Glazed Apple Spiral Ham
Serves 10
15 mins prep
105 mins cook
15 mins Resting Time
0 mins total
🍏🍎🎊 If you’re looking for an EASY ham recipe to serve at your next holiday gathering, make this JUICY apple spiral ham with a spiced brown sugar glaze! Tender green apple slices are the perfect tart contrast to the salty ham that's coated in a sweeter glaze! Just 15 minutes of hands-on prep work for this SHOW-STOPPING holiday entree for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, or Easter that your friends and family will ADORE!
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Ham - Preheat oven to 350F with your main oven rack in the middle position, making sure there's room above to accommodate the ham. Place the ham on a large roasting pan. Make sure to remove the bottom plastic piece from the ham before cooking if there is one, and discard any glaze packets. Add 1/2 cup water to the bottom of the pan (this helps keep the ham moist as it bakes). Set aside momentarily.
Apples - Peel, thinly slice, and core the apples. If you have a mandolin, bring it out for this task. If you don't, that's fine. Just slice the apples very thin, thinner that you would for apple pie.
Apple Assembly - Turn your ham on it’s side and carefully tuck half of the apples in between each spiral throughout the ham. Carefully flip the ham over and repeat on the other side with the remaining apple slices. Place the ham upright on the roasting pan; set aside momentarily. Tip - If your bottom spirals begin to loosen you can insert a few toothpicks into the bottom to hold it together.
Glaze (sauce) - To a small saucepan, add all the remaining ingredients (Dijon through ground cloves), bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and let it bubble gently for about 3-5 minutes, or until the sauce begins to thicken. Tips - Make sure to keep an eye on it and not let it bubble too fast; turn the heat down to medium low, or as necessary. There's a lot of sugar in this mixture and you don't want it to burn with a fast boil.
For the glaze brushing below, think of the glaze usage like this: Use 50% of the total amount of glaze in Brushing and Baking #1. In Brushing and Baking #2 use 25% of the total glaze, and in Brushing and Baking #3 use the final 25%. It doesn't have to be perfect, but try your best for optimal results.
Brushing and Baking #1 - Brush or pour HALF the glaze over the ham (save the remainder). Loosely cover the ham with foil and bake for 1 hour.
Brushing and Baking #2 - Remove the ham from the oven. Brush half of the saved glaze (so half of the half, or 25% of the total) and bake uncovered for 30 minutes, occasionally basting with pan juices.
Brushing and Baking #3 - Using the remaining glaze, brush the ham again, and bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until the glaze has fully caramelized and the ham has been warmed through. Tip - If the ham is beginning to brown too quickly or begins to burn while it's uncovered in either Baking 2 or Baking 3, cover it with foil and/or it may simply be done and ready to be taken out of the oven. Because remember, this ham has already been cooked through - you're just warming it and caramelizing the glaze.
Resting and Slicing - Allow the ham to rest for about 20-30 minutes before slicing and serving. See the FAQs in the blog post for slicing tips.