Baked ham with an Italian glaze is a great easy dish that feeds a crowd and makes the best leftovers. This is hands down my favorite baked ham recipe because it is moist, full of flavor and not your ordinary honey baked ham. With a homemade spice rub and a delicious sweet Italian glaze, it is the best baked ham you can make! I promise, this baked ham is easy to make and so delicious and your guests will be asking for the recipe once they try it.
About this Baked Ham with Glaze:
This 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 baked ham starts with a homemade spice rub 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.
The flavors 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.
So if you are looking for an easy recipe to make for a special occasion whether it is New Years, Christmas, Easter or for just entertaining friends and family with a baked ham for dinner, this recipe is for you.
Ingredients Needed for this Baked Ham:
- 6-8 pound cured ham (bone in preferably)
- Madeira wine (for glaze)
- White wine (for glaze)
- Granulated sugar (for glaze)
- 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 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.
When making a baked ham, I love buying bone in hams because they stay moist when baking in the oven. If you can, try to find a ham with the bone.
How to make this Delicious Baked Ham:
The first thing you want to do is prepare all of your ingredients for the ham. This is the spice rub and glaze that is added to the outside of the ham before baking.
- Step 1: Gather all of your ingredients that you need for the spice rub that is added to the ham.
- Step 2: Add all of those spices to a spice grinder (coffee grinder) or a food processor.
- Step 3: Grind the spices until it reaches a smooth consistency.
- Step 4: 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.
Once you have made your spice rub 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.
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 ham.
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.
What To Serve with This Baked Ham Recipe:
- Italian Peas
- Mashed Potatoes
- Fluffy Yogurt Biscuits
- Potato and Brussels Sprouts Gratin
- Warm Radicchio and Arugula Salad
- Easy Classic Carrot Cake
More Easy Entertaining Recipes You May Like:
- Best Beef Brisket
- Pasta Genovese (pasta and beef roast)
- Chicken in Tarragon Sauce
- Pork Bolognese
- The Best Juicy Pork Chops
- Citrus Roasted Chicken
- Italian Sunday Gravy
The Best Baked Ham with Italian Glaze
Tried the Recipe? We Would Love To Hear From You In The Comments Below!
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 Bone in ham
- ½ cup water for roasting pan
Instructions
- Remove ham from the fridge 30 minutes before baking.6-8 lb 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
Nutrition Values are estimates only.
See full nutrition disclaimer here
Jill says
I cannot wait to make this for New Years! It looks amazing