Most “how to smoke a ham” guides default straight to a 225°F, all-afternoon cook — the same playbook used for a raw pork shoulder. But the spiral ham sitting in nearly every grocery store’s meat case is already fully cooked. Treat it like a fresh cut and you’ll dry it out for nothing.
Quick Answer
Precooked spiral ham — what’s sold at almost every grocery store — only needs reheating: 325°F for 10-15 minutes per pound, pulled at 140°F internal if it’s labeled from a USDA-inspected plant, or 165°F if the source isn’t USDA-inspected, per USDA guidance. A genuinely raw “fresh ham” is the rare exception and needs a full cook to 145°F with a 3-minute rest, the same as any raw pork roast. Mixing the two up is the most common ham mistake on a pellet grill.
Precooked vs. fresh ham, at a glance
| Precooked spiral ham (nearly all store-bought) | Fresh ham (raw, uncured) | |
|---|---|---|
| Grill temperature | Up to 325°F | 225-250°F |
| Time | 10-15 min/lb | ~20-25 min/lb |
| Pull temperature | 140°F (USDA-inspected plant) or 165°F (other sources) | 145°F, plus a 3-minute rest |
| Goal | Reheat, add smoke, glaze | Cook through safely from raw |
Check the label if you’re unsure which one you bought. “Fully cooked,” “spiral sliced,” or a USDA inspection mark mean the plant already did the work. “Fresh ham” with cooking instructions and no “fully cooked” claim means you’re starting from raw pork.
Precooked ham: Step 1: Set the grill to 325°F, not 225°F
Place the spiral ham cut-side down directly on the grate (or in a foil pan to catch drippings) at up to 325°F, per Traeger’s own smoked ham guide. That’s a meaningfully hotter setting than the 225°F used for brisket or pulled pork — because there’s no raw interior left to render, just a fully-cooked ham that needs to come up to serving temperature without drying out the already-cured meat.
Leave-in probe thermometer
- Insert the probe into the thickest part of the ham, away from the bone — bone conducts heat and reads artificially high.
- A precooked ham is already safe to eat cold, so the probe here is about serving temperature and texture, not food safety in the way it is for raw meat.
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Precooked ham: Step 2: Reheat to the right pull temperature, then glaze
Budget 10-15 minutes per pound at 325°F, per Traeger — a 6-10 lb spiral ham typically finishes in 3-5 hours. Pull at 140°F if the label shows it came from a USDA-inspected plant (nearly all grocery-store spiral hams do); pull at the higher 165°F if the source isn’t USDA-inspected, per USDA guidance. Once the ham hits roughly 130°F, brush on a heated glaze — heating it first goes on smoother than brushing it cold — and give it another 30-45 minutes to set and caramelize.
Cherry, apple, or pecan pellets, 20 lb
- Traeger recommends cherry, apple, or pecan for ham — a spiral ham is already smoked at the plant, so a second aggressive wood layer (mesquite, hickory) just competes with it.
- Basting periodically with the pan drippings, broth, or apple cider keeps the surface from drying out over the longer 325°F reheat.
Fresh ham: the exception most guides skip
A genuinely raw “fresh ham” — uncured, unsmoked pork leg, closer to a giant pork roast than the pink spiral ham most people picture — is far less common on shelves but does exist, usually clearly labeled with raw cooking instructions and no “fully cooked” claim. Treat it like any other raw pork roast: 225-250°F, roughly 20-25 minutes per pound, pulled at 145°F internal with a 3-minute rest, per USDA’s minimum safe pork temperature. Don’t apply the precooked ham’s faster 325°F/140°F numbers here — that combination won’t safely cook a raw interior.
Our how to smoke a pork loin on a pellet grill guide covers the closest comparable raw-pork cook if you land on a fresh ham, and our best wood pellets for smoking guide covers the full flavor lineup referenced above.
Common ham mistakes
- Smoking a precooked ham at 225°F for hours. It’s already safe to eat cold — a slow low-and-slow cook just dries out cured meat that has no raw interior left to render.
- Assuming every precooked ham reheats to the same temperature. USDA-inspected precooked ham needs 140°F; precooked ham from other sources needs the higher 165°F.
- Treating a fresh ham like a spiral ham. A raw fresh ham needs the full 145°F pork-safe cook at a lower 225-250°F — the spiral ham’s fast 325°F reheat won’t cook it through safely.
- Glazing too early. Brushing on glaze before the ham is near its target temperature risks it burning or sliding off over the remaining cook time; wait until about 130°F internal.
- Skipping the probe on the assumption it’s “just a reheat.” Ham sizes vary enough that time-per-pound estimates can be off by an hour or more — pull by temperature.
What to cook it on
Any pellet grill that holds a steady temperature up to 325°F handles a precooked ham reheat without issue. See our best pellet grill rankings for the full lineup, or our how to smoke a turkey on a pellet grill guide for the other classic holiday-table cook.
Sources: Traeger smoked ham guide, USDA FSIS hams and food safety.