Honey Baked Boneless Ham

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This is the best Honey Baked Boneless Ham recipe that has a wonderfully sweet and crunchy exterior with all the tenderness of a traditional baked boneless ham.

Best Boneless Ham Recipe

This inexpensive fully cooked boneless ham recipes is the absolute best.

It is the perfect easy ham recipe. It is simple to make and always produces the perfect sweet and crunchy glaze. Because there is no center bone, you can easily slice it up to serve at once.

We also love this recipe because the scored look of the outside of the ham gives it a really upscale feeling! If you love this easy ham recipe, you may want to try our Maple Glazed Ham, too.

Ingredients

• Boneless, fully cooked ham, some call this a buffet ham
• Pineapple juice or orange juice
• Butter
• Brown sugar
• Pumpkin pie spice
• Spicy brown mustard
• Honey

How to cook small boneless ham in the oven

Remove the ham from the refrigeration and unwrap it.

Let the unwrapped ham rest on the kitchen counter at room temperature for at least 1 hour to remove the chill on the meat.

In a roasting pan, add the juice. Place the ham into the juice in the pan.

Cover with foil and bake for 1 – 1 1/2 hours or until the ham is 140 degrees at the center when tested with an instant-read meat thermometer.

Meanwhile, while the ham is baking, combine the glaze ingredients in a bowl, whisking until smooth. Remove the ham from the oven and uncover.

Use a sharp utility knife to score the ham and make a cross-hatch pattern over the surface of the ham.

Slowly pour the prepared glaze over the ham. Allow the glaze to seep into the ham where it has been scored. Pull the ham apart with your other hand so the glaze can really get in there.

Return the ham to the oven, uncovered, baking for an additional 15-20 minutes or until the ham is nicely caramelized and sticky. Remove the ham from the oven and cover loosely with foil.

Let the ham rest for 10 minutes, then slice and serve. To serve, I stack my ham slices a bit by overlapping them on top of the other on my platter.

Then drizzle all of them with a bit of sauce with sliced oranges, around the outer edge of my platter for pretty color.

How long to cook baked boneless ham

Cook a boneless, 4-pound ham in the oven for about 1 hour and 50 minutes. This type of boneless buffet ham typically weighs close to 4 pounds, so it cooks quickly.

What is a small buffet ham?

Buffet hams are the small, boneless, precooked hams you see at the grocery store that are always perfectly oval-shaped and the least expensive.

Buffet hams are usually always the least expensive hams since they are pressed ham. This is because a buffet ham is actually made from pieces of ham that are pressed together via a process that uses water and salt.

Buffet ham is easy to work with because it’s perfectly shaped and has no center bone. Since a buffet ham is boneless, it’s very easy to slice for your dinner. Especially if you want a ham that you can slice right at the holiday table with everyone looking on it.

I think a buffet ham is the best ham for new cooks to bake as their first-ever ham. Once you are successful making a buffet ham, you will feel much more confident baking other types of hams, such as a spiral-cut ham or any other bone-in ham.

Covering a ham when you bake it in the oven

I cover my baked hams initially to stay moist during the cooking time. Once the ham is nearly fully cooked and hot throughout, I uncover it, and brush on the glaze. Then, let the ham continue to cook so it can caramelize on the exterior.

Ham drying out as it bakes in the oven

Covering the ham for most of the baking time helps keep it from drying out. As does making sure it isn’t overcooked. Overcooking causes any meat to become dry and tasteless!

How to slice Honey Baked Boneless Ham

Place the warm ham onto a large cutting board. Using your sharpest carving knife, starting at one end, slice across the ham into 1/2-inch thick slices.

I usually “hold” the ham with a meat fork inserted into it about one-third of the way from the opposite end so it doesn’t move around when I’m slicing it.

You’ll also want to add a bit of the ham sauce or ham liquids (from when it cooks) to the slices in the pan so they have some juice there for additional moisture.

If you’re slicing your ham to serve it later, instead of placing the ham onto a platter at this time, go ahead and put it into a casserole dish so that you can pop into the oven to reheat it.

Slice ham ahead of time

Slice your ham as directed above, placing it into a casserole dish with some prepared sauce or pan juices. Let the ham fully cool, then cover it with foil and place it into refrigeration.

When you are ready to heat the ham for your dinner, remove it from the fridge 30 minutes ahead of time.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. warm the ham slices, covered, for 15-20 minutes or until hot throughout. I do this all the time, and it feels so good to have it done and ready ahead of time!

How to reheat leftover sliced ham

Reheating ham slices in a skillet with a bit of oil over medium-high heat creates a lot of great flavor and a wonderful leftover ham slice.

When the oil is nicely hot, add the ham slices, taking care not to crowd them in the skillet too much. Brown the ham slices on each side, cooking them until hot.

Which tools help make baked ham in the oven?

A roasting pan or deep casserole dish is good for baking ham. For scoring the ham, use a sharp carving knife or chef’s knife. Applying the glaze is super easy when you apply it using a silicone basting brush.

More Favorite Ham Recipes to Enjoy

• Ham in a Electric Roaster Oven
• INSTANT POT HOLIDAY HAM
• OLD FASHIONED HAM SALAD

Republished December 31, 2023. Updated October 18, 2024.