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How to Smoke a Ham on the Grill

Learn How to Smoke a Ham on the Grill

A holiday meal, like Christmas or Easter Dinner, can be wonderfully complemented with Smoked Ham topped with a brown sugar glaze. The glaze adds an extraordinary touch to your smoked ham.

Smoking a precooked ham is very easy and a simple honey glaze is an excellent way to add a stunning flavor. Most people are afraid to grill massive pieces of meat such as ham but do not worry, it is not such a big deal. With the right guidelines, it will be quite easy for you to grill it.

In this blog, we are going to share some basic things about smoked ham along with the procedure that you can smoke it on the grill.

What is Ham?

The ham may come from the rear leg of pork, or pork shank, against the shoulder or butt of the pork. It is leaner than the shoulder and is mostly cured. Most of the recipes of ham are focused on pre-cooked ham that may have been cured and smoked or cooked. You can buy the ham as half ham bone-in, whole ham bone-in, boneless, and spiral cut.

How to Smoke a Ham on a Grill 

Smoking a pre-cooked ham is all about heating it to an internal temperature of about 140 degrees F and then adding some additional flavors. You do not have any need for brine or any other preparations.

Here is the procedure for you:

  1. Pat dry your ham before even smoking.
  2. Then smoke it at about 224 to 250 degrees. It is better to keep the temperature low as it prevents your hams from drying out.
  3. When your ham smokes you have to make the honey glaze.
  4. When the ham reaches an internal temperature of about 130 degrees, glaze it once. Continue cooking as the added glaze has to caramelize a little bit.
  5. As the internal temperature reaches 140 degrees F remove the ham from the grill.
  6. Now add the final glaze to the ham while it is at rest. Then tent slightly with foil for up to half an hour and then serve it with your desired sauces.

Keep in mind that when you are smoking a ham on the grill, keep your temperature at low heat that is between 225 and 250 degrees. This will retain the moisture of your ham and keep it soft.

Make sure that your ham is over the side of the grill along with indirect flame all the time. It means that you shut off all the burners below the ham. In case you are using a charcoal grill, ensure that there is no burning coal under your grill.

How can you smoke a Ham on different Grills?

On a Traeger or Pellet Grill

If you are using a Traeger or pellet grill for smoking a ham, you have to follow the same procedure as mentioned above while using the smoke setting. For this grill, the range of setting to smoke is 160 to 180 degrees. It will ultimately increase your smoke time as it will give you minimal additional smoke flavor. Along with it, you can also consider adding some water to a water pan for maintaining humidity in the cooking chamber.

On a Big Green Egg or Kamado Grill

The procedure for this grill is the same as we have mentioned above. However, it depends on how efficient your Kamado grill is so you do not need any water pan. All you have to do is keep the daisy wheel and bottom vent completely closed after warming up. It is done to keep the temperature at 225 to 250 degrees F.

On a Yoder or Offset Smoker 

The same steps go for the Yoder or offset smoker. One thing you have to keep in mind is that when you are preheating the smoker, get a startup with lump charcoal and then cook it by using only wood chunks or split logs. The embers in the wood can maintain the heat while the wood puts some flavor into the ham. A water pan is recommended along with the vents fully open for better airflow.

How long does it take to smoke a ham?

When you are smoking a ham, plan 20 minutes a pound for one half or entire smoked ham to reach 140 degrees. It depends on the size of your ham, the smaller the ham, ( you may say a petite or a quarter ham) the faster it may cook. So prepare your mind about the size of ham well before you have to smoke it.

In addition, when you spiral cut the ham, it may take less time. Because the amount of ham that may be exposed to the heat allows the heat to get into the area that is closer to the bone. So you have to judge for about 15 minutes a pound for spiral cut hams.

What is the Best Tool for Monitoring the Temperature of a Ham?

If you want to monitor the ongoing temperature of ham without even opening the smoker, the best available tool for this is Thermoworks Smoke Unit. This tool has a wireless monitor with two different zones. These two zones are for the ambient temperature of the cooker and the internal temperature of a ham.

To check the temperature of the ham, there is another amazing tool that is Thermoworks Thermapen. It is an instant-read thermometer that may be a great one to ensure that all of the ham has reached a safe internal temperature. But it can monitor only one portion as compared to smoke unit monitors.

Conclusion

So from the discussion above, you must have known How to Smoke a Ham on the Grill. Also, you can know more about smoking a ham with different types of grills and smokers so you can try it out in your own comfort zone.

It simply depends on how much enthusiasm or passion for cooking you have along with how much you love your family and friends. Moreover, the process of smoking a ham may not be very difficult but it requires a lot of patience and practice before you get used to how it goes on any particular cooker.

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