Easter Ham

Meat should not be Easter candy.

No glaze on this perfect ham. Recipe and photo by me, Anna Vocino.

Every year I’m asked about how to make a glaze for an Easter ham without sugar.

I’ve perfected one that should make your Easter ham pretty tasty, plus it’s a fraction of the cost of a pre-made honey-baked ham, and you don’t have to wait in a crazy line to pick it up. Win win win.

Bonus about ham: they come precooked, so you’re really just heating up the ham. The key is to keep it moist, so I like to keep it wrapped in foil until the end.

This recipe is not a syrupy glaze because, frankly, I hate sweet meats. And this is coming from someone who grew up pouring an entire root beer over a ham to cook it when I was younger. I decided to use the juice of an orange as the sweetness in this glaze. If you are obsessed with a sugar ham and insist on a sugary glaze, then add pulverized dates instead of brown sugar or honey. But, if you’re obsessed with sugar, you might not be in the right place. I’m here to help you get off of the sugar train with your cooking dignity in tact!

I prefer a pre-spiraled ham, but you can use a whole ham and slice it after it’s cooked. If the ham you purchase comes with a glaze packet, immediately toss that glaze packet!

Next level option: add a tablespoon of Eat Happy Kitchen BBQ Dust to this recipe, whisking it into the marinade. Not just because we’re finally back in stock with all of our spices, but because it’s delish.

As always here’s the downloadable, printable PDF version of this recipe.

Happy Easter, my sweet bunnies!!

XOXO

Anna

Extreme Ham Close Up: Recipe and Photo by Anna Vocino

EASTER HAM

(Serves 4-6)

• 7-8 pound bone-in pre-spiraled ham (check the label for no sugar added)

• Juice of 1 orange

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

• 1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary leaves

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

• Stone ground mustard, for serving

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Place ham face down in a large piece of aluminum foil on a rack-lined roasting pan.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together juice of an orange, olive oil, Dijon mustard, minced rosemary leaves, ground cloves, and garlic powder into a marinade. Drizzle over ham. Fold aluminum foil over ham, folding the edges of the foil to seal in the ham so it steams in the marinade.

Place on lower oven rack for 1 hour to 90 minutes, until ham is heated through. For the last 15 minutes, you can remove the foil from the ham to get a crisper edge, being careful not to dry out the ham. Remove from oven, let stand 5 minutes, then serve, basted with the juices at the bottom of the pan and a dollop of stone ground mustard.