Honey Baked Ham Recipe (5-Ingredients)
- By Amy Dong
- Updated Oct. 12, 2026
No need to spend a lot of money or time on your favorite holiday ham. Easily make your own version with this 5-Ingredient Honey Baked Ham Recipe. The honey mustard glaze is uniquely delicious, as the apple cider gives it extra flavor. This is the best ham recipe: tender with big flavors and even better than restaurant versions.
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Amy’s Notes
This is the only ham recipe I use, as it’s the easiest way to achieve restaurant-quality flavor without the high cost. It’s juicy and sweet with a little tang, and it’s mostly hands-off. Just mix the honey mustard glaze, baste, and serve it up. Everyone will think you fussed for hours. What you’ll love:
- Super Easy: Not only is this honey baked ham unbelievably easy to make, it’s mostly hands-off.
- All the Holidays: Perfect for Christmas, Easter, Sunday dinner, or anytime your family craves a simple yet amazing ham.
- Much More Affordable: You get that famous honey baked ham flavor for a fraction of what the store-bought and restaurant versions costs.
- Family and Friends Love It: This is the easy honey ham recipe you’ll return to over and over again because your family will request it on repeat. We love it paired with this Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes or this Garlic-Butter Roasted Potatoes!
Key Recipe Ingredients
You’ll need just 5 simple ingredients for the best honey baked ham recipe:
- Brown Sugar: Adds a warm molasses sweetness to the glaze. Pack it down tight when measuring.
- Whole Grain Mustard: This is sometimes known as country style mustard. It’s key to the delectable honey mustard glaze. It’s not your average yellow mustard.
- Honey: It works together with the brown sugar to bring a lovely sweetness to the salty ham. This unfiltered honey is my favorite, as it’s organic and budget friendly.
- Apple Cider or Juice: This brings a sweet acidity to the basting sauce. Be sure you’re getting sweet cider and not cider vinegar.
- Spiral-Sliced Ham: This is the easiest to use, since it’s already thinly sliced. Bone-in has the best flavor. You can also use a regular ham and slice it thinly yourself.
Substitutions and Variations
- Mustard: We highly recommend using the whole grain mustard with whole seeds, as it has the best depth of flavor, but you can also use Dijon mustard or honey mustard.
- Ham: We’ve found spiral-sliced, bone-in ham to work really well. However, you can also use boneless ham and slice it thinly yourself. Or use a regular bone-in ham and slice it thinly prior to baking.
- Brown Sugar: You can use either light brown or dark brown sugar. Dark brown sugar will give a deeper, darker flavor and color.
- Cider/Juice: Our recipe calls for apple cider, which has more depth of flavor and sweetness than regular apple juice. However, you can use 100% apple juice if you can’t find apple cider. Do not use apple cider vinegar, which is completely different from sweet apple cider.
Easy Recipe Instructions
- Make the Sauce: Mix together apple cider, brown sugar, mustard, and honey in a bowl. Mix well to fully incorporate basting sauce.
- Bake: Place ham in a 13×9 or similar-sized baking dish. Coat ham with a generous amount of sauce. Bake for 60-70 minutes, basting thoroughly every 15 minutes. If it browns too quickly, loosely tent with foil.
For full list of ingredients and instructions, please see recipe card below.
Pro Tips for Success
- Ham: Be sure to get the spiral sliced ham if you want ease of slicing; plus, the juices really sink in with the pre-sliced ham cooking in the oven.
- Make Ahead Sauce: Basting sauce can be made several days ahead of time and reheated when ready to use.
- Baste Often: Don’t skimp on the basting sessions. Baste ham every 15 minutes during baking, for juicy results.
- Ensure Juiciness: To serve the ham slices in an oven-proof serving dish, arrange the slices in overlapping rows, like fallen dominoes and brush sauce in between slices and on top.
Video: Watch Us Make This Recipe
Honey Baked Ham Recipe (5 Ingredients)
Ingredients
- 4-5 pounds spiral sliced ham, fully cooked
- 1 cup apple cider juice, not vinegar
- ¼ cup brown sugar, firmly packed
- ¼ cup whole grain mustard, with whole mustard seeds in it
- ¼ cup pure honey
Optional To Thicken Sauce (Recommended)
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 4 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350ºF with rack on lower position.
- In a bowl, mix the apple cider, brown sugar, mustard, and honey until fully combined.
- Place ham in a 13×9 baking dish. Coat ham with a generous amount of sauce. Bake for 60-70 minutes, basting thoroughly every 15 minutes. Let ham rest at room temperature while you thicken the glaze.
- Optional (recommended) for thickening glaze: Pour remaining unused sauce into a saucepan and bring to a low boil. In a small bowl, stir cornstarch into 4 TB water until fully dissolved and smooth; no white bits should remain. Slowly stir in half of the slurry into boiling sauce, stirring constantly. If needed, stir in more slurry until thickened as desired.
- To serve pre-cut slices of ham, arrange slices on a platter in overlapping rows (like fallen dominoes) and brush glaze in between the slices and on top. Leave enough glaze for serving. If serving ham whole, be sure to have glaze available for brushing on top. The sauce is what makes this ham uniquely flavorful!
Notes
- We like bone-in, spiral sliced ham best. You can also slice ham yourself, arrange the slices neatly on a baking dish, and follow the recipe as written.
- For a bigger ham, feel free to double the sauce and bake an extra 15 to 30 minutes.
- Storage: Leftovers can be kept airtight in fridge for up to 5 days. You can also freeze them airtight for up to 2 months.
- This ham is amazing with Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes or Garlic-Butter Potatoes!
- If you enjoyed this recipe, please come back and give it a rating. We ❤️ hearing from you!
Nutrition (per serving)
What to Serve With Honey Baked Ham
Potatoes
- Smashed Potatoes (Extra Crispy!) – super fun to make and extra crispy, even better than tater tots!
- Garlic Herb Roasted Potatoes – garlicky potatoes that pair with any meal.
- Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes (5 Ingredients) – comes together super quick, and turns out creamy-delicious every time.
Rice and Quinoa
- Wild Rice Pilaf – the flavors are incredible, as are the textures and colors.
- Gluten-Free Wild Rice Stuffing – festive and delicious, a perfect pairing with ham.
- Quinoa Sweet Potato Salad – nutritious and delicious, yet easy to prepare.
Breads and Dinner Rolls
- French Bread Recipe – this simple recipe makes 2 gorgeous loaves.
- Easy Sourdough Bread – rather than slicing it for sandwiches, cut it up into squares.
- How to Make Homemade Dinner Rolls – these take only about an hour!
- Parmesan Garlic Pull-Apart Bread Rolls – simple, delicious, and irresistible.
Vegetables and Salads
- Easy Roasted Vegetables Recipe – so easy and hugely flavorful.
- Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Butternut Squash – beautifully festive!
- Kale Brussel Sprouts Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing – pairs well with all your holiday meals.
- Best Broccoli Apple Salad – stays crispy for hours.
Frequently Asked Questions
For ease of slicing and basting, we do recommend using a spiral-sliced ham. You can also thinly slice your own ham prior to cooking and arrange slices in overlapping rows (like fallen dominoes) and brush sauce in between slices.
A few favorite side dishes to serve with ham include Garlic Herb Roasted Potatoes and Best Broccoli Apple Salad.
Use leftover diced ham in Chinese Fried Rice or make use of the ham bone and ham meat in this Ham Potato Vegetable Soup.
Yes, this ham recipe is naturally gluten-free. Just make sure the ham you buy doesn’t have any wheat listed in the ingredients label.
This ham is perfect for making in advance! Once it’s done cooking, you can even arrange slices of ham on a serving plate and brush honey glaze in between each slice. Cover and keep warm in oven until ready to serve.
Plan on about 12 to 15 minutes per pound at 350°F, until the center reaches 140°F. Every oven and ham is a little different, so start checking early. Here are general guidelines:
– 4 to 5 pound ham: 60 to 70 minutes
– 6 to 7 pound ham: 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes
– 8 to 10 pound ham: 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours 15 minutes
If you’re using a bigger ham, feel free to double the basting sauce so you’ll have plenty to serve alongside the finished ham.
More to Cook and Eat
- Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes Recipe – This comforting potato dish is absolutely scrumptious.
- Wild Rice Pilaf – This is hands-down our favorite rice pilaf ever. Tender, hearty, nutritious, and delicious!
- Ham Potato Vegetable Soup – Here’s what we do with leftover ham. It’s always a hit!
- How to Make Sliders (Ham and Cheese Sliders Recipe) – A favorite party appetizer or finger food, for all the game days and fun gatherings.