Discover The Perfect Method For Warming Up Your Pre-Cooked Ham

A ham that is fully cooked and ready-to-eat, known as a "city ham," can be conveniently served cold or at room temperature. This applies to spiral-cut ham as well, whether it's served as individual slices, inside biscuits, or in a grilled cheese sandwich. Some top-notch brands like Honey Baked Ham are specifically designed for serving this way.

However, reheating pre-cooked ham is an alternative option that many people prefer to follow. Here's how to go about it the right way.

When shopping for your holiday ham, you will come across different varieties based on whether they are cooked or uncooked, and if they are city or country ham.

Country ham is dry-cured with spices, taking longer than city ham. It's saltier and less commonly seen on holiday tables. You'll usually find it uncooked, which indicates it needs more preparation. You might have had it before in your breakfast biscuits.

If you're looking to make the holiday prep less cumbersome, choose a city ham. City hams are cured in salt water with a variety of seasonings, smoked, cooked, and packaged. They come in both bone-in and boneless options, depending on your preference.

If you want to enhance the flavor of your ham by applying a homemade glaze instead of using the sauce packet that came with it (and we recommend you do!), or prefer to serve it hot, you can heat it up in the oven. But make sure to have a meat thermometer handy, so you don't overcook the ham and dry it out. Given that it's a big cut of meat, and you want the glaze to turn sticky and caramelized, it will take several hours at a low temperature in the oven, even though it's fully cooked.

There's no shortage of options when it comes to glazing ham, and it all depends on your preferences. Although it can be surprising how often pineapple makes its way onto the list.

For our Pineapple Chutney Glazed Ham and Citrus Glazed Ham options, we use a brown sugar-bourbon and sweet and salty flavor, respectively. For the Port Wine Ham Glaze, we add Cumberland Sauce to enrich the flavor. Our Maple-Bourbon Glazed Ham recipe is effortless to prepare, and the five-ingredient glaze can be made with ingredients you likely have at home. The glaze forms a sweet and crunchy exterior on the juicy ham that delivers all the textures and flavors you expect from a typical holiday ham.

Once you've chosen your glaze, put the ham, cut-side-down, on a jelly-roll pan that has been lined with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Allow it to rest at room temperature for half an hour, then brush half a cup of your glaze over the ham with a heatproof spatula or pastry brush. Move the oven rack to the bottom shelf and preheat the oven to 350°F.