Ain’t nothin better than an oven-roasted homemade ham glaze I say. This recipe uses fresh cranberries, meaning it’s perfect for the holiday season! I love the zing that the dijon mustard adds too. This recipe that shows you how to glaze a ham is super easy to throw together!Â
Out of sheer laziness, Eric and I have managed to convince our kids that “milk-water” is a thing. Like if they finish their milk at dinner and want some water, we don’t rinse out the cup. Tonight I poured Charlotte’s water for her and she goes, “It looks like a swamp!” Why yes dear. Yes it does. Drink up.
My parental neglect is only going to get more pronounced over the next few months. I just had my 3rd kid a few days ago, which means that I’m slowly morphing into an extension of my couch (because all I do is nurse the baby.) Ain’t nobody got time for cup rinsing. Or bathing children. Or taking them to school. Just kidding, I swear Charlotte makes it to school every day.
Mostly because my mom is here helping us out. Thanks mom! My friends keep asking me if having a third is way harder, and I say no way, Eric’s home from work and my mom is here to wait on me hand and foot. All I have to do is sit on the couch and never get any sleep. No prob. Ask me in 6 months how it is having 3 kids. Right now it’s a cinch.
So are you guys getting your menus together for Thanksgiving?? I’m super excited for the holidays. Eric surprised me with a little Christmas outfit for Valentine the other day and I thought I would explode. I get a baby, plus I get to dress her up in Christmas clothes??
Okay sorry, back to Thanksgiving. Do you always cook a turkey? Do you make ham, roast, lamb, something else? If your family loves ham this recipe is for you! It starts with fresh cranberries on the stove which are cooked and pureed with dijon mustard and some brown sugar. The sauce is super quick to make, and then all you have to do is get the ham in the oven and brush it a few times. Easy peasy. There is some cayenne pepper in the recipe, which gives it a fun little kick (reminiscent of this Raspberry Chipotle Glazed Ham).
Score the ham with a sharp knife so the sauce seeps into the ham through the skin. If you don’t have an immersion blender to puree the glaze, you can use a regular blender no problem.
Check out some other Thanksgiving ideas below the recipe!
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Oven-Roasted Cranberry-Dijon Glazed Ham
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh cranberries
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 5-6 pound cooked ham, I used a sliced spiral ham
Instructions
- Combine cranberries, water, and honey in a medium saucepan. Set over medium heat.
- Stir occasionally for about 4-5 minutes, until most of the cranberries have popped.
- Add dijon mustard, vinegar, brown sugar, and cayenne pepper.
- Continue to cook for another 3-5 minutes until the sauce has thickened some and is syrupy. Remove from heat.
- If you have an immersion blender, use it to puree the sauce. (If you don’t, transfer the mixture to a regular blender. Leave the top of the blender vented (to allow steam to escape) and cover with a towel. Blend it up until smooth.)
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Prepare a roasting pan with a roasting rack so that the ham doesn’t cook in it’s own juices (you want a nice crispy bottom, no soggy ham bottoms please.)
- Place the ham on the roasting rack and use a sharp serrated knife to score the ham diagonally.
- Use a brush to coat the ham all over with the cranberry sauce. (You will repeat this process once more about 20 minutes before the ham is done.)
- Place the pan in the oven and roast for 1 and 1/2 to 2 and 1/4 hours, or until a thermometer registers 135 degrees F. (About 20-25 minutes per pound). (You don’t need to worry about the temperature too much since the ham is already cooked. You just want to make sure it’s hot all the way through.
- 20 minutes before you think it will be done, brush with sauce one more time.
- Serve the ham with the remaining glaze (Warm it up in the microwave or on the stove since it will be cool by now.)
Notes
Nutrition
Here are some other ham recipes you will love!
Raspberry Chipotle Glazed Ham << this is an old favorite of mine! It’s actually very similar to today’s recipe, just with raspberry and a chipotle kick. It’s good!
Easy Sriracha Ham (Slow Cooker, 3 Ingredients): << It seriously does not get any easier than this recipe.
Cuban Mojo Marinated Pork: << This is the TOP recipe on my site. With good reason! Look at that crust!!
A few other ham recipes from awesome bloggers!
Pineapple Honey glazed Ham from Wonky Wonderful
Baked Ham with Brown Sugar Glaze from A Spicy Perspective
Slow Cooker Honey Glazed Ham from Wholefully
This post was originally published on November 9, 2016.
This is the 4th year I’ve used this recipe. I’m not a big fan of ham but love the tangy flavor from the cranberries and the heat from the cayenne pepper. My kids and husband are fans too.Â
I’m so happy to hear you are loving the recipe Lisa! This is one of my favorites too. Thank you so much for coming back to comment, you are awesome!
Can I use the cranberry that comes in a can that we can purchase at a grocery storeÂ
This was the 3rd Christmas in a row that I have used your recipe, and it gets compliments every year! My husband was bitter that I wasn’t using the age-old pineapple glaze 🤣 but I assured him that cranberries were more Christmassy, and I think this year he was fully convinced that this was the best ham I’ve ever made. I love to decorate the serving tray with fresh cranberries and sprigs of Rosemary. So pretty, & SO good. I made a 12 lb ham just so we could enjoy all the leftovers!Â
That is so awesome Heather! I’m so glad you have enjoyed it for so many years now! How fun. Love the fresh berries and rosemary garnish. Thank you so much for reviewing! That means so much to me!
This was delicious never thought much about the glaze for ham but this was so good and really made a difference between just another ham and a wonderful ham will use it oftenÂ
Thanks! This is the most intelligent recipe I’ve seen for baked ham. Most totally forget that the ham is already fully cooked and recommend baking it to a temp of 140 or even as high as 160. It only needs to be warmed throughout, NOT cooked a second time. In fact, it can be served cold, straight from the packaging, if so desired. Overbaking will only make the meat dry.
Hi! Is it possible to cook this in the slow cooker? How would you do that?
Hi Kerianne! You can, but you won’t get the crispy edge that is so great about the oven method. Just add the ham to the slow cooker, cover with the glaze and cook on low for 3-5 hours depending on size. Enjoy!
Can you make this a week ahead??
A week might be pushing it Bianca :) You can make the glaze ahead of time for sure (a week is fine) but the ham is best served the day it is made. You can make it ahead and reheat it on the day of if you like, but it just won’t be quite the same.
This looks amazing. I will be making this for Easter Dinner this year. Can’t wait to see how it turns out. Thank you for sharing.
This recipe was fabulous! I cut back on the brown sugar and left out the apple cider vinegar and added orange juice in its place. I added about a teaspoon or a teaspoon and a half of blended up chipotles. It was an amazing glaze. One of my best hams and I have made at least a dozen or two.
Orange juice would be delicious in this! And love the chipotle idea; I have a whole other ham recipe that features chipotle! It’s a great flavor combo with the smokey ham. Thanks so much for reviewing! https://thefoodcharlatan.com/raspberry-chipotle-glazed-ham/
My husband used your recipe to make a 10 lb ham for Christmas dinner this year and accidentally left the ham on the oven rack too high in the oven and fell asleep for 2 hours so the ham got a charred burnt ends look all over the outside. He put a tinfoil tent over it and lowered in in the oven for the next hour of cooking to try and salvage what we thought was going to be a ruined ham.
It wound up being good regardless of the burnt appearance. The bites with the charred edges were the best parts to eat. The ham was a bit overcooked to 180 internal temp as well because he didn’t check the temp before lowering, just assumed it would need at least 3 hours based on the size. The flavor turned out really good though. Like a slightly sweet, smoky beef jerky. It was a spiral cut ham so the bottom cut part was a touch drier, but that just made it taste more like jerky which was still good.
Thanks for the recipe. We will probably use it again and not burn the edges to see how it affects the flavor.
Okay I’m totally going to take a nap next time I make this to see if I can recreate the charred edges effect!! haha! Sounds pretty good to me! I’m so glad you liked the recipe, thanks for reviewing!
AMAZING! I’ve been looking for a glaze that was easy but not too sweet. The mustard and cranberries were the perfect pairings. I always have frozen cranberries this time of year so this was perfect. I did add just a bit more mustard since our family really doesn’t like our meat sweet but that’s a personal preference.
Since I didn’t post my comments in December–
March 2019–You should have seen me trying to find this recipe the second time..of course, it was the last place I checked. It’s currently with my “tried and true” recipes so it won’t ever be lost again.
All I can say is thank you for making this. We won’t have to wait for the holidays to enjoy this, rememember I have cranberries in the freezer…lol
Carolyn you are so smart! I need to start freezing cranberries so that I can make this all year long! And I’m with you generally, I don’t like my meat too sweet. I’m working on another dijon recipe (for lamb!) that I will be posting soon, I think you will love it! I’m so glad you re-found the recipe for the ham. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment!
Thanks! This looks amazing for the holidays! I saw a couple of cranberry glazed ham recipes recently but could not find them, but I found yours and it looks easy and good. I think I’ll try it this Christmas.
It’s 11:30 pm. California time now…
But, guess what we will b busy cooking up
Just in time for our Christmas feast.
It looks wonderful! Thank you for sharing th love <3
Haha! I’m so glad you are burning the midnight oil for the ham :) Enjoy!
Hi, if we wanted to add an alcohol (like port) to the sauce, how would you recommend adding it in?
Thanks!
Hey Aisha, I’m so sorry but I don’t drink or cook with alcohol so I’m literally the worst person for this question!! Let me know if you tried it out!
I make my glaze more savory,I seed a whole jalapeno, a little garlic ,add to the cranberry (you can use canned), and brown suger,cook till thick,remove jalapeno, fantastic
Ooh that sounds delicious, especially with the garlic! Yum. I made this ham today for Easter! I’ll have to try your ideas next time! Thanks Dana!