Slow Cooker Gammon Glazed with Maple Syrup

Great for your Christmas or New Year table, and also perfect for a Sunday roast all year round, slow cooker gammon glazed with maple syrup is so easy to make and bound to be a hit with your family.

The maple syrup makes the gammon or ham just taste sublime, with that sweet but mellow flavour. This gammon is cooked in apple juice then glazed with maple syrup and roasted briefly in the oven to give this marvellous result. 

What is gammon?

If you are not from the UK where gammon is a common cut of meat, then gammon is an uncooked cured piece of pork leg, which in Britain we buy uncooked from the supermarket, either as smoked or unsmoked gammon.

I prefer unsmoked as smoked is pretty salty. We often soak gammon before cooking to remove some of the salt. I find that choosing unsmoked usually makes this not necessary.

We then cook it either in the slow cooker or by baking in the oven to make ham. So gammon could be called a fresh ham, as you need to cook it before eating it, as it is raw. In the USA where you cannot normally buy gammon in stores, you could achieve similar results by baking a ham joint.

Simple to make

No slaving over a hot oven for hours or checking water levels in a pan required here. Just put the gammon in your slow cooker with some apple juice and off you go!

Over the holiday period you can simply pop the gammon in the crockpot and do something else, a spot of present wrapping, writing Christmas cards, visiting friends. You can even cook this overnight if you are short on oven space for your festive dishes.

Just half an hour in a hot oven at the end and you will have a golden gammon joint which is so tender inside from slow cooking in apple juice.

More slow cooker Christmas recipes

If you are looking for Christmas recipes for your slow cooker you are in the right place!

Savoury options:

• slow cooker turkey crown
• slow cooker leg of lamb with rosemary and garlic
• slow cooker beef brisket

Sweet options:

• slow cooker mincemeat pudding
• slow cooker cranberry and vanilla steamed pudding
• slow cooker Christmas cake
• slow cooker fudge with lots of varieties to try

Make sure you also check out my Christmas slow cooker roundup full of edible gifts, sweet treats, Christmas dinner recipes and more, all made in your slow cooker!

More roast dishes to try

For some more delicious roast ideas, take a look at these from fellow food bloggers:

• Tandoori leg of lamb from Kavey Eats
• Spring roast of Scotch beef with wild garlic pesto crust from Foodie Quine
• Pork roast with apples and cider gravy from Supper in the Suburbs
• Herby slow roast chicken from Gingey Bites
• Stuffed turkey breasts in blankets from Fab Food 4 All

For all of my slow cooker roast recipes make sure you take a look at my guide to slow cooker roasts.

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Recipe

Slow Cooker Maple-Glazed Gammon

Make your Christmas gammon or ham in your slow cooker, maple syrup adds amazing flavour

5 from 3 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Slow Cooker

Prep Time: 2 minutes

Cook Time: 8 hours 30 minutes

Total Time: 8 hours 32 minutes

Servings: 8

Calories: 339kcal

Author: Lucy Allen | BakingQueen74

Ingredients

• 2 kg approx joint of unsmoked gammon (ham) serves approx 6-8 people with leftovers as ham
• 300 ml clear apple juice
• 50 ml amber pure maple syrup

UK Measurements - US Measurements

Equipment

large oval slow cooker

Instructions 

• Place the gammon in the slow cooker, pour the apple juice in the bottom, replace the lid, and cook on low for 8-10 hours, or on high for 5-6 hours.
• About half an hour from the end, preheat your oven to 200 degrees.
• When the cooking time has passed, carefully use two forks to remove the gammon from the slow cooker and place it in a baking tray. If the gammon has string on it, remove it now.
• Pat dry the fat on top of the gammon using kitchen roll, then score it in a diamond pattern using a sharp knife.
• Pour the maple syrup on top of the gammon.
• Place the gammon on the baking tray in the oven and cook for half an hour, until golden. Baste occasionally with the cooking juices and maple syrup during cooking.
• Remove from the oven, leave to rest for at least ten minutes (if you try to cut it straightaway it may shred rather than carve as it is so soft), and then carve.

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Post originally published January 03 2016. Images updated December 18 2018.