Slow Cooker Gammon in Coke Recipe

Name: Slow Cooker Gammon in Coke Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 360 min
Total time: 370 min
Ingredients: 1 kg gammon (Bigger or smaller if you wish - all fat removed); 1.25 ltr diet coke (*INSTANT POT USERS: Only use 250ml diet coke); 1 onion (chopped); 1 medium carrot (peeled & chopped); 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon; 1 bay leaf; 12 peppercorns; 2 tsp runny honey (*to be counted)

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This slow cooker gammon in coke is an easy recipe for any special occasion. With an exciting combination of sweet and tangy flavors of coca cola and savory gammon, it creates a unique and delicious taste that is sure to impress your guests.

I'll also show you how to cook it in an Instant Pot or Ninja Foodi/Speedi with an air fryer setting and unofficially Slimming World friendly.

Slimming World Slow Cooker Diet Coke Cola Gammon in a roasting dish on the table ready to serve

It's always exciting when cooking ham, gammon or chicken with a sticky glaze coke taste for big family dinners.

It can be served as part of a Sunday roast, Christmas dinner, or as gammon egg and chips on busy weeknights. I'm sure you'll love it!

And the best thing is that the cooking process is stress-free because you can leave your slow cooker cola gammon to cook to perfection while focusing on other things.

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

Slimming World Slow Cooker Diet Coke Cola Gammon on a plate with vegetables with gravy, potatoes, etc

✔️ Why You'll Love this Recipe

A really easy recipe to make
Can be made with regular or diet coke
Only requires a few minutes of prep time
Versatile dish that can be eaten in many different ways
Much cheaper cut than making a slow cooker ham recipe

🛒 Ingredient Notes

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

Ingredients laid out for slow cooker diet gammon or in an instant pot

Boneless gammon joint - any size will work, or you can use fresh ham at an extra cost. Or chose a size depending on your air fryer oven space

Diet coke - use any sugar free coke such as cherry coke, lime coke, etc for a Slimming World slow cooker diet coke gammon. Or make a regular coke recipe if not following a weight loss plan

Vegetables - chopped onion and carrot to create the best flavour for your stock, which can be used again

Ground cinnamon - or use a cinnamon stick, but note that this would be an extra cost

Bay leaf - for a slightly warming, sweet, herby taste

Peppercorns - to balance the sweetness of the cola, which can be used later in other recipes

Runny honey - or you could use sugar-free syrup, brown sugar sweetener, or maple syrup

📋 Instructions

person trimming ewxcess fat off gamon joint with a sharp knife

For a low fat gammon, remove the plastic packaging and all visible fat.

You may still have a very thin layer of fat, but this will melt into the coke while cooking gammon.

person boiling gammon in fresh water in a large pan to remove excess salt, scum and fat

Now place in a large pan and cover with fresh water and bring to a boil.

Continue boiling for 10 minutes to remove any excess salt and scum.

person pouring diet coke on top of vegetables and gammon in a slow cooker

Take the gammon out of the water and place it in the slow cooker.

Then add the remaining ingredients to the crock pot except for the honey.

person placing a lid on top of a slow cooker with gammon and coke with vegetables before cooking

Place the lid on top and choose one of the following cooking times:

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

Ninja slow cooker setting: The same times apply to a Ninja Foodi or Speedi.

person brushing honey on top of baked gammon on a roasting tin

Preheat the oven to 180 c fan, 200 c, gas mark 5, 375F.

Then remove the meat from the juice and brush with the runny honey on top of the ham or gammon.

See variations for mixing a honey mustard glaze in a small bowl

person slicing honey roast gammon in a baking dish

Line a roasting dish with tin foil if preferred.

Then add the gammon and cook in the oven for 20 minutes until golden, turning halfway, then slice to serve.

Ninja Air fryers: switch to bake/roast for 15 minutes at 160c or 320F

Tip: you can use the leftover coke stock into a bbq coca cola marinade recipe or sauce for pulled gammon or stir-fries!

Pouring gravy in gammon joint cooked in cola for a Slimming World roasta dinner on Christmas day

👩‍🍳 Substitutions

Depending on your dietary needs, here are a few simple swaps you can adjust this slow cooker gammon joint:

Diet coke - you can swap for any drink you like, such as Dr Pepper, root beer, apple juice, Fanta. Nothing is off cards!
Honey - swap for sweetener, maple or agave syrup, or even savory flavours like pesto
Vegetables - swap for red onions, garlic, leek, celery or parsnips for an aromatic stock
Meats - you can swap for any meat, such as chicken, pork, butt-end ham, spiral hams, or beef

lean par boiled gammon surrounded by chopped onions and carrots with peppercorns and a bay leaf

⚖️ Variations

If this is not your first time making gammon in coke, here are a few great options you can use to take it to another level:

Spicy - add some chilli flakes and star anise to the pot, or brush on Siracha instead of honey before roasting
Deluxe - stir dijon mustard or whole grain mustard with the honey
Kid friendly - get kids involved so that they can watch their favourite soda being added to the pot and serve on their favourite plate

Next time, why not try Fanta gammon for an orange twist?

🔪 Equipment

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❄️ Storage

Storing - if you have any leftover ham or gammon, we recommend slicing it up when needed and storing it in an airtight container and refrigerating it for up to 3 days.

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

Reheating - If you want to eat it the next day, defrost it in the fridge if required and cook it in the oven or air fryer until piping hot throughout.

💡Pro Tips

Try not to be too perfect when chopping your vegetables as they're only there to add flavour to make the perfect stock
If you want the honey to be soft after roasting, roast it under low heat
We find the best way cut the perfect slice of gammon is using an electric knife or a very sharp carving knife
It's impossible to remove every little bit of fat on a joint. If you are reusing the cola stock later, then leave it to turn cold and scoop out any solid fats that rise to the top.
For an elegant ham, you can trim the top until you have an even layer of fat. Then slice a criss-cross pattern into diamond shapes if preferred, which you can later stud with whole cloves to bake in the oven
You can check the internal temperature of your gammon to see if it is safe to eat by poking the centre with a meat thermometer. It should be a minimum of 68c (155F).

diet cola sauce made with the slow cooker juice before mixing into pulled pork for sandwiches

🍽️ Serving Suggestions

Here are a few tried and tested meal ideas you can try:

Bread: this makes the best ham or gammon sandwiches

Flatbreads: shred any leftover gammon and heat with a cola marinade and serve in soft tortillas or tacos as gammon carnitas

Roast dinner: with Yorkshire puddings, mashed potatoes or roast potatoes,

Chips: we often enjoy gammon leftovers with dirty fries or oven chips, eggs, peas, onion rings, and a slice of pineapple.

Salad: shred into a tasty pulled gammon and serve on a leafy salad

Rice and beans: quickly create a coca-cola ham burrito bowl with rice, beans, guacamole and tomato salsa

Soup: this is a great recipe where you can use cola stock and meat for gammon soup. It has a really delicious teriyaki taste, but you'll need to discard the stock vegetables as they will no longer have any flavour

❓ FAQ

Do I need to use a full bottle of Coke?

If you have a small 500g joint of gammon and a small slow cooker, then this recipe will still work with 750ml of diet cola. But, if cooking your cola gammon in a pressure cooker, you only need 500ml.

Can I cook it in a Dutch oven?

Yes, you can create gammon boiled in coke by simmering it in a large lidded pan on the hob until tender. As a rule of thumb, I cook 1 hour per 1kg on a rolling simmer

Can I cook gammon in coke in an Instant Pot?

This slow cooked gammon in an Instant Pot or pressure cooker is one of the easiest ways to make it.

Reduce the coke to 250ml and depending on your kg gammon size, here's my cooking time guide below:

- 500g for 40 minutes
- 1kg for 50 minutes
- 1.5 kg gammon for 60 minutes

Make sure you set to vent switch to "sealing" click pressure cooker and set your time. Then place your gammon in coke in the oven or an air fryer as usual with a good rub of honey to caramelize.

➕ More Slow Cooker Recipes

If you love slow cooking too, here are some of our most popular recipes you might like to try:

➕ More Slow Cooker Gammon Recipes

We also have lots of leftover gammon recipes here if you need a few creative ways to make more of this meal!

📖 Recipe