Best Spiral Hams From Popular Brands
Our tasters cooked and evaluated spiral hams from Aldi, Appleton Farms, Costco’s Kirkland Signature, HoneyBaked, and Target's Market Pantry
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Hams have been a holiday meal centerpiece for generations, whether for Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, or another special occasion. For many families, a spiral-sliced ham became the only choice after Harry Hoenselaar, the founder of HoneyBaked Ham, invented the slicing technique in 1930s Detroit. Lovers of sweet, salty, sliced pork have been indulging ever since.
But all that succulent pork can be expensive. HoneyBaked Ham’s 7-pound bone-in ham is priced at $100, while a boneless 3-pounder is $80. So we wanted to find out whether spending that much was really worth it. Our roster included a HoneyBaked ham, an Aldi exclusive, as well as hams from Costco, Sam’s Club, and Target store brands. In our test kitchen, we removed all brand and flavor identifications, cooked the hams, and asked tasters to rank the five hams from favorite to least favorite.
As it turns out, our tasters found the least expensive option to be better than a ham that costs eight times the price. Read on for our thoughts on all five hams, ordered from best to worst in taste and appearance.
Price paid per pound: $1.29
The Target store brand Market Pantry won this competition by a (pig’s) hair. It actually tied with Appleton Farms for most votes as the favorite ham. So we looked beyond taste to determine the winner. In addition to being delicious, Market Pantry beat the Appleton Farms spiral ham for two reasons—overall appearance and price. At $1.29 per pound, the Market Pantry ham was the least expensive one we evaluated.
Four of the five tasters commented that this ham was attractive, with senior lab technician Lisa Ruiz saying that it had “the nicest appearance overall and was much more visually appealing” than a couple of other hams. But this ham wasn’t just a looker. Visual editor Emilie Harjes described it as “moist, chewy but tender” and said it had “a nice honey and brown-sugar flavor.” Lisa also thought it was “savory and flavorful, with a distinct ham taste.”
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Price paid per pound: $2.69
An Aldi exclusive, the Appleton Farms Spiral Cut Double-Glazed Brown Sugar Ham was an extremely close second choice for our tasters and tied with winner Market Pantry for the most votes for favorite ham. Emilie, who marked it as her favorite, said the flavors were complex: “Sweet and not overly salty, tender and moist with notes of apples and brown spice that gave it a nice smoky flavor.” Systems engineer Chris Zikopoulos loved it, too, and thought it was “pretty juicy, easy to chew, and tender.” He also said he could taste the glaze on it. Lisa, who ranked it as her third favorite, thought it was “nicely balanced between sweet and salty.”
As yummy as it was, a couple of tasters also said it wasn’t very attractive. Senior marketing director Dawn Nelson said it “did not look appetizing—very grizzly—though it had a tender texture,” while Emilie said it didn’t look as great “because it didn’t hold its shape.” Kevin Doyle, who leads CR’s auto coverage, said the way the slices “drooped” made it look “crestfallen and not like something that you’d be proud to place on the dinner table.” While it suffered for its looks and cost $1.40 a pound more than our winner, the Appleton Farms ham still makes a delicious and respectable second-place finisher.
Price paid per pound: $3.49
You can probably get everything you need for your holiday feast at Costco, including a delicious ham. Our tasters generally loved this one, despite only one choosing it as their favorite. Four tasters marked it as their second favorite, with one saying that it could easily top her list. “If you caught me on a different day, I might have said this was my favorite instead of Appleton Farms,” Emilie said. “It was moist and tender, with notes of brown sugar that gave it a nice sweetness. It was salty, but not overbearingly so. It was also one of the most visually appealing ones, with an even glaze.”
Dawn, who crowned this ham as her favorite, described it as having “a little bit of a smoky taste” and said that it was “very flavorful” and that “the texture was tender.” Lisa also thought it was tasty and looked nice: “The meat was moist and tender without being overly soft. This ham had the best appearance” along with winner Market Pantry.
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Price paid per pound: $9.99
At $9.99 per pound, this ham was the most expensive of the five we evaluated, and it landed near the bottom of our rankings, with two tasters picking it as their least favorite and only one selecting it as their first choice. Most tasters described it as dry or chewy, and many found the glaze to be disappointing. Emilie said the glaze was “crispy and unattractive.”
Lisa thought “the overall flavor was still savory and had a good blend of salty along with brown-sugar sweetness.” Kevin, who suspected (correctly) that this was the HoneyBaked, also said it had “a distinct smoky flavor” but added that he was disappointed that “the glaze came right off the ham like a big scab before we cut any slices. Not what I remember from the HoneyBaked holidays of my youth.”
Price paid per pound: $3.26
Although the Member’s Mark ham was no one’s favorite—its texture was described as “tough” and “chewy” by several tasters—its crunchy glaze was a hit. “The glaze was sweet, and nicely balanced out the ham,” observed Lisa, who found the Member’s Mark meat “a little on the salty side.” Emilie said that she “very much enjoyed the glaze” but that there were few other redeeming qualities she could find in this ham.
How We Evaluated Spiral Hams
We identified five of the most popular brands of spiral-sliced hams: HoneyBaked Ham, Costco’s Kirkland Signature, Aldi’s Appleton Farms, Sam’s Club’s Members Mark, and Target’s Market Pantry. Inside our test kitchens, we warmed them up and added glazes to those that included one.
Is Spiral-Sliced Ham Good for You?
When it comes to protein sources, Amy Keating, RD, a CR nutritionist, says ham should be eaten sparingly. “While no one food will make or break your health, it’s best to save ham for special occasions,” she says, “because although it is a lean source of protein, it is high in sodium, and most often it is cured and therefore considered a processed meat, which can increase your risk of heart disease or cancer if eaten regularly.”
The added sugars in the glaze are also problematic, she says, but making smart food choices has its benefits, of course. “Pairing ham with healthy sides like vegetables and whole grains certainly helps,” Keating says.
