Pulled Gammon in a Slow Cooker Recipe

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Looking for a delicious and easy-to-make meal that will satisfy your taste buds? Look no further than this pulled gammon in a slow cooker recipe! With its spicy honey and mustard sauce, this dish is sure to be a hit with your family and friends.

Pulled gammon salad in a white Denby bowl

Whether you're looking for a quick weeknight dinner or a tasty lunchtime treat, pulled gammon is a great alternative if you're on a tight budget.

You might have expected this slow cooker gammon recipe to be similar to a cut of pork or ham joint on a roast dinner. But there's no need to score a criss-cross pattern in an even layer of fat before roasting.

The great thing is that this slow cooker gammon joint is much easier than a Christmas ham. All you need is cooking time to let it simmer while you go about your day.

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✔️ Why You'll Love This Recipe
🛒 Ingredient Notes
📋 Instructions
👩‍🍳 Substitutions
⚖️ Variations
🔪 Equipment
❄️ Storage
💡Pro Tips
🍽️ Serving Suggestions
❓ FAQ
➕ More Gammon Recipes
🍽️Pairing
📖 Recipe
💬 Comments

Pulled gammon cooked in a slow cooker with fresh herbs and tongs

✔️ Why You'll Love This Recipe

Minimal prep time
Can be swapped for other meats
Easy recipe for a special occasion
Leftover ham or gammon are easy to warm up
Slow cooking gammon is cheaper than shredded pork
Great sandwich filler for the whole family, or topped on salads
Can be made low-fat using diet coke, orange, or a flavorful BBQ sauce

🛒 Ingredient Notes

Please see the printable recipe card with exact ingredient quantities, daily values and preparation instructions at the bottom of this post.

labelled ingredients for pulled gammon in the slow cooker

Coconut oil - to add flavour

Large gammon joint - 1kg to 1.3kg with gammon or a cut of pork, with all excess fat removed, unless you are finishing it in a small roasting tin. If using gammon steaks, reduce the amount of sauce you use and total time in the pot

Onion - finely diced, for flavour and some texture

Garlic - or 1 teaspoon of garlic powder if more accessible for a deeper flavour

Mustard - this is dijon mustard and wholegrain, or use mustard powder

Honey - to create a honey mustard glaze, but it is poured straight into the sauce and not brushed on the meat

Pastes - harissa paste and chipotle paste, both for a sweet and smoky chilli taste. Or mix brown sugar or maple syrup with, tomato puree, chilli powder and ground cumin

Smoked paprika - for a delicious smoky taste

Passata - this is tomato sauce as the main cooking liquid to create homemade smoky ketchup. Or make a slow cooker bbq gammon by replacing all but the slow-cooked gammon for a bottle of BBQ sauce

Balsamic vinegar - to add some tang, or stir in some lime or lemon juice at the end

📋 Instructions

To slow cook gammon before shredding, here is my easy cooking process you can follow:

First, trim off any visible fat off your raw joint and place it in the base of the slow cooker or crock pot.

gammon in a slow coker with passata, spices, garlic, honey and mustard for a homemade bbq sauce

Now add the remaining ingredients to the pot.

If on a budget, add enough water and flavour at the end.

lid on a slow cooker to cook pulled gammon for hours

Place the lid on top and cook on:

Low heat = 6-8 hours
High heat = 3-4 hours

Or until the meat easily falls apart.

person shredding gammon joint on a chopping board before going back into slow cooker

Remove the gammon or tender ham from the pot and shred it with two forks.

Then place it back in the pot to stir and serve.

Tip: if you're cooking with an unsmoked gammon joint, you might want to soak it in cold water overnight.

Shredded gammon in a large crock pot in a sweet honey and mustard sauce

👩‍🍳 Substitutions

Depending on your dietary needs, here are some different things you can use:

Gammon - you can use leaner meats with less ham fat, such as pork loin or chicken breast. Or try jackfruit for vegetarian or vegan instead as it mimicks shredded meat when cooked
Honey and mustard - for an unofficial Slimming World recipe, swap for sugar free syrup and mustard powder, or simply cook in ham stock and add flavourings at the end
Balsamic vinegar - swap this poaching liquid for apple cider or red wine vinegar

Close up of pulled gammon salad with blue cheese dressing

⚖️ Variations

Add only the best things to spice up a slow cooker ham recipe to suit your tastebuds!

Festive season twist - cook boneless gammon joints in a hot mulled apple cider (German glühmost) using approx 500ml (17oz) of cider, a cinnamon stick, and ground cloves
Smoked pulled pork - You can give your pulled pork a smoky flavour by using a smoker instead of an oven or a slow cooker
Deluxe - add a bay leaf for extra flavour, and try alternative flavours, such as ginger beer, root beer, etc
Kid friendly - instead of a smoky sauce, swap for cherry coke or a carton of apple or pineapple juice

See this slow cooker cola gammon version on my website here.

Leafy green keto salad with shredded gammon in a white Denby bowl

🔪 Equipment

Please note that as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases made through affiliate links.

❄️ Storage

Storing - we prefer eating this easy slow cooker recipe fresh, but it can be stored in an airtight container and refrigerated for up to 3 days.

Freezing - cool to room temperature and again, store in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months.

Reheating - If you want to eat the next day, defrost in the fridge if required and microwave until piping hot, or on the hob or stove.

💡Pro Tips

For best results, don't add salt to this recipe as gammon is well known for being salty - or opt for an alternative, such as uncooked ham
To remove excess salt, soak your gammon in water overnight, then drain before placing it in the bottom of the slow cooker
For a low sodium option, use unsmoked gammon, or cook in a low-sodium vegetable stock if preferred
Shred the meat thoroughly so all the gammon drippings and moisture can cling to eat strand better
Use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature to ensure it is cooked from 71c (160F)

🍽️ Serving Suggestions

If you have shredded ham, pork or gammon, here are a few ways you can enjoy it:

Potatoes - enjoy with roast potatoes, crush potatoes, or a side of creamy mash. Mix with other meats for a leftover meat and potato topped pie, or sprinkle on dirty fries or homemade oven chips.

Salad - top as the main protein on top of a leafy green salad bowl.

Bread - serve in wholemeal bread buns, or in flatbreads for tasty carnitas with black beans, cucumber and fajitas salsa. Or make gammon burritos.

Soup - turn pulled meat leftovers into a tasty gammon soup or thicker with spices to make gammon curry

Lettuce wraps - another meal we love is filling lettuce cups like this pork yuk sung with tasty Asian flavours

❓ FAQ

How Do You Make Pulled Gammon Thicker?

Slow cooker pulled gammon and pork tend to be more on the watery side. That's because it's not cooked really high to reduce down.
If you want a slightly thicker consistency, the quickest way is to spoon out 2 tablespoon of the honey and mustard sauce into a bowl and stir in 1 tablespoon of cornflour.
Mix well until there are no lumps. Then pour back into the slow cooker while stirring and leave to cook for another 10 minutes until thicker. Repeat if you wish.

How Long Does Pulled Gammon Keep?

Once cooked, leave to cool and store in the fridge immediately for around 4-5 days in an airtight container. I always heat up leftover in the microwave until piping hot.
Using a freezer-safe container, I would store it in the freezer for up to 3 months. Then fully defrost before reheating, although we tend to eat ours very quickly.

How do I cook pulled gammon in an Instant Pot?

If you don't have a long time to wait, put everything in your pressure cooker, select manual high pressure and set it for 40 mins cook time. Then shred as normal.

What is gammon?

A gammon joint is a hind leg of pork, which has been cured in salt and is usually available in smoked and unsmoked, and sometimes sold as gammon steaks. As for a bacon joint, this is any cut of meat from pork.