The 7 best hams you can order online in 2021
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- A cooked ham holds incredible nostalgia. It's important to find the ham that will bring the most delight.
- We had a food writer share her favorite hams to buy, based on years of working in specialty food.
- Our picks include a pecan-smoked ham, a Cajun honey-glazed ham, and several heritage options.
There are few foods more nostalgic and celebratory than ham. It evokes feelings of bounty, of holiday cheer, of meals enjoyed with loved ones. For a special occasion, there's no meal more special than ham. Why not splurge a bit for a ham that everyone will remember?
When we say ham, by the way, we're talking about fully cooked ham, sometimes called city ham. Each requires minimal prep on your part - just thaw, heat, and serve. Many are also already spiral sliced for added convenience.
You'll notice some overlap in our picks - our best budget ham, for instance, is also boneless. Most are smoked. Each pick represents the most standout ham in that category: our pick for best smoked ham has layered, rich smokiness; the top boneless pick has some of the best texture; and the best honey-glazed ham is sweet yet balanced with a touch of spice. Each will blow those supermarket hams out of the water.
Here are the best hams you can buy online in 2021
- Best ham overall: Melissa Cookston's Memphis BBQ Double-smoked Spiral Cut Ham
- Best smoked ham: Pecan Smoked Duroc Ham
- Best honey-glazed ham: Cajun Ed's Cajun Honey Glazed Ham
- Best heritage breed ham: Snake River Farms Kurobuta Half Ham
- Best boneless ham: D'Artagnan Berkshire Best Boneless Smoked Ham
- Best ham subscription: Crowd Cow Smoked Bone-In Heritage Ham
- Best ham for a smaller crowd: Omaha Steaks Duroc Boneless Country Ham
Melissa Cookston
Melissa Cookston's Memphis BBQ Double-Smoked Spiral Cut Ham, $99.00, available at Goldbelly
Why you'll love it: Tender, slow-smoked ham with a brown sugar glaze from a BBQ legend.
Melissa Cookston is a barbecue legend. Not only was she the first woman pitmaster to be inducted into the Barbecue Hall of Fame, but she's also the only woman world BBQ champion. The Wall Street Journal dubbed her "The Most Decorated Woman in Competitive Barbecue." It's unsurprising, then, that her restaurant Memphis Barbecue Company — not actually based in Memphis, but with one location in Georgia and one in Mississippi — offers an unforgettable ham. Each 8 to 10 pound piece is slow-smoked twice for maximum flavor and comes with a brown sugar glaze to top it. Tender and flavorful, this is a ham that you'll be talking about long after dinner is over.
Smoking Goose
Smoking Goose Pecan Smoked Duroc Ham, $110, available at Zingerman's
Why you'll love it: Smooth and complex, thanks to the curing spices and pecan smoke.
Zingerman's sources this exclusive offering from beloved Smoking Goose in Indianapolis. The ham is first procured from nearby Gunther Farms, who raises its heritage Duroc-breed pork on pasture. It's cured with pepper, coriander, mustard seed, honey, bay leaf and Shelby Blue Ribbon Cider, a strawberry-rhubarb cider from Indianapolis-based New Day Meadery. Then, it's smoked over pecan wood, imparting a rounder smoke flavor.
The thing with smoked ham is that it can quickly become all about the smoke. In fact, sometimes the smoke can be a way to distract from the meat's lack of inherent flavor. This is our best smoked pick because, while the smoke certainly adds flavor, it's in concert with the cured flavor of exceptional heritage breed pork.
Cajun Ed's
Cajun Ed's Cajun Honey Glazed Ham, $109, available at Goldbelly
Why you'll love it: The ideal balance of sweet and spicy.
There's something so comforting about a honey-glazed ham. For us, it's less about having a super sweet ham and more about using sweetness as a foil for the super savory hammy flavors. That's why the Cajun Ed's Cajun Honey Glazed Ham is so great. Just a bit of Cajun spice in each bite brings out both the honey flavors and the savory meaty flavors in a way that's the best of all worlds.
Snake River Farms
Snake River Farms Kurobuta Half Ham, $139, available at Snake River Farms
Why you'll love it: Purebred, humane Berkshire pork, with rich color and flavor.
Much like using different varieties of grape will lead to two very different red wines, different breeds of pig result in different ham experiences. Industrial meat production generally uses pig breeds that get big quickly and inexpensively. Heritage breeds, on the other hand, generally take longer to mature, but offer more unique flavor. This humanely-raised ham from Snake River Farms is 100% Kurobuta, a Berkshire breed. This breed is known for impressive marbling, a more saturated color of meat, and rich flavor. There's a 6 pound option and an 8 pound, both of which are bone-in and smoked over hardwood for even more flavor. If you're looking for a ham for a special occasion, consider this Kurobuta.
D’Artagnan
D'Artagnan Berkshire Best Boneless Smoked Ham, $77.99, available at D'Artagnan
Why you'll love it: Marbled, tender Berkshire pork that was raised on pasture.
Longtime food lovers may recognize D'Artagnan, which has been sourcing humane, sustainable meat for more than 35 years, both for ethical reasons and because it believes that it's more flavorful. Its Berkshire Best Boneless Smoked Ham is a testament to that belief. Another heirloom breed meat, this ham is made from Kurobuta (Berkshire) pork that was raised sustainably on pasture and smoked over applewood. Seasoned with raw cane sugar and sea salt, it's free of nitrates, nitrites, phosphates, and artificial fillers. Boneless ham, while more convenient, can sometimes be rather tough. This is our boneless pick because it offers the convenience of boneless with exceptional texture.
Crowd Cow
Crowd Cow Smoked Bone-In Heritage Ham, $45.99, available at Crowd Cow
Why you'll love it: Flavorful, Paleo-friendly, raised with care.
If you love the idea of sustainable meat from smaller farms but don't have a farmer's market easily accessible, consider Crowd Cow. It offers meat subscriptions on your schedule, with customizable boxes. If you choose to become a member, you get 5% off, free shipping on boxes over $99, and exclusive access to new releases. If ham for dinner is a hallowed tradition in your home, why not set up a monthly ham delivery?
Crowd Cow sources its ham from Texas-based Pederson Natural Farms, who has been humanely and sustainably raising natural meats since 1992. Its Smoked Bone-In Ham is spiral-sliced, uncured, and has no sugar added. There are no added nitrates or nitrites and no MSG. It's paleo-friendly, yes, but it's also delicious and a great sustainable option.
Omaha Steaks
Omaha Steaks Duroc Boneless Country Ham, $54.99, available at Omaha Steaks
Why you'll love it: The perfect size for up to five.
The only issue with some of our other picks is that they're really best suited for a crowd (or for someone with plenty of room in their fridge for leftovers). If you're looking for a ham for a smaller group, consider the Omaha Steaks Duroc Boneless Country Ham. Made from Duroc pork, a breed known for its juicy, super savory flavor, this ham is beautifully marbled and slow-smoked for up to eight hours over hickory. This one doesn't come spiral-spiced, which may make it a little trickier to portion (i.e., you'll have to slice it yourself), but will make it more flexible if you do end up having leftovers.
Ham is a deeply personal food. Everyone has their favorites, which are probably based on what was served in their home growing up. That said, there are a few objective categories to look to when assessing ham online.
Sourcing: Ideally, ham should be sourced from responsible farmers who ensured that the animals led happy, pig-like lives, which entailed plenty of roaming around on a pasture. Not only does this make eating meat a little easier on our consciences, but also happens to make for tastier meat. This type of meat costs more but is infinitely tastier and better for the planet.
True to style: Cooked ham should be tender and flavorful. If a ham says that it's smoked, it should actually be smoked over wood, rather than having smoke flavoring added. Ideally, it should be cold smoked for maximum tenderness. Honey-glazed ham should actually taste like honey.
Reviews: Ham is the food of the people. There aren't ham sommeliers peeking over your shoulder, telling you how to enjoy it; you know exactly what good ham tastes like, and you probably know within a few seconds whether or not you're eating great ham. There will be a consensus on whether ham is good or not. Thus, reviews were considered to ensure that our picks were well-loved.
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