A perfect holiday ham.
Tired of the traditional brown sugar and mustard glaze on your big old piece of pork? Then switch things up with this savory, sweet, Pomegranate Balsamic Glaze.
The sugar from the pomegranate juice helps create a nice sticky caramelized crust, while the balsamic adds both tanginess and helps keep the ham moist. Things are also spiced up with the addition of mustard powder and smoked paprika for extra flavor.
For this recipe, any bone-in or boneless ham shank or butt portion should do. If you are using a roasting pan, it’s recommended to add some broth at the bottom. And while you’re at it, why not add in some veggies for roasting? Baby potatoes, carrots, Brussel sprouts. Anything that would benefit from some TLC roasting in a hot oven and soaking up some of the savory, fatty juices from the hunk of ham.
A final note: Cooking times will vary depending on the size of your ham, but the important things are to get the internal temp to ~150 and just keep glazing to keep the old piece of pig moist.
Time You Need
- 45 minutes prep
- ~1 hour 30 minutes cooking
What You Need
- 1 10-14 pound, bone-in ham shank or butt portion
- 3/4 cups of brown sugar
- 2 tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 tbsp mustard powder
- 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar
- 1 cup of pomegranate juice
- ½ cup of cranberry sauce
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 3 tbsp butter
- Salt, pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup of low sodium chicken broth
- Whole cloves
- Optional: Veggies underneath for roasting
What You Do:
- For the ham:
- Preheat the oven to 325.
- Start by removing the rind of the ham. Then score the ham in a diamond pattern, but make sure to not score too deep! Less than ¼ inch should do just fine.
- Stud the ham with whole cloves. Then pat generously with ¼ cup of brown sugar, mustard powder, and smoked paprika.
- Place the ham in a roasting pan. You can line the bottom of your roasting pan with a few sheets of foil for easier cleanup. Don’t forget to add your veggies if you are using them.
- Pour the chicken broth into the base of the pan, over the veggies.
- Gently cover the ham with a piece of foil and bake in the oven for 35 minutes.
- In the meantime start on the glaze.
- Once your 35 minutes are up, carefully remove the ham and kick the temperature up to 415.
- Remove the foil covering the ham, and brush generously with the glaze, evenly covering the ham. Use about 1/3 of the glaze, and save the rest for later.
- Return the ham to the oven and continue to bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and coat the ham with another round of glaze, and pan juices. Return to the oven and bake for 15 more minutes.
- After 15 minutes are up, remove from the oven and coat again with the glaze, along with pan juices.
- Return the ham to the oven, and bake for another 15 minutes.
- Continue to cook until a golden-brown crust begins to form. Glaze the ham as needed. You can also use the broiler to help, but be careful of burning the sugars. Cook until the ham reaches an internal temp of 150.
- Once done, remove and let rest about 10 minutes before carving.
- Serve with any extra glaze and enjoy!
- For the glaze:
- In a small sauce pan, add butter and melt over medium heat. Then add in pomegranate juice, balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, cranberry sauce and brown sugar and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer on low, for about 20 minutes, stirring periodically. Season with salt to taste.
- When ready, use to glaze the ham.