Jack Daniel's Glazed Ham Recipe

This flavorful and easy-to-make glazed ham is a simple preparation that takes very little work and yet is perfect for the holidays or any other special occasion. A tasty glaze made out of Tennessee's famous Jack Daniel's whiskey, sugar, cloves, orange peel, and allspice coats the ham while it bakes, making an outer crust that is simply delicious. This ham is a great centerpiece for your table and can be accompanied by classic side dishes like roasted Brussels sprouts and mashed potatoes or innovative dishes like a beluga lentil salad or wild rice stuffing. It's ideal to feed many with very little effort and the leftovers can be repurposed for sandwiches, wraps, and breakfast casseroles.

This recipe requires a fully cooked ham, so check the cooking level before purchasing because plenty of smoked hams aren't fully cooked and require more time in the oven before they're safe to eat. A fully cooked ham simply needs to reach an internal temperature of 140 F to eat it, whereas a partially cooked ham needs to reach 160 F before consumption. For a 4- to 6-pound smoked ham, this means an approximate cooking time between 1 hour and 20 minutes to 2 full hours. Fully cooked hams can be eaten cold, and deliciously so, but when a glaze is in play they do need to go into the oven. Also, many prefer to eat their meat hot, and heating the ham up also allows you to score the fat and decorate the ham with cloves or to add other spices and sauce mixtures into the skin to make a crust.

We use Jack Daniel's whiskey to celebrate this delicious Southern tradition, but if you're keener to Kentucky bourbon it will work really well, too.

How to Select and Store a Ham