Here's How to Heat a Fully Cooked Ham (2024)

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Diana Rattray

Southern-cuisine expert and cookbook author Diana Rattray has created more than 5,000 recipes and articles in her 20 years as a food writer.

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Updated on 02/2/24

Fact checked by

Elizabeth Brownfield

Fact checked byElizabeth Brownfield

Elizabeth Brownfield is a writer, editor, and researcher who specializes in food, travel, home, and lifestyle content. She's worked on the staffs of Domino, Martha Stewart, Metropolitan Home, and Every Day with Rachael Ray magazines, and was Senior Digital Editor at Food Network.

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Ham is a holiday essential for many families. The towering centerpiece is all at once elegant, yet comforting, bringing sweet-salty nostalgia to Easter, Christmas, or Sunday supper. To save on time—especially if you're prepping lots of other holiday dishes—you may opt for a fully-cooked ham rather than starting from raw.

Top 13 Baked Ham Recipes

Here's How to Heat a Fully Cooked Ham (4)

Convenient and easy to prepare, a fully cooked ham can be sliced and eaten cold, making it great for sandwiches and salads, but the flavor and texture are even better once reheated. It's a simple process that'll make it look like you spent hours cooking one from scratch.

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Watch Now: The Best Brown Sugar Glazed Baked Ham Recipe

Helpful Ham Tips

How to score and glaze the ham—If you are glazing the ham, you might want to score it before baking. This makes for an attractive presentation, and it will allow the glaze to penetrate the meat. Score the surface of the ham in a diamond pattern with a shape knife. For extra flavor, insert a whole cloveinto eachcut intersection or in the centers of the diamonds.
Applying a glaze after cooking—A glaze may also be applied after the ham is cooked. Increase the oven temperature from about 350 F to 400 F and brush the glaze over the meat. Bake the ham just until the glaze is golden brown. A small ham or ham slice can be glazedand then browned quickly under the broiler. The sweet glaze can burn easily, so check it frequently.
Make it look fancy—About 30 minutes before the ham is done, arrange pineapple slices over the ham and secure them with toothpicks or whole cloves. Place a maraschino cherry in the center of each pineapple slice, if desired, and secure them with more toothpicks or cloves.

About picnic ham—The picnic ham(or smoked shoulder)is smoked like a ham, but it comes from the shoulder of the animal.It tastes like ham but is not real ham (a true ham comes from the hind leg of the animal). It is fattier than a ham, requires longer cooking, and has more bones.

Here's How to Heat a Fully Cooked Ham (5)

What You'll Need to Heat a Fully Cooked Ham

A Good Roasting Pan

A Slow Cooker

An Accurate Meat Thermometer

Steps for Reheating a Fully-Cooked Ham

These instructions apply to hams that are packaged in USDA-inspected plants. Hams that are not from USDA-inspected plants should be heated to 165 F. Check the label for cooking instructions. It should be labeled either "fully cooked" or "cook before eating."

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Place the ham on a rack in a large baking pan and add about 1/4- to 1/2 inch of water to the pan.
If the ham is labeled "fully cooked" (does not require heating), heat it in the oven for about 10 minutes per pound, or to an internal temperature of 140 F. If the ham is labeled "cook before eating," heat in an oven set no lower than 325 F to an internal temperature of at least 145 F.
To heat a spiral-sliced ham, place it on a sheet of heavy-duty foil, cut-side down. Wrap the ham tightly with the foil and bake at300 F for about 15 minutes per pound, or until a meat thermometer registers 140F when inserted into the thickest part of the meat, not touching bone.
If you have a large enough slow cooker, put the ham in it and add about 1 cup of ginger ale, cola, stock, or water. Heat the ham on LOW for approximately 8 to 10 hours, or until the temperature reaches 140F for a "fully cooked" ham or 145F for a "cook before eating" ham.
Leftover cooked ham must be reheated to a temperature of at least 165 F. This temperature also applies to hams that come from plants that are not USDA inspected.

40 Leftover Ham Recipes

Article Sources

The Spruce Eats uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

USDA. Food Safety Information: Ham and Food Safety. Revised May, 2012.
USDA. Food Safety Information: Leftovers and Food Safety. Revised May, 2012.

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FAQs

Here's How to Heat a Fully Cooked Ham? ›

The goal is to reheat the ham without drying it out. The best way to do this is to place the ham on a rack in a roasting pan. Add water to the bottom of the pan and cover the whole thing tightly with foil. Bake at 325F for 16-20 minutes per pound, until a meat thermometer registers 135F.

What is the best way to heat up a fully cooked ham? ›

For hams that are fully cooked (again, check the label) and not spiral sliced, first cut off any skin. Score the through the fat layer, making diamond crosshatch marks. Place in a 325-to-350-degree oven, brush with some glaze if desired and bake until heated through and the internal temperature reaches 135 degrees.

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How long do I cook a fully cooked ham? ›

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Place the ham on a rack in a large baking pan and add about 1/4- to 1/2 inch of water to the pan. If the ham is labeled "fully cooked" (does not require heating), heat it in the oven for about 10 minutes per pound, or to an internal temperature of 140 F.

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How do you heat a ham without drying it out? ›

Place in an oven-safe baking dish. Cover top of ham with loosely wrapped aluminum foil to keep moisture in. Bake at 275 degrees F at 10 minutes per pound–or until meat thermometer reads 135 – 140 degrees.

How long to heat a cooked ham at 350? ›

WARMING HAM

Heat oven to 350°F. Place ham, flat side down, on rack in shallow roasting pan; cover tightly with aluminum foil.
Bake approximately 13 to 18 minutes per pound until heated through.
Remove ham from oven. Glaze as directed below or let stand, covered, 10 minutes before serving.

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How long to heat a precooked spiral ham? ›

To reheat a spiral-sliced ham in a conventional oven, cover the entire ham or portion with heavy aluminum foil and heat at 325 °F for about 10 minutes per pound. Individual slices may also be warmed in a skillet or microwave.

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Can you eat a fully cooked ham without reheating it? ›

Cooked canned ham and cooked vacuum-packaged ham, both from federally inspected plants, can be eaten right out of the package. All of these along with spiral-cut cooked ham are safe to eat cold or can be warmed to an internal temperature of 145°F (63°C), as they are already fully cooked.

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Do you cook a ham at 325 or 350? ›

Cooking Temperature and Time

If the ham is a half ham weighing five to seven pounds, it should heat at 325°F for 22-25 minutes per pound. If it is a whole ham weighing between 10 to 14 pounds, heat the ham at 325°F for 18-20 minutes per pound. The internal temperature should be 140°F.

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How do you tell if a precooked ham is done? ›

For cooked hams that have been repackaged in any other location outside the plant or for leftover cooked ham, heat to 165 °F (73.9 °C). Cook all raw fresh ham and ready-to-eat ham to a minimum internal temperature of 145 °F (62.8 °C) as measured with a food thermometer before removing meat from the heat source.

Can you overcook fully cooked ham? ›

Heating above 135 degrees will only detract from taste and tenderness. Re-cooking or prolonged heating will always make cooked meat tough and in the case of cured hams, the meat will be crumbly. The same is true for any fully cooked or cured meat such as wieners or sliced ham.

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What liquid keeps ham moist? ›

The best way to keep your ham from drying out is to utilize the drippings that come in the package. Pour the juice from the package onto the ham.

How do you keep a fully cooked ham moist? ›

Bake and Baste Ham

Bake in the oven 12-15 minutes per pound (or cook according to specific package directions). Baste 1-2 times during the cooking time with ham juices that have accumulated in the bottom of the pan. Be sure to separate the slices as you baste. This ensures the ham will stay moist.

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Do you need to add water when cooking a ham? ›

For this glazed ham recipe, you don't need to add water to the pan. Some recipes add an inch of water to the bottom of the roasting pan. This is especially important for spiral ham recipes, as those pre-sliced hams tend to dry out more quickly.

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What is the best way to cook a precooked ham? ›

Place the ham, cut-side-down, on heavy-duty aluminum foil and wrap the ham thoroughly. Or use an oven roasting bag; follow instructions on the bag for preparation. Bake in a preheated 325F oven for 10-14 minutes per pound, or until a meat thermometer registers 135F.

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How should I warm up a fully cooked ham? ›

Place the ham on a rack in a roasting pan. Add water to the bottom of the pan and cover tightly with lid or foil. Bake at 325 F for 15 to 18 minutes per pound until a meat thermometer registers 140 F. Basting the ham as it heats will add to the moisture and overall flavor.

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How long to cook a fully cooked ham at 300? ›

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Once oven temperature reaches 300 degrees, bake approximately 3 hours or 20 minutes per pound. Using a meat thermometer, check for a 163 degree internal temperature in the thickest part of the ham.

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How long to cook a pre-cooked ham in a convection oven? ›

Heat the oven to 300 degrees in the Convection Mode. Place the ham on a rack in a shallow pan and add ½ cup of water or stock to the pan. This will prevent any sugar in the glaze from sticking to the pan and burning. Allow 10 minutes per pound to heat the ham or use the oven meat probe programmed to 130 degrees.

How long to cook precooked ham at 400 degrees? ›

OVEN METHOD FOR HEATING HAM

BAKE AT 325 DEGREES F FOR 16-20 MINUTES PER POUND, UNTIL A MEAT THERMOMETER REGISTERS 135 DEGREES F. UNWRAP THE HAM AND APPLY THE GLAZE; INCREASE THE HEAT TO 400 DEGREES F AND BAKE FOR 15-20 MINUTES LONGER UNTIL THE GLAZE IS BURNISHED.

When to glaze a ham? ›

The glaze should not be applied until the final hour to 30 minutes, in order to avoid burning the sugars. What you're going to do with the glaze ingredients is just combine most of them into a paste, and then apply it to the ham. After that, the heat in your oven will take care of everything.

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