Baked Ham With Italian Glaze

About this Baked Ham Recipe

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.

The homemade spice rub is then rubbed all over the ham before baking. Then a delicious madeira wine and brown sugar glaze is dabbed all over the ham before it goes into the oven where it is baked until it is fall apart tender.

The flavors of this Italian baked ham are out of this World delicious and it is so ridiculously easy to make. I will show you all the steps below to make this delicious baked ham.

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 is making this ham at the holidays then we look forward to making our creamy ham and cheese pasta , ham and ricotta puff pastry calzones and collard greens with ham with the leftovers.

You know when you make this baked ham that you will have an entire week of delicious meals 🙂 If you have tried my Boneless Prime Rib Roast and the leftovers for that, you know I love leftovers from holiday meals.

Ingredients Needed for this Baked Ham:

Ham

• 6-8 pound cured cooked ham (bone in preferably)

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)

Notes about the ingredients:

All of these ingredients for this simple baked ham (including the ham seasoning) are really easy to find in the stores. Try not to substitute dried ingredients for the fresh 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.

Using a pre- cooked ham:

To make this baked ham with glaze recipe easy, it uses a bone in already cooked ham. I love buying bone in hams because they stay moist when baking in the oven.

Another thing I love about this type of ham is when buying already cooked hams, all I have to do is add the flavor and warm it. So, make sure to find a ham with the bone and one that is pre-cooked.

How to make this Baked Ham with glaze

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.

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.

Once you have gathered all of your ingredients that you need for the ham seasoning, you are ready to start making the spice blend.

Add the ham seasoning spices to a spice grinder (coffee grinder) or a food processor. Grind the spices until it reaches a smooth consistency.

Next, add your madeira wine, white wine and sugar to a small sauce pan 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.

• 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 you 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.

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.

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 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 do not throw out the bone from the ham. It makes the most delicious addition to homemade beans or to collard greens with bacon.

Faqs:

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

If you love this baked ham and glaze recipe, you may also like these holiday recipes:

What To Serve with Baked Ham

• Italian Peas
• Parmesan Roasted Asparagus
• Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes
• Fluffy Yogurt Biscuits
• Warm Radicchio and Arugula Salad
• Easy Classic Carrot Cake
• Garlic Roasted Green Beans
• Pizzelle
• Cheesy Polenta
• Brussels Sprout Gratin
• Roasted Acorn Squash Slices

More Easy Entertaining Recipes You May Like:

• Best Beef Brisket
• Genovese Sauce (pasta and beef roast)
• Chicken in Tarragon Sauce
• Pork Bolognese
• The Best Juicy Pork Chops
• Citrus Roasted Chicken
• Pork Chops in Tomato Sauce
• Philadelphia Cheesecake Recipe
• Strawberry Cheesecake