If you are looking for a show stopping glazed Christmas ham recipe to be the star of the Christmas table this year, this is it! Plus step by step instructions showing you how to skin, score and glaze a ham.

Apricot glazed ham on wooden board with rosemary

When I think Christmas food, glazed ham is always top of the list. We sometimes like to mix it up with what we serve on Christmas Day, but the one absolute non-negotiable is a glazed Christmas ham, front and centre!

Over the years I have tried a few different glaze recipes and honestly - I've never met a glazed ham I didn't like! But this glaze made with my friend Pip's homemade spicy apricot sauce is next level!! (Recipe is in her book. "A High Country Life")

It's the kind of glaze that almost makes you want to skip the ham and just eat the outside! It's so good that my in-laws both said it was the best ham they've ever had!

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How to choose a good ham
Ingredients
Instructions
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Apricot Glazed Ham

How to choose a good ham

When it comes to choosing a ham for Christmas Day, I actually like to buy a couple of half hams - one for Christmas Day and one for a couple of weeks later to keep that festive food vibe going! I always choose a NZ farmed ham leg and it's totally personal preference if you want the one with the bone sticking out which looks the part, or if you are happy with the other end (which I personally think gives you more ham!)

Ingredients

Here's what I love about this glazed ham - it's so simple! Once you have your ham, the glaze itself is only 3 ingredients!

Spicy apricot sauce - my good friend Philippa Cameron has the BEST recipe for spicy apricot sauce in her book "A High Country Life" which is preserved in summer meaning you have it ready to go anytime you want to glaze a ham! This sauce is absolutely the key to this glazed ham, but if you don't have a batch made up, you can buy apricot sauce from the supermarket - Barker's have a spiced apricot and mango sauce which I'm sure would be perfect!
Orange juice - I use Keri orange juice here - stick with just orange juice, avoid a mixed fruit juice
Wholegrain mustard - adds a nice kick and the grains look great on the ham too!

Instructions

The scariest part of making a glazed ham is preparing the ham. The great news is though, that once you know what to do, it really is a breeze! Let me walk you through it.

Peeling skin layer off a half leg of ham preparing to glaze

1. Carefully remove the skin from the ham. Use a small sharp knife to make a zig zag cut around the base of the hock and then slide your fingers underneath the skin and work your way up the ham, peeling away the skin but leaving the layer of fat intact.

Making scores in a leg of ham preparing to glaze it

Half leg of ham on wooden board with score marks

2. Use the knife to score a criss cross/diamond pattern on the layer of fat taking care not to cut right through the fat into the meat.

Half leg of ham in oven tray with glaze brushed on

3. Place the ham in a large roasting dish and pour 1 cup of water around it. Mix together the glaze ingredients and brush ⅔ of the glaze over the ham, reserving ⅓ for basting during cooking.

Place in the oven and cook for 1-2 hours, brushing extra glaze on the ham once or twice during cooking.

Once the ham is golden brown and heated through, remove from the oven and baste again using the juices from the pan.

Serve the ham immediately for hot slices to go alongside your Christmas meal and be sure to brush any extra glaze from the bottom of the pan all over the slices.

Once you have eaten all the hot ham you can, let it cool, store in a ham bag in the fridge and enjoy the leftovers for the next few days with salads or in sandwiches!