This Easy Cranberry Maple Glazed Ham is the perfect simple main dish for the holidays, and it’s perfect for a crowd! An easy 3-ingredient maple glaze and fresh cranberries makes this Christmas Ham so delicious!
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I’ve always loved enjoying ham during the holiday season and this Easy Cranberry Maple Glazed Ham is one of our family’s favourite ways to enjoy ham any time of the year! It’s so simple to prepare with an easy 3-ingredient glaze, and it bakes to perfection in under an hour!
Living in Eastern Europe means it’s almost impossible to find whole hams at the local grocery store. Sliced ham (for sandwiches) is very common, but it’s taken me over 3 years to find a whole ham for roasting at home! For those of you in North America, this recipe works for any mild boneless ham that’s been brined and smoked (try a City Ham for best results).
How to Score a Ham
Scoring a ham is important before roasting because it helps the meat soak up all the delicious flavour from the glaze. Lucky for us, scoring a ham is easy!
- Use a sharp knife. Sometimes a smoked ham can have a tough skin and since you want your scoring to look pretty, a sharp knife will help you make clean slices.
- Leave the fat on for flavour! Some chefs remove the skin and fat before roasting a ham, but it’s perfectly ok to leave it on since it adds a TON of flavour! Remove the skin, if you want, but try to leave as much of the fat on as possible.
- Cut on the diagonal. With the ham directly in front of you (skin and fat side up), make slices on a 45 degree angle all over the top of the ham. Rotate your knife 90 degrees and make slices in the opposite direction all the way across the top of the ham to create a diagonal cross pattern.
- Make your slices close together. It’s a good idea to make your diagonal cross pattern as small as possible to ensure more of the glaze can soak into the top of the ham. This will also prevent large cracks from forming while the ham roasts.
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I hope you love this Christmas recipe as much as we do! Let me know in the comments below, what’s your favourite traditional holiday recipe? I’d love to know!
Looking for more recipes for holiday entertaining? You’ll LOVE these:
- Easy Juicy Roast Turkey
- Easy Homemade Roast Turkey Gravy
- Easy Crock Pot Garlic Mashed Potatoes
- Easy Vegan Green Bean Casserole
- Roasted Garlic Butter Carrots
- Apple Walnut Spinach Salad
- Roasted Beet Salad with Greens
- Maple Rosemary Roasted Sweet Potatoes
- Winter Berry Cocktail (Alcohol Free Version Included)
- Rosemary Dill Roasted Potatoes
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EASY NO-FAIL HOLIDAY RECIPES AND COOKING & BAKING TIPS
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Easy Cranberry Maple Glazed Ham
Recipe: Ingredients
- 1 whole smoked ham about 2.5 pounds (a city ham or Prague ham)
- 2/3 cup real maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
- 1 orange (zest and juice)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- 3/4 cup fresh cranberries
Recipe: Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare a large baking dish by spraying it with non-stick cooking spray.
- Add the ham to the baking dish and score the top (skin side up) with a sharp knife in a diagonal cross pattern (instructions in blog post above).
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, the dijon mustard, the orange zest and juice, cloves (if using), and pepper until the glaze is smooth and everything is incorporated.
- Stir in the cranberries.
- Pour the glaze over the ham, pressing many of the cranberries into the cracks on the top if possible.
- Roast for 45-55 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the ham reaches 145 degrees Fahrenheit (or 63 degrees Celsius). Use a meat thermometer or an instant read meat thermometer to ensure the ham isn't over-cooked or under-cooked.
- Baste the ham once through cooking (after 30 minutes) by drizzling the glaze from the bottom of the pan over the ham while it roasts.
- Let the ham rest covered with aluminum foil for 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Recipe: Notes
Recipe: Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.