As you know Turkey is the star of Thanksgiving as Ham is to Christmas. Instead of spending nearly $80 on an overpriced honey baked ham, fire up your smoker and cook one yourself. As some of you may know my husband & I are the kings of DIY! We tried this recipe out this year and it’s better than anything you can buy. Delicious!
Go and buy 1 – 10lb. Naturally Hickory Smoked Spiral Cut Ham (the brand we bought was a Target Market Pantry).
These hams are precooked as you know; if you notice the directions it simply says to reheat the ham in an oven for a couple of hours until it reaches an internal temp of 140 degrees. It is perfectly fine to reheat it this way, but if you want to turn the ham into something spectacular, use your smoker and this recipe.
To create the “Honey Baked” effect on the outside of the ham I use two things: a Honey glaze and a seasoned sugar rub.
Honey Glaze
- ½ cup Orange Juice
- ½ cup Apple Juice
- ¼ cup Brown Sugar
- ¼ cup Honey
Whisk these ingredients together over Med. High heat until it reaches a low boil. Reduce the mixture for 3-5 minutes stirring occasionally.
The first step in the process is to baste the outside of the ham with the glaze. I use a squirt bottle but you can simply brush it on the outside with a pastry brush. This step can get a little messy, so it’s best to have the ham in a shallow dish or aluminum pan.
Now it’s ready for the Seasoned Sugar Rub. Here’s the recipe:
Seasoned Sugar Rub
- ½ cup Brown Sugar
- ½ cup Natural Sugar in the Raw (Turbinado Sugar)
- 2 teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice (cinnamon ginger nutmeg allspice)
- ½ teaspoon Smoked Paprika (Spanish will do if don’t have smoked)
Combine these ingredients in a ziplock bag. Then rub the sugar blend to the outside of the ham. Once the outside of the ham is covered with the seasoned sugar rub, it’s ready for the smoker.
Smoking Directions: To cook the ham the smoker needs to be between 275-300 degrees. We use a mild fruit wood like cherry or apple for the smoke. Since we’re essentially “double-smoking” the ham you want to stay away from stronger woods like Hickory or Oak. These will easily overpower the flavor.
Place the ham on the smoker and check it every hour. If the outside starts to look a little dry, use some of the glaze for basting. The entire cook is only going to take about 2 ½ – 3 hours.
The ham needs to reach an internal temp of 140 degrees before serving, but you don’t want it to get much hotter than that or it will dry out.
You can tell when the ham is ready because the slices will start to separate slightly and the outside will have that caramelized look. When it reaches this point, remove the ham from the smoker and loosely tent with aluminum foil.
Serving: It’s ready to serve after a short rest, but you can keep it warm for a couple hours by placing it in a dry cooler with a few old towels.
Carving a spiral sliced ham is easy. They’ve done all the work for you, just make a cut along the bone and free all the slices.
Be sure not to throw that bone away because it will flavor a pot of beans or can even be used for making pork stock.
Hope you enjoy this DYI “Honey Baked Ham”. Merry Christmas!!!
Northerly Nosh 