This roasted ham with pineapple and spice glaze is the classic recipe for what we call in Venezuela jamón planchado. This is the ham we eat on Christmas and New Year’s Eve. It’s synonymous with the Venezuelan holiday season. And here in the United States, we also serve it on Easter Sunday.
This Roasted Ham with Pineapple & Spice Glaze recipe (a.k.a. Jamón Planchado) is part of a collaboration with the National Pork Board. Thanks to the Amazon Affiliate Program, I receive compensation for products sold through the affiliate links in this post at no cost to the buyer.
The ham is glazed with a mixture of pineapple juice and spices. It is perfumed with cloves. And it is decorated with pineapple slices and maraschino cherries. Keep reading so you can see how easy to make this recipe is.
Roasted Ham or Jamón Planchado?
I don’t remember a Christmas in Caracas, where I was born and raised, without roasted ham with pineapple. In my grandparents’ times, hams were seared with super hot irons and then roasted and glazed. Because of the irons, we call this glazed ham jamón planchado (ironed ham.)
A tradition made of ham
Then, it became popular to order the hams already roasted. The place to order them where the bakeries, a business usually controlled by Portuguese bakers. There, hams were garnished with pineapple slices and maraschino cherries and spiked with cloves everywhere.
Then came the mass production of the hams. They were advertised on TV to the rhythm of gaitas and aguinaldos (Christmas carols.) Close to Christmas, most companies gave roasted hams to their employees as a present for the Holiday season.
So today’s recipe is inspired by the hams from my childhood in Caracas. Those hams perfumed our homes with aromas of spices and sweet pineapple. They were a main dish at the Christmas table and the delicious perniles (roasted pork legs) my grandma Ligia used to make. They could be eaten warm or at room temperature.
The best part was all that could be done with the leftovers: first and foremost, stealing a little piece from my grandma’s kitchen,Chinese-style fried rice, ham steaks, the classic pea soup with ham, plus all kinds of frittatas and quiches!
How To Roast a Ham with Pineapple and Spices
These days, roasting a Jamón planchado is a breeze, among other things, because you DO NOT have to “iron” anything. It is even easier here in the United States because the hams are already spirally sliced. Making this ham involves four straightforward steps:
- Garnish the ham with the pineapple slices, the maraschino cherries, and the cloves.
- Make a glaze with pineapple juice, sugar, and spices.
- Glaze the ham with a brush, roast it at 275F (calculate 10 minutes per pound), and glaze every half hour again.
- Once the ham has been roasted, glaze it again and bake at 400F for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
Bingo!
To make this recipe, you’ll need a couple of kitchen tools and ingredients you can easily find online, including:
- Small pot
- Wooden spoon
- Roaster
- Carving knife and fork
- Oval dish
- Fully cooked ham
- Brown sugar
- Whole cloves and ground cloves
- Cinnamon
- Canned pineapple slices
- Maraschino cherries
This recipe is perfect for your Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s tables and your Easter brunch.
Thanks for subscribing to my YouTube channel and visiting my Amazon shop.
Roasted Ham with Pineapple (Jamón Planchado)
Ingredients
- 8 pounds cooked ham spiral cut
- 1 can pineapple slices
- 12 maraschino cherries drained
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/3 pineapple juice from the canned pineapple
- 2 tablespoons whole cloves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 275˚F.
- In a small saucepan, over medium heat, add the sugar, spices, and pineapple juice, and cook, stirring until it boils. Remove from heat and reserve this glaze.
- Place the ham upside down on the rack of a roast pan
- Place the pineapple slices with a maraschino cherry in the center and secure it with a toothpick.
- Insert the cloves into the ham.
- Brush the glaze over the ham and pineapple slices..
- Bake for an hour (at a rate of 10 minutes per pound). When the ham has half an hour in the oven, brush it again with the glaze and continue baking.
- When the ham has been in the oven for 70 minutes, brush it again with the glaze.
- Increase the heat to 400˚F and Bake for 10 more minutes.
Video
Nutrition
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @enrilemoine on Instagram and hashtag it #byenrilemoine. Thank you!
- Venezuelan Rice and Tuna Salad Recipe - June 29, 2026
- Classic Torta Caprese Recipe: Dense, Fudgy, and Gluten-Free - June 14, 2026
- Venezuelan Plantain Arepas with White Cheese Recipe - June 10, 2026
A ham from my employer from Christmas sounds amazing. I’ve never gotten anything. This sound so incredibly flavorful! I hope to try it soon.
Yes! That was so super cool. And this ham is as easy-to-make, as flavorful. I only wish it can have more pineapple! LOL
This looks absolutely amazing! That glaze sounds especially amazing. I have no idea why I’ve never had pineapple and ham together. It’s such a classic combination!
Ham and pineapple is a match made in heaven, Erin. Thanks for stopping by.
Okay, so I am obsessed with ham and I know that this is going to be a hit in my house!! This looks perfect for Thanksgiving, bookmarked to make then. Thank you so much for the recipe 🙂
I think this year, we’re gonna have this too! Thanks for stopping by, Cathleen.
Your ham looks beautiful and so festive. My hubby hates turkey so we often roast a ham at Christmas instead. But I’ve never done it this way. I think this year I will!
Hahahaha. It happens with turkey, a lot! Make this and he’ll be happy. Thanks for stopping by, Jacqueline.
Thanks for sharing the story of how you grew up enjoying pineapple ham! The place I’m from is super far from Caracas and way up north, but my family still made one of these huge cherry, pineapple, and clove-studded hams every Christmas. I’m so nostalgic right now, I’m just going to have to bring back the tradition!
I must research on the origins of this Pineapple ham worldwide. It must be related to Dole company, or so. Thanks for stopping by.
I love ham recipes a lot and this sounds like one I would really like trying. The roasted ham with pineapple is such a perfect pairing! Printed for later!
Awwww thank you, Natalia.
And now I’m hungry! This looks incredible, so delicious!
That only means: I did a good job! Thanks for stopping by, Petro.
It is so pretty that it is almost too pretty to eat. But we did and it was delicious! Everyone loved it. Thanks for a great recipe.
Awww, you made my day, Michele.
This taste so delicious and really flavorful! So easy to make as well, thanks a lot for sharing this amazing recipe! Will surely have this again! Highly recommended!
Thank you, Allyssa.