Essential Ingredients for Your Smoked Ham

Crafting the perfect smoked ham starts with selecting quality ingredients that work together to build incredible flavor layers. For this recipe, we begin with a fully cooked spiral ham, allowing us to focus on enhancing its inherent deliciousness rather than starting from scratch. All these items are readily available at your local grocery store, making this gourmet meal surprisingly accessible.

Video – How to Smoke Ham (1 Minute Guide)

Crafting the Irresistible Apricot Glaze

The apricot glaze is more than just a topping; it’s a critical component that elevates this smoked ham recipe. Its fruity sweetness, balanced with subtle tang and spice, caramelizes beautifully on the ham’s surface, creating a sticky, savory crust that’s utterly delicious. The perfect glaze begins with a high-quality apricot preserve, which provides a rich, natural fruit base.

Glaze Ingredients

Each ingredient in our apricot glaze plays a vital role in building its complex flavor profile:

Preparing Your Glaze

The preparation is straightforward, ensuring a smooth and flavorful glaze:

1. Combine all the listed glaze ingredients in a small saucepan.
2. Heat the mixture over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it just begins to boil. This process helps dissolve the brown sugar completely and meld all the flavors.
3. Once the sugar has fully dissolved and the ingredients are well incorporated into a smooth, slightly thickened liquid, remove the saucepan from the heat and set the glaze aside. It’s ready for basting your ham later in the smoking process.

Mastering the Art of Smoking a Spiral Ham

Smoking a pre-cooked ham is not about cooking it from raw, but rather about infusing it with layers of smoky flavor and reheating it gently to a perfect, juicy temperature. This method ensures your ham is incredibly moist and flavorful, far superior to merely reheating it in an oven. The process involves careful selection of wood, precise temperature control, and timely basting and glazing.

Choosing the Best Wood for Smoked Ham

The type of wood you choose for smoking significantly impacts the final flavor profile of your ham. For smoked ham, a mild fruit wood is generally recommended to complement its delicate taste without overpowering it. Our top recommendations are:

• **Applewood:** Known for its subtly sweet and fruity smoke flavor, applewood is a classic choice for ham. It imparts a gentle aroma that pairs wonderfully with the sweetness of the apricot glaze. It’s also my go-to for smoked pork butt.
• **Cherry wood:** Similar to applewood, cherry wood offers a mild, sweet, and slightly tart smoke. It also gives the ham a beautiful mahogany hue.

Avoid strong, assertive woods like mesquite or hickory, which can easily overpower the ham’s natural flavor and the delicate notes of the apricot glaze. Whether you’re using a pellet grill or a traditional smoker, applewood pellets or chips are an excellent choice for achieving that perfect balance of smoky sweetness.

The Initial Smoke: Infusing Flavor and Moisture

This phase is all about gently introducing smoke to the ham while keeping it incredibly moist. Proper preparation and consistent basting are key to preventing dryness and building a foundational flavor.

1. **Pre-heat your smoker:** Set your smoker or pellet grill to 225°F (107°C) and allow it to pre-heat thoroughly with your chosen applewood chips or pellets. Consistent temperature is crucial for even smoking.
2. **Prepare the ham:** Remove your spiral ham from its packaging and place it in a sturdy aluminum pan. Pour 2 cups of pineapple juice over the ham, allowing it to collect at the bottom of the pan. This juice serves as a basting liquid and creates a moist environment. Place whole spices like star anise, cinnamon sticks, and whole cloves directly into the pineapple juice at the bottom of the pan to infuse aromatic flavors.
3. **Start smoking:** Place the aluminum pan with the ham directly on the grill racks in your preheated smoker.
4. **Basting for moisture:** To keep the ham’s exterior moist and prevent it from drying out, baste it generously with the pineapple juice from the pan every 30-45 minutes.
5. **Preventing dryness (TIP):** If you are smoking a spiral-cut ham and it’s placed on its side, rotate it after the first 30 minutes to 1 hour of smoking. Place the cut side down. This clever trick helps prevent the individual slices from separating and drying out, ensuring every bite remains tender.
6. **Monitor internal temperature:** Continue smoking for approximately 3-4 hours, or until the internal temperature of the ham reaches 115°F (46°C). Use a reliable meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the ham, avoiding the bone, for accurate readings.

Glazing and Finishing: The Grand Finale

Once your ham has absorbed that beautiful smoky flavor and reached the initial temperature, it’s time for the apricot glaze to work its magic. This step adds a sweet, sticky crust and brings the ham to its perfect serving temperature.

1. **First glaze application:** When the ham’s internal temperature reaches 115°F (46°C), remove it from the smoker (or simply open the lid) and, using a basting brush, generously slather the entire surface of the ham with half of your prepared apricot glaze. Ensure good coverage to get that beautiful caramelized finish.
2. **Continue smoking with glaze:** Return the glazed ham to the smoker and continue cooking at a slightly higher temperature, between 225°F – 250°F (107°C – 121°C). This warmer temperature helps the glaze caramelize effectively.
3. **Re-apply glaze:** Continue to re-apply the remaining apricot glaze every hour until the ham reaches a final internal temperature of 145°F (63°C). You might not use all of the glaze, which is perfectly fine. The multiple layers of glaze will build a thick, flavorful crust.
4. **Finishing time:** For a 10-14lb ham, this entire smoking process, including the initial smoke and glazing, typically takes about 5 hours. The result is a perfectly heated ham with a gorgeous, caramelized glaze that is wonderfully moist inside.

Serving Your Magnificent Smoked Ham

Once your smoked ham reaches the ideal internal temperature of 145°F and boasts a beautifully caramelized crust, it’s time to bring this holiday masterpiece to the table. The aroma alone will have your guests salivating!

Carefully remove the ham from the aluminum pan and transfer it to a large, elegant serving platter. Allow it to rest for about 10-15 minutes before carving. This resting period is crucial as it allows the juices to redistribute throughout the meat, ensuring every slice is as moist and tender as possible.

When calculating portions, a good rule of thumb is to estimate about ½ pound of ham per person. Therefore, a 10-pound ham should comfortably serve 16-20 people, depending on their appetites and the number of side dishes offered.

The beauty of a spiral-cut ham is that it’s already pre-sliced, making carving incredibly easy. Simply slice the ham off the bone and arrange the flavorful pieces on your serving platter. This smoked ham has such an incredible flavor profile – the deep, rich smoke combined with the sweet and tangy apricot glaze creates a truly extraordinary taste that far surpasses any oven-baked ham.

Serving this smoked ham is more than just providing a meal; it’s creating a memorable dining experience. The double smoke flavor, infused with aromatic spices and coated in that glorious apricot glaze, truly turns a normal ham into a culinary masterpiece. Smoking a ham, or even a smoked turkey, during the holidays creates the perfect dinner that everyone can enjoy and remember for years to come.

Perfect Side Dishes to Complement Your Smoked Ham

No holiday meal is complete without an array of delicious side dishes. Here are some fantastic pairings that beautifully complement the rich flavors of this smoked apricot glazed ham:

• **Green bean casserole** – Dude that Cookz: A creamy, savory classic that offers a comforting contrast to the ham’s sweetness.
• **Buttermilk biscuits** – Always Eat Dessert: Soft, fluffy biscuits are perfect for soaking up any leftover glaze or juices, or simply enjoying with a slice of ham.
• **Mashed potatoes** – Preppy Kitchen: Creamy, buttery mashed potatoes are a timeless side that pairs well with almost anything, especially a flavorful ham.
• **Smoked mac and cheese** – Jerkyholic: Elevate a crowd-pleaser with a smoky twist, echoing the ham’s flavor profile.
• **Creamed spinach** – Mighty Mrs.: A rich and savory vegetable dish that provides a nice balance to the meal.

Utilizing Your Smoker or Pellet Grill

For this outstanding smoked ham recipe, a pellet smoker is an ideal tool. I personally rely on models like the Camp Chef 36 smoker or my Traeger 780 for consistently delicious results. Pellet smokers simplify the smoking process immensely, making it accessible even for those new to smoking meats.

The primary advantage of a pellet smoker is its ability to maintain a precise temperature with minimal effort. Unlike traditional offset smokers that require constant monitoring and fire management, pellet grills automatically feed wood pellets to a hot rod, ensuring a consistent smoke and heat output. This “set it and forget it” capability allows you to impart fantastic smoke flavor into your ham, pork butt, or smoked turkey without having to babysit a firebox all day. The result is a beautifully cooked, moist, and smoky ham that’s perfect every time.

Frequently Asked Questions About Smoking Ham

Here are answers to some common questions about smoking a ham, helping you achieve perfect results every time.

Expand Your Smoking Repertoire!

If you loved smoking this ham, you’re ready to explore more delicious possibilities on your grill or smoker. Here are some other fantastic recipes to try: