The Perfect Smoked Honey Ham

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If you’re looking a the perfect smoked honey ham recipe, you’ve come to the right place! In this post, we’ll show you how to perfectly smoke your spiral ham (yes, even if it’s already “pre-smoked”). We’ll also teach you how to take it up a notch with our own homemade brown sugar, honey butter glaze!

Smoked Honey Ham – A Family Favorite!

There’s nothing quite as delicious as a perfectly smoked, sweet & juicy spiral honey ham! It’s one of our family’s favorite entrees, whether it’s for a holiday meal or a regular weeknight family dinner. It’s not just for special occasions. Smoked honey ham is always a hit!

I usually buy a pre-cooked ham from our local grocery store, heat it in the oven and use the seasoning packet that comes with it, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that! But when I set out to write this blog post about the perfect smoked ham, I knew I had to take it up a notch!

Double Smoked and Homemade Glaze

I started researching the best ways to cook a pre-smoked ham, and what I came across was somewhat surprising. There is a whole group of people out there that swear by smoking a pre-smoked ham on the pellet grill. That’s right… double-smoked ham! Being the lover of smoked meats that I am, I knew I had to go this route!

I still wanted to make this ham extra special. And what better way than to make my very own glaze?! But where should I start? I knew I wanted something sweet and juicy with a wow factor! I happen to love the sticky glaze I made for our famous St. Louis Style Pork Ribs, so I decided to use that as my starting point. I made a few simple adjustments and the final product was absolutely amazing, if I do say so myself!

The homemade glaze gave our ham a perfectly caramelized, sweet brown-sugar & honey-butter coating that was absolutely juicy and delicious! And I’ll never go back to use the packet again!

Ingredients for Smoked Honey Ham

You’ll find a full printable recipe card at the bottom of this post. For now, here’s a quick look at what you’ll need. These are simple ingredients you can find in your local grocery store. 

• Spiral cut ham (boneless or bone-in ham is fine)
• Honey
• Butter
• Brown Sugar
• Honey Hog BBQ Rub by Meat Church
• Roasting Pan

How to Make the Best Smoked Honey Ham

First, make sure your ham is completely thawed for optimal cooking.

Preheat smoker to 225 degrees. 

Unwrap the whole ham and place it in the roasting pan. Slightly fan out the slices and sprinkle the top of the spiral ham with a light coat of Honey Hog BBQ Rub. Set ham aside.

To make homemade honey glaze, pour the ham juices from the package into a small cast iron skillet or small saucepan.

Add a stick of butter to the ham juice and melt over low to medium heat on the stove, stirring continually.

Stir in ½ cup honey and ¾ cup brown sugar, stirring continually until blended well.

Transfer the cast iron skillet to the grill. This will keep the glaze warm while the ham is cooking.

Transfer the ham to the grill (keep it in the roasting pan).

Use a basting brush or tube baster to thoroughly baste the ham with some of the glaze, making sure to get some glaze between the slices (NOTE: during the first hour of the cooking time, baste the ham every 15-20 minutes. If you run out of glaze in the skillet, use what is in the bottom of the roasting pan).

Smoke for one hour at 225 degrees. Don’t forget to baste every 15-20 minutes.

Remove the roasting pan from the grill, wrap the ham in aluminum foil and place back in the roasting pan (leave the juice in the bottom of the pan under the foil-wrapped ham).

Increase the grill temperature to 375. Place the roasting pan back on the grill and cook the ham for another hour, or until the internal temperature of the ham reaches 140 degrees f with a meat thermometer.

Remove the pan from the grill, unwrap the ham, baste thoroughly one last time and sprinkle generously with more honey hog bbq rub.

Let sit for 10 minutes and serve!

What to Expect from this Recipe

This is, by far, the best ham I’ve ever tasted! The double smoke gives it an added depth of smoke flavor that is unmatchable! The homemade butter, brown sugar and honey glaze creates a sweet, caramelized crust on the outside of the ham and keeps the ham juicy and tender.

It’s amazing what a few simple changes can do to turn a pre-cooked ham into a masterpiece! This will no doubt be a crowd-pleaser, wherever you choose to serve it! Give it a try and let us know what you think.

Make it Your Own

We love this honey-glazed ham just as it is, but here are some ideas for ways you can make it your own:

Pineapple: Try adding 1/2 cup pineapple juice to your glaze mix for added sweetness. Your taste buds will thank you!

Pellets: Change up the wood pellets to achieve different flavors during the smoking process. Some of our favorites are apple wood, hickory wood and cherry wood.

Holiday Season: Don’t be afraid to experiment by adding some special holiday seasonings! You can add anything from ground ginger to ground cinnamon or even ground nutmeg to the glaze ingredients. These flavors are perfect for your Christmas or Easter dinner.

Questions People Are Asking

Can I smoke a fresh ham?

The short answer is, yes. However, there is a lot involved with smoking a fresh ham, like how to get the right cut from a butcher and how to cure the ham. We have personally not attempted this process yet, but Traeger has some great tips about cooking fresh hams on their website (you can find them here). If you want to learn more about this process, we definitely recommend using a trusted source like Traeger for advice before attempting it!

Does the size of the ham matter?

While you can smoke any size ham, our recipe works best for a ham between 7-10 pounds. If you’d like to cook a bigger ham, we suggest doubling the amounts of butter, brown sugar and honey for the ham glaze ingredients. You’ll also need to cook the ham longer. Just make sure the internal temperature reaches 140-145 degrees before serving!

What to Serve with Smoked Honey Ham

If you’re looking for some tasty side dishes and desserts to serve with your smoked honey ham, we’ve got some great recommendations for you!

Nothing complements smoked ham quite like some delicious, homemade mac and cheese. And our Smoked Mac and Cheese with Panko breadcrumb topping is the absolute best!

Another perfect side dish would be our Sweet and Savory Southwest Beans. Talk about delicious!

Looking for a yummy dessert to indulge in after dinner? Try these incredible Crumbl Copycat Turtle Cookies from Out of the Box Baking! Holy moly, these are good!

For an awesome appetizer, check out these Southern Deviled Eggs with Flair from Miz Helen’s Country Cottage. These look delicious and would be perfect with ham!

Thanks for Stopping By!

That’s it for this post, friends! We hope you enjoy the sweet and savory flavors of this smoked honey ham! This is a new recipe for us and we happen to love it!

Why Not Pin Some Pictures While You’re Here?

See this recipe at:

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About the Man Behind the Grill

Zach Morrow was born and raised in Texas and has always had a passion for great barbecue. He’s at home behind the grill and loves to feed his friends and family home-cooked favorites as often as he can. He especially loves trying new things and is excited to produce recipes like this one for Backyard Texas Grill.