This cranberry glazed Christmas ham is made with only four ingredients! It's quick, easy and delicious. Perfect for your Christmas Day spread.
I wanted to show how easy it can be to make your own baked hot ham at home. Some people find it daunting but this glaze is so easy that anyone can do it. It only has four ingredients: cranberry sauce, wholegrain mustard, brown sugar and an orange.
How to glaze a Christmas Ham:
First of all prepare the cranberry ham glaze. Add cranberry sauce, mustard and brown sugar to bowl then grate in the orange zest. Squeeze all off the juice out of the orange and stir it all together. Set aside until you are ready to glaze.
Next is the trickiest part of preparing ham, removing the skin. To do this you make a large cut around the bone end then slowly run your hands underneath the skin to pull it off leaving the delicious layer of fat.
After that score the fat in a criss-cross pattern and put cloves in the intersection of each criss-cross. Once you have done this you can brush the ham with your delicious cranberry glaze.
This glaze recipe makes enough for a 10kg leg of ham so use around half of it when you first brush it over then baste at least twice during cooking.
Remember to slice the ham downwards so that each slice gets a thin layer of the delicious crispy cranberry fat. I'm sure you will love this super simple recipe as much as I do, the cranberry and orange flavours are the perfect Christmas combo.
If you would like this Christmas Recipe and many more packaged into a beautiful e-book, then click through to Christmas Menu e-book. Take the hassle out of Christmas with my tried and true recipes including salads, snacks, cooked meats and of course, many delicious desserts.
Recipe FAQs:
Most major supermarkets in the month before Christmas. You can also pre-order them from your favourite butcher, or online.
I love to server potatoes and veggies with my ham. Some great recipes from my website include Hasselback Potatoes, Peas with Courgette and Ricotta, Glazed Carrots and Cheesy Potato Bake.
Storage:
After serving your ham, you can either store the entire ham in a ham bag in the fridge. Or, slice it into pieces and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to to two weeks.
Top tips:
Christmas ham can also be frozen! Simply slice ham and place in an air tight container for up to three months. We often use an old ice cream container.
Related Recipes:
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Cranberry Glazed Christmas Ham
This glaze takes less than 5 minutes to prepare and makes a delicious Christmas ham to serve a crowd.
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp cloves
- 1 leg of ham 6-10kgs
- 1 jar of cranberry sauce (275g)
- 3 Tbsp wholegrain mustard
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 orange zest and juice
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 170.C fanbake.
- Prepare the ham by removing the skin, scoring the fat in a criss cross pattern with a sharp knife then putting cloves into the cross sections.
- To make the glaze add to a bowl the cranberry sauce, mustard and brown sugar. Grate the orange zest into the bowl then cut it in half and squeeze all off the juice out.
- Mix it all together then brush around half of the glaze over the ham. Place the ham in a tray lined with baking paper.
- Bake for approximately 1.5 hours until the fat is golden and the ham is heated through. (this will depend on the size of your ham)
- Baste at least twice during cooking with the left over glaze, around every 30 minutes.
Notes
- If you have a smaller ham you can halve the glaze recipe.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 20 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 59Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 4mgSodium: 102mgCarbohydrates: 12gFiber: 1gSugar: 10gProtein: 2g
Nutritional values are approximate. Please use your own calculations if you require a special diet.
Thank you for checking out this recipe. I hope you enjoy making and eating it! If you have any questions, queries or feedback, please feel free to leave a comment below.
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Vanya
Del Bristow says
will definitely try the cranberry ham glaze; I usually use leftover jams or the bottom of the jar and mix with mustard and brown sugar. TIP: when you remove the skin place at the bottom of the baking dish and pop the ham on top of this when cooking - creates beautiful juices....no waste
Jan Blair says
I know it might seem like a silly question but you say remove skin and place cloves but I can’t see what you do with the skin after that?
This will be first year cooking/preparing a ham.
VJ cooks says
I just discard it. But you could add it to a broth or stock if you want to use it.
Tania B says
My first year in charge of the ham.. yeeks!
My question is..
do you leave the skin on where the ham rests (underneath) and just remove the top half?
VJ cooks says
I do! But you can also remove it if you prefer.
Baillie says
Will this work the same for a half ham?
VJ cooks says
Yes, just reduce the glaze ingredients and cook time in relation to the size of your ham.