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

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By

Diana Rattray

Here's How to Heat a Fully Cooked Ham (1)

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

Here's How to Heat a Fully Cooked Ham (2)

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.

Learn about The Spruce Eats'Editorial Process

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.

What You'll Need to Heat a Fully Cooked Ham

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."

  1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.

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

FAQs

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

Wrap the ham tightly with the foil and bake at 300 F for about 15 minutes per pound, or until a meat thermometer registers 140 F 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.

How to heat up 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.

How long to cook a fully cooked ham? ›

Cooking it at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15 minutes per pound should do the trick, depending on the type of ham (whole or half, bone-in or no bone ― these specifics are outlined here). You just want to make sure the internal temperature has reached 145 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.

How to heat a Smithfield ham? ›

Preheat oven to 325˚F. Remove all packaging materials and place ham on wire rack in shallow roasting pan, flat side down. Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil. Bake for approximately 14-16 minutes per pound, until it reaches an internal temperature of 120°F.

What is the best way to cook a ham without drying it out? ›

Any meat that is roasted in the oven needs moisture so it won't burn at the bottom of the pan or dry out. The trick is to make sure you add some kind of liquid to your pan. So here's the hack: Add half a cup of wine or stock to the bottom of your pan before popping that ham in the oven.

Do you cover ham with foil when baking? ›

If you don't cover your ham while cooking it will quickly dry out. Instead: Put some aluminum foil over your ham while it's cooking. It is recommended that the ham is covered for at least half of the cooking process and only removed during the last half when you glaze it.

Do you cook a ham at 325 or 350? ›

Heat oven to 325°F. Remove all packaging materials. Place ham, cut/flat side down, on rack in shallow roasting pan; cover tightly with aluminum foil. Heat approximately 18 to 23 minutes per pound until heated through.

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.

Why do you have to cook a fully cooked ham to 140 degrees? ›

The first is whether the ham is bone-in or boneless. Next, you must know whether the ham is pre-cooked or the instructions read "cook before eating." Regardless of the bone, uncooked hams need to cook to 145°F for food safety. The pre-cooked hams need to heat to 140°F for adequate food safety.

What is the best internal temperature for precooked ham? ›

Reheat cooked hams packaged in USDA-inspected plants to a minimum internal temperature of 140°F (60°C) and all others to 165°F (74°C). 5 to 7 lbs. 18 to 24 min/lb.

Is a smoked ham fully cooked? ›

The answer, in short, is if it is cured, smoked or baked, ham is considered “pre-cooked,” and would not technically need to be cooked. This includes the ham that is purchased at the deli. In fact, most ham that is sold to consumers is already cured, smoked or baked.

How long to cook a 10 lb fully cooked ham? ›

Plan on baking your pre-cooked ham at an oven temperature of 325 degrees Fahrenheit, covered with foil, until it reaches a safe internal temperature of 140 degrees Fahrenheit, as recommended by the USDA. A pre-cooked 10-pound ham, bone-in will need about 2 1/2 hours.

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

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.

How long do you cook a Smithfield ham in the oven? ›

Oven Cooking

Preheat oven to 300˚F. Bake ham for approximately three hours or 20 minutes per pound. Using a meat thermometer, check for 163˚F internal temperature in the thickest part of ham. Remove ham and let cool to room temperature for one hour.

How do you warm up leftover 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.

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.

How long does a 10 lb spiral ham take to cook? ›

Bake 10-15 minutes per pound. For a 10-lb ham, you'll cook the ham for 2.5 hours. After 1.5 hours of cooking, remove the ham from the oven, and remove foil.

How do you reheat a ham from Whole Foods? ›

Remove ham from packaging and place ham cut-side down on a rack in roasting pan. Add ¼ inch water to bottom of the roasting pan and cover pan with aluminum foil. Using a scale of 7–8 minutes per pound, bake 45–60 minutes or until heated to an internal temperature of 140°F (60°C)—do not overcook.

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