Whether you are gathering for the holidays or looking to enjoy the summer, this delicious pellet grill ham with bourbon orange glaze is perfect for any occasion.
Glazed with both sweet and tangy flavors from brown sugar, bourbon, and orange juice glaze, this ham will blow your mind and your taste buds!
This pellet grill ham is easy to prep, easy to make, and even easier to sit back and enjoy when it’s ready.
Looking for more mouthwatering pellet grill recipes? Check out some of my favorites like The Best Smoked Cream Cheese on the Pellet Grill, Best Pellet Grill Brisket: Tips and Tricks, and Pellet Grill Smoked Chicken Legs!
Pellet Grill Ham Recipe
While everyone’s holiday traditions are different, this pellet grill ham is perfectly delicious all year long, but especially for the holidays!
Whether it’s Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, or Mother’s day this Traeger smoked ham recipe will delight your guests and have them coming back for more.
With flavor-bursting glaze in every bite, you and your guests won’t believe your taste buds.
Now, there are many ways to glaze a ham and a variety of glazes out there. However, this glaze is sweet, tangy, and an absolute crowd favorite.
You can also have it ready for basting a smoked ham in just a few minutes, trust me, you want your ham heavily glazed with this recipe!
What are you waiting for? Roll up your sleeves, grab your pellet grill, head to the store, and let’s get smoking! In about 3 hours, trust me, you are going to thank me (and yourself)!
Ingredients to Make Pellet Grill Ham with Bourbon Orange Glaze
Ham. For this recipe, I used a 10 lb spiral ham. Depending on how many people you are cooking for and how big your pellet grill is the size of your ham may change. Note, with the weight change, there will be a smoking time change as well. You don’t want to overcook your ham!
The Glaze. For the glaze, you will need a ½ stick of butter, 4 oz of bourbon, 1 cup of brown sugar, and ½ cup of orange juice.
How to Make Pellet Grill Ham
Preheat. Set pellet grill to 225° Fahrenheit.
Drain. Drain any liquid from ham and pat dry with paper towels. Place on a sheet pan.
Smoke. Smoke for 3 hours or until the internal temperature reaches about 140°F. If you have other items to prepare, consider a digital probe thermometer that will let you know when your ham is done.
Prep Glaze. While the ham is smoking. Melt your butter in a small saucepan over medium heat before adding the bourbon. *Turn OFF the heat while adding the bourbon then slowly turn the flame back on and cook for 2 minutes to burn off the alcohol.
Whisk. Whisk in orange juice and cook for 5 minutes.
Add brown sugar. Stir in brown sugar until it’s smooth. Cook for about 2 minutes, constantly stirring.
Remove from heat. Then remove from heat and set aside.
Add Glaze. After 3 hours of smoking, raise the pellet grill temperature to 275°F and begin glazing the ham every 20 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 170°F. Ensure you do at least 3 coats.
Do I need expensive bourbon for this recipe?
You may be wondering if you have to use a high quality bourbon for this recipe, and the answer is technically no. You can use a lower end bourbon and your glaze will still turn out just fine.
However, the general rule of thumb is not to cook with it, if you wouldn’t drink it so a mid-range bourbon might be your best bet.
You are perfectly welcome to use a really nice bourbon to make this orange bourbon glaze, but you might want to save the good stuff for sipping on while your ham is smoking on the Traeger.
Useful Tools to Make this Recipe
- Pellet Grill
- Sheet Pan
- Basting Brush
Your equipment makes a huge difference in both the cooking experience and the outcome of the dish.
Traeger pellet grills are one of my favorite tools; they truly smoke everything to perfection. If you really want to take smoking to the next level consider adding one of these Traeger pellet grills to your arsenal.
Don’t have a Traeger or aren’t ready to pull the trigger on it yet? Some of my other favorite smoker brands include Recteq and Pit Boss.
As we all know, grilling can be messy. Using a sheet pan will significantly reduce your clean-up by keeping everything contained on the pan, and not all over your grill.
Avoid a scramble to figure out how to apply the glaze by having a basting brush on hand before you begin. They really are a game-changer in easily adding flavor to any dish.
Silicone basting brushes work amazingly well, clean up easily, and are fairly inexpensive.
Wine and Liquor Pairing for the Holidays
Ham typically goes best with fruity wines that complement the sweet-and-salty meat with a touch of sweet, bold fruit, and plenty of acid.
The sweet glaze of our ham works well with bright, fruity red wine. While a spicier ham goes nicely with a Zinfandel or Pinotage.
Serving more than just ham? Pair up your dinner with a classic Christmas favorite Châteauneuf-du-Pape which pairs wonderfully with both ham and turkey.
Prefer beer? Try a darker ale or porter to go with the sweet glaze.
Side Dishes for your Pellet Grill Ham
What is dinner without side dishes that make you drool?! There are so many fantastic pairings to make this a complete meal or holiday feast.
Some of my favorites include Cast-iron-roasted-new-potatoes, a refreshing Corn-avocado-summer-salad, mouthwatering Homemade-batter-rolls, or veggies of any kind.
Can you refrigerate leftovers?
Of course! You can’t let that ham go to waste! Grab an air-tight container and toss your leftovers in the fridge! They will stay for about 2-4 days.
Looking for an idea for your leftovers? Consider making ham soup!
Can you freeze leftover ham?
Absolutely! Frozen ham can be stored in the freezer for 1-2 months. My only recommendation here is that you use a high-quality freezer bag to ensure nothing gets freezer burned.
What to make with leftover ham?
There is nothing better than repurposing a meal! Take that leftover ham and …
- Make sandwiches.
- Chop up small pieces and use them as pizza toppings.
- Make soup.
- Use it for breakfast with your eggs or breakfast burritos.
- Make ham and potato hash.
- Chop up large and small pieces and use them in a salad!
- Use chopped leftover ham in casseroles, you can use the ham in place of ground beef, or chicken, in recipes for a whole new dish!
The possibilities are endless! For some people half the fun of making a smoked ham recipe like this one on the Traeger is all of the ways that they will be able to use up the delicious leftovers!
More Recipes you will love
- Smoked Chicken Thighs with Blood Orange Glaze
- Creamy Ham and Bean Soup Recipe
- Grilled Ham Steak and Cheese on Pretzel Rolls
- Grilled Macaroni and Cheese
- Easy glaze for BBQ ribs – Bobby Flay’s Spicy Chipotle Rib Glaze Recipe
Pellet Grill Ham with Bourbon Orange Glaze
Equipment
- Pellet Grill
- Sheet Pan
- Basting Brush
Ingredients
- 10 lbs Spiral Ham
- ½ stick Butter
- 4 oz Bourbon
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- ½ cup Orange Juice
Instructions
- Preheat the pellet grill to 225 degrees F
- Drain off any liquid from cooked ham and pat dry with paper towels then place on a sheet pan. Smoke for about 3 hours or until internal temperature reaches about 140 degrees F.
- While Ham is smoking prepare the glaze. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat before adding bourbon. turn off the heat when adding bourbon then slowly turn the flame back on and cook for 2 minutes to burn off the alcohol.
- Whisk in orange juice and cook for 5 minutes, then add brown sugar, stirring until smooth. Cook for about 2 minutes, constantly stirring, then remove from heat and set aside.
- After 3 hours of smoking raise the pellet grill temperature to 275 degrees F. and begin glazing the ham every 20 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 170 degrees. Get at least 3 coats of glaze on the ham.
Alberto Casillas
Got this recipe going for the 2nd time today. Looking forward to eating great this week, the flavor profile is on point! Entire family approved.
Frank Campanella
Always love to hear this!! thank you so much!!