Cranberry Bourbon Glazed Ham - if you are looking for an incredible Thanksgiving or Christmas Ham, this is it! Whole cranberry sauce, brown sugar, bourbon, and horseradish makes the best ham glaze! This is the ultimate Glazed Ham recipe!
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Amazing Christmas Ham!
This is the story of the amazing Christmas Ham that got lost in the world of food blogging.
In 2007, I made this Cranberry Bourbon Glazed ham and the family immediately declared it the best ham ever! We vowed to eat it every year for Christmas.
Christmas of 2008 came along, and being a food blogger, I had to make something new, and the amazing ham was forgotten about.
Fast forward to 2018. I was going through my old posts doing a little blog clean up and I stumble upon the Amazing Christmas Ham!
This will be on the Christmas menu for this year! I will have new photos then. But this ham was so good, I felt the need to revise this post NOW, crappy 2007 photos and everything. Because you need to know about it!
Best Ham Glaze
If you are looking the Best Ham Glaze - you have come to the right place! Brown sugar, cranberry sauce, bourbon and horseradish are amazing together. A little tart, a little sweet, a little hint of bourbon. It would be perfect for a Thanksgiving Ham (you know some people don't like turkey, crazy, huh?) or Christmas ham.
Baking a Glazed Ham
How do you bake your ham? Do you bake it cut side up or cut side down? Before I read this recipe, I always baked it cut side up because that's how it shows it in all the photos.
Bake your ham cut side down! It comes out perfect. I think it's the same idea as roasting your chicken for awhile breast side down, you get the juices from the fat to flow down into the meat. The cut edge on the ham stayed so moist, but it was also nice and crispy from being in contact with the hot pan.
I may have forgotten to make this recipe again, but at least I always remembered to cook the ham cut side down.
Oven Baked Ham is Easy!
Baking this ham is really easy: You trim and score the ham and bake it cut side down for about an hour and a half in a roasting pan. Heat the sauce ingredients in small pan. Raise the heat of the oven, and brush the glaze over the ham. Let ham rest for about 20 minutes before slicing and skim off fat from the pan juices.
Eat, enjoy, and sit back and wait for the rave reviews!
Looking for something to serve with the ham:
Everybody loves scalloped potatoes especially when they are made with gruyere cheese - Scalloped Potatoes with Gruyere.
Everyone will be asking for this Smoked Gouda Scalloped Potatoes recipe!
Cranberry Bourbon Glazed Ham
Ingredients
- 10 pound bone-in ham
- cooking spray
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ¾ cup whole cranberry sauce
- ¾ cup brown sugar packed
- ¼ cup bourbon
- 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
- 1 bay leaf
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325.
- Trim fat and rind from ham. Score outside of ham in a diamond pattern. Place the ham, bone end up, on a roasting pan coated with cooking spray or lined with foil.
- Bake at 325° for 1 ½ hours.
- In a small saucepan combine the sugar and the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat; discard bay leaf.
- Increase the oven temperature to 400.
- Brush the cranberry mixture over the ham and continue baking for 15 minutes.
- Remove the ham from the oven and place on a platter. Tent lightly with foil and let it rest for 15-20 minutes.
- Skim fat from sauce in pan.
- Slice ham and serve with sauce.
Nutrition
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Update Notes: This was originally published in 2007 and has been updated for 2018. It will be updated with new photos after Christmas this year!
Laurie says
Question: Is it a typo that brown sugar is listed twice in the ingredient list? One says packed, one doesn’t. It’s Christmas Day and I’m making this right now. I know it’s last minute.. my mother bought a lot of food and just informed me that I am cooking the main dinner tonight. I had no idea Hahahaha!
Pam Greer says
I am so sorry, I am just now seeing this, I was out of town over Christmas! Yes, it's a typo! There is only 3/4 cup of brown sugar. Even if you did both, the glaze would have just been sweeter, it should have still worked. I hope your dinner was wonderful!
Amanda says
Anything with bourbon sounds like a winner to me. This sounds amazing! Definitely putting this ham on the holiday menu this year. Thanks for sharing!
Pam Greer says
Bourbon makes everything better!
Valentina says
I've never baked a ham before and this looks like a great on to try. I'm loving those sweet and savory flavors in the sauce so much. YUM!
Pam Greer says
It is sooo good!
Jill says
You had me at bourbon 🙂 I need to try this glaze the next time I make ham!
Pam Greer says
Bourbon makes everything better!
Adrianne says
Holy wowswers Pam, this ham looks fabulous! I have made a few in my day, but never one with bourbon and cranberry sauce. I am going to give this a go for Christmas this year, YUM!!
Pam Greer says
It really is so good, I can't believe we haven't made it in so long!
Shanika says
This Cranberry Bourbon Glaze sounds divine! I need to try this for sure!
Pam Greer says
We loved it!
Marjie says
I've noticed that "light" foods usually have absurdly tiny portions. 3 ounces of ham for one of my boys falls somewhere below the level of appetizer.
And yes, I made Christmas goose about 3 years ago (actually, I should say Christmas Geese, because I cooked 6). Goose and duck are both fatty, so I put them up on a rack in the roasting pan. I also quartered lemon and orange, and put one quarter of each in each bird in place of stuffing. If you stuff a goose, the stuffing will be ruined. Maybe a New Year's goose for you?
Peter M says
Pam, your ham "kicks butt" (good pun)!
Kevin says
Your ham looks great and the recipe sounds tasty. I tried baking a ham this year for the first time and it was surprisingly easy and good.
Chris says
Pam - seriously? This looks like a ham I would devour. Absolutely mouthwatering!