This Brown Sugar Pineapple Ham is the perfect Christmas or Easter Ham recipe! We made a delicious cola and brown sugar glaze for ham, and combined it with crushed pineapples. This spiral ham is easy to make, and filled with SO much flavor!
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Brown Sugar Pineapple Ham for the Holidays
Nothing says EASTER or the holidays (Ham is great for Christmas too!) like a good Ham recipe. This Brown Sugar Pineapple Ham is just perfect for the holiday because it’s super tasty and super easy!
This is the best spiral ham recipe out there. Simple, delicious, and something everyone will love. The glaze is a mix of cola, brown sugar, and pineapple, so it’s got plenty of flavor. It will look so beautiful at the center of the table, surrounded by whatever side dishes you decide to serve.
Best Spiral Ham Recipe
This spiral ham makes holidays easy, and with this amazing cola, brown sugar, and pineapple ham glaze, this just might be the BEST spiral ham recipe. Especially for Easter and other holidays!
What is a spiral cut ham?
Spiral-cut hams were made for convenience. It can be pretty difficult to cut bone-in hams, and most of us don’t want to deal with that at the holiday table.
A spiral ham is cut (before you buy it) in a spiral shape around the bone. This leaves the meat on the bone, but makes it really easy to slice the ham when you’re ready to serve it. Genius!
How long does this recipe need to cook?
As with any meat, how long to cook a spiral ham depends on the size of the ham and your oven. It will vary slightly, but a good rule of thumb is about 10-15 minutes per pound of meat. However, simply following our recipe, you will get a perfectly cooked ham!
Internal temperature for Pork
You’ll be checking the internal temperature every 10 minutes as you baste and glaze, so this time will vary. But we just want to make sure we get to an internal temperature that is safe to consume (140°F) while continuously glazing to keep it moist.
Brown Sugar Cola Pineapple Ham Glaze
The pineapple, brown sugar and coca cola ham glaze is what gives this recipe all of its flavor! It’s an interesting mix of ingredients that combine to create one TASTY glaze.
We start with the cola and brown sugar ham glaze, made on the stove top. That gets poured all over the ham, and then we add in the crushed pineapple separately, but it all mixes together as the ham bakes in the oven. We use this same glaze to baste as it bakes, so more and more flavor and moisture gets added in throughout the whole process.
Glaze Ingredients:
- Dark Brown Sugar
- Coca Cola or Dr. Pepper
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Low-Sodium Soy Sauce
- Dijon Mustard
- Grainy Mustard
- Ginger
- Onion Powder
- Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
- Salt
Tips for making the Cola Glaze
This brown sugar pineapple ham glaze is super easy to make. You can make it on the stove while the ham goes through the initial baking process, so it’s ready to glaze when the ham comes out.
To make the glaze:
- Combine all ingredients in a saucepan.
- Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce heat to a simmer.
- Let it simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring often.
- When it reaches a syrupy consistency, remove it from heat and set it aside until ready to use.
How to Make Brown Sugar Pineapple Ham
- Start by scoring the ham. Use a sharp knife to make 1/2-inch deep cuts about 1 inch apart.
- Cover the ham and bake at 325°F for 1 hour.
- While the ham is in the oven, make the glaze.
- Take the ham out of the oven, and brush half of the glaze over the ham and down into the slices. Then spread the crushed pineapple over it, and then about half of the remaining glaze over the surface.
- Bake the ham uncovered for 15 minutes.
- Now you’ll want to continue glazing the ham as it cooks, about every 10 minutes. You’ll need to keep cooking until the internal temperature reaches 140°F, so check every 10 minutes to make sure you don’t over cook it.
Check the recipe card below for full detailed instructions!
This brown sugar and pineapple spiral ham is the perfect Easter Ham! It’s so easy to make and takes all the stress out of a holiday meal. This just makes a great holiday ham in general. Try it for Thanksgiving or Christmas too!
If you are making it for Easter Dinner, try it with some of our favorite Easter recipes!
Whether you make this as your Easter Ham this holiday, or for another occasion, I hope you enjoy it as much as we do. This brown sugar pineapple ham is just delicious, and I can’t for you to try it!
See the recipe card for details on how to make this recipe!
Other Pork & Ham Recipes You will Love:
- Orange Cranberry Pork Loin Roast
- Instant Pot Honey Baked Ham
- Marmalade Glazed Ham
- Sweet Tea Pork Tenderloin
- Apple Ginger Glazed Ham
- Pork Tenderloin with Honey & Herbs
Brown Sugar Pineapple Glazed Ham
Ingredients
For the Brown Sugar Cola Glaze:
- 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 12 ounces Cola or Dr. Pepper
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
- 1½ tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1½ tablespoon Grainy Mustard
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
For the Spiral Ham:
- 1 spiral-sliced city ham (6-9 lbs)
- 20 ounces crushed pineapple (1 can)
Instructions
For the Brown Sugar Cola Glaze:
- Combine all glaze ingredients in a medium-sized saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, reduce heat to a simmer and cook, stirring often, 20-30 minutes, or until glaze is the consistency of syrup. Remove from heat and set aside.
For the Spiral Ham:
- Heat oven to 325°.
- Use a sharp knife to score the surface of the ham with 1/2-inch-deep slices spaced 1-inch apart. Cover and bake 1 hour.
- Brush half the glaze over the ham, being sure to spread some down into each cut. Spread the crushed pineapple over the ham, again pressing down, and then pour half the remaining glaze over the surface. Bake the ham, uncovered, 15 minutes then repeat glazing as follows:
- Continue cooking and glazing/basting the ham (once you have run out of glaze, just baste with the glaze from the bottom of the pan) every 10 minutes until the internal temperature registers 140° on an instant-read thermometer. This could take a total 40-60 minutes.
- Enjoy!
Last step! Don’t forget to show me a pic of what you made! Upload an image or tag me @thecookierookie on Instagram!
Nutrition Information
This recipe was easy, packed with flavor and was a hit with my family! Only thing I changed different, due to forgetting to get crushed red pepper flakes was I Substitute paprika,
Can not wait to try this recipe again!
I’ll have to try that! I’m so glad you loved it so much!
Can’t wait to try this for Easter.
I hope you all enjoy it!
Hi I’m making the glaze now, the apple cider vinegar is very potent.. we this burn off or will the flavor be over powering?
It shouldn’t be overpowering!
Absolutely delicious. Also, no need to score the ham (since it’s already spiral-sliced) except at the “bottom” of the ham. I also accidentally bought DIET Coke (oh no!) and wondered why the glaze was not getting syrupy like the recipe said it would. My husband added more dark brown sugar to the sauce, and voila, instant syrup. He was very proud of himself (and rightfully so!). It was also impossible to purchase one 12-ounce bottle of Coke.
They’re either giant size or in a six-pack. Very annoying, Safeway! Anyway, this was seriously delicious and perfect for our Christmas dinner. We served this with a corn casserole that also knocked our socks off. What a feast!
That sounds delicious!! And way to go hubby, he really saved the day!! I’m so happy you guys loved the dish!!
This ham is amazingly delicious. So flavorful. Everybody loves it.
You can teach an old bird new tricks. I’m 66.
I’m always here to help!! I’m glad you loved it!
I have a question. Aren’t most spiral hams pre-cooked? I’ve never bought a ham before so don’t want to overcook one of these.
Since spiral hams are already fully cooked, you basically just want to warm it through, infuse it with flavor, and crisp up the edges, all while avoiding drying it out!
Ture meaning of good food
Thank you, Henry!!
Made this in the crockpot and it was delicious!
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed it!
Amazing!!! I made this 2x in one week. Once for my family and again for my in-laws. You will impress your guests with this one ;)
That’s so awesome to hear!! I’m glad everyone enjoyed it!!
Great, I’m in, anything but my dry old boring ham recipe! Thank you for the detailed walk-through too
It’s anything but boring! Thanks, Sabrina!