Baked Ham – learn how long to cook a ham, how to cook a spiral ham and so much more! This is your ultimate ham guide!
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Moist and Juicy – The way we smoke the ham here ensures it stays moist and juicy!
- Holidays – A delicious ham roasting in the oven is a staple for any holiday in our house.
- Family Friendly – This is a tried and true recipe that they whole family is guaranteed to love!
What You Will Need
- Half of ham, bone-in, pre-cooked
- Apple juice or apple cider
Recipe FAQs and Tips
- How long to bake your ham? you will be baking your ham for 18-24 minutes per pound or until the ham reaches an internal temperature of 140 degrees F.
- Is a ham pre-cooked or raw when you buy it? When you purchase a ham from the store most have been cured, smoked or baked so it is considered pre-cooked (it should also say so on the package). Here is a nice rundown of how to tell if your ham is pre-cooked or not.
- Bring to room temp: we highly recommend bringing your ham to room temp before baking but if you don’t have time that’s fine the cooking time will just be a little longer.
- What if it gets done early? depending on the size of your ham it could possibly get done before you are ready to eat. If that’s the case, simply wrap it in aluminum foil and then again with a large kitchen towel until you are ready to carve.
- Ham taking too long to cook? If you are getting close to time to eat and your ham temperature seems to have stalled, simply turn the temp up to 350 or even 375 for a little while to finish it off.
- Covering the ham: you will want to loosely cover the ham with aluminum foil while baking. Only remove to baste the ham and then cover again.
- Roasting pan: You can skip the roasting pan + apple cider and simply place your ham, cut-side down, on a roasting pan. You will still need to tent it with foil – otherwise you can follow the same instructions above.
Whole30 Compliant Ham Brands (Paleo)
If you are looking for a ham brand that is Whole30 compatible and paleo this option at Pederson Farms is the best one I have found!
Holiday Side Dishes You Might Like
Dairy Free Green Bean Casserole
Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
Gluten Free Cornbread
The BEST Deviled Eggs
What To Do With The Leftovers
After every holiday we are always left with the feeling of what do we do with all these leftovers!? Well, we have some favorites that we might love even more than the holiday meal itself (if that’s possible) – Leftover Ham Bone Soup and Split Pea and Ham Soup.
How to Bake a Ham
Step One – rinse your ham and pat it dry.
Step Two – Place on roasting pan and pour apple juice/cider in the bottom. Roast at 325 degrees until internal temp reaches 140 degrees F.
Step Three: Carve and serve!
Other Recipes You Might Like
Goat Cheese Potatoes Au Gratin
Sweet Yam + Apple Bake
Easy Sweet Potato Mash Recipe
Instant Pot Garlic Mashed Potatoes
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Simple Baked Ham
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 hours
- Total Time: 3 hours 10 minutes
- Yield: 14 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner/Entree
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
Simple Baked Ham – an easy, simple recipe for your classic baked ham!
Ingredients
- (1) 6-8 pound, half of ham, bone-in, pre-cooked
- 1–2 cups apple juice or apple cider
Instructions
- Allow your ham to come to room temperature.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Pour apple juice (or apple cider) into the bottom of a roasting pan. Place the roasting rack inside the roasting pan and set the ham on top of that, cut-side down.
- Loosely tent or cover the ham with foil.
- Place in the oven, middle rack, and bake for 18-24 minutes per pound or until the ham reaches an internal temperature of 140 degrees F.
- Remove from oven and let rest 15 minutes.
- Slice and serve.
Notes
- Bring ham to room temp: If you forget to take out your ham from the oven you can still bake it according to this recipe, but the cooking time will be longer.
- Internal temp: the best way to track how close your ham is to being done use an internal meat thermometer to test the very center of your ham. Once it reaches an internal temperature of 140 degrees F. it is done.
- Ham done too early: Sometimes, depending upon the thickness of your ham, it may get done early. If so, simply remove it from the oven, wrap it in foil and then wrap it again with a large kitchen towel and set it aside. Carve before serving.
- Ham temperature not rising fast enough: If you are getting close to time to eat and your ham temperature seems to have stalled, simply turn the temp up to 350 or even 375 for a little while to finish it off.
- Roasting pan: You can skip the roasting pan + apple cider and simply place your ham, cut-side down, on a roasting pan. You will still need to tent it with foil – otherwise you can follow the same instructions above.
Keywords: baked ham, how to cook a ham, how to bake a ham
Carol Short says
HI Erin,
I have been making your recipes for a while now, and they are all delicious. Thank you for developing and sharing very yummy food! I am curious, though, about this ham recipe being classified as Paleo. Any/all processed meat is frowned upon in the true version of the Paleo Diet. Ham is cured with sugar and is also quite salty. Bacon is also not considered Paleo, along with cold cuts etc.
Carol
Erin says
Hi Carol! So this would only be Paleo/Whole30 if you used the ham I have linked in the body of the post from Pederson’s farm that is Whole30 approved, made with no sugar, etc. Otherwise if you use a regular, run-of-the-mill ham it wouldn’t be paleo, but I will expand upon that in the post since it must not have been clear enough! Thanks! (link to paleo/whole30 ham: https://pedersonsfarms.com/products/spiral-sliced-no-sugar-added-boneless-smoked-uncured-ham-1-pack?_pos=1&_sid=e5c0e190d&_ss=r )