Homemade Ham with Brown Sugar Mustard Glaze (2024)

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 sugarmustard 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.

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 Icould 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 itandpulling 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-rightniggle inthe 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 8-10people with leftovers and speaking of that…

More leftover ham recipes:

• Easiest Split Pea Soup
• Southwestern Leftover Ham Casserole
• Potato and Ham Au Gratin

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