Southern Coca-Cola Ham Recipe

Southern Coca-Cola Ham Recipe is the special occasion glaze for your spiral-cut ham! It’s perfect for holiday menus and a favorite for Christmas Dinner.

This recipe will teach how to make a coca-cola glaze for your ham with a few ingredients. You’ll learn how to reduce a sauce so it’s thick and sticky and how to bake a pre-cooked ham. You’ll LOVE this recipe because it’s so easy, but it sounds slightly fancy. Your Sunday Suppers just got a whole lot of great flavor!

How to Make a Southern Coca-Cola Ham

First, let’s gather the ingredients you’re going to need:

• Ham – You’ll need a bone-in ham. Whether it’s spiral-cut hams, fully cooked ham, or whole ham this recipe works! This is not a recipe for a fresh ham, that has not been precooked.
• Coca-Cola – the plain kind! Of course, this recipe works with Dr. Pepper or another dark brown soda. Root Beer would add an amazing flavor!
• Brown Sugar – I used light brown sugar, but if you have dark brown sugar you can use that too!
• Dijon Mustard – the smooth kind works well, but if you only have grainy mustard that’s okay too!

Next, let’s gather the kitchen equipment you’ll need:

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• Small Saucepan to make the coca-cola glaze.
• Roasting Pan to cook the big ham.
• Silicone brush to brush the glaze on.
• Turkey Baster to baste the ham with its juices.

Remove all the wrapping from the ham, and discard the glaze that comes with it. If you don’t have a spiral ham, you’ll use a sharp knife to cut a diamond pattern on top of the ham. When you score ham you give room for the glaze to ooze into the small slits all over. Leaving more space for that sticky glaze to flavor the ham all over! Yum.

Place ham in a roasting pan, and cover with aluminum foil. If you’re worried about the bottom of the roasting pan getting burned, or the bottom of the ham getting burned, add a cup of water into the pan. The ham will create its own juices, so it’s not necessary, but some people get nervous and feel like they need to add a liquid!

Place the ham in the oven, and cook at 350˚ for 1 hour. I prefer to use a cold oven method.

Cold Oven Method is where you place your ham into a cold oven, then turn the oven on the preheat. I think this helps slowly render the fat, and bring up the temperature of the ham internally, instead of working from the outside in.

Making the Coca-Cola Ham Glaze

In a small saucepan, you’ll pour your 20-ounce Coke. Add in your brown sugar and dijon mustard, then give a good whisk to combine everything.

Since the coke is fizzy, be careful that the bubbles don’t take over the pan! Ha!

Over medium-high heat, let this boil for 10 minutes. Watch closely for the first few minutes, while the bubbles dissipate. Continue giving a good stir while the coca cola mixture boils.

After 10 minutes, reduce the heat to medium-low heat, and reduce the sauce by half. You want a thick glaze that sticks to the back of a spoon.

Once this is thick and glaze-like, take off the heat and set it to the side.

Glazing the Ham

After an hour, remove the large roasting pan from your oven rack.

Remove the tin foil, and use a turkey baster to pick up the pan juices and baste the baked ham. This is how you get a really delicious ham!

Start glazing your ham with the brown sugar glaze, painting all the sides of the ham.

Put it back in the oven, uncovered for 10 minutes.

Do this whole process of basting, glazing, and cooking a total of 3 times. So, a total cook time of 30 minutes.

During the last 5 minutes of the cooking instructions, turn your oven to broil. Watch carefully, but let the glazed brown a bit. That extra browned skin of the ham might be the best part!

The internal temperature of the ham should be 135 degrees f.

You might not use all of the coca-cola ham glazes, but that’s okay! It’s a great glaze on grilled chicken!

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do people pour coke on their ham?

Not only does it give a sweet flavor to the ham, it helps create a sticky glaze we all know and love from a baked ham recipe.

Can you use Pepsi instead of Coke for ham?

Yes! You sure can! Any dark soda will work. If you have a can of coca-cola in your home, use that! Dr Pepper, root beer, or any other dark soda will give great flavor variations.

How do I cook precooked ham?

Your main goal is to cook the ham without drying it out. You want to cook the ham to an internal temperature of 135˚, about 16 minutes per pound at 325˚350˚.

What to use to baste a ham?

Just use your usual turkey baster! Or, take a big spoon, and ladle the pan juice overtop the ham during the last half hour of baking. This helps keep the precooked ham moist and not dry out during the cooking process.

What to Serve with Southern Coca-Cola Ham

For a real southern supper menu idea here’s what I would serve:

• Old-Fashioned Macaroni and Cheese Recipe
• Collard Greens Recipe with Bacon
• Stick of Butter Rice (Brown Butter Rice)
• Banana Pudding

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