How long do i bake a fully cooked ham

A classic baked ham, dripping in a glaze of brown sugar, dry mustard, and apple cider vinegar makes a commanding centerpiece for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, or Mother’s Day. The impressive and abundant main dish feeds a crowd, and having a stash of leftover ham is never a bad thing. If this is your first time preparing a whole ham, you might feel intimidated, but this holiday ham recipe from the 75th-anniversary edition of Joy of Cooking streamlines the task. First, determine the type of ham you grabbed from your grocery store: Did you walk away with a smoked ham? (The label may read “fully cooked ham.”) Or, do you have a fresh ham on your hands (these will read “cook before eating”)? You can also choose a presliced spiral-cut ham here, but you’ll want to avoid “country ham” for this preparation, which is a salt-cured variety popular in the southern United States. Read on for instructions for various hams, plus a tangy ham glaze that’s sure to please.

You’ll need a shallow, heavy-duty roasting pan and a good meat thermometer. The cook time depends on whether you’re using a whole or half ham: Allow around 20 minutes per pound for an uncooked ham, until the interior temperature reaches 160°F. (Note: A half ham can easily feed 12 people, and a whole ham up to 30). For a precooked ham, reheat for about 18 minutes per pound to hit 140°F. In either case, we prefer bone-in ham, which is more flavorful and less expensive per pound than boneless ham. Plus, you can freeze the ham bone to make stock or toss it into a pot of beans or braised greens.

To attractively finish either type of ham, use a sharp knife to slash the fat into a diamond pattern (which will allow the glaze to penetrate), brush the surface with the glaze mixture, and return the roast to the oven, reducing the heat as directed. When the exterior is caramelized, baste the roast with any drippings, then place ham on a platter to rest and garnish as you wish. Serve the glazed ham with side dishes like spoon bread, mac and cheese, or quick garlicky green beans.

It takes about 2 hours to bake a fully cooked ham, depending on your oven temperature and the size of your ham. Of course, if your ham is precooked, you can also eat it cold, but if you're serving a whole ham for dinner, we recommend baking your ham at 250 degrees for 15 minutes per pound. To be sure that it's hot all the way through, use a meat thermometer and look for an internal temperature of 140 degrees. If you like, you can follow up by baking on a glaze to make a honey-baked ham perfect for your holiday dinner table!

Try This Delicious Honey-Baked Ham Recipe

Preparing a whole ham sounds intimidating, but this classic holiday main is as easy as it is impressive. Learn everything you need to know to cook a whole ham for special occasions like Christmas and Easter.

How to Pick the Right Ham

Ham is a cut of meat taken from the back legs or sometimes the shoulders of a pig. It can be wet-cured, dry-cured, smoked, aged, or raw. The best cooking technique will depend on which type of ham you buy.

City Ham

Most store-bought hams are city hams. They've been soaked in brine (wet-cured) and then either smoked or boiled before being sold fully cooked. Spiral-sliced hams are fully cooked city hams and can be served cold out of the package, but most people prefer to glaze and heat before they eat. Fully cooked hams can be heated to to an internal temperature of 140 degrees F.

Recipes for fully cooked ham:

• Always Juicy Baked Ham is baked with a simple glaze of beer, brown sugar, and Dijon mustard.
• Honey Glazed Ham is your homemade answer to that famous honey-baked ham. Glaze a spiral-cut ham with this sweet honey-butter sauce and stand back while your guests rush the table.
• Bourbon-Glazed Ham deepens the flavor of a brown sugar/honey/pineapple glaze with a generous measure of bourbon whiskey.
• Not So Sweet Baked Ham lets the flavor of the ham come through without a sugary glaze.

Country Ham

Country-cured hams are dry-cured by packing them in salt, and are often smoked over fragrant hardwoods and aged. They're made from pigs that have been fed fruits and nuts to produce more flavorful meat. Some are aged seven years. Country-cured hams have a more intense flavor, but they're drier than wet-cured, brined hams.

This recipe for Easy Slow Cooker Ham bathes a bone-in country ham in apple cider, maple syrup, and spices, and cooks it low and slow for a favorite holiday meal.

Fresh or Raw Ham

Fresh hams are sold uncured and uncooked, and must be fully cooked before eating.

Canned Ham

Canned ham can be a whole piece of ham, but is often several pieces of ham pressed together to make a ham "loaf." It's fully cooked and sold in a sealed can. Follow package directions to glaze and heat, or try this simple recipe for Sweet Ham glazed with orange juice, brown sugar, and pineapple.

Boneless vs. Bone-In Ham

Hams with the bone left in tend to be more flavorful than boneless hams. Bone-in hams are also more decorative, and make for a more ceremonious presentation on special occasions. Also, you get the ham hock for soups and stews!

Many bone-in hams are spiral-cut, which means they've been sliced in a continuous spiral all the way around the bone, producing thin slices that easily pull away.

How Much Ham Should I Buy?

Estimate about 3/4 pound of bone-in ham per person and 1/4 pound of boneless ham per person. (A bone-in ham will have less meat per pound than a boneless one.)

How Long to Cook a Ham

Most hams sold at the grocery store are fully cooked city hams that simply require reheating. These cooking times are for fully cooked hams, and each is based on an oven temperature of 325 degrees F and a minimum internal temperature of 140 degrees F, according to FoodSafety.gov. For more ham cooking times, check out our full guide.

Smoked Ham, Pre-Cooked

TypeWeightCook TimeWhole, bone in10 to 14 lbs15 to 18 min/lb.Half, bone in5 to 7 lbs18 to 24 min/lb.Arm picnic shoulder, boneless5 to 8 lbs25 to 30 min/lb.Vacuum packed, boneless6 to 12 lbs10 to 15 min/lb.Spiral-cut, whole or half7 to 9 lbs10 to 18 min/lb.

How to Bake a Ham

Chef John teaches you exactly how to get a baked holiday ham with a crispy, crackling crust with his five-star Honey-Glazed Ham recipe. This method will work with any style ham.

Here's What You'll Need:

• Ingredients for Chef John's Honey-Glazed Ham
• Roasting pan with rack
• Instant-read thermometer
• Optional: Kitchen torch

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Pour water, star anise, and cloves into the bottom of a roasting pan. Place a roasting rack on top.
3. Place ham on the rack. Cut 1/4-inch deep slashes 1/2-inch apart lengthwise and crosswise across the top of the entire ham.
4. Bake ham in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk together the glaze.
5. Brush glaze over the ham, repeating every 20 minutes until the glaze is golden-brown and the internal temperature reads 130 degrees F (the temperature will continue to rise for a little while after its out of the oven).
6. For a caramelized finish, either broil the ham for a few additional minutes, or remove from the oven and use a kitchen torch to heat the glaze until caramelized, about 2 to 5 minutes.

How to Cook Your Ham in a Slow Cooker

Slow cooking a whole ham creates a super-moist, wonderfully tender ham. It's also a great method when you're feeding a huge holiday crowd: pop a turkey in the oven and a ham in the slow cooker, and you're set. This 5-star recipe for Slow Cooker Ham calls for a respectable 8-pound bone-in picnic ham. Other cooks have had success with a 9-pound spiral-cut honey-cured ham.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 (8-pound) cured, bone-in picnic ham (not smoked)

Instructions:

1. Spread 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar on the bottom of the slow cooker crock.
2. Place the ham flat side down in the slow (you may have to trim it a little to make it fit).
3. Rub the remaining brown sugar over the ham.
4. Cover and cook on Low for 8 hours, or 4 hours for spiral-cut ham.

How to Store and Use Leftover Ham

Keep leftover ham in the refrigerator, tightly wrapped, for up to a week.

Baked ham is the holiday main dish that keeps on giving. In the days that follow, your leftover ham will perform heroically in so many additional recipes. Ham sandwiches, soups, casseroles, hash, omelets, scrambles, salads, pizza, and pastas are just some of the top contenders for leftover ham.

And don't forget the ham bone! Hold on to that ham hock, and use it to add mad flavor to soups, stews, and greens.

How long do you cook a fully cooked ham per pound?

How long do you cook a full ham in the oven?

Do you need to bake a fully cooked ham?

What temperature do you put a fully cooked ham on?