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Home » Recipes » Food

Published: Dec 27, 2021, By: Melissa, Updated: Oct 15, 2023

Baked Ham With Italian Glaze

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This baked ham with an Italian glaze is a delicious and simple baked ham recipe that feeds a crowd and makes the best leftovers. This Italian baked ham is moist, full of flavor, and not your ordinary baked ham thanks to the delicious Italian ham seasoning and glaze.

baked glazed ham closeup
The best baked ham!

This moist baked Italian baked ham is not your grandmother's baked ham recipe and we say this in a good way in case you love your grandmother's ham. This Italian baked ham starts with a homemade ham seasoning that is very similar to the spices used in Italian bacon.

It takes just 30 minutes to make the spice rub and glaze and the rest is mostly hands-off baking in the oven. It also makes amazing leftovers!

One of our favorite traditions during the holidays is using leftovers from this ham to make our creamy ham and cheese pasta, ham and ricotta puff pastry calzones, and collard greens with beans and ham.

top view of glazed ham
Top view of the delicious crust on the baked ham.

Italian Ham Ingredients

This baked ham with glaze is so simple. It is only making the glaze adding to the ham and into the oven. Here are the steps:

Ham

  • 6-8 pound cured cooked ham (bone in preferably). To make this baked ham with glaze recipe easy, it uses a bone in already cooked ham

Baked Ham Glaze

  • Madeira wine (for glaze)
  • White wine (for glaze)
  • Granulated sugar (for glaze)

Ham Seasoning

  • Brown sugar (for rub)
  • Fresh thyme (for rub)
  • Fresh rosemary (for rub)
  • Kosher salt (for rub)
  • Black peppercorns (for rub)
  • Fresh garlic (for rub)
  • Bay leaf (for rub)
  • Nutmeg (just a little for the rub)

Ingredient Notes

Try not to substitute dried ingredients for fresh ones since the fresh flavors are really important for the seasoning.

Madeira wine is an Italian wine that is sweet and can be found in all liquor stores. It lends a beautiful sweetness to the ham glaze that makes this baked ham so delicious.

For the white wine, any good quality white wine that you drink will work fine for this recipe. Just buy a bottle you love, use what is called for in the recipe, and drink the rest with the meal.

baked glazed ham

How to make Italian Baked Ham With Glaze

spices for ham
Step 1: Gather spices for the rub

To cook a fully cooked ham, as is the case with this recipe, all you are going to be doing is making the ham seasoning and ham glaze then adding those on to the cooked ham before it goes in the oven.

  • Step 1: The first thing you want to do is prepare all of your ingredients for the ham. This is the ham seasoning and glaze that is added to the outside of the ham before baking.
baked ham spices in spice grinder
Step 2: Add spices to spice grinder
baked ham seasoning
Step 3: Grind spices until smooth
  • Step 2: Add the ham seasoning spices to a spice grinder (coffee grinder) or a food processor.
  • Step 3: Grind the spices until they become a smooth consistency.
baked ham glaze
Step 4: Make the glaze
  • Step 4: Next, add your Madeira wine, white wine, and sugar to a small saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture just begins to bubble. Remove the glaze from the stove and let it cool.

Once you have made your ham seasoning and your glaze for the ham, it is time to start assembling the ham for baking. This part is really easy.

scoring ham
Step 5: Score your ham with a knife.
adding spices to ham
Step 6: Rub your spices all over the ham.
adding glaze to ham
Step 7: Add your glaze.
  • Step 5: Here you want to score your ham in a diamond pattern because it looks pretty when it bakes and it allows some of the spices and glaze into the meat portion of the ham.
  • Step 6: Now add your spice rub by grabbing a small portion at a time and rubbing it all around the ham.
  • Step 7: The last step is dabbing the glaze all over the ham on top of the spice rub.
  • Step 8: Now you just place the ham in the oven and let the spices and glaze caramelize and the ham warm through. It really is so easy and the results are so amazing.

You will only need to baste the ham once or twice while it is cooking. There are no other extra steps that you have to do once the ham is in the oven.

the best baked ham

Tips

You can make the spice rub and glaze ahead of time to save time. To do this just make the spice rub per the directions and store it in an air-tight container in the fridge. For the glaze, you can store this on the counter covered for up to 24 hours.

This spice rub and glaze also work beautifully on other cuts of meat. You can use it for pork roast or on a chicken.

Another tip is not to throw out the bone from the ham. It makes the most delicious addition to homemade beans.

Make sure you cook your ham to an internal temperature of 140 degrees. Although cured hams are already cooked, you still want to make sure you heat the ham all the way through to a safe internal temperature.

More Holiday Recipes

You may also like these holiday recipes:

  • apple cider
    Mulled Apple Cider (Easy Recipe)
  • cranberry-sauce
    3 Ingredient Cranberry Sauce
  • pumpkin creme brulee
    Pumpkin Creme Brûlée
  • easy homemade marshmallows in hot cocoa
    Easy Homemade Marshmallows
the best baked ham
Print Recipe
5 from 7 votes

The Best Baked Ham with Italian Glaze

This baked ham with a homemade spice rub and delicious sweet glaze is the best baked ham you can make!
Prep Time30 minutes mins
Cook Time2 hours hrs
Total Time2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins
Servings: 10 servings
Author: Melissa Oleary

Equipment

  • large roasting pan

Ingredients

Spice Rub

  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt if using regular table salt use half the amount
  • 2 ½ teaspoon light brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoon black peppercorns
  • ½ teaspoon fresh thyme
  • ½ teaspoon fresh rosemary
  • 1 dry bay leaf
  • 2 cloves garlic

Glaze

  • 2 tablespoon Madeira wine
  • 2 tablespoon White wine
  • 6 tablespoon granulated sugar

Ham

  • 6-8 lb Cooked bone in ham
  • ½ cup water for roasting pan

Instructions

  • Remove ham from the fridge 30 minutes before baking.
    6-8 lb Cooked bone in ham
  • Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees.

Making the spice rub

  • Add all of the spice ingredients to a spice grinder or food processor and grind until smooth.
    1 tablespoon kosher salt, 2 ½ teaspoon light brown sugar, 2 teaspoon black peppercorns, ½ teaspoon fresh thyme, ½ teaspoon fresh rosemary, 1 dry bay leaf, 2 cloves garlic
  • Add to a small bowl and set aside.

Making the Glaze

  • Add both wines and granulated sugar to a small sauce pan over medium heat.
    2 tablespoon Madeira wine, 2 tablespoon White wine, 6 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • Heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture just starts to bubble.
  • Remove from the heat and pour mixture into small bowl.
  • Set aside.

Ham

  • Remove your ham from the packaging and place into a large roasting pan.
  • Score your ham about ¼ inches deep with a sharp knife by making diamond patterns by cutting diagonally in one direction then cutting diagonally in the other direction.
  • Now take a handful of your spice rub and rub it all over the outside of the ham, pushing it into the crevices as much as possible. You may have to scoop up any spice rub that falls off the ham and rub it back in.
  • Keep doing this until all the spice rub has been used.
  • Now take your glaze and with a pastry brush or small paint brush, dab the glaze all over the ham. Do this until all the glaze is used up and the whole outside of the ham is covered with the glaze.
  • Now add ½ cup of water to the bottom of the roasting pan.
    ½ cup water
  • Place your ham uncovered into the pre-heated oven for 1 hour.
  • After 1 hour, remove the ham from the oven and scoop up the liquid from the bottom of the pan and spoon over the top of the ham until all the ham has been covered in the pan juices.
  • Place back into the oven for another 30 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 140 degrees.
  • Remove the ham from the oven when done and place on a serving platter.
  • Now whisk the pan juices inside the pan.
  • Slice up the ham and spoon some of the pan juices over the top.
  • Serve immediately.

Nutrition

Calories: 701kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 59g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 16g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 21g | Cholesterol: 169mg | Sodium: 3930mg | Potassium: 799mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 10IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 27mg | Iron: 3mg

Nutrition Values are estimates only.

See full nutrition disclaimer here

Tried the Recipe? We Would Love To Hear From You In The Comments Below!

Course :Main Course

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Comments

    5 from 7 votes (5 ratings without comment)

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  1. Isabell R says

    December 21, 2022 at 12:49 pm

    5 stars
    This was one of the best baked hams I’ve ever made! The flavor was delicious. We’ll be making this again for our holiday dinner this year. Thanks for sharing this

    Reply
    • Melissa says

      December 21, 2022 at 12:51 pm

      I am so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing Isabell 🙂

      Reply
  2. Mandy says

    November 20, 2022 at 3:07 pm

    5 stars
    We made this for a party and it was so delicious!

    Reply
    • Melissa says

      November 20, 2022 at 6:45 pm

      Hi Mandy. I am so glad you enjoyed it

      Reply

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I am so excited you are here. My name is Melissa and I started this recipe website to share easy recipes that I have been cooking for years. I have written hundreds of easy recipes that are tested and perfected. Some of the recipes I learned during my years of working in restaurants, some from owning my own food company, and others from friends and traveling.

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