The Best Brown Sugar Ham Glaze Recipe

By: Dani Kessel

Rather than chowing down on turkey, I’ve always eaten ham on Thanksgiving. This year was the first year that I’ve cooked a ham entirely by myself, and I decided to make a glaze for the occasion. I enjoy brown-sugar-based glazes for ham. I glanced around the internet for recipes. After gathering an understanding of the basic necessities of a glaze, I tinkered around and created what I boast to be the BEST brown sugar ham glaze.

The recipe highlights the brown sugar but balances out the sweetness with some savory spices, garlic, and mustard. The combination creates a wonderful flavor that fits well with the smokiness of ham. The glaze is also SUPER easy to make. It’s gluten-free and soy-free, too! If you have a stovetop, a pot, a spoon, and the ingredients (plus a cutting board and knife if going with fresh garlic), you’ll be able to make the glaze.

If you make a holiday ham and you are interested in trying out the delicious glaze, here is the recipe for your use and enjoyment.

Brown Sugar Mustard Ham Glaze

Note: This recipe was created to be soy-free and gluten-free. But it’s always important to check the nutrition facts and ingredients for allergens.

Ingredients:

8 tablespoons of butter

1 cup of brown sugar (Domino)

½ cup of water

½ cup of wildflower honey

2 tablespoons of yellow mustard (Heinz)

1 tablespoon of garlic powder OR 4 tablespoons of finely minced garlic

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of curry powder (McCormick)

Directions:

Step 1: Place butter and water in a medium pot on medium-high heat. Bring to a boil.

Step 2: Lower to medium heat, stirring occasionally until butter is browned

Step 3: While waiting for the butter to brown, finely mince garlic cloves if using fresh garlic

Step 4: Add wildflower honey, yellow mustard, and brown sugar. Stir to combine.

Step 5: Add curry powder, garlic, and cinnamon. Stir to combine.

Step 6: Lower temperature to medium-low. Let simmer for 15 minutes stirring occasionally.

Step 7: Allow the glaze to cool for 10 minutes.

Step 8: Pull the ham out of the oven, baste the ham with glaze, and place the ham back in the oven.

I hope you enjoy this awesome glaze recipe. It’s better than any packaged, store-bought glaze I’ve ever tasted. (And, my family traditionally bought ham with glaze every year.) My partner and I enjoyed it so much that we bickered over who received the pieces with more glaze on it. We’ll definitely be using this recipe from this point forward. 

If you’d rather make your own glaze to save yourself a few dollars, I hope you’ll consider using this recipe. You and your family won’t regret it. 

Thanks for reading this article. What are your usual holiday meal fixings? We want to know! Share the answer in the comments. If you try out the recipe, let us know how it goes in the comments section too! We always love hearing a good cooking story. And, please give this article a like if you enjoy the recipe.