Pineapple Apricot Glazed Ham

While cooking a ham may seem intimidating or stressful it really is not. Unlike Turkey, ham is very forgiving. But the key to a mouthwatering ham is the glaze. The glaze really makes the ham, giving it an extra punch of flavor and the caramelized crust.  Today, I’m going to share with you how I make this pineapple apricot glazed ham. While it does take a few hours to bake the ham, the last 45 minutes does require you to be attentive, basting the ham every 10 minutes to create the caramelized crust.

To create the pineapple apricot glazed ham you will need the following –

Smoked Ham
Cloves
2 Limes
8 slices of Ginger Root
2 C Unsweetened Pineapple Juice
1 C Apricot Preserves
1/4 C Dijon Mustard

The ham is going to take about 15 minutes per pound to cook and then add an additional 45 minutes for the glaze.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Start by taking your ham and placing it with the flat side down. This is the side that is meat without the skin. Then gently, with a sharp knife, score the ham in a criss-cross pattern. Don’t go too deep. Just enough to get through the skin.

Place a clove in the ham at each intersection of the score marks you just made.

Place the ham on the roasting rack with the flat side down and fill the bottom of the pan with about 1/4 inch of water. Bake for 15 minutes per each pound of ham.

When the ham reaches an internal temperature of 130 degrees you are reading to start basting the ham.

To make the glaze first you are going to zest the 2 limes and set aside the lime zest.

Slice the limes in half and squeeze the juice of the limes into a saucepan.

Add the slices of ginger root and pineapple juice.

Bring to a boil and keep boiling until the juice has reduce to about a 1/2 c of liquid. Takes about 8-10 minutes once the mixture starts to boil.

Remove the pan from the heat and remove the ginger root then add in the apricot preserves, lime zest, and mustard. I found using a whisk was a great way to get the preserves to combine with the pineapple juice mixture.

Take about half of the glaze and pour it over the ham. With a brush, work the glaze into the criss-cross pattern of the ham.

Turn the oven up to 425 degrees and let the ham bake for another 10 minutes.

Bast the ham with more of the glaze. Repeat this step every 10 minutes until you have a nice caramelized crust on your ham. This step should take about 45 minutes.

Remove the ham from the oven and let it rest for about 10 minutes before slicing the ham.

You’ll have a sweet and juicy ham that pairs perfectly with au gratin potatoes and your favorite vegetable. People will think you spent hours working on this ham when really it’s one of the simplest main dishes I’ve ever made.

Be sure to check out some of our other main dish recipes for meal inspirations.