We take a smoked ham and smoke it again. While we smoke the ham a second time it is coated with a glaze made with bourbon, honey, brown sugar, crushed pineapple, orange zest and orange juice. This smoked ham recipe could easily be the featured protein for any holiday feast, whether opposite a turkey or as a stand alone. I served this next to my turkey on Thanksgiving 2024 so these pics were taken during that holiday.

We almost always serve ham next to the turkey on Thanksgiving so we have more than a couple phenomenal ham recipes:

• Honey Bourbon Rotisserie Ham
• Grilled Pineapple Rum Ham
• Grill-Glazed Spiral Ham

Keep in mind, this could be your Easter Ham, Christmas Ham, Thanksgiving Ham, Holiday Ham, or just plain ham, because this is one inexpensive way to feed a crowd.

Beyond Easy Smoked Ham Recipe Ingredients:

• 1 cured ham (spiral sliced or not)*
• 2 sticks of salted butter
• 20 ounces of crushed pineapple (although 40 ounces are shown in the pic below)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup apricot preserves
• 1 cup honey bourbon
• Zest of one orange
• Juice of one orange
• 1/4 cup of honey
• 1 oven safe pan**

*We used a half ham here. The shank, in particular. But a whole ham or even a spiral ham will work as well. For a whole ham, cooking times will increase.

**You could easily use a disposable aluminum pan.

I used a cast iron pan that I have both in the blue and red.

Ingredient List is not a Hard and Fast Rule

Listen, the ingredients here are more like guidelines. Thus, if you don’t have honey bourbon, use apple bourbon or just plain old bourbon/whiskey. Ran out of honey? Then add a little more brown sugar. Don’t have apricot preserves, use peach preserves or apple jelly.

How Long does it take to Smoke a Ham?

An already cured ham doesn’t really need to be cooked at all. It’s edible right out of the package. All you have to do is warm it up. Once the temp inside the ham crests 140F-150F it’s good to go.

And this is why we have “Beyond Easy” in the title. Because all we have to do is warm the ham up.

While doing so, we will also add some smoke flavor and caramelize the glaze.

How to Grill this Beyond Easy Smoked Ham Recipe

Prepare the grill for two zone grilling with coals on one side and smoke wood on the other with a target temp inside the grill of 300F In this case, I prepared the pellet grill by setting the thermostat to 300F. While the grill warms up, combine all the ingredients other than the ham in a pan and set the pan on the grill. Place a grill grate above the pan and set the ham on the grill grate. Every 20-30 minutes, spoon the glaze over the ham. Once the ham reaches 140F-150F internal remove from the grill and serve.

Prepare the Grill

This recipe can be cooked on just about any grill:

Charcoal Grill: Place the coals and smoke wood on one side of the cooker and then set the pan and ham on the other side with target temp inside the grill of 300F

Gas Grill: Turn on one burner at one end of the grill and set a chunk of smoke wood right over that burner. Again, target temp inside the grill is 300F. Then, set the pan and the ham on the other side away from the lit burner.

Dedicated Smoker: Bring the grill up to 300F and set the pan and ham inside the smoke chamber

Pellet Grill: Set the thermostat at 300F and place the pan and ham inside the smoke chamber***

***For this recipe, we used the Green Mountain Grills pellet grill to cook this holiday ham.

Prepare the Glaze

Combine all the ingredients in the oven safe pan and then place the pan on the grill.

Then, set a grill grate over the pan and place the ham over the pan.

This will allow the glaze to run off the ham and back into the pan. That pan will also collect any rendered fat making the glaze better and better as the ham cooks.

Using a spoon, ladle the glaze over the ham every 20-30 minutes:

Want to see how easy this is? Notice the shoe in the bottom right hand of that pic above?

That shoe belongs to my daughter.

Indeed, that’s my EIGHT year old daughter who loves to help dad around the grill:

Once the butter melts, and the glaze liquifies, spoon it over the ham every 20-30 minutes.

As the ham warms up/cooks the glaze will cook as well, thickening as it does both in the pan and on the ham.

So, keep laying that flavor down.

After 2-3 hours it should be a lovely golden or mahogany brown, depending on how long it’s in the smoker:

That shot above was taken about 3 hours after the ham hit the smoker.

Let’s not forget the obligatory sliced shot.

The lighting sucks, but I wanted to show that glisten:

Beyond Easy Smoked Ham Recipe Recap

This sweet, smoky and succulent ham is ridiculously good and can easily anchor a holiday feast or accompany a beautiful bird on Thanksgiving. And the best part about this is that the ham is already cooked and thus just needs to be warmed up making it about the simplest recipe we have on this website. Well, maybe other than these mashed potato pancakes.

If you have any questions or comments about this smoked ham recipe, feel free to leave them below or send me an email. Keep in mind, this could be your Easter Ham, Christmas Ham, Thanksgiving Ham, Holiday Ham, or just plain ham, because this is one inexpensive way to feed a crowd.

Also, if you could leave us a great review with lots of stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ that would be most appreciated!

Additionally, you can follow us on our GrillinFools Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter/X and YouTube feeds

Recipe Card:

Print

Beyond Easy Smoked Ham Recipe

Course Barbecue, BBQ, Entree, Holiday Dinner, Holiday Ham, Main Course

Cuisine American, American Fare, Ham, Holiday Meal, Thanksgiving Dinner

Keyword Apricot Preserves, Beyond Easy, Beyond Easy Smoked Ham Recipe, Brown Sugar, Butter, Easter Ham, Grilled Ham, Ham, Ham Recipe, Holiday Dinner, Holiday Feast, Holiday Ham, Honey, Honey Bourbon, Honey Whiskey, Orange Zest, Smoked Ham, Smoked Ham Recipe, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Dinner, Thanksgiving Ham, Whiskey, Whiskey Glaze, Zest

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 3 hours hours

Servings 12 People

Equipment

• 1 Oven safe pan

Ingredients

• 1 Cured ham
• 2 sticks Butter
• 20 ounces Crushed pineapple
• 1 cup Brown sugar
• ½ cup Apricot preserves
• 1 cup Honey bourbon or any whiskey you prefer
• Zest of one orange
• Juice of one orange
• ¼ cup Honey

Instructions

• Preheat the grill for two zone grilling or set the dedicated smoker to 300F
• While the grill warms up, combine all the ingredients except the ham in the oven safe pan. Set that pan in the grill and place a grill grate over the top.
• Place the ham over the pan full of the glaze ingredients. Once the butter is melted, use a spoon to pour the glaze over the top of the ham every 20-30 until the ham is done.
• Once the ham hits north of 140F-150F the ham is done, but it can be left on to as high as 200F (although it will be more like pulled ham at that point)
• Slice and serve

The post Beyond Easy Smoked Ham Recipe first appeared on GrillinFools.