Lunch / Dinner
Peach-Glazed Ham with Savory Granola
It doesn’t get much better than a ham brushed with a peach and bourbon glaze and served with a crisp, savory pecan granola — except when there are two cooking methods to choose from to make your life easier. When holidays roll around, people like to put on the dog with a showstopping meal, and this ham with a peachy-bourbon glaze and savory granola serves up the best of the flavor and texture worlds. But, to take the pressure off, we’ve designed this ham recipe to be cooked two different ways — in the oven or in a slow cooker.
Ham is typically baked in the oven, resulting in a cover-worthy ham with a beautiful mahogany-brown exterior. The downside, it ties up your oven and there’s little space for anything else. And when you’re cooking for a large group of people, additional oven space comes in handy. If you fall into this category, put your slow cooker to work. Not only is the slow-cooked ham equally as satisfying as the oven-baked version, the big bonus is it frees up your oven, making room for all sorts of sides and desserts.
No matter which cooking method you choose, the result will be a juicy ham with a salty-sweet glaze, plus extra for dipping. And don’t forget the granola — it might be the best part.
Ingredients
HEAT:
SCORE:
COMBINE:
Test Kitchen Tip
If you’ve never cooked a ham before, you may be wondering how you’re going to wrangle such a big piece of meat. Look to the simple-to-follow steps on how to cook your ham to perfection.
Instructions
OVEN METHOD
Preheat oven to 325°.
Heat preserves, bourbon, vanilla, and cinnamon for the glaze in a saucepan over medium until preserves melt.
Score exterior of ham in a diamond pattern on all sides of rind, transfer to a roasting pan, and pour glaze over top; seal pan tightly with foil. Transfer pan to oven and cook ham 2 hours.
Baste ham with glaze in bottom of pan, then continue roasting, uncovered, basting occasionally, 1 hour more, covering loosely with foil if browning to quickly.
Combine panko, pecans, brown sugar, mustard, garlic, and scallion greens for the granola; season with pepper.
Cook granola in a nonstick skillet over medium heat until golden, stirring occasionally; transfer to a plate to cool, then break up into crumbles.
Carefully transfer ham to a serving platter; degrease glaze drippings. Slice ham and serve with glaze and granola.
SLOW-COOKER METHOD
Prepare the glaze according to recipe directions, left; pour ¼ cup in the bottom of a 6- to 8-qt. oval slow cooker.
Score exterior of ham in a diamond pattern on all sides of rind; transfer to slow cooker and pour remaining glaze over top. Cover slow cooker and cook ham on high setting, 3 hours.
Baste ham with glaze in bottom of slow cooker, then cover and continue cooking 1 hour more. Prepare granola according to recipe directions.
Carefully transfer ham to a serving platter; degrease glaze drippings. Slice ham and serve with glaze and granola.
Score the exterior of the ham with a sharp knife. This allows the glaze to seep into the ham’s crevices for more flavor, and creates crisp, golden edges once the ham is uncovered.
Pour the glaze over the ham so it can penetrate into the crevices to sweeten it.
Cover the ham tightly with foil. The ham relies on the steam that collects inside the roasting pan to heat it up. Also, the glaze could burn if the pan is not tightly covered. Note: Do not let foil touch ham.
After the ham has cooked 2 hours, baste it with the glaze that’s in the bottom of the pan a few times to build the sweet flavor, create a beautiful sheen, and a mahogany-brown color.
Cook the granola, stove-top, in a nonstick skillet until it’s quite golden to ensure it becomes crisp, which happens once it’s cooled.
Nutritional Facts
Nutritional Facts
Per serving
Calories: 516
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 30g 46%
Saturated Fat 9g 45%
Cholesterol 132mg 44%
Sodium 2266mg 94%
Carbs 23g 7%
Protein 38g
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.