Traditional Easter Meal

When you think of Easter dinner, I bet the first thing that comes to mind is ham.

Starting now, there should be some great sales on it too. Whether you choose boneless, spiral sliced, shank or butt, you’ll get a great deal. And if you can find a genuine Virginia ham in your store, it’s a real treat! However, any variety will work well with this so just make sure to get one a little larger because everyone will be begging for seconds!

Pineapple And Ham–Another Tradition

The flavors of ham and pineapple are truly a match made in heaven. I even see they’re doing pizzas with this combination now!

As for the pineapple, you can use canned or fresh as either one will work here. And don’t limit yourself to using the traditional slices. Nice big chunks of pineapple skewered with the cherry (in kabob form) would be an appetizing change because it’s really a bit different. I was tempted to do this here, but went for the “usual” look.

The amount of pineapple and cherries will vary by the size of your ham. My ham in the photo used 8 rings and 8 cherries.

Oh That Glaze!

The glaze is really the standout feature here.

Of course, it’s made with pineapple! But here, it’s pineapple juice. You don’t use much but the flavor really comes through. Even though you use a relatively small amount of juice, it does add that little bite of tartness that offsets the sugar.

When I made the glaze, I used half dark brown and half light brown. No particular reason–only that I had about 1/2 cup of dark brown that I wanted to use up. You can use all dark or all light. The glaze will still taste wonderful.

The Recipe

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Pineapple Brown Sugar Glazed Virginia Ham

The pineapple brown sugar glaze is perfect on this ham. Whether you use genuine Virginia ham or one from the supermarket, it’s the perfect Easter meal.

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time2 hours hrs

Total Time2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Course: Main

Cuisine: American

Keyword: glazed ham, Virginia ham

Servings: 10

Calories: 797kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

• 6 lbs genuine Virginia ham butt OR regular ham butt
• 8 drained maraschino cherries see NOTES
• 20 oz pineapple rings OR fresh pineapple rings
• toothpicks to secure cherries and pineapple rings

Glaze

• 8 oz pineapple juice
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a large roasting pan with foil.
• Remove ham from packaging and blot with a paper towel to remove any moisture. Place cut side down in the pan.
• Cover the top with pineapple rings and secure with toothpicks. Place a cherry in the center of the ring and secure it with a toothpick..
• Place in the oven and bake for 90 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the ham is 130 degrees F.
• To make glaze: place all glaze ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is melted. Bring to a boil and boil 5 minutes or until it’s the consistency of a thick syrup.
• Brush half the glaze over the ham and bake an additional 15-20 minutes or until glaze begins to bubble and the pineapple begins to brown around the edges. Remove from oven and brush on remaining glaze.

Notes

You will need as many cherries as pineapple rings.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 797kcal | Carbohydrates: 35g | Protein: 59g | Fat: 45g | Saturated Fat: 16g | Cholesterol: 168mg | Sodium: 3237mg | Potassium: 907mg | Sugar: 33g | Vitamin A: 30IU | Vitamin C: 7.6mg | Calcium: 51mg | Iron: 2.8mg

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