Cook Times For 14 Types Of Ham, Explained

A carefully-cooked ham is a thing of beauty, with tender, salty, slightly sweet meat beneath a wonderfully browned exterior. Ham also comes in tons of styles to please all palates, though this versatility comes with a challenge: Each type requires a different cooking time. Figuring out how to bake your ham to perfection can feel overwhelming, so we've put together a comprehensive guide to help you ace the job.

Whether you're making ham with bourbon brown sugar glaze or smoked pineapple ham, the meat should generally be cooked to an internal temperature of 140 to 145 degrees Fahrenheit (via USDA).  The most reliable way to achieve tender, juicy results is to calculate a ham's cooking time based on its weight. Most of the cooking times we cover here are based on USDA standards, which recommend baking all hams at 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

As you might imagine, precooked hams cook the fastest overall, making them great for those of us who are pressed for time. Meanwhile, large cuts of fresh ham make for a delicious dish to celebrate Easter and other special occasions, ideal for cooks who want to put in effort to make a masterpiece. There are also country hams, sugar-cured hams, ham shanks, and more. Once you know how to cook your favorite cut of cured pork, all that's left is to figure out how to use leftover ham.

While it takes extra effort to carve, cooking a bone-in ham has many benefits, including more flavor and juiciness. The bone promotes even heat distribution to protect the meat from drying out. If you've got a precooked version, prep is easy-peasy, since you only have to make it hot for serving. In an oven set to 325 degrees Fahrenheit, a precooked, whole, bone-in ham should be heated for 15 to 18 minutes per pound.

Some bone-in hams are sold smoked, but not fully cooked, meaning they need to spend more time in the oven. A whole, bone-in ham that must be cooked before serving takes about 18 to 20 minutes per pound when baked at 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Both precooked and uncooked bone-in hams weigh 10 to 14 pounds, so for an uncooked version, you're looking at three hours at least and a little over 4½ hours at most.

A fresh ham leg is nothing but the raw hind leg of the pig, no smoking or precooking involved. You can get bone-in legs (typically 12 to 16 pounds) or boneless (10 to 14 pounds), and some products leave the skin on for extra crispy goodness. Fresh legs take a while to cook, requiring 22 to 28 minutes per pound at 325 degrees Fahrenheit, but they're excellent if you want to fully customize the taste.

A vital tip you need when cooking with ham is that you should allot one pound of meat per person, and at 5 to 7 pounds, a half ham will happily feed a smaller crowd. Their small size also helps you get dinner on the table faster. A bone-in, precooked half ham requires 18 to 24 minutes of cooking per pound, totaling 1½ hours at a minimum and a little under 3 hours at a maximum.

Smoked, bone-in half hams that must be fully cooked before eating require 22 to 25 minutes per pound. This adds up to about an hour and 50 minutes at the quickest and about three hours at the longest. When cooking any type of half ham, place the flat side of the meat face-down on your roasting pan, as the cut side is prone to drying out when left exposed to high heat.

Bone-in, fresh half ham legs require 35 to 40 minutes per pound at 325 degrees Fahrenheit. With these cuts weighing 5 to 8 pounds, they'll take about three hours at a minimum and a little over five hours at maximum, saving you quite a bit of time compared to a whole fresh leg. With savings on time, effort, and stomach space, a half leg makes more room for the best side dishes for baked ham.

Rather than the hind leg, a picnic shoulder is part of the pig's front leg and shoulder. At 5 to 8 pounds, it's smaller yet fattier with a rich flavor. A boneless, precooked picnic ham requires 25 to 30 minutes per pound at 325 degrees Fahrenheit. The USDA doesn't provide cooking times for bone-in, so try cooking it at the same temperature, but frequently test it with a food thermometer until the internal temp reaches 145 degrees Fahrenheit

A smoked, boneless, cook-before-eating picnic ham requires 30 to 35 minutes of time per pound. Again, the USDA doesn't provide cooking times for the bone-in equivalent, so cook it similarly, but test with a food thermometer so you know exactly when it's done. Notably, many sources recommend a final temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit for picnic hams, so if yours is not tender enough or the fat hasn't fully rendered, try cooking it for longer.

A ham shank is the lower part of the pig's leg containing the femur bone, while the butt portion is even higher up on the foreleg than the picnic shoulder. Usually weighing 3 to 4 pounds, these cuts are on the tougher, fatty side, so they require long cooking. Cook-before-eating shanks and butts need 30 to 40 minutes per pound to reach 145 degrees Fahrenheit, totaling at least 1½ hours and up to roughly 2½ hours.

A precooked, vacuum-packed ham is a stress-free option for the harried chef. When unopened, these products last up to two weeks in the fridge or until the "use by" date, so you can buy your ham well in advance. Vacuum-packed hams require just 10 to 15 minutes of cooking time per pound, to boot. Use them in ham recipes with next-level glazes, and your guests will never suspect that you took a shortcut.

Canned ham is another fast and easy choice that only has to cook a few minutes longer than vacuum-packed hams. For a precooked canned ham, plan for 15 to 20 minutes per pound. The smallest canned hams weigh around 3 pounds and would allow you to get dinner on the table in 45 minutes to an hour. The largest size — about 10 pounds — would take 2½ hours to a little under 3½ hours.

Spiral ham brands should be your go-to if you're intimidated by carving meat, as these products are pre-cut into a spiral shape for easy serving. All spiral-cut hams can cook for 10 to 18 minutes per pound at 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Though they're usually bone-in, there are pros and cons of boneless spiral hams – they're easier to cook, but more prone to drying out. Consider heavily basting and glazing the meat to counteract moisture loss.

A uniquely delicious Southern specialty, country ham is an entirely different beast from the common city ham. It's dry-cured with salt, smoked, and often aged, resulting in harder, saltier, more intense-tasting meat. You should always soak country ham before cooking to avoid an inedible salty result. Whether whole or half, most country hams can be soaked in water for 4 to 12 hours, boiled for 20 to 25 minutes, then browned in the oven for 15 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit before serving.

Sugar-cured ham is similar to a country ham, but with sugar in the curing mix. Not all sugar-cured hams need to be soaked, though if the label on the product tells you to, don't skip it. These hams usually bake at lower temperatures, around 225 to 275 degrees Fahrenheit. Precooked versions may only need a few minutes to warm up, while ones that need full cooking should be taken to an internal temp of 140 degrees Fahrenheit.