This Slow Cooker Gammon recipe is the easiest was to cook a gammon joint and it gives you the most deliciously tender, fall apart ham, that is perfect for a roast dinner. Minimal prep time and just a few ingredients, this gammon joint is cooked in cider and apple juice with some spices and then glazed with honey and mustard and baked to perfection to finish it off.
This slow cooker ham recipe is so simple, but results in the best ham. It has a slightly sweet taste from being cooked in the apple juice and cider, and then being glazed with honey and it just falls apart when carving. Let the slow cooker do all the work and then finish it off in the oven for a crispy skin.
If you are looking for some other meat recipes to go on a roast dinner, then why not try our Slow Cooker Roast Beef, Honey Roast Duck, Roasted Turkey Breast or The BEST Roast Chicken?
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Why you will love it
- A nice roast dinner alternative - We love a roast dinner, but having the same roast beef or chicken can get a little boring. This is still delicious and seriously impressive, but something a little different.
- Delicious hot or cold - We love it served hot with all the trimmings, but actually, we love the leftovers too. Cold in a sandwich or on a salad is just as good.
- Saves space in the oven - I don't know about you, but our oven is pretty much bursting when we cook a roast dinner. This is all done in the slow cooker, with the option to finish it off in the oven at the end. It's a great space saver for a roast.
Ingredients needed
- Gammon joint - You can use a smoked or unsmoked gammon joint. We used smoked because we like the extra flavour, but you might find that too salty. If you have smoked gammon, but you don't want it salty, then you could boil the salt away by placing it in a saucepan of boiling water and bring it to the boil. We used a 1.3kg joint and we found that was enough to serve 8 people. We used a boneless join, as it is easier to carve, however a bone-in joint is juicier. You would need to adjust your cooking time though.
- Carrot and onion - This is just used to add flavour to the apple juice and cider that the gammon joint cooks in. You could add other vegetables in to it as well if you wanted to.
- Cloves - These are totally optional, but it really adds to the flavour and gives it a festive taste. This does taste quite "clovey", which we love, so use less if you don't love the flavour. Or, you can just leave them out.
- Mixed spice - This gives the ham a lovely flavour and it's perfect for the festive season.
- Apple juice and Cider - This is the liquid that the gammon cooks in and it gives it the most incredible, and slightly sweet, flavour. You could just use water if you prefer.
- Honey, Brown sugar and Dijon mustard - This is all mixed together to create the glaze for the slow cooker ham. You don't have to glaze it and finish it in the oven, if you just want to keep this as a slow cooker dish. But it does add a nice crispiness to it.
A full ingredients list with measurements is in the recipe card below.
How to cook gammon in the slow cooker - Step by step
One: Put the gammon joint in the slow cooker, fat side up. Add the carrots and onions around the side of it.
Two: Rub the mixed spice into the top of the gammon. Add the cloves and pour the apple juice and cider into the slow cooker, being careful to avoid the top of the ham.
Three: Cook on high for 5 hours or low for 7 hours.
Four: Preheat your oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6. Remove the gammon form the slow cooker and put onto a baking tray. Using a sharp knife, score the gammon in a criss-cross pattern.
Five: Mix together the honey, sugar and mustard.
Six: Pour the honey mixture over the gammon. Put in the oven for 30 minutes, until the top has crisped up.
What is the difference between ham and gammon?
There seems to be some confusion around this, but they are essentially the same thing. Gammon is the raw joint, which you can buy smoked or unsmoked, and it comes from the back leg of the pig and needs to be cooked before eating. Ham is cooked, so when gammon is cooked it becomes ham.
Variations
Liquid - We used apple juice and cider, as it adds a nice tanginess, and some sweetness too. However, you could just use water which would make this an easy and budget friendly dish. However, there are other options when it comes to the liquid too. You could use cola, which makes it nice and sweet, but not too sweet. You can use full fat or diet coke and you can even use cherry cola.
Pineapple juice works instead of apple juice too, but it does give it a tangier and sweeter flavour. In terms of the amount of liquid, we like to use enough to almost cover the gammon joint.
Glaze - We went with honey and mustard, which is a classic flavour flavour combinations, especially when it comes to ham. But, if you want to give it a more fruity vibe, then why not mix together some mango chutney and sweet chilli sauce and smother that over as a glaze?
Pulled ham - We have cooked this so it can be sliced and served as you would another roast meat. However, if you wanted to pull the meat apart to use like you would pulled pork, then you just need to leave it in the slow cooker for another 2 hours until it's really tender and just falls apart with 2 forks.
What to serve with slow cooker gammon
This slow cooker gammon goes with so many different things. We love serving it up as a roast dinner with any (or all!) of the following side dishes:
- Easy Roast Potatoes
- Roasted Tenderstem Broccoli
- Roasted Swede, Roasted Brussels Sprouts
- Sage and Onion Stuffing
- Honey Mustard Roasted Parsnips
- Air Fryer Pigs in Blankets
We also love serving it with Creamy Mashed Potato and some slaw. There are lots of different slaw recipes for you to try on the blog - why not try our No Mayo Coleslaw, Crunchy Asian Slaw, Broccoli Slaw or Mexican Coleslaw?
This gammon recipe also goes REALLY well with our Slow Cooker Red Cabbage.
Storage
Store: You can store the leftovers of the slow cooker gammon wrapped up in the fridge for up top 3 days.
Freeze: You can wrap slices of the ham and put them in a freezer bag and they will keep for up to 3 months.
Defrost: Defrost the individual slices of ham in the fridge overnight.
Reheat: If you want the ham warm again, you can wrap the slices in foil and warm them in the oven.
Leftover ham recipes
This makes 8 generous servings, so if you have leftovers them make sure that none of it goes to waste, as there is so much that you can do with it. We love chopping it up and stirring it in to our 10 Minute Cream Cheese Pasta. You could also use it to make an epic ham sandwich, with some other roast dinner leftovers too.
Why not make our Leek and Potato Soup and stir some chunks of chopped ham in to it or use it instead of bacon in our Healthy Carbonara.
You can use it in a quiche or omelette, or even put it on a pizza. Why not use it instead of chicken on our BBQ Chicken Pizza?
Frequently Asked Questions
No, you don't actually have to add any liquid to the slow cooker at all. But, we find that adding at least 250ml (whether that is water, apple juice or cider), really helps to keep the meat moist. But, it won't burn if you don't add any liquid.
We cooked ours for 5 hours on high or you can cook low for 7 hours.
To see if you gammon is cooked, put a knife in to the thickest part and pull it out to see if it is tender. If it is hard to pull out, and still feels fleshy and springy, then it isn't cooked and it will need to go back on for 30 minutes more. The best way to tell if gammon is cooked is to use a meat thermometer. Ham should be 62°C (145°F) when inserted in to the thickest part.
Don't waste this, as it can be used as the stock in soups and stews. Why not look at all our Soup Recipes for inspiration?
There really is no rule here, just make sure that the gammon you are using can fit in your slow cooker. We use a Crock Pot DuraCeramic Slow Cooker and we love it. What I love most about it is that you can put the bowl insert on the hob too, meaning you can brown meat, sauté vegetables or thicken gravy in it. I also love that it has a clear lid, as I am so impatient that I want to keep looking and seeing what it is doing. If you don't have a clear lid, then lifting it to see will release lots of the heat and add to the cooking time.
More slow cooker meat recipes
If you’ve tried this slow cooker ham recipe, then let us know how you got on in the comments below.
Tag us in your creations on Instagram @hungryhealthyhappy - Use the hashtag #hungryhealthyhappy too.
Recipe
Slow Cooker Gammon
Ingredients
- 1.3 kg (2.75 lb) Smoked gammon joint
- 2 Onion - cut into large chunks
- 2 Carrot - cut into large chunks
- 0.5 teaspoon Cloves
- 1 tablespoon Mixed spice
- 750 ml (3 cups) Apple juice
- 350 ml (1.5 cups) Cider (hard cider)
- 4 tablespoon Honey
- 1 tablespoon Light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Instructions
- Put 1.3 kg Smoked gammon joint in the slow cooker, fat side up.
- Add 2 Carrot and 2 Onion around the side of it.
- Rub 1 tablespoon Mixed spice into the top of the gammon.
- Add 0.5 teaspoon Cloves and pour 750 ml Apple juice and 350 ml Cider (hard cider) into the slow cooker, being careful to avoid the top of the ham.
- Cook on high for 5 hours or low for 7 hours.
- Preheat your oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6.
- Remove the gammon from the slow cooker and put onto a baking tray.
- Using a sharp knife, score the gammon in a criss-cross pattern.
- Mix together 4 tablespoon Honey, 1 tablespoon Light brown sugar and 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard.
- Pour the honey mixture over the gammon. Put in the oven for 30 minutes, until the top has crisped up.
Recipe tips
- If you didn't want to use alcohol in this slow cooker gammon joint, then you could just use apple juice and replace the cider with more apple juice.
- Make sure you remove the plastic that coats the skin of the gammon, as this should not be cooked.
- If you wanted to try something a little different for the glaze, then mix together some mango chutney and sweet chilli sauce and smother it on the gammon.
- Before putting the gammon onto a baking tray, line it with foil. This will prevent the honey mixture sticking to the tray, which can be very difficult to clean.
Nutritional Information
The nutritional information provided is approximate and is calculated using online tools. Information can vary depending on various factors, but we have endeavoured to be as accurate as possible.
David
Wow !!
Lesley
Yummy , gammon was so pull apart tender and delicious. I used all apple juice and mango chutney version. We saved the onions and served them with the meat but blended the carrots into the cooking liquid , then added tomato puree, English mustard and Worcestershire sauce then thickened it with a bit of cornflour, made a yummy sweet and sour type of gravy/ sauce
kushigalu
Love the flavor and the glaze. Would be perfect for holiday dinner. Thanks for sharing
Savita
It looks delicious and so easy to make. Perfect for the festive season.
Natalie
I'm making gammon for New Year's dinner. I've planned to do cranberry spiced gammon but now I'm thinking about trying your recipe. Looks delicious.
Jess
I need to make these ASAP!
Tavo
I love how easy to make this ham is! This is going straight to my Christmas table!
Toni
Thank you so much! It turned out perfect! My family enjoyed it!
Andrea
So happy I found this recipe. It is very easy to follow!
Lauren Michael Harris
Why have I never thought to make ham in the slow cooker?? I'm not a. huge fan, but the family has requested it for Christmas dinner. I think the seasonings in this recipe will give it great flavor! I'm actually looking forward to it now!
Michelle
I love how easy and tender this gammon is in the slow cooker.
Claudia Lamascolo
This is the perfect addition to my slow cooker recipes we just never have enough of them and this ham was so easy to prepare!
i
Gina
The spices and glaze on this are so incredibly delicious!
Andrea
Fantastic spices and flavors on this gammon. It looks and sounds marvelous!
Tawnie Kroll
So flavorful and I loved that it's made in the slow cooker, it made the house smell amazing! Thank you!
Angela
Delicious! So easy to make and I love the flavor from the glaze.
Katherine
Such a great way to cook gammon. My mother in law always makes it just like this at Christmas time.
Jill
The flavors with the ham were perfect. Thanks for the recipe!
Amanda Wren-Grimwood
I have never cooked a ham in the slow cooker but this is a great way to keep it moist. Looks gorgeous!