Use this dry rub of spices and sugar to season ham. After growing unhappy with the glaze packets that come with store-bought spiral hams, I developed this recipe. The mixture creates a lovely crust on the outside of the ham that is reminiscent of the well-known ham store’s. It is sweet with just the right amount of spice. A 3- to 5-pound ham can be covered with this recipe’s yield.
| Prep Time: | 5 mins |
| Total Time: | 5 mins |
| Servings: | 16 |
| Yield: | 1 cup |
Ingredients
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- ½ teaspoon mustard powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Mix together brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, mustard powder, onion powder, and pepper in a bowl until well blended. Store in an airtight tin if not using immediately.
- Do not cover ham during baking to ensure that the sugar in the dry rub forms a crust.
Reviews
This makes a LOT of rub for a 3# ham. I tried to put it all on the ham since I have never used a rub, and I couldn’t get it to caramelize. I will make it again, but half the recipe and follow the advice of others to place the ham in the oven at 550 until it caramelizes and then reduce to 350. Very easy.
Very good rub. We usually smoke our ham and this does turn out good
It smelt and tasted wonderful.
This was SO much better than the pre-packaged stuff that comes with the ham!
Doubled recipe for 11 lb ham, it was plenty. Very good. Cooked ham covered for 1 hour 15 and then uncovered for 45 min. Very juicy and still formed crust.
I did not have onion powder and it came out delicious. The ham was moist and I used a spiral ham. I will definitely make this again!
Turned a usually bland “Smoky Sweet” ham taste great, like one well cured in brown sugar, with a hint of heat. Trying it on a pork loin roast next.
I doubled the recipe to accommodate a 12 lb. ham. As it cooked, I basted the ham with the juices. Everyone loved it and I’d definitely use this again!
Worked well on the ham, control the tastes that’s what’s good about it
I have used only this rub on every ham I’ve made for the last few years and it has never failed to make everyone rave about how delicious the ham and juices are. I have used yellow mustard and Dijon mustard when I was out of powdered and it came out just as delicious.
I made it as written except I only had coke on hand. it was delicious! will definitely try with root beer. side note : does not smell pleasant while cooking but is great tasting
This recipe was easy to put together and it smelled great when it was cooking in the oven. I gave 4 instead of 5 stars because though the ham was very moist & juicy, it lacked flavor…except for the bites that had the glaze on them.
My husband is a picking eater and normally will not eat ham. However, when I use this spice rub, he can’t eat enough of the ham
I have made this recipe for Easter every year for at least 5 years; we love it! I have done it with the “heat blast” at the beginning (500 degrees for 20min– I’ve tried to do it at 550 but the sugar starts to burn), and other years, I’ve just thrown it in at 275 for the normal cooking time. Both ways are delicious, but I do like the carmelization with the heat blast. I always need to add some water to cover the base of my roasting pan though, otherwise the sugars start to burn on the pan. I doubled the recipe for a 12lb ham this year and it was barely enough; would probably do 2.5 times the recipe for this size ham next year. I also cover the ham in yellow mustard before putting on the rub, as others recommend. It is delicious!!
Doubled for a 9lb spiral cut ham, add a splash of Orange juice to the bottom of my crockpot and cooked for 4 hours on high …. Unbelievable flavor and tenderness!
Absolutely the best rub for a spiral ham I’ve ever tasted! This recipe was plenty for me to cover an 8.5 lb. ham. The pumpkin pie spice gave this great flavor! Thanks for sharing….
Worked great as a dry rub for smoking a precooked ham. I used a 12lb bone in ham. As a result I had to make about 3x the amount of rub as the recipie showed. I’m glad I did because I used it all! The ham I chose was not spiral cut so I cut some scores in the meat to allow it so soak up the rub. I then smoked the ham for about 5hrs at 220F on the center rack of my smoker. I used a water pan to keep the ham moist and Hickory chips for smoke. The family absolutely went crazy for it! I’ll definitely in charge of the ham from now on…be that a warning to ye!
Sweet, crispy, perfection! There was more than enough rub for my 10 pound half ham. This is definitely going in my permanent recipe collection.
Very good!! You can even cut the sugar in 1/2 and it’s still good as a seasoning for smoked ham 🙂
My husband loved this rub, my kids also are fans of this recipe. My advice is to turn up the heat about 400-450, otherwise it is way to hot!!
Awesome, awesome rub! I, too, was short of pumpkin pie spice so I combine cinnamon and nutmeg in equal parts and ground cloves and allspice in a dash. This coated my 10 lb ham heavily and, as it cooked, the rub and the juices of the ham combined to form a heavenly sauce that I skimmed the fat off of and served on the side with the ham and mashed potatoes. Will definitely use this rub the next time I do ham!!!