Everything you need to know about the Costco Spiral Ham – including cooking instructions!
My family does not always make a turkey for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter; a lot of the time my mom makes ham because it’s easier. We regularly have the Costco Kirkland Spiral Sliced Ham.
I honestly despised ham until I tried the Costco Kirkland Signature Spiral Sliced Ham. Other hams I’ve tried are fatty and greasy while being way too salty but not the spiral sliced ham from Costco.
This isn’t available all year round at Costco but is usually available around the holidays like Thanksgiving, Easter and Christmas.
Location in Store
You can find the ham either in the refrigerated deli section by the sausages at Costco or the cooler section with the meat, it depends on your store. The item number is 13689.
Taste
The Costco Kirkland Signature Spiral Sliced Ham is hands down the best ham I’ve had. Sean (my husband) usually isn’t a fan of ham, but always goes back for seconds when we have this. The ham is lean without much fat and has a nice subtle smoked hickory flavor.
My favorite part about the Costco ham is that it comes with a sweet glaze that you brush on when it’s almost done. This makes the outside of the ham sweet and slightly crispy.
The ham is very flavorful. You can definitely taste the salt, which is common with ham, so get your glasses of water ready and maybe put a tad bit less salt in your side dishes. Compared to other ham I’ve had, the Spiral Sliced Ham from Costco actually tastes less salty, which is another reason why I like it.
Convenience
The best before date on the ham is about two months from the date we purchased the ham, so that means you can purchase it well before you plan to cook it and just keep it in the refrigerator until you cook it. Once you do cook it though, the packaging recommends consuming the ham within three to five days.
We use a food saver and freeze our leftovers. The ham comes in a mesh bag with an instruction booklet and glaze packet.
There’s a split pea soup recipe that comes with the instruction booklet. We’ve made the recipe before, and I highly recommend it! It’s delicious.
There are many things you can do with the leftover Costco ham, including making the split pea soup, ham a la king, using it for breakfast sandwiches and putting it in eggs (in an omelet or frittata). We get multiple additional meals from one ham.
The best part about this ham is that about half of it is already partly sliced so it’s very easy to serve nice even-sized pieces to your guests. It does take a little work to cut up the rest of the ham for leftovers but overall this is probably one of the easiest options for cooking a large amount of meat for multiple guests on a special occasion.
Cooking Instructions
I go over the cooking instructions and show myself preparing the ham in my video review, so you can watch that video on this page or click here to watch it on YouTube if you’d prefer to watch a video rather than reading through the cooking instructions.
To make the ham, you preheat your oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit, unwrap your ham and place it in a shallow baking dish with the flat side down and the round side up. Next, cover the ham tightly with aluminum foil. Then you cook the ham for 12-15 minutes per pound. Cooking the ham should take about two hours total, but it depends how big your ham is.
To make the glaze, you combine the glaze package with 45 mL of water in a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Once your ham has been in the oven for about two hours, remove your ham and pour the glaze over top and brush it in between the slices as well.
Once your Costco ham is glazed, turn your oven up to 425 degrees Farenheit and put your ham back in the oven uncovered for eight to 10 minutes, then let the ham sit out of the oven for about 10 minutes before serving.
Cost
The price is really reasonable for the Costco ham. The price does fluctuate and is based on weight (it’s $6.99 per kg). We paid $34.98 for the ham we bought.
This ham fed the four of us for Easter with a ton of leftovers.
Nutrition
Calories
Nutritionally, this is high in fat and salt. A 100-gram serving is close to 200 calories, 10 grams of fat, eight grams of carbohydrates, zero grams of fibre, two grams of sugar and 16 grams of protein.
A 100-gram serving contains 950 mg of sodium, which is almost 40% percent of your daily recommended sodium intake. Generally, individuals do not eat tons and tons of ham day in and out and this is something usually served for a special occasion, so this probably isn’t the end of the world. Moderation is key, and make sure to drink lots of water!
Ingredients
The ingredients list has ingredients you’d expect to see in a ham. Pork, water, sugar, salt and preservatives! The glaze is mainly sugar, and you can tell that from the taste.
Scoring
Taste: 8.5/10
Cost: 8.5/10
Convenience: 6/10
Nutrition: 3/10
Overall
Must buy!
Overall, this ham from Costco tastes so much better than other hams I have tasted. It’s not fatty, the flavor is delicious and the cost is very reasonable. Nutritionally, definitely not the healthiest item you could serve. I would 100% buy this again and enjoy it for the holidays or other special occasions.
If you’ve tried the Costco Spiral Sliced Ham, what did you think?
Please note that this review was not paid for or sponsored by any third party. This product was purchased by Costcuisine for the purpose of producing this review. The opinions in this review are strictly those of Costcuisine. Costcuisine is not affiliated with Costco or any of its suppliers. In the event that Costcuisine receives compensation for a post from the manufacturer of a product or some other third party, the arrangement will be clearly disclosed (including where the manufacturer of a product provides Costcuisine with a free sample of the product).
Could anybody tell me if the pigs for Kirkland Hams are ethically raised?
yes,
they send them to school every day
do you have ham year around
It’s only usually available during the holiday season.
Are the instructions for a convention oven or convection oven?
Convention
We had this ham for Christmas dinner. We have enjoyed it at past meals but this time it seemed to be overwhelmingly salty. I wonder if they have changed the process?
Oh nooo! That’s too bad it was like that.
I purchased a Kirkland spiral ham during Thanksgiving and placed it in the freezer. I am using it for Christmas. Is it safe to use after I thawed it in water?
It should be fine
Greetings the ham it is good, the problem trying to get the instructions attached the whole paper inside came apart did not use plastic to preserve the plastic, I research it online. It needs attention or leave off the bag separate with the glaze will be better
I love the questions and, better, the answers!
The ham arrived frozen today. it is 8 lbs. I have put it in the refrigerator to begin thawing. My thought is that I will use the cold water method to complete the thawing in three days time.
Then bake it with the instructions you have offered above. Anything else? Advice on the water bath?
Hey Chip, I did a Youtube video of how I cook the ham, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf02b0OmMDc&t=22s
Why won’t my ham reach the required 145 degrees?!!! Oven temp is 275 but I always end up bumping up the temp 3 hrs in because the ham is no where near 145 degrees! Going on 4hrs here and it’s only at 116 degrees.
How big is your ham? That’s odd! Maybe your oven runs a bit cool?
How many people do you think this will feed?
Big eaters? Eight.
Does this ham need to be cooked ? I want to use the slices for sandwiches
Yes
Actually, the ham doesn’t need to be cooked. Per the label, the ham is fully cooked and ready to be enjoyed chilled
No, it doesn’t smell bad at all. It smells strongly of applewood smoke.
We ordered it to be delivered with our groceries, so there’s no telling how long it was out of the refrigerators. It was placed in our fridge immediately after delivery. The packaging was still vacuum sealed.
I’ve just never seen ham juices thick and goopy like this before. What would cause that? We’re checking our refrigerator temperature right now, just in case that might be the problem.
Thank you so much in advance for your advice. And Happy Thanksgiving to you (all)!
We bought a spiral sliced ham and refrigerated it. The best by date is December 17. When we took it out of the packaging today, the juice was goopy, similar to the consistency of egg whites. Is it safe to eat, and what causes that?
Does it smell at all Karen? It’s hard for me to say! When in doubt don’t eat it but if it was kept refrigerated and the best by date is in the middle of December it should be okay.
Did Costco change the ingredients in the glaze that comes with the ham. It used to be sweeter. These last two years my ham tasted different. I like it sweeter. Do you know what ingredient to add to the glaze to make it sweeter. Is the other Kirkland ham in the gold package sweeter? I always have brought the red package. I’m curious why the taste is different. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
You could add brown sugar or a little maple syrup!
You could use orange juice instead of water! That was the old way for Kirkland ham!
Instead of water I always mix with pineapple juice. It’s amazing!!
Great idea!
Cindy- I took Kirkland ham out of refrigerator! The plastic wrap is ballooned up…..the use by date is 11/29/21….. is it okay to heat and serve???
Help!!
Susan I would smell it and look at it and see if there’s any sign of it going back. It’s a little bit close to the best by date. Worst case, return it to Costco for a new one.
I bought a spiral ham 2-3 weeks ago at Costco. I didn’t realize I had to freeze it. Can I still bake it for Thanksgiving if it’s unopen…
What is the best by date?
I love a spiral ham but my husband says it’s always dry. I didn’t realize you cook it for that long. Has your ham been dry too. How to keep moist. Love this site very informative
Hi Cindy! I actually find it pretty moist! Do you cover it when you bake it?
Just starting to figure out how to cook now. Happy thanksgiving
I have a youtube video that explains it too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf02b0OmMDc
Hello,
I bough the ham today, November 14th for Thanksgiving celebration. I place it in the refrigerator but I need to make sure it does not need to be kept frozen until Thanksgiving. Please kindly confirm as I have read different reviews on line, but I really like your webpage. Also, once it is cooked, how long can I keep it in the refrigerator?
Thank you in advance and Happy Holidays!
Hey! You can keep it in the fridge. Once cooked I keep it in the fridge max 3 days before freezing leftovers. Hope that helps!
If you only have a couple of people they have little small pieces of ham that look like a hunk of brisket and they are excellent! They are usually under $20.
The Turkey breast roasts are also practical for families of four or so. It works really well for husband and I and two deliriously happy dogs. He debones it, wraps it in bacon and smokes it.
What are the spices in the glaze package
Unfortunately I’m not sure! The ingredients list on the packet that the glaze comes in just says sugar, brown sugar, honey and spices. I guess it must be a secret! The booklet that comes with the ham includes a few different glaze recipes too.