Take your holiday ham over the top with this delicious recipe for spiced apricot sauce from barbecue guru Chris Lilly.
This is a first-rate glaze for ham inspired by one of the best barbecue cooks I’ve ever met, Chris Lilly, Executive Chef of Big Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur Alabama, consulting chef for Kingsford Charcoal, pitmaster for the Big Bob Gibson competition BBQ team, and author of one of my favorite cookbooks, Big Bob Gibson’s BBQ Book
Recipe Overview: Spiced Apricot Sauce Success Formula
- Combine: all the ingredients in a small bowl with a lid.
- Stir: everything together until it’s well mixed.
- Refrigerate: until you’re ready to use it.
- Glaze: a ham, for example, in the last hour of cooking.
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The science behind spiced apricot sauce
Put simply, a glaze needs some kind of sugar but also acid, fat, and aromatics. When combined together and then added to a piece of meat such as ham, while it’s cooking, a chemical reaction happens and it creates some kinda magic. Those reactions build up flavor and add texture, along with a glossy coating. The heat in the oven causes the sugars to break down and caramelize. You can thank the Maillard reaction, which is basically a chemical process between the amino acids from the ham’s proteins and reducing sugars from the glaze when exposed to heat. Maillard is what makes things GBD—Golden, Brown, and Delicious.
Ingredients and substitutions for spiced apricot sauce
- Apricot preserves are perfectly sweet but not overly so and they happen to go well with ham. You can also use peach preserves.
- Honey is sticky, sweet, and needed to caramelize this glaze. You can use any kind, whether it’s wildflower or golden blossom or some other kind.
- Chicken broth adds some savory element to the glaze; it’s basically a flavored water.
- Balsamic vinegar brings some tang to the glaze, but don’t make it a schmancy aged one. A simple salad-grade balsamic will do just fine.
- Brown sugar, dark or light, works here. Just don’t use granulated. Brown sugar has molasses in it and that means it has a deeper flavor.
- Dijon-style mustard begins as the seed of a mustard plant. Dijon-style in particular is typically made from brown or black mustard seeds, ground and combined with white wine or vinegar. Mustards are complex and bring a lot to the table when it comes to glazes and sauces for BBQ.
- Worcestershire sauce is a common flavor booster in soups, sauces, and stews, and frequently used in sauces for grilling and smoking. There’s really no substitute for its fermented goodness.
- Soy sauce comes from fermenting soybeans, roasted grain, salt and water. It’s not wheat or gluten free, but if you need to swap out soy sauce because of either or both of those ingredients, use tamari instead. That’s made from soy and rice.
- Paprika is sweeter than regular pepper. It adds a little bit of red color and lends its mild peppery flavor to the profile. If you want more of a smoky taste, use smoked paprika.
- Black pepper possesses an important role here as the world’s most traded spice, beloved in cuisines from Asia to America and Europe to Russia. You might say it’s named for its ability to perk up almost anything it touches.
- Chipotle powder/ ground chipotle is made from chipotle peppers. It brings a subtle smoky taste to the glaze.
- Garlic powder comes from dehydrated garlic cloves, ground into a powder. It is one of many forms of garlic, and adds its unmistakable flavors of pungency and earthiness to the glaze.
- Cinnamon powder/ground cinnamon adds some warmth and a gentle spicy note. It’s also delicious with ham.
- Rubbed sage is sometimes referred to as dried crushed sage. However, it’s different from dried sage, which is more concentrated and more bitter. Confused yet? Just know that it’s fluffier than dried sage.
Spiced apricot sauce, step by step
- In a small bowl or other container with a lid, combine all the ingredients. Mix well.
- Refrigerate, covered. It will keep for weeks.
- When you’re ready to use it, maybe on my double smoked ham recipe, add it during the last hour of cooking.
Spiced apricot sauce FAQs
It’s great on any kind of ham, whether a cured smoked ham, a baked one, or even swap it out for the glaze in the Grilled Glazed Ham Steak Recipe.
This is different from our recipe, but it involves cooking down dried apricots and then pureeing them with the slightest bit of vanilla or spices. Or both.
Heat brings out the sweetness and can intensify the flavor. Acid like a lemon juice, for example, brightens the tart aspects you taste, and complementary aromatics like herbs can offer a complexity that brings out other elements of taste and flavor.
If you like this spiced apricot sauce, you’ll love . . .
- Korean Grilled Pork Belly with Spicy-Sweet Glaze
- The Ultimate Apple Butter BBQ Sauce
- Soy Ginger Glazed BBQ Ribs
- Jazzy Hog Competition BBQ Glaze
- Smoked Ribs with Apricot BBQ Sauce
Spiced apricot sauce recipe
Spiced Apricot Glaze Recipe
Makes
About 1 1/4 cupsIngredients
Method
- Prep. In a small saucepan, combine the glaze ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate until you need it. It will keep for weeks.
- Serve. If using as a ham glaze, begin brushing the ham during the last hour of heating so that the sugars do not burn. Brush the ham once more just prior to serving.
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