Baked ham glazed with red pepper jelly and pineapple is the ultimate holiday centerpiece. It leaves you with juicy ham slices covered in a spicy and sweet glaze. It’s a great way to elevate basic ham for Christmas Dinner or Easter Dinner.
Pepper Jelly and Pineapple Ham Glaze
My unique baked ham pineapple glaze recipe took several rounds of testing to perfect; it needed to have both flavor profiles shine. Here’s how it worked best:
Pineapple—Canned pineapple provides a more vibrant flavor than fresh pineapple. However, they are interchangeable if you prefer to use fresh produce.
Pepper Jelly—You can use store-bought pepper jelly or homemade pepper jelly. Even cowboy candy jelly or cowboy candy with pineapple will work well. Just make sure to read the ingredients before selecting. Some include roasted onions that drastically alters the final flavor.
This pepper jelly and pineapple ham glaze will also work on Double Smoked Ham.
While I haven’t tested it yet, this recipe should be killer when using carrot cake jam instead of red pepper jelly!!
Timing and Temperature
A spiral-cut half ham typically takes about 15 minutes per pound to reach an internal temperature of 140°F. For a ham roast that hasn’t been pre-sliced, the cooking time averages 20 minutes per pound.
Recipe Tips and Storage
Here are a few recipe tips to keep in mind when making baked ham recipes:
Pineapple Rings— Affix a few pineapple rings to the top of the ham. The pineapple juice from the rings will run between each ham slice, adding flavor.
Ham Drippings—After cooking, collect the drippings to make a ham broth for soups or gravy. I made a batch of ham gravy using the drippings from this recipe, and it was fantastic. The gravy infused a bit of the pineapple and pepper jelly flavors. Here’s How To Make Ham Gravy.
Make Ahead— You can make the glaze up to 3 days in advance.
Storage—Store the leftover ham slices in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They will keep for 3-4 days.
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Baked Ham With Pineapple Side Dishes
Here are a few side dish ideas to serve next to your baked spiral ham with pineapple:
Drink Pairings
White – Riesling, Pinot Grigio, Rose
Red – Pinot Noir, Gamay
Reference our Pork Temperature Chart for more cooking tips!
Baked Ham with Pepper Jelly and Pineapple Glaze
Equipment
Ingredients
- 7-9 Lb Bone-in Spiral Sliced Half Ham (*Note 1)
Pepper Jelly and Pineapple Glaze
- 1 20 oz. can pineapple rings in 100% pineapple juice (*Note 2)
- 1 cup pepper jelly (*Note 3)
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar (*Note 4)
- ⅛ tsp ground ginger
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 325° F.
- Trim any excess fat off of the ham and place cut side down in a roasting pan. Cover tightly with foil. Transfer to the oven and cook for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
- While the ham is baking, make the glaze. Add the juice from the can of pineapple (should be approx. 1 cup), pepper jelly, brown sugar, and ginger to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and continue to cook until reduced by half. The glaze will continue to thicken as it cools.
- Remove the foil from the ham. Baste ham with the glaze, getting in between slices as much as possible. Affix pineapple rings to the top of the ham using toothpicks. Transfer back to the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Glaze ham a second time and cook for 15 more minutes. Remove ham from the oven and let rest for 15 minutes.
- When ready to serve, transfer to a cutting board and slice ham from the bone.