory dishes. So, you can use less seasoned salt than regular table salt.
How to make glazed honey baked ham recipe
Before you get started, remove the plastic that encases the ham and pour the juices into the bottom of your slow cooker (moist and flavor hack!), trim the ham, especially if your ham is larger than 8 pounds. Don’t worry; you can still tuck those pieces into the slow cooker.
And be sure to remove any plastic discs from the ham bone and discard the ham glaze mixture packet that comes with the ham. Pat the ham dry with some paper towels.
Bring the ham to room temperature for 30-60 minutes before placing in the crock pot.
Step 1 | How to cook spiral ham without drying it out
Start with a small bowl and measure in the melted butter and honey. Mix the two and massage the mix into all the cracks and crevices of the precooked ham.
Now you can place ham (and trimmed pieces) into a slow cooker, ensuring your lid will still fit. Hint: I used a 10-pound ham and it fit in my 7-quart crock pot.
Cook covered on LOW 4-5 hours, I don’t recommend cooking on HIGH for this recipe as this could dry it out.
Step 2 | Add the glaze (the honey baked part)
Once the ham is warmed all the way through*, you will want to get that candied topping ready:
- Measure and add the sugar, seasoning salt, and all the other spices in a small bowl to mix.
- Then separate that mixture into two bowls, one for the first sprinkle and the other for the final crusty sugar glaze topping.
- Rub half of that sugar and spice mix onto the ham.
Fresh Tips
- Most hams come precooked, and it’s optional to warm them through. If you are worried about it being warmed through, the best way to check the internal temperature is using a meat thermometer, it should read 140 degrees F. However; ham is safe to eat straight from the packaging (make sure it says precooked), it’s just nice to eat it warmed.
Step 3 | Make the classic Honey baked Ham spiced sugar crust
Now it is time to make your own glaze and spice topping crispy and bubbly.
You may skip warming the ham in the crockpot, but make sure you bring the ham out of the fridge for 30 minutes before starting this process. Then jump to Steps 2 -4 adding the honey butter glaze and sugar crust.
Use a large shallow roasting pan or baking dish that will hold your ham, line the bottom of the pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil (for easy clean-up), then remove the ham from the crockpot (reserving the juices) and place it in the prepared pan. Place the uncovered ham under the broiler and watch until it is just bubbling.
The higher temperature will burn the sugars, so don’t walk away during this step. Then take it out of the oven.
Step 4 | Mix the Glaze
Add the remaining half of the sugar and spice mix to a small saucepan and juices from the ham or water*. Bring it to a boil and remove it from the heat. This part only takes about a minute – and sugar burns! So be sure you stir it often and keep an eye on the pan.
*I like to add a splash of bourbon or whiskey to the glaze, then bring it to a boil. The alcohol will burn off, but you will be left with the delicious flavor!
Pour or brush that glaze mixture all over the top of the ham and return the pan to the oven to broil one more time. And really watch to ensure it gets golden and broiled but does not burn.
Then remove the ham from the oven and allow it to rest 5-10 minutes to lock in all those gorgeous spice flavors and ham juices.
Then you can slice, serve, and enjoy your Honey Glazed Ham Recipe, either warm or cold!
Oven Honey Baked Ham Instructions (No crockpot, no problem!)
- Preheat the oven to 275° F (135° C) and adjust the oven rack to the lower third of the oven.
- Then line the roasting pan or large pan with heavy duty aluminum foil for less mess and easy cleanup.
- Remove any plastic pieces covering the ham bone, pat ham dry with paper towels and place the ham flat side down in the pan.
- Rub or brush the entire ham with honey butter mixture from STEP 1 above, making sure some of the sticky sweet goodness gets between the slices.
- Brush the foil with a bit of honey butter as well, and tuck it up around the ham to keep the moisture in. And add a sheet of foil over the top if needed.
- Place ham in a preheated 275° f oven and bake according to your ham size.
- Finally, continue making the sugar glaze steps as indicated in STEP 2 through the end of the above instructions.
Note: The ham will take between 15-20 per pound in a 275° F (135° C), which will take about 2 ½ hours.
How much ham per person?
Typically the proper estimate for a ham is about ½ pound per person for a bone-in ham, ⅓ of a pound of ham for boneless hams.
Also keep in mind that when serving a ham there are usually amazing side dishes and decadent desserts. Some will eat more than others, some will eat less! For instance a 10-pound bone-in ham will feed about 20 people.
Variations & Substitutions for your Holiday Ham
- Want to make a larger Slow Cooker Spiral Ham? Great idea. If your ham is larger than 8 pounds, you may need to trim it to fit in the pot. Otherwise, you may want to get two spiral-cut hams and borrow the neighbor’s slow cooker for the day so you can run two at a time. Or if you have one of these roasters that will work great too! Also great for roasted turkey!
- Gluten-free Honey Ham Recipe | According to Celiac.com, Costco ham or Kirkland Spiral Ham is gluten-free. Make sure your spices are all GF and the rest is cake – or honey ham.
- No honey? Try using maple syrup instead!
- Swap out the all natural cane sugar for a combination of brown sugar and regular sugar.
Recommended Equipment
- My Crockpot is similar to this one without the locking lid, very handy when transporting soups and stews!
- Shallow Roasting Pan | You don’t have to spend an arm and leg on a roasting pan you might only use 2-4 times a year, wait for sales, I bought mine on half off sale at Sur la Table.
Storage Tips
Storing honey baked hams is easy! It is like most proteins.
- Cool the meat and place it in an airtight container.
- Place in the fridge for 4 or 5 days and munch away.
- Chop the meat into cubes and seal in a freezer zippered bag to make Ham, Mac & Cheese Soup later.
- Or take the leftover ham and freeze the slices in an airtight container. Then pull out and thaw to make these crazy popular Hammy Sammies!
Frequently Asked Questions
Well, sure, in theory you could use a boneless ham. However; they are typically not spiral cut. Bone-in ham maintains flavor, tastes better, and keeps moisture in the meat and is typically spiral cut.
Instant pot Spiral Ham turns out almost the same as a slow cooker or crock pot ham. There are two main differences here to note.
Instant Pots are indeed slow cookers, but they are tall rather than long. So be sure your ham fits and use the slow cooker function for full flavor.
If you are looking for low and slow—slow cookers are perfect. But if you need a quick cook of the cold fresh ham, you will want to make it instant pot spiral ham instead.
Typically, black forest ham is a German recipe that has been dry-cured with salt and spices. The meat itself takes up to three months of cold smoking to get it just perfect.
Whereas honey ham is a bone-in ham that is honey infused and typically has a sugary crust on the outside layer. And this perfect ham is a copycat of the famous Honey Baked Ham Brand of spiral ham.
How will you enjoy your honeybaked ham?
Recommended Tools
- This is my go-to roasting pan and rack.
More Fresh Copycat Recipes
- Honey Bran Muffin – a Mimi’s Copycat
- Starbucks Copycat Coffee Cake
- Panera Orange Scones
- Copycat Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowl Recipe
- Nothing Bundt Cake Recipe- Copycat
- Best Copycat Crumbl Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
- Best White Chocolate Raspberry Bundt Cake {Nothing Bundt Cake Copycat Recipe}
- Olive Garden Steak Alfredo (Copycat Recipe)
- Copycat Panera Autumn Squash Soup
- Pumpkin Yogurt | Copycat Noosa
Type “copycat” into my Fresh Cooky search bar! Go ahead and try it out; in fact, try them all!
Leftover Ham Recipes
- Easy Ham Pot Pie Recipe
- Ideas for Leftover Ham
- Instant Pot Scalloped Potatoes with Ham
- Bourbon Glazed Ham (Coca Cola Ham Recipe)
- Best Baked Funeral Sandwiches (Ham and Cheese Sliders)
- Easy Mac and Cheese Soup Recipe (Leftover Ham)
Best side dish recipes that go with honey baked ham
For our family it’s all about the sides! Below are a few of our favorites!
Crockpot Cracker Barrel Hashbrown Casserole Recipe
Crockpot Cracker Barrel Hashbrown Casserole is rich, cheesy, and the ultimate comfort food! It's almost effortless, made with frozen hashbrowns, butter, and sour cream all tossed into the slow cooker, for the easiest side dish ever!
The Best Festive Holiday Christmas Salad Recipe
For a beautiful Holiday Salad Recipe this year, add a healthy punch of bold flavors to your holiday menu. Simple greens, fruits, and veggies topped with goat cheese and crunchy nuts — it is a festive Christmas Salad topped with pomegranate arils and a pomegranate balsamic vinaigrette.
Potatoes au Gratin (Potatoes Dauphinoise)
Potatoes au Gratin are the best!! This classic French potato side dish is also known as potatoes Dauphinoise. Thinly sliced potatoes layered with a creamy herb and garlic infused sauce, studded with rich and nutty Gruyère cheese; baked to golden, creamy, bubbly perfection! Oh and they are naturally gluten-free!
Crispy Garlic Butter Hasselback Potatoes in Air Fryer
Today I’ll show you how to quickly make the perfect garlic butter Hasselback potatoes in the Air Fryer! Crisp and golden brown outside, soft and tender on the inside splashed with fresh herb butter and simple seasonings.
Easy Homemade Corn Pudding Recipe without Jiffy Mix
This homemade Corn Pudding Recipe without Jiffy Mix is so simple, ready in a jiffy, without Jiffy! Using everyday, all-natural ingredients will become your favorite side dish, too!
Easy Cheesy Broccoli Au Gratin Recipe
This creamy and cheesy Broccoli Au Gratin Recipe is made with fresh and tender broccoli florets, sharp white cheddar, nutty gruyere cheese, and seasoned with minced garlic and fragrant herbs. The perfect holiday side dish.
Cheesy Broccoli Cauliflower Casserole (Vegetable Au Gratin)
As we enter the holiday season, easy side dishes are a must and slam-dunk recipes like this vegetable au gratin are always a winner. You will also love my broccoli gratin, potatoes au gratin and this not your Grandma’s Green Bean Casserole.
Smoked Mac and Cheese
Creamy Smoked Mac and Cheese has a twist on the familiar favorite. Everyone loves this ridiculously good smoked mac and cheese! And guess what, you do not need a smoker to make this cheesy homemade mac and cheese, although I've included smoker directions. Plus you can easily adapt this to be gluten-free, yes, gluten-free smoked mac and cheese!
For the best results when broiling any dish—stay attentive. Now, this recipe has the trifecta of burning potential, using sugary mixtures, butter, and the broiler. Pay attention, and it will all go well!
I hope you loved this honey baked ham recipe — if you did, would you share your creation on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest? And be sure to comment below!
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Best Easy Honey Baked Ham Recipe (not dry!)
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Ingredients
- 8-10 pound bone-in spiral cut ham remove from fridge 30 minutes before heating, pat dry with paper towels
- 2-3 tablespoons butter melted
- 3-4 tablespoons honey
- 1-1 ½ cups sugar I used all-natural cane sugar, use a little more for larger hams.
- ½ teaspoon seasoned salt
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼-½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika regular may also be used
- â…› teaspoon ground allspice
Instructions
- Trim ham, especially if your ham is larger than 8 pounds, don’t worry you can still tuck those pieces into the slow cooker. Be sure to remove any plastic discs from ham bone and discard ham glaze mixture that comes with ham. Make sure the ham will fit with the lid on in the crockpot.
- Using paper towels, pat the ham dry before applying any glaze.
- Place ham (and pieces) into slow cooker, ensuring your lid will still fit, trim additional if needed. My last ham was 10.55 pounds and still fit my 7-quart crock pot.
- Combine melted butter and honey in a small bowl (use larger amounts for a larger ham). Massage all over ham, between slices as much as possible. Cover and cook on LOW for 4-5 hours. See notes if you prefer room temperature ham.
- After your ham is warmed through, preheat the broiler to HIGH, and place a rack in the lower portion of the oven, making sure your ham and roaster will fit easily. For less mess, line a roasting pan with heavy duty aluminum foil.
- Combine sugar, seasoning salt and all spices in a small bowl. Split into two equal batches. Rub or pat half of the sugar mixture all over the top of the ham. Use a little more sugar if you have a larger ham.
- Broil ham for 2-3 minutes (watching closely), until bubbly and candied, remove from oven.
- Add remaining sugar mixture to a small saucepan, pouring in 3 tablespoons of water or ham juices (I prefer ham juices for optimal flavor). I also add an additional splash 1-2 ounces) of bourbon or whisky to the glaze. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, boil for one minute, remove from heat.
- Pour or brush glaze over the ham, then broil again for 1-2 minutes (again, watch to make sure it doesn’t burn). Remove from oven and allow ham to rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing and serving.
- Allow to sit 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving, do not cover, you don't want the crusty sugar glaze to soften.
Notes
- Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F and adjust the oven rack to the lower third of the oven.
- Then line the roasting pan or large pan with heavy duty aluminum foil for less mess and easy cleanup.
- Remove any plastic pieces covering the ham bone, pat ham dry with paper towels and place the ham flat side down in the pan.
- Rub or brush the entire ham with honey butter mixture from STEP 1 above, making sure some of the sticky sweet goodness gets between the slices.
- Brush the foil with a bit of honey butter as well, and tuck it up around the ham to keep the moisture in. And add a sheet of foil over the top if needed.
- Place ham in preheated 275 degree f oven and bake according to your ham size.
- Finally, continue making the sugar glaze steps as indicated in STEP 2 through the end of the above instructions.
Nutrition
Do you have to put it in the oven with the broiler, or can you just do the slow cooker?
The oven portion is quick and gives you that classic sugar crust. Just cooking in the crockpot will warm it, but you’ll lose that crust, however if that is your preference by all means go for it.
This is a fantastic alternative to the pre-cooked store bought ham… I did change a few things, my base consisted orange marmalade, real honey, pure maple syrup, Saigon Cinnamon, with a melted half stick. I also took a large Navel orange and inserted slices in the ham and around the crock. This one was about 8.8 pounds in a 6 quart crock. I followed your steps and saved all the “trimmed” pieces and included them within the crock down low. Brushed and drizzled my mixture the same. Everybody love the ham ! ! The smell in the home was incredible… thank you ! !
Thank you so much for your kind words and your fun and creative tweaks too, Patrick! Love it!
Absolutely loved this recipe, everyone raved about it. This is the only way I will cook my ham from now on!
Thank you so much Lori, so glad you loved it! So appreciate your comment!
Did you use a pre cooked ham or was it raw? Mine is precooked and I don’t want to over cook it!
Hi Sherry, yo my understanding all commercially available hams are precooked (smoked), so yes this precooked. That’s the e whole reason behind doing it the way I do it, so that it won’t dry it out. Just watch in the oven portion. But the crockpot will add moisture to it. Good luck!
This was exactly what I needed to cook the perfect ham. My ham, especially when I make spiral, always dry dries out, but I followed the instructions in this recipe and it came out moist and juicy! So happy to finally get ham cooked the right way. THANK YOU!!!
So glad you loved it!
Can’t wait to try this for my son and daughter in law’s baby shower brunch I’m hosting next weekend! I always worry about drying out spiral hams and this sounds delicious!
Hope you love it, Lisa!
Great tips here! Definitely bookmarking this so I can have this onhand for Easter!
Thanks Dana!
I loved how tender and juicy this ham turned out! It was perfectly seasoned without being overly sweet too!
Thank you!
I made this ham for Christmas, and it was delicious! I can’t wait to make it again for Easter next weekend!
So glad you loved it, Tayler, thank you!
This is such a perfect recipe for honeybaked ham, the end result was tender and not at all dry, and the flavor was the perfect balance of sweet and savory! A new weekend dinner favorite 🙂
Thanks, Nathan, so glad you loved it!
This recipe by far was the best I’ve ever tried. The ham did not dry out and the flavor was superb!!! Thank you so much for sharing…
Thank you so much Cindi!
Wow! This ham is excellent! We’ll be making this for the holidays for sure!
So glad you loved it Erin, thank you!
Thanks so much for this recipe! My family loves Honey Baked Ham, but geez… they are pricey! Your spiral ham recipe is fantastic!
So glad you loved it!
Such a great idea to save money and still get that delicious flavour. I love that this is so easy to do too.
Saving right now is huge! But nobody wants to compromise on flavor either!
Really informative post! I often find my ham dries out a bit too much, so I’m really happy to have found all these tips! Thanks for a great article! I cannot wait to put all the newfound knowledge into practice!
So glad these helped!
That glaze is everything! I’m drooling!!
Absolutely!!!
I love that you shared steps to keep it moist and flavorful. So many have challenges getting the perfect ham. Looks delicious!
Thank you so much, it’s our most favorite ham!
What a wonderful recipe! The gorgeous honey-butter-sugar topping pairs so well with the natural saltiness of the ham. Perfect holiday ham every time!
Thank you Eliza, I agree, the flavors just sing!
So happy to have this recipe. It’s so much better than purchasing one (which is expensive!) from the store. Thank you!!
Exactly!! Plus it is super easy!
I love this two-step process for making the best spiral ham. Great for holidays and I love the leftovers for sandwiches the next day.
Makes the best leftover sandwiches!
Drooling just thinking about this recipe. So good!
Thank you!
I used to spend a fortune on spiraled ham that wasn’t nearly as amazing as this one is! It’s our new Holiday must have recipe!
YAY! Love helping others save some money and make it at home!