Our delicious Grilled Ham is the perfect way to get your holiday ham out of the oven to make room for so many side dish recipes! Plus, the grilling process adds a lot of great flavor and you can use the drippings to make the best ham gravy. A great option for your next special occasion!
The Best Grilled Ham
Whether it is Christmas Dinner, an Easter lunch, or another family gathering, we love making a traditional ham! We have been making an oven-baked ham for years, but after perfecting a grilled turkey, we knew we had to do the same for a classic ham. It is the best way to make this delicious main dish, add so much flavor, and get it out of the oven! Making more room for all those ham side dishes. It is such a simple cooking process and when you brush on that honey bourbon ham glaze… oh my! You will never go back!
Love serving ham for the holidays – try our Smoked Ham, Instant Pot Ham, or Crockpot Ham!
What You Will Need
- pre-cooked ham – typically at your local grocery store you will find pre-cooked hams and that is what we used here! Spiral cut ham works too!
- water – moisture added to the pan to help keep the ham juicy and tender. Feel free to sub vegetable stock if you want.
- yellow onions, star anise, & whole cloves – classic flavor and aroma additions in the bottom of the roasting pan.
- honey bourbon glaze – 8 simple ingredients come together for this homemade ham glaze!
- butter – a traditional ingredient that is always the start to any classic gravy recipe.
- all-purpose flour – the thickening agent that creates the roux for the ham gravy.
- ham drippings – making a simple gravy is the best way to use those flavorful pan drippings that you have after grilling the ham.
- aluminum roasting pan – perfect for holding everything on the grill and can be tossed when you are done for easy clean-up!
How To Grill Ham
The first steps to making this easy ham recipe are to prepare the roasting pan and ham. Add the water to the bottom of the roasting pan, along with the onion slices, star anise, and cloves. Now remove the ham from its packaging and use a sharp knife to score the ham skin in a crosshatch pattern.
Pre-Cooked Ham Or Raw Ham
A vast majority of the whole hams you see at the store have been previously cured, smoked or baked. Those are 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.
Place the ham in the foil pan on top of the onions. If the onions do not hold your ham off the bottom of the water pan, you can use a roasting rack or celery stalks. Place it all on the hot grill to cook for 20 minutes at 450 degrees F. Then quickly open the lid and cover loosely with foil.
Close the lid and drop temperature down to 325-350 degrees F and let it cook approximately 18-22 minutes per pound (include the 20 minutes of initial cook time in the total) or until it reaches an internal temperature of 135-140 degrees F (use a instant-read thermometer).
When there are 10-20 minutes of cook time remaining, remove the aluminum foil off the top of the ham and use a basting brush to cover the outside of the ham with the honey bourbon glaze. Close the lid and bring the gas grill back up to 400-425 degrees F.
Carefully remove the whole roasting pan and fully cooked ham from the grill. We typically place it on a large baking sheet for support. Let it rest at room temperature for 10-15 minutes, with the option to brush on more glaze.
We also have a Brown Sugar Ham Glaze recipe if you prefer that – works just as well!
Best Ways To Serve Grilled Ham
We typically serve our perfectly grilled ham on our holiday table with all the traditional trimmings, like mashed potatoes, delicata squash au gratin, side salad, and don’t forget a drizzle of that homemade ham gravy. You could also grill a ham on Sunday evening for a family dinner and serve with cheesy scalloped potatoes and garlic green beans. This is perfect meal prep because the leftovers can be used in so many different ways! This classic comfort food pairs really well with a Whiskey Sour, if you are looking for a cocktail!
How To Make Ham Gravy
Making gravy is completely optional, but we highly recommend it and you don’t want those ham drippings to go to waste! You can also use Better Than Bouillon’s Ham Base if you don’t have enough drippings.
While the hot ham rests on a cutting board, bring a 12-inch skillet to a medium heat, add a little butter to melt, and whisk in the flour to make a roux. Now gradually pour in the pan drippings to the hot skillet while continuously whisking.
Let it simmer for a little bit to thicken and use splashes of liquid to thin a bit, if needed.
Serve alongside your perfectly grilled ham slices!
Recipe FAQ
Absolutely! The recipe card below includes ingredients for our honey bourbon glaze, but you can easily swap them out to make a brown sugar glaze!
This answer varies depending on the size of the ham. You will need to calculate about 18-22 minutes of cooking time per pound of ham. Once the total time is calculated, we recommend grilling it at a higher temperature for the first 20 minutes, drop the heat for the majority of cook time, and then bring it back up to make that glaze nice and sticky.
We love using our Weber Gas Grill! It is so easy to adjust the temperature and hold steady at a consistent temperature on this outdoor grill. This cooking process can be done on a charcoal grill, it is just a bit more labor intensive.
So glad you asked! If you use a bone-in ham, instead of a boneless ham, you can make the most amazing Split Pea Soup. It uses the meat and the ham bone! Or make some Scalloped Ham & Potatoes, Ham & Cheese Sandwiches or Ham & Egg Cups.
Made this delicious recipe and loved it?! We would love it if you would take a minute and leave a star rating and review – it is also helpful if you made any substitutions or changes to the recipe to share that as well. THANK YOU!
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Other Recipes You Might Like
Grilled Ham
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 14 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner/Entree
- Method: Grill
- Cuisine: American
Description
Learn how to make the BEST Grilled Ham recipe! The perfect main dish for any holiday meal – so easy to make and so flavorful!
Ingredients
Grilled Ham:
- 7–8 pound pre-cooked ham
- 3 cups water
- 2 yellow onions, sliced
- 1–2 star anise
- 2–3 whole cloves
- aluminum roasting pan
Honey Bourbon Glaze:
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar OR coconut sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1–2 teaspoons bourbon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
Ham Gravy:
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (sub gluten-free flour)
- 1 3/4 cups ham drippings/liquid (sub in Better than Bouillon ham broth, as needed)
Instructions
- Preheat grill to 450 degrees F (we will decrease it later).
- Add Glaze ingredients to a small bowl; whisk to combine. Set aside.
- Add water to aluminum roasting pan along with the onions, star anise, and cloves.
- Place ham on a plate and use a paring knife to score the outer skin crisscross (be careful not to cut all the way down into the meat). Place ham on top of the onions in the aluminum pan (note: feel free to place a roasting rack inside as well, if the onions don’t raise the ham off the bottom enough or some celery stalks will work too). Brush with some of the glaze, saving most of it for later.
- Place on the grill, uncovered, and close the grill lid to let it cook for 20 minutes.
- Open quickly and cover tightly with foil. Close the lid and drop temperature down to 325-350 and let it cook approximately 18-22 minutes per pound (include the 20 minutes from Step 5 in the total cook time) or until it reaches an internal temperature of 135-140 degrees F (use a meat thermometer). Check occasionally to track the temp and add additional water if the liquid is cooking off quickly.
- When there is approx. 10-20 minutes of cook time left, open the grill lid and remove the foil. Brush the entire ham liberally with the glaze, ensuring you get in every nook and cranny. Close the lid and increase the grill temperature to 400-425 degrees F. The glaze should get a little tacky and start to caramelize.
- Remove from grill (save liquid in the bottom for gravy, if making) and let rest 10-15 minutes. Feel free to brush on any remaining glaze.
- Optional Ham Gravy: Bring cast iron skillet to medium-high heat. Add butter and let melt. Add in flour and whisk together until it forms a paste (a.k.a. a roux). Slowly add drippings/liquid approx. 1/4 cup at a time whisking constantly. Continue adding liquid until fully combined. Let simmer to thicken, add additional splashes of liquid to thin. Taste and add any salt or pepper, as desired.
- Slice the ham and serve with gravy and any other delicious side dishes!
Notes
- Cook Time: total cook time will vary depending upon the overall thickness of your ham, outdoor temp, wind, humidity, etc. Use a dependable internal meat thermometer to keep track of temp to determine when ham is fully heated through.
- Storage: store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Leftovers: if you use a bone-in ham definitely save it and make some Ham + Split Pea Soup!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 6oz
- Calories: 343
- Sugar: 8.4 g
- Sodium: 1734.4 mg
- Fat: 9.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 8.6 g
- Protein: 55.3 g
- Cholesterol: 151.8 mg
Erin says
This turned out so good and was perfect with the ham gravy!