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

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.

Recipe information

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

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.