This is the best ham I’ve ever eaten. But don’t take my word for it, try the fig brown sugar glazed ham recipe for yourself. Whether you always host during the holidays or this is your first holiday meal to cook from scratch, you will love how easy this ham is to make from start to finish.
The Secret to a Great Glaze
Featuring Orchard Choice or Sun-Maid California Mission Dried Figs, the familiar flavors of your favorite nostalgic childhood cookie come into play in a big way in the fig glaze. You can also substitute California Golden Dried Figs if that is what you have on hand and the resulting flavor will be more delicately sweet and tangy.
Figs are so beautifully paired with mustard! The next step is to pulverize the dried figs with Dijon mustard and grainy mustard for a sweet and oh-so-deliciously savory glaze with just the right amount of texture.
The glaze is spread all over the ham. Then, you sprinkle on the brown sugar in a thin layer on the ham. A bonus of the recipe is placing baby carrots or cut carrots and whole figs in the serving dish around the ham—as it cooks, they will absorb the flavors of the glaze too. The final flourish before placing it in the oven is to pour apple juice into the bottom of the dish—can you taste all these flavors of the glazed ham in your mind—delicious!
Cover the ham with foil and bake it in the oven based on the weight of the ham (see the note in the glazed ham recipe below).
How to Eat the Glazed Ham Leftovers
Glazed ham leftovers are great in hash for breakfast the morning after. We always make ham sandwiches or ham roll-ups with them and they’re great in my deviled ham spread too.
California Fig Glazed Ham with Carrots
Ingredients
- 1 cup Orchard Choice® Mission Figlets or Sun-Maid® California Mission Figs stemmed (divided)
- 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
- 1/4 cup grainy mustard
- 1/4 cup honey
- 4 pound bone-in ham
- 1/2 cup brown sugar lightly packed
- 1 pound carrots peeled
- 1/2 cup apple juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Make the glaze: combine ½ cup California Figs, Dijon, grainy mustard, and honey in a food processor or blender. Process well—the mixture will have some chunks in it. Set aside.
- Place the ham into a large baking dish. Add the carrots.
- Slather the glaze over the ham. Sprinkle with brown sugar, pressing it into the sides of the ham.
- Top the carrots with the remaining California Figs.
- Drizzle the juice around the bottom of the pan.
- Seal tightly with foil and bake for 1 hour (15 minutes per pound).
- Remove the ham and place it in a serving dish. Strain the sauce from the baking dish into a gravy boat to serve alongside. Nestle the carrots and figs drizzled with pan juices along the side of the serving dish.
