Smoked Sweet Onion Honey Glazed Ham

Expect spicy, warm flavors from this smoked spiral cut ham and sweetness from the smoked ham glaze. You’ll love how well this recipe transforms a precooked ham.

Other treats to add to your festive table are pizza giana rustica, Easter bundt cakes, chicken meatball wedding soup, and coconut cottontail cocktails.

Why You’ll Love It

So special: Ham is always good but on occasions like Easter or Thanksgiving, when you want to make something special, a spiral-cut ham cooked to perfection on a Traeger grill is just perfection.
Delicious: This one goes without saying. This Traeger smoked ham recipe is almost too good to be true. How could moist, perfectly-cooked spiral ham be anything but delicious?
Versatile: Not only is this glazed ham ideal for a special occasion, but you will find plenty of uses for the leftovers – sandwiches and salads are only a couple of possibilities.

Smoked Honey Glazed Ham Ingredients

A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.

Ham: Choose a fully cooked, spiral cut ham which weighs around 10 pounds for the best result.
Brown sugar: For sweetness and a rich caramel flavor.
Vidalia onions: Or another variety of sweet onion.
Pineapple and apple juice: Adds fruitiness and sweetness too.
Aromatics and seasonings: The garlic, peppercorns, coriander, cinnamon, and bay leaves add more aromatic flavors to the honey baked ham.
Honey: For the glaze.
Madeira wine and sherry: These add sweetness and a complementary flavor.

How to Make Smoked Honey Ham

For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card.

Apply the sugar: Rub brown sugar all over the ham first of all. Don’t be shy with the sugar in your brown sugar honey glaze – you can (and should) use a lot! Thanksgiving or Easter dinner calls for a beautifully sweet ham.
Smoke the ham: Next, put it in a roasting pan with the onions, garlic, cinnamon, bay leaves, and coriander. Add the pineapple juice and water and smoke it for an hour.
Make the glaze: You can then puree some of the smoked onions and then combine them with the remaining smoked ham glaze ingredients.
Add the glaze and cook the ham some more: After simmering the glaze for the smoked spiral cut ham until it’s thick, you can pour it over the meat. Now put it back on the pellet smoker or Traeger grill for a little while longer and let it rest before you serve it.

Substitutions and Variations

Pineapple juice: Some people prefer to use apple juice in honey baked ham, and actually half apple juice with half pineapple juice is a great blend, if you want to try that.
Madeira wine and sherry: You can substitute white wine for the madeira or for the sherry (not for both unless you add more sugar, because it will be much less sweet).

Serving Suggestions

With side dishes: Smoked sweet onion honey ham is just perfect for Easter Sunday when you are all out to impress. You could serve it with garlic mashed potatoes, cheesy vegetable casserole, sausage and cranberry stuffing, vegan gluten free cornbread, or even a Brussels sprouts feta casserole. As the ham is sweet, keep the sides mostly savory.
And to finish: When everyone has had their fill of this tasty ham dinner, you can bring out the lemon stuffed cupcakes to finish! Or even Easter haystacks.

How to Store Honey Smoked Ham

Store: Wrap in foil or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Freeze: You can freeze ham leftovers in an airtight container or Ziploc freezer bag for up to 2 months.
Thaw: Thaw it out overnight in the fridge.
Reheat: About 15 minutes in the oven at 325 degrees F will warm it back up nicely without drying it out. As a rule of thumb, give smoked sweet onion honey glazed ham leftovers about 10 minutes per pound when warming it back up. I like to reheat it in slices, since it warms up faster that way and has less risk of drying out. The sweet glaze helps it to warm up without drying out too.