Homemade Ham with Brown Sugar Mustard Glaze

Hands down, this is the best baked ham recipe (and easiest). There. I’ve said it. Skip the $75 Honey-Baked stores.  You can make a homemade ham with brown sugar mustard glaze for about one-quarter of the price of those foil-wrapped shanks AND without having to stand in line. Want to treat your family to an oven-roasted ham? This is the one. It’s the perfect centerpiece for all your holiday meals, and this brown sugar-glazed ham feeds a crowd on a budget.

I’m a ham junkie.  As in — can’t get enough.  Could be because I was raised a stone’s throw from Smithfield, Virginia and oven roasted ham was a staple in our house.  Whatever the reason, I’m utterly smitten with the salty, savory bite of this piece of pig.

My mother, grandmother and aunts served homemade ham on a regular basis and the only thing that differentiated each person’s versions, were the sides they served with it.  Aunt Heather served au gratin potatoes. Aunt Lynne preferred no mayo potato salad. My grandmother always made angel flake biscuits and my mother liked to switch it up — black bean and rice salad, antipasto pasta salad, three bean salad… you name it.  

The central theme was always the brown sugar glazed ham, and in my humble opinion, this one’s the BEST.

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You’ll love this recipe because it’s so easy and the list of ingredients is so short. Seriously!

Oven roasted ham with brown sugar mustard glaze ingredients:

  • Smoked ham
  • Water
  • Brown Sugar
  • Dijon Mustard
  • Whole Mustard Seed

I know for many people, oven roasted ham is a holiday item — Christmas, Easter, that sort of thing.  I have to say that I would never wait that long for a homemade ham with brown sugar mustard glaze.  First because they’re really inexpensive for how much yield you get.  And second, because brown sugar glazed ham is sooooo simple to make.  No, really.

I should preface that statement by saying that I’m not talking about those dry-cured, country hams that require a days of soaking (and regularly changing the water) before it can finally be roasted.  

No, the “ham” I’m referring to are the ones readily found in the meat department of the grocery stores, refrigerated, but not frozen. I can usually find a ham shank about 7-10 pounds for around $18-20 — a relative bargain for the amount of meat it yields.

The brown sugar mustard glaze is a phenom of flavor and so ridiculously easy to make, you’ll wonder why you ever bothered with those “pre-fab” pouches of glaze that sometimes come included with the ham.

Steps for Making Brown Sugar Mustard Glaze:

  1. Add brown sugar and dijon mustard to a small bowl.
  2. Stir to combine.

See, I told ya it was easy…  BTW – I always make an extra bit of this glaze with one additional component (whole mustard seed) to serve with the ham on the side, for anyone who likes a bit more of that sweet/piquant embellishment.

The brown sugar mustard glaze gets spread over the oven roasted ham for the last half hour of cooking (note: baking times will be different depending on the weight of the ham, see recipe below for specifics). 

When You’re Young, You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

Confession:  Back in my early twenties, when I was living on my own in a tiny, one bedroom condo, I decided to make a ham for my boyfriend.  I’d never made one before — but how hard could it be?  

At the market, all I could find were cooked, smoked hams.  Remembering my mother cooking her hams for 2-3 hours, I knew I didn’t want a pre-cooked ham.  So I asked the butcher for an uncooked ham.  He said, oh you want a “fresh” ham — a “picnic” ham.  

I smiled with satisfaction.  “Yes, that’s what I want.

At home I prepped the ham the way my mother had, placing it in a roasting pan with a little water, sealing it tightly with tin foil, roasting it and pulling it out half an hour before it was done to add the glaze.  But something didn’t seem quite right.  My oven-roasted ham didn’t have that pinkish-hue.  It didn’t have that smoky aroma.  Undaunted, I pressed on — all the while feeling a persistent something’s-not-right niggle in the back of my head.

When it was time to carve, the brown sugar glazed ham was perfectly cooked, but again — their was no distinctive aroma, no pinkish flesh. My homemade ham with brown sugar mustard glaze was decidedly lacking in smoked flavor.

That’s because if it’s not smoked (thus cooked), it’s not a ham. It’s a pork roast. I was more than disappointed. Humiliated. D’oh!

Live and learn.  The pork was good. However, this homemade ham with brown sugar mustard glaze is better.  Best of all, your hands-on time for this feast is less than 20 minutes, including trimming and glazing.  I recommend it for the holidays or any weekend.

The ham shank is perfect for feeding 8-10 people with leftovers and speaking of that…

More leftover ham recipes:


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sliced glazed ham on a platter.
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4 from 65 votes

Easiest Ever Oven Roasted Ham

It doesn’t take much effort at all to make a beautiful holiday ham!  See for yourself!
Author: Lisa Lotts
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Keyword baked ham, christmas, easter, smoked ham, thanksgiving
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 15 minutes
Servings 16

INGREDIENTS:

  • 8-10 pound ham shank or butt portion
  • 1 ½ cups water
  • cup dijon mustard
  • ½ cup brown sugar

EXTRA GLAZE FOR SERVING: (optional)

  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • cup dijon mustard
  • 2 teaspoons whole mustard seed

DIRECTIONS:

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  • Trim any excess fat from ham. Place ham into a roasting pan. Add water to the bottom of the pan. Cover tightly with aluminum foil so that no steam can escape. 

ROASTING TIMES FOR HAM:

  • A ham should cook for about 18-20 minutes per pound.
    8 pound ham: ~ 2 to 2 1/2 hours
    9 pound ham: ~ 2 1/2 to 3 hours
    10 pound ham: ~ 3 to 3 1/2 hours.
  • Meanwhile in a small bowl combine the dijon mustard and brown sugar. Stir to combine. Set aside.
  • When the oven roasted ham has 30 minutes left in the cooking time, remove it from the oven. Take off the aluminum foil and glaze the ham with  brown sugar mustard glaze. Return the ham to the oven for half an hour. 
  • Remove from oven and tent with aluminum foil. Let the meat rest for 10-15 minutes before carving.

BROWN SUGAR MUSTARD GLAZE FOR SERVING:

  • Meanwhile in a small bowl combine the dijon mustard, mustard seed and brown sugar. Stir to combine. Microwave the brown sugar mixture in 20-30 second bursts until the sugar is dissolved. Set aside to cool.
  • Serve the carved oven roasted ham with extra brown sugar mustard glaze on the side for anyone who can’t get enough…

RECIPE VIDEO:

YouTube video

NOTES:

If your ham isn’t exactly 7 pounds, cook it for 18-20 minutes per pound. Begin glazing the ham 30 minutes before it’s completely cooked.

NUTRITION:

Calories: 582kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 49g | Fat: 38g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 140mg | Sodium: 2754mg | Potassium: 667mg | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 5IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 2.1mg

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42 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    This is SO EASY TO MAKE and my family loved it! I will never buy another honeybaked ham again. I saved $100 by making it myself.

  2. 5 stars
    The ham I fixed was an 8 lbs. Smithfield bone in butt portion I cooked it for 2 hours it was perfect. Thank you so much for this recipe will be fixing it like this always.

  3. 5 stars
    You don’t mention the rind. Does your ham come with a rind? If so, ho to proceed?

  4. 5 stars
    So good. I ran to the grocery to get a small ham for me and hubby and the only spiral-sliced one they had was HUGE (and expensive). so I bought this EXACT Smithfield ham. So glad to have found your instructions and recipe to help me make it taste great. A keeper!!!

  5. 5 stars
    I made this for our New Years dinner. This glaze is AMAAAAZING! The whole family loved it. This will be my go to glaze from now on.( For ham and other things) Thank you!

  6. I bought a smoked, spiral ham for Easter. Will this method work for that?

    1. Yes, it should work fine… just be sure to tightly cover the ham when baking. The spiral slice is easy to serve, but will tend to be dryer as those cuts expose the ham to air. Also, pay attention to the cooking time listed on the ham package. It may be different from this uncut ham shank.

  7. Brooke Lavoie says:

    I am planning to “cook” a fully cooked ham that is the butt portion and 11.6 lbs. should I do 15 minutes per pound – 2 hours 45 minutes or should I stick to your time at 18-20 minutes so 3 1/2 hours? I’m not sure if it’s because you used a I cooked ham that the timing is higher! Thank you so much.

    1. If you were planning to cook the ham at 325° stick with my instructions. If you are cooking it at a higher temperature, it may take less time. I prefer the low and slow method with the tin-foil tenting to keep the ham moist.

  8. 5 stars
    This was so good. Tried the scalloped potatoes, as well, delicious!

    1. You just made my go-to Easter dinner! So glad you enjoyed it!

  9. 5 stars
    Made an 8-lb. ham (shank portion) tonight using this recipe and it’s delicious. Thanks!