Pineapple Glazed Ham — When you’re looking for a holiday ham or family celebration ham recipe, look no further than this one! This pineapple ham is so juicy and moist thanks to a dry spice rub made with brown sugar and citrus and then the most delectable pineapple glaze! It caramelizes to sweet perfection making this ham a family favorite that pairs well with any side dish!
Pineapple Glazed Ham Recipe
This brown sugar pineapple glazed ham will become an instant family favorite holiday meal!
Whether you plan to make this for Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas dinner, or another special family meal, it is sure to impress everyone!
A dry spice rub mixture including brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice, and pineapple is rubbed all over a spiral ham.
Then, the most delectable pineapple ham glaze made from brown sugar, orange and pineapple juices, and bourbon is boiled together and then poured over the ham.
The glaze has such great depth of flavor thanks to the citrus notes and the bourbon. It caramelizes beautifully under a very quick broiler stint.
Apart from having wonderful flavor, this is a truly moist and tender ham that you will feel proud serving.
It pairs lovely with your favorite holiday side dished including Roasted Rainbow Carrots and The Best Classic Mashed Potatoes.
Ingredients in Pineapple Glazed Ham
For a glazed ham with pineapple, you’ll need the following easy to find and very common fridge and pantry ingredients:
For the ham and rub:
- Light brown sugar
- Ground thyme
- Allspice
- Cinnamon
- Orange zest
- Crushed pineapple
- Spiral ham
For the pineapple ham glaze:
- Light brown sugar
- Orange juice
- Crushed pineapple
- Bourbon or pineapple juice
How to Bake a Spiral Cut Ham
To make a showstopper holiday ham with pineapple glaze, follow these straightforward steps:
- Combine the dry ingredients and the orange zest and rub the mixture all over the ham.
- Lightly wrap the ham in foil.
- Bake for 30 minutes covered. While it bakes, make the glaze.
How to Make Pineapple Ham Glaze
The pineapple brown sugar glaze for the ham is arguably the star of this recipe! Here’s how to make the glaze:
- Combine all the glaze ingredients in a small saucepan and cook for 15 minutes.
- After baking 30 minutes, peel back the foil, sprinkle with 1/4 cup crushed pineapple, reseal the foil, and bake for 10 more minutes.
- Remove the ham from the oven, carefully pour the glaze over it, and broil uncovered for just a couple minutes.
- Let it rest for a bit before slicing, serving, and digging in!
FAQs
For this fabulous brown sugar pineapple glazed ham, you want to use a bone-in, fully cooked spiral ham. Do NOT use a raw ham, as that will require a much longer cook time.
Bourbon adds a wonderful depth of flavor and the alcohol from it actually cooks out.
However, if for some reason you don’t want to use bourbon, that’s okay. You can omit it and use the same amount of pineapple juice instead.
Note that if you do that, the overall flavor of the ham may read a bit sweeter and not quite as rich tasting due to the lack of bourbon being replaced by pineapple juice.
Make sure not to overcook the ham. Remember that you are starting with an already-baked ham, not raw ham, so you don’t have to worry about making sure it’s “done”.
Cook your pineapple orange ham to an internal temperature of 140F before you start the broiling process.
Remember that the internal temperature of large ham or turkey will continue to rise even after it’s out of the oven so even if it’s at 135F or so, I am comfortable pulling it out of the oven.
Details About the Citrus in the Brown Sugar and Pineapple Ham
For this ham, you’re going to want to use canned crushed pineapple in juice in both the rub and glaze.
When you’re making the “dry rub” you will add 1/4 cup crushed pineapple (yes, it’s wet) and orange zest to the mixture.
For the glaze, you’ll use 3/4 cup crushed pineapple.
As for the orange juice, since you need to use orange zest in the rub, and orange juice in the glaze, it’s easiest to just use one whole orange rather than orange juice.
Tips for the Best Glazed Ham with Pineapple
My recipe for brown sugar pineapple glazed ham is easy to follow and I have shared lots of details for ham-making success in the blog post. A few more tips to keep in mind include:
Wrapping the ham in foil:
Make sure to wrap the ham tightly in foil. This not only keeps it moister, it also shields it from direct oven heat so that it doesn’t burn.
Because you are opening up and resealing the foil a couple times, make sure to use a high quality foil.
The only foil I ever use is Reynold’s Heavy Duty Nonstick Foil. It is the only foil I trust to never stick to the food, including gooey baking recipes and sticky glazes like this one.
Broiling the ham:
This is probably the biggest tip of all: do not walk away from your oven once you start broiling the ham. The broiling process is very fast and will only take about 3 to 4 minutes for the glaze to caramelize.
However, it can burn very easily in literally a minute and will taste horrible and your whole ham will taste awful to the point you may have to throw it out. I can’t think of anything worse for a special holiday meal!
Again, keep a very watchful eye on that ham glaze once you start broiling it!
Garnishing the ham:
Feel free to garnish your ham with extra orange slices, pineapple bits, pomegranate arils, or some extra fresh herbs.
What to Serve with Ham
Not sure what sides to serve with this glazed pineapple ham? Here are some of my favorite side dishes to serve with ham:
- Parker House Rolls
- Traditional Thanksgiving Stuffing
- Red Wine Cranberry Sauce
- Three Cheese Scalloped Potatoes
- Balsamic Brussels Sprouts
- The Best Classic Mashed Potatoes
- Honey Butter Smashed Sweet Potatoes
What to Make with Leftover Ham
Even the biggest ham fans of all may find themselves with extra ham on their hands.
If you’re in that boat, here are some of my favorite recipes for putting your extra holiday ham to use:
- Ham and Cheese Sliders – My most popular sliders recipe ever!
- Pineapple Fried Rice – In place of the shrimp that the dish calls for, add the ham. The pineapple-orange flavor will go perfectly with the pineapple in the dish!
- Hawaiian Ham and Swiss Sliders – The pineapple in these sliders is just the ticket to compliment the pineapple orange glaze.
- Baked Ham and Cheese Omelet – Ham is always a winner in omelets and egg dishes.
- Savory French Toast Bake with Bacon and Cheese – Use the orange pineapple glazed ham in place of the Canadian bacon in this great brunch recipe!
Enjoy!
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Orange Pineapple Glazed Ham
Ingredients
Ham and Rub:
- 2 teaspoons light brown sugar, packed
- 1 teaspoon ground thyme
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- Zest from 1 orange
- ¼ cup crushed pineapple with juice
- 5 to 6 pound bone-in previously cooked spiral ham
Orange Pineapple Glaze:
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- Juice from 1 orange, about 1/2 cup
- ¾ cup crushed pineapple with juice
- ⅓ cup bourbon* or pineapple juice, See Notes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and set out a large roasting pan.
Ham and Rub
- To a small bowl, add the brown sugar, thyme, allspice, cinnamon, orange zest, and stir to combine.
- Rub this all over the ham.
- Tightly wrap the ham in heavy duty nonstick foil and place it in the roasting pan. Bake for 30 minutes covered. While the ham bakes, make the glaze.
Orange Pineapple Glaze
- Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan on the stove. Bring to a boil, and then reduce the heat to a low and allow the mixture to simmer on low for about 15 minutes, or until glaze has reduced in volume and thickened some; set aside off the heat.
- After the ham has been baking 30 minutes, remove it from the oven, carefully peel back the foil, evenly sprinkle the 1/4 cup crushed pineapple and juice associated, reseal the foil, return it to the oven, and bake it covered for 10 minutes. When done, the internal temp should be at 140F. Tips - Don't overbake so your ham doesn't dry out. Also remember that the internal temp will continue to rise even out of the oven, so I feel safe pulling mine out at about 135F.
- After this second baking of 10 minutes, remove it from the oven and turn the broiler to 500F.
- Peel back the foil, and carefully drizzle the orange pineapple glaze all over the ham.
- Place it uncovered under the broiler for just 3 to 4 minutes. Tip - Don't leave the kitchen and keep a very watchful eye on it so it doesn't burn! You want the glaze to caramelize but it can burn easily, in just one minute, and will taste terrible so be extremely careful and vigilant!
- Allow ham to rest for about 15 minutes before slicing and serving. Extra ham will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days and in the freezer for up to 4 months.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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