Delicious Honey Glaze for Ham Recipe

My ham glaze honey recipe will sweeten up your holiday ham or Sunday ham just a touch. This simple recipe is one you will love for a lightly sweetened touch. Save my honey glaze recipe to Pinterest so you can make it each time you have ham! 

Ham is one of those dishes we most often have around holidays. Every now and then we will get a small one from the grocery story to have during the week, but generally we only have our big hams around Christmas and Easter. However, whether you are making a large ham for the holidays or a small ham for an easy weeknight family dinner, this simple ham glaze honey recipe is the recipe you need to make your ham stand out!  

Light sweetness

Sometimes I think ham can be glazed a bit too sweet. I personally don’t need a crust of brown sugar on mine (although my kids do love that) and prefer a lighter honey glaze for ham that adds flavor to the meat without over powering it. My ham glaze honey recipe will give you just that. It provides a base of honey flavor with a little bump of sweetness from brown sugar and then a little dijon mustard to help balance out all that sweetness. To make it, it’s as simple as combining the ingredients with a little water over the stove. It really couldn’t be easier and takes less than 10 minutes. 

Getting the best flavor

To get the best flavor from my ham glaze honey recipe I like to baste the ham throughout the cooking process. This will help to naturally create a light crust in the edges while keeping the ham itself hydrated through the cooking process.

Before doing anything, I line the bottom of my baking pan with tin foil. Sometimes you can use the packaging the ham comes in too. This will help to pool the honey glaze and give you good flavor all around the meat. I glaze the ham before it goes into the oven and cover it with tin foil to keep it from overly browning. Throughout the cooking process I’ll take it out 1/3rd and 2/3rds of the way through and spoon the glaze at the bottom back over the top. 

This works if you’re cooking a larger spiral ham for the holidays or even a small cut ham for the week days. However, I will note, this recipe is for a larger holiday ham. You can certainly use it on smaller hams, but just know you might want to cut it in half. 

How to thicken the glaze

This is a slightly runny glaze. This helps to allow you to baste the ham throughout the cooking. However, it will thicken as it cools. Keep that in mind.

If you still want to thicken it, wait until the ham has finished cooking, you can thicken it and offer it as a side to pour over ham slices. Using the glaze and drippings that have collected at the bottom of the pan, mix it with 1/2 Tablespoon of cornstarch or flour and whisk well until it’s combined and thickened. 

Tips for making my ham glaze honey recipe

• This recipe moves fast so stay with it to make sure that you stay by the glaze to whisk it while it all comes together. 
• If you do like a glaze that’s a little sweeter than this tastes once it’s warmed in the pan, you can add 1 Tbsp. of granulated sugar. Mix it will.
• You can store this ham glaze honey recipe for up to 5 days in the refrigerator in an air tight container. Before using it, let it sit out for about 2 hours and then reheat it on the stove. . 
• If you want to get even a little thicker crust on the outside of the ham, remove the foil for the last 5-10 minutes. For reference, I did not do that with the ham in these photos. I kept the foil on the whole time. 
• If you’re looking for advice on how to bake a ham, learn How to Cook a Ham {HERE}.

Looking for other ideas for the holidays or side dishes? 

Try these recipes if you’re looking for side dishes for your ham or looking for additional holiday recipes.

• Fresh Green Beans with Almonds {HERE}
• Lemon & Herb Baby Potatoes {HERE}
• Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Bacon {HERE}
• Dutch Oven No Knead Bread {HERE}
• Lemon Shortbread Cookies {HERE}
• No Bake Chocolate Lasagna {HERE}
• Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cakes {HERE}

Thank you so much for visiting today, friends! I hope yo love my ham glaze honey recipe and it’s lightly sweetened flavor. You can find the full, printable recipe below. Happy Eating! 

Honey Glaze for Ham

My ham glaze honey recipe will sweeten up your holiday ham or Sunday ham just a touch. This simple recipe is one you will love for a lightly sweetened touch. Save my honey glaze recipe to Pinterest so you can make it each time you have ham! 

5 from 4 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: sauce

Cuisine: American

Keyword: ham glaze honey recipe, honey glaze ham, honey ham glaze, honey ham glaze recipe

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Servings: 1 large ham

Author: Rachel

Equipment

• Sauce pan

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 2/3 cup fresh, organic honey
• 2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/8 tsp. cinnamon
• Optional: 1 Tbsp granulated sugar This will sweeten if more if you want more intense sweetness.

Instructions

• Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan on the stove over a medium to low flame.
• Whisk continuously until everything is well combined and you can no longer see the sugar granuals.
• Let simmer for about 7 minutes stirring regularly to make sure the sugars are not burning.
• Remove from the heat. The sauce will begin to thicken as it cools. You can either use it right away or store it in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
• If you want to thick it, use 1 Tbsp of cornstarch or flour AFTER cooking the ham with it.