HoneyBaked Ham (Copycat) made with honey, sugar and delicious spices is crispy, sweet, smoky and delicious like your favorite ham without the price tag!
The PERFECT HoneyBaked Ham Copycat
HoneyBaked Ham was one of the most classic holiday memories I had as a kid (other than the day after Thanksgiving tree buying). We would call in the order for the ham and I couldn’t wait to go to the store with my mom to get that beautiful wrapped ham. No matter what else was on the tables of food, everyone would go straight to the ham.
I still love Honeybaked Hams and they even have a HoneyBaked turkey breast too. The thing I’m not a huge fan of now? The price and the lines. As a kid I never worried about the cost, and apparently I loved the lines.
This ham was just over 9 pounds which would’ve cost me almost $80 had I ordered it. I paid $15 for mine including all the ingredients to prepare it and it only took about 10 minutes of active work.
As a food blogger we celebrate holiday foods earlier than most people so we had people over for Christmas dinner two weeks ago to enjoy this meal and they all requested we make it again for our holiday parties (that happen on the actual holidays, haha).
Tips for making this HoneyBaked Ham Copycat:
- Carefully place the ham into your slow cooker. If it is too big for your slow cooker trim the bottom of the ham as needed.
- Dry the top of the ham well with a paper towel so the honey you add to the top adheres best.
- Fan out the slices a bit when adding the honey so it gets between the slices, then you can press it back together before cooking.
- Don’t let the topping boil longer than written, the less liquid the harder it will be to pour evenly over the ham and the drier the topping will be when cooked.
- If you want each slice to have topping fan out the slices a bit as soon as it comes out of the oven (with a fork! Don’t burn your fingers on the sugar).
Don’t forget you will probably have a lot left over. May I humbly recommend my Slow Cooker Ham and Potato Soup or a Slow Cooker Ham and Bean Soup for any leftovers you may have? Make the slow cooker do all the heavy lifting!
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Does HoneyBaked Ham use honey in the ham? Yes, but they use a powdered honey (which I have and tried) but for the purposes of a side by side taste comparison you can make this dish taste EXACTLY the same without the powdered honey.
How do you prepare honey baked ham? In the slow cooker you cook on low for 3 hours before glazing and broiling.
How do you cook a Honey Baked Ham in a oven? Put in a large covered dutch oven at 225 degrees for 3 hours before glazing and broiling.
How do you glaze a precooked ham? Warm the ham in the oven or slow cooker for 3 hours before adding on the glaze and broiling.
But what about the blowtorches? Yes, to be authentic, you’d add the glaze then torch it onto the ham. I own several torches for kitchen use, I tested it with the torch and what I can tell you is the added risk does not outweigh the added flavor. The broiler is your friend here, avoid the torch. If you do use the torch I would caution against using it outdoors. Wind, when working with a torch, can create an unsafe situation. I feel like I should just mention this again, I highly recommend the broiler method.
Looking for more side dishes?
- Ultimate Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes
- Slow Cooker Mushroom Rice
- Slow Cooker Creamed Corn
- Roasted Garlic Butter Mushrooms
Tools used in the making of this HoneyBaked Ham Copycat:
Aluminum Insert Slow Cooker: This recipe was made in this slow cooker. This allows for the ham to be caramelized in the same slow cooker it cooked in.
AllSpice Spice Rack: I use this spice rack and fill up the bottles with freshly purchased spices.
Honey: The best deal on honey you’re going to find online that you know for sure is real honey, only $4 a pound. Or buy it in the store for even less!
HoneyBaked Ham (Copycat)
Ingredients
- 1 pre-cooked ham 8-9 pounds, bone-in and spiral sliced
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 cups white granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground clove
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
Instructions
- Put the ham in the slow cooker (with aluminum insert) and drizzle with honey.
Cook on low for 3 hours.
- Preheat the oven to broil.
- In a saucepan add the sugar, onion powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, clove, paprika and 6 tablespoons of liquid from the bottom of the slow cooker.
Heat on high heat, to a rolling boil and boil for 1 minute.
- Pour half the topping onto the skin side of the ham.
- Put the aluminum insert (if you don't have one with an aluminum insert, remove the ham to a cookie sheet and use that in the oven) in the oven.
With the door open watch for bubbling and when it starts to inflate a little and get bubbly (20-30 seconds), pull it out of the oven.
Pour over the remaining glaze and cook for another 20-30 seconds.
If you want the slices to be glazed individually, pull them apart before the sugar sets into a crust.
- You can serve warm, room temperature or cold.
Recipe Notes
Referenced a bunch of pages online, but the recipe is definitely a version of Even More Secret Recipes by Todd Wilbur?who was the original source from the online versions I referenced.
Absolutely delicious! And so easy! Thanks!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Easter 2020 made this ham recipe in the crockpot according to the directions, it was spot on delicious. I added 1/3 cup of cola to the crockpot prior to cooking and the ham was juicy and tender. Try this recipe you can’t go wrong, just follow the instructions to a T.
By the way I used Smithfield spiral cut.
Hooray! So glad it was a hit! Thank you so much for the positive review.
The only nitrate free/natural ham I could find was not bone in. It’s a small ham and won’t take long to warm. I’m guessing there won’t be juices to add to the glaze. Do you recommend anything as a substitute?
You can use this recipe for a glaze
https://dev.dinnerthendessert.com/brown-sugar-ham-glaze/
Enjoy!
With the high rating reviews for this recipe my Mom and I decided to give this a try. The glaze topping results were disastrous. Steps 4&5 for the glaze seemed pretty straight forward…that was until I incorporated the liquid with the sugar mixture. It would of been nice to know how 6 tbsp of liquid would bring over 2 cups of dry ingredients to a “rolling boil” The sugar mixture remained unchanged over high heat for 5 min.+ Dry! Definitely not a rolling boil yet. Wasn’t even sure if it would liquify or if it was even suppose to liquify to begin with. Recipe doesn’t say. Finally 10+ min. over high heat, the mixture began to break down and liquify and turn dark brown. Rolling boil….yes!!! Finally . Completed remaining steps then began to notice that the glaze over the ham was cooling to a rock hard candy shell. It reminded me of what peanut brittle taste and looked liked minus the peanuts. And the flavor was very unpleasant. Obviously something went wrong during steps 4&5 but since the recipe didn’t go into any kind of detail I’m left guessing… and for that reason.. I don’t recommend this recipe unless you have some experience with glazing ham.
Can this recipe be done on a regular(non spiral sliced bone-in-ham?)
Yes, use whatever ham you’d like for this recipe. 🙂
wonder if this would be good on turkey?
Yes and no. Make sure your bird is almost done if not completely done. But honey roasted turkey is a very popular deli flavor so I would argue it would be a completely delicious bird. I only would say no if you tried glazing too early before removing the turkey from the oven as the sugars would begin to burn.
I have a boneless Turkey breast. Would I cook it in the slow cooker or could I bake/roast it and then do the glaze?
You could do it either way. 🙂
Fabulous! Use the blowtorch! Its easy, gives you control, and you can her call sides. I double coat mine. Its so good with even an inexpensive spiral sliced ham. I had help with the blow torch glazing step, one poured and drizzled and just helped to make sure it was safe and not burnt. Now that I know his easy it is, I’m confident on my own. Check out YouTube for videos on pros torching the hams. Do it! Its so easy and will save you a ton of money!
Thanks for the suggestion, Gina! So glad you loved it!
Totally love this recipe! I use to work at Honey baked ham and know the ins and outs of everything.This is so easy compared to making them there.The only thing the blow torch was for was to turn the sugar and spices to liquid as it passed through the torch to instantly harden on the cold hams so we could avoid heating them at all.I have found many ways to get the flavors at home similar to that great company,from sides to ribs to turtle cheesecake.This one is definitely a keeper for everyone out there.Great job!
Thanks, Stacey!
I actually work at Honeybaked Ham. There’s no lines during the holidays. Plus you can always buy ham slices (less of a price)
Anyways, the only way you’ll get the glazing right is with an actual blowtorch, which is what we use in house. It’s like a créme brûlée. 7 layers of sugar, and then the spice on top for the final layer.
I did not have time to stand an hour and a half in line for a Honey Baked ham this year so I Googled copycat recipes and found yours. Although I need practice with the crust (my broiler was not hot enough so I think I’ll try my kitchen blowtorch next time) it turned out awesome! the flavor was spot -ON! I will definitely be adding this to my family recipe book. Thanks so much for sharing.
How awesome! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
so delicious. a huge hit for Easter this year for 1/4 of the price. very easy. I did not have a large enough crock pot…so I used a oven bag, and I couldn’t fit the ham in the broiler so just high heat to get the glaze, and it was so good. I will make it again…..everyone loved it.
Love it! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
I am so trying this today!! Can’t wait??
Can I make the glaze up ahead of time and put it on the ham when ready? Or does it harden up too much after sitting? Thanks!
The glaze requires some liquid from the bottom of the slow cooker where the ham has cooked down so you’ll need to wait until at least then to make it. Just give it a good stir before using.
What would you do about a pre-cooked ham that just needs warming in the oven? Would you still add liquid (water, juice, etc.)?
I used a pre-cooked ham for this recipe 🙂
Hi, can I ask what brand of ham you used?
Thanks!
Sorry, I don’t even remember what brand it was. It was at a great price so it might have even been a store brand.