Fig Glazed Spiral Sliced Baked Ham

A smoky, juicy ham with a sweet and salty fig glaze is a beautiful main course that is impressive but easy to prepare for a special occasion. The glaze not only adds a beautiful sheen to the ham, but adds a terrific flavor to it too.

A beautiful baked ham is a perfect main course for Easter, Thanksgiving or Christmas. With a minimal amount of effort, you can have a main course that is worthy to be at the center of the table. A spiral sliced ham is a great option, because most of the prep work is done for you, making it so easy to just heat through and add a few finishing touches. 

If you’ve never tried fig preserves, I highly recommend giving it a try – it is so delicious, isn’t too sweet and pairs so well with savory flavors. The sautéed shallot and garlic gives another note of sweetness to the glaze as well as making the sweet glaze more dimensional in flavor. The balsamic vinegar also has a rich taste profile, is also sweet but balances everything else out with some acidity too. It really is a winning combination with the salty, smoky ham.

Even people who don’t usually enjoy baked ham were pleasantly surprised by this recipe and couldn’t stop eating it. Even I was so delighted by how well it turned out, even better than I had pictured it in my mind when I was creating the recipe:). I love when a recipe comes together even better than you thought, even when your expectations were already high.

Instructions:

What type of ham should you buy? 

For this recipe, I am using a bone in, spiral cut ham. There is very little extra fat, so you don’t need to do much prep work to the ham before getting it into the oven.

The shank end of the ham has the bone that goes straight through the center of the ham, making it easier to slice. The sirloin/butt portion of the ham has two bones instead of one, making it a bit more challenging to slice. 

You can also use a bone-in, uncut cured ham, also the shank end, for this recipe. In that case, trim the excess fat, leaving only about 1/4 inch thickness and score the remaining fat in 1 inch intervals, in a crosshatch pattern. 

Preparing the Ham

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Most spiral sliced hams are not sliced at the very top. As the ham bakes, the cut portion of the man will separated from the uncut top portion of the ham, creating huge gaps. There’s nothing wrong with it, it will just look a little homely, so to prevent this, use a sharp knife to create 3-5 more slices parallel to the other slices on the ham across the top. (If you forget this step and the ham starts to separate, just create a few slices and as soon as you notice it and it should fix the problem, unless your ham is already completely cooked.)

Place the ham in a deep roasting pan on top of a rack. Pour in about 1 1/2 cups water into the bottom of the roasting pan. Cover the top of the ham and the roasting pan first with parchment paper and then with another layer of aluminum. 

Why Use Parchment Paper and Aluminum Foil?

The only reason I am using both parchment and aluminum foil is to create a steamy/moist environment for the ham to bake in, which will not only help the ham bake through faster, but will keep it from drying out too. I also like to avoid aluminum foil touching food, but the parchment paper alone will not crimp around the roasting pan, plus it may get too brown. The aluminum foil is more durable and malleable.

Baking the Ham

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes – 1 1/2 hours, depending on the size of your ham. The internal temperature of the ham should reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The ham is already cooked and does not need to reach a higher temperature. In this recipe, we are only  heating it through. If you bake it longer, it will dry out and won’t be juicy and delicious. Hams are ready to eat right out of the package – just like the ham you buy at the deli for your sandwiches. 

Meanwhile, prepare the glaze for the ham. 

Where can you buy fig preserves? Is there a substitute you can use? 

Fig preserves are sold in the aisle with all the other jams, jellies and preserves. I have seen it in most regular grocery stores and this particular jar I purchased at Publix. It is fairly easy to find. If you can’t find it, Plum Preserves, Black or Red Currant Preserves will work instead too. Of course, you can use almost any flavor of jam, jelly or preserve and match it with another vinegar, for example apple jelly with apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar, orange marmalade and white wine vinegar, etc. 

Fig Glaze

In a small-medium saucepan, heat the butter or oil. Add the shallot and garlic and cook for 3-5 minutes on medium low heat, seasoning with salt and ground black pepper to taste, until the shallots are tender. Add the fig preserves, the balsamic vinegar, thyme and water. Mix to combine and simmer for another 5 minutes.  Discard the thyme springs. 

I like to take the time to blend all of this in a blender or use an immersion blender to get a smooth consistency. This way, when you brush the glaze over the ham, you won’t have bits of shallot all over it. If the glaze is too thick, thin it out with a bit more water. 

Glazing the Ham

When the ham has reached an internal temperature of 100 – 110 degrees Fahrenheit, remove it from the oven, uncover it, and brush it evenly with the glaze. 

Do you see how the top of the ham wasn’t sliced and it started to separate and create a gap as the ham was baking? I sliced the top of the ham too and the ham went back to looking proportionate for the rest of the time in the oven and when I served it too. Increase the temperature of the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Return the glazed ham to the oven and bake for another 10-15 minutes, until the glaze has caramelized a bit.

Remove from the oven, let it rest for 15 minutes before serving. Serve with the remaining Fig and Balsamic Glaze.  

Print