I’ve never been much of a glazed ham person, but THIS ham? This ham is special.
A couple weeks ago, my dad was experimenting with a sour plum duck recipe (which you should look out for in the next couple weeks, because it’s awesome), and we had a jar of plum sauce left over. This of course, set the gears turning in my head while I was also thinking up recipes for the holidays. Yes, this is a perfect Glazed ham for Christmas dinner that will spark some more leftover ham recipes for us too!
Plum sauce is sweet, just like it sounds, but it also has a very sharp, almost sour flavor. Take a cautionary sniff of the stuff when you open the bottle, and you’ll see (smell?) what I mean. This got me thinking about a lot of the holiday glazed ham recipes I see out there on the Internet.
There’s often a sweet element (brown sugar, honey, etc.) and a slightly tart element to balance it out (like pineapple juice, orange juice, or a bit of mustard). Plum sauce has both of these flavor profiles, which is why it goes so well with rich meats like duck––and, incidentally, ham. Of course, if you’re not a fan of plum sauce, you can give the glaze a milder flavor by using plum jam instead.
This glazed ham recipe is about as simple as it gets. Just buy bone-in spiral ham, and mix together a glaze of plum sauce, a little honey, soy sauce, Dijon mustard, and a bit of five-spice powder. Five-spice powder actually contains spices that are ubiquitous around the holidays, like cloves and cinnamon. Then you just glaze the ham as it’s warming, as per usual! Easy.
Though it’s an optional accompaniment, my chosen side dish for this ham is roasted potatoes tossed in soy sauce, melted butter, and chopped scallions. If you liked our Soy Sauce Butter Pasta with Shrimp, you’ll appreciate this new twist on potatoes.
Okay, I’ve done enough talking. Let’s cook.
Plum Sauce Glazed Ham: Recipe Instructions
Place the ham flat-side down in a roasting pan, cover tightly in foil, and begin warming according to the package instructions.
Mix together the plum sauce, honey, soy sauce, dijon, and five spice powder to make the glaze.
Before the last 30 minutes of cooking, remove the foil and brush the glaze all over the ham. Roast for the last 30 minutes uncovered, basting the ham with more glaze halfway through.
Meanwhile, toss the potatoes on a baking sheet in olive oil and season lightly with salt and pepper (Not too much! Remember, you’ll be tossing it in soy sauce, which is also salty). Roast the potatoes for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally to get them to brown evenly.
Toss the potatoes in the soy sauce, melted butter, and scallions.
Serve alongside the ham!
Note: This recipe obviously is easier if you have a double oven, but not to worry! It can be done with one oven by allowing the ham to rest, covered, after it’s baked. During that time, you can roast the potatoes and serve everything together once they’re done!
Plum Sauce Glazed Ham with Soy & Scallion Butter Roasted Potatoes
Ingredients
For the ham:
- 1 spiral sliced bone-in half ham (about 10-12 pounds)
- 2/3 cup plum sauce (for a milder flavor, substitute plum jam)
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon five spice powder
Instructions
- Place the ham flat-side down in a roasting pan, cover tightly in foil, and begin warming according to the package instructions. Mix together the plum sauce, honey, soy sauce, dijon, and five spice powder to make the glaze. Before the last 30 minutes of cooking, remove the foil and brush the glaze all over the ham. Roast for the last 30 minutes uncovered, basting the ham with more glaze halfway through.
- Meanwhile, toss the potatoes on a baking sheet in olive oil and season lightly with salt and pepper (Not too much! Remember, you’ll be tossing it in soy sauce, which is also salty). Roast the potatoes for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally to get them to brown evenly. Toss the potatoes in the soy sauce, melted butter, and scallions. Serve alongside the ham!
- Note: This recipe obviously is easier if you have a double oven, but it can be done with one oven by allowing the ham to rest, covered, after it’s baked. During that time, you can roast the potatoes and serve everything together once they’re done!
Could you email e the recipe for the plum sauce love plums and would so love to make this ham at Christmas
Hi Donna, the plum sauce is a jarred product you can buy at Asian markets. We don’t have a method to make it at home, as we can’t get the specific plums used in the sauce. Read more about it: https://thewoksoflife.com/plum-sauce/
Hi
Just wondering if I need to remove the skin and score the ham like we usually do for traditional ham. I would appreciate it if you could reply soon as I would be cooking ham in 2 days time. Thank you.
Hi Esther, sorry for missing your comment! Hope you went with your usual method, which sounds like it should work out fine for this recipe.
This sounds delicious. Is there a recommended oven temperature?
Hi B. Durnil, we used a spiral ham for this recipe and there were directions on the package for how to heat it. For pre-packaged hams like a spiral ham, we like to follow the product package directions for heating. Hope you try it!
I made the ham, sans potatoes over the weekend. Everyone loved it – great flavor! Thanks for posting the recipe!
So glad you and your family enjoyed it Chip!
First of all, this looks super yummy!:) Now; that being said, this isn’t a tradition here, so please excuse our silly question that follows: Is the ham, a cured, read-to-eat peace of ham? Is it like the French jambon?
We never tried it before, but we’ve seen ham being mentioned in American movies and series as a Christmas dinner dish.
Thank you for the recipe (that will probably introduce it to our table as well) :)
xoxoxo
Love your Asian twist on this meal!
Thanks Sabrina!
This is a winner.We had this tonight and it was a success. It makes a lovely presentation, eliciting oohs and also from around the table. Everyone complemented me on the meal. We served this with the Woks of Life Simple Stir Fried Bok Choy recipe that is so,so good. The best part is that the prep for this is slick, so I could pull off what looked like a fancy meal on a busy day.
That’s awesome Sarah!! So glad you and your guests enjoyed it.
I don’t typically make hams, but have the soy potatoes on my list for Christmas Eve dinner, paired with Roast Pork with Five-Spice and Stir-Fried Bok Choy. Sooooo looking forward to it.
Sounds like a great plan!
BTW, I did make these potatoes and they were scrumptious! Even better than I thought they would be. Who knew something so simple would be sooooo good? These are definitely going into my regular rotation.
So glad you enjoyed them…sometimes the simplest things are the best!