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This slow cooker gammon, poached in apple cider is a holiday treat the whole family will love. The sweetness of honey and tangy mustard combine for an easy glaze that perfectly matches the smokey ham. Could this be the next centrepiece for your holiday dinner?
Serve this honey glazed ham with our creamy Rosemary Potatoes au Gratin for a luxurious dinner.
Gammon is one of my favourite things to cook for a holiday meal since it’s so easy and never disappoints. Because this cut of pork is cured and smoked, it comes with so much pre-loaded flavour I barely have to do anything.
And to make matters even simpler, I love cooking it in a This is an affiliate link.slow cooker or a pressure cooker (This is an affiliate link.Instant Pot).
In the first case, it allows me time to focus on other items of the menu while the gammon is in the slow cooker. It also frees up oven space. And an Instant Pot is brilliant for the times when I didn’t plan ahead and need food to be cooked fast!
Difference between gammon and ham
If you are not from the UK, chances are you are not familiar with the term gammon. I’d never heard of it until I moved to London years ago.
Gammon is actually uncooked ham, and the term is used more commonly here than ham. I am not sure if it’s still possible to find an equivalent in the US as most hams are sold pre-cooked.
The advantage of gammon is freshness, of course! You can cook it yourself and put your own spin on it. For example, this gammon was cooked in apple cider, which gave my ham a slightly sweet flavour. Absolutely to die for!
Gammon is always cured but could be either smoked or unsmoked. I always go for the smoked one. It’s the flavour my family prefers.
Another way to vary a gammon recipe is to add a beautiful glaze to it. After the gammon has been cooked, glaze it, then quickly blast it with high heat in the oven for a beautiful caramelized finish.
Honey mustard glaze
Usually large gammon joints come covered with pork skin. I suggest keeping it on for the cooking process. The extra fat bastes the gammon and imparts flavour and moisture.
However, it’s a different story when it comes to glazing the ham. You will want to untie your gammon joint and cut the skin off with a sharp This is an affiliate link.knife leaving a thin layer of fat underneath.
Score the fat in a diamond fashion, then glaze it and bake in a hot oven until the the fat is mostly rendered and the top is caramelized.
The most common ingredients for a glaze are honey, maple syrup, brown sugar or apricot preserves. I also love using blackcurrant preserves for my ham glazes.
They all have something in common. They are sweet and sticky.
The sweetness is a nice counterbalance to the salty and smoky flavours of the ham. And the stickiness is helpful if we want the glaze to stay attached!
I personally always add a touch of wholegrain mustard as I am not a fan of things that are just plain sweet. I believe the mustard is a perfect ingredient to offset it.
Just 10 minutes in the oven at 200C/400F will be enough to caramelize the top of the ham without burning.
Recipe Tips and Notes
- Since gammon is raw ham, it needs to be cooked. And the most common way of cooking it is poaching it in a liquid. This could be water, but if you add flavour to your poaching liquid, it will transfer onto the gammon.
- I also like to add a couple of aromatics like bay leaves and black peppercorns to the liquid.
- You have several options when it comes to choosing the poaching liquid but I prefer using dry apple cider. The result is absolutely out of this world. Very moist ham with a light sweetness to us, which is balanced out nicely by the salt and smoke imparted by the curing process.
- Another tasty option for poaching gammon is coca cola.
- I cooked mine in a This is an affiliate link.slow cooker on High for 4 hours. If you choose to use Low setting, it would take between 6-7 hours, depending on the size of gammon.
- If you choose to cook your gammon longer, it will have a consistency and texture of pulled pork. Longer is not always better.
- To ensure your gammon is fully cooked, I recommend using an This is an affiliate link.instant read thermometer. The temperature should read 68C/155F when inserted in the middle of the joint.
- For those of you short on time, you can also cook your gammon in a pressure cooker like This is an affiliate link.Instant Pot. It takes 10 minutes per 1 lbs, so in my case it took 23 minutes! Can you believe it?
- You can even cook your gammon from frozen in your Instant Pot but not a slow cooker. If you are cooking it from frozen, increase your cooking time by 50%, which should be 15 minutes per 1 pound of gammon.
Serving suggestions
A lovely glazed ham often finds its way to holiday dinner tables, and won’t look out of place at any time of the year. I think this is a piece of brilliance. Let the slow cooker do the work so you can go and enjoy yourself with the rest of the family!
Fill out your table with a beautiful potato dish like Scalloped Potatoes with Carmelised Shallots. Or switch it up with Butternut Squash Casserole!
Next you’ll need a lovely selection of roast vegetables like Roasted Parmesan Brussels Sprouts and Carrots and Honey Garlic Parsnips.
Crown it off with Garlic Butter Dinner Rolls and you have a feast to remember!
Storage and leftovers
Leftovers will keep very well in the fridge for up to a week. Or keep it in the freezer for up to 2 months without sacrificing texture and flavour.
The genius of leftover slow cooker gammon or ham is how many varied ways it can be used. You can use slices in a sandwich or cube it and make a lovely omelette.
But there is room for a lot of creativity as well. Check out the links below for some of my favourites to turn leftovers into something new and amazing!
Leftover ham recipes
- Classic Croque Monsieur
- Yellow Split Pea and Ham Soup
- Ham and Cheese Puffs with Asparagus
- 15 Minute Ham and Mushroom Naan Pizza
- Ham and Pea Soup
Slow Cooker Gammon (Honey Glazed Ham)
Equipment
- This is an affiliate link.Slow Cooker
- This is an affiliate link.Instant Pot
- This is an affiliate link.Meat thermometer
Ingredients
- 1.2 kg/3lbs boneless smoked gammon joint
- 2 This is an affiliate link.bay leaves
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 440ml/ 1 3/4 cups dry apple cider
- 500 ml/2 cups water
For the glaze
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp This is an affiliate link.wholegrain mustard
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
Instructions
For the Slow Cooker
- To a slow cooker add the apple cider, water, bay leaves and peppercorns together with the gammon joint. Make sure the liquid mostly covers the gammon. If not, add more water.
- Cook the gammon on High for 4-5 hours or on Low for 6-7 hours depending on the size of gammon. Test the doneness by inserting the instant read thermometer in the centre of the joint. It should read 68C/155F. Remember that various brands of slow cookers vary, so testing the internal temperature of the meat is more accurate way to judge the doneness than hours passed.
- Take it out of the slow cooker and let it cool slightly. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 200C/400F and mix the ingredients for the glaze.
- When the gammon is cool enough to handle, cut off the string that was holding the joint together. Then carefully cut the pork skin off leaving a thin layer of fat underneath. With a knife score the fat in a diamond pattern, taking care not to cut through the meat. Brush the glaze of the gammon all over.
- Set the glazed ham on a wire rack inside a roasting pan. The rack ensures that the bottom of the ham also gets caramelised. Cook for 10 minutes or until the glaze is caramelised. Take out of the oven and rest for at least 10 minutes before slicing.
For the Instant Pot (if using)
- To your Instant Pot add the apple cider, water, bay leaves and peppercorns together with the gammon joint. Cook on High Pressure for 23 minutes if using the same size joint. Otherwise, cook for 10 minutes per pound or 22 minutes per kilogram.
- Once it's done, allow for a natural pressure release. Continue with the recipe from step 3.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
WOW! where has this been all my life? Not you typical ham with pineapple, cloves and cherries. No that there is anything wrong with that.
Thanks so much, Wayne!