Instant Pot Honey & Mustard Ham (2024)

Making your own ham is easy and one of those foods which is infinitely better than the processed packet stuff the supermarkets sell. It’s easy and so much more flavourful than those sad plastic packs.

This Christmas, I shall be making my Instant Pot Honey & Mustard Ham to serve with all the leftovers from The Big itself. I get it out of the way on Christmas Eve, and tightly wrapped in the fridge, it lasts 5 days.

Honey roast ham is a classic recipe and for good reason. A little bit of sweetness balances the salty gammon beautifully. I add some mustard powder plus a little marmalade to my glaze and getting a crusty bit with charred glaze is the best part of making your own ham!

I cook the gammon joint in a vegetable stock with plenty of fragrant herbs and spices. In previous years, I have made my hams with various sweet fluids like coca-cola or pineapple juice but that means you can’t really use the stock.

Using a simple selection of stock veg means you get a two for one with this recipe – a glorious ham to feed the crows with plus a flavourful stock to make risottos, soups or even just cook pasta and rice in. Definitely strain and freeze this once you’re finished cooking the ham.

As for what sized gammon joint to get, just be sure that it fits in your Instant Pot and you’re laughing! Worst case scenario – you buy a joint which is too large to fit in with room for stock.

Simply cut it in half and cook each one separately. A bit of extra work but better than boiling it for hours in a giant pan on the hob!

15 minutes per 500g

Plus an extra 15 minutes

It’s as simple as that. Once cooked, it’s really handy to have some sturdy meat lifters to get it out of the Instant Pot and onto a foil lined baking tray so you can glaze it. Mine were by Pampered Chef but they have long since gone out of business in the UK so these are a good alternative:

Honestly, anyone who has ever tried to wrangle a large joint of meat from a deep pot with a dinner fork and a large spatula will know how much easier a sturdy pair of meat lifters make this job!

Just be aware that pressure cooking the ham makes it so tender you need to pierce it deep enough that it doesn’t fall apart as you remove it.

Once you have it out of the pot and onto the baking tray, you need to cut off the skin and as much of the fat as possible. It will be an easy job with a small knife.

Top tip – put the ham face side down onto the baking tray so that this surface doesn’t dry out when you pop it in the oven to glaze it. It stays much more moist and it is more stable than trying to balance it on it’s side. This is a runny glaze so it’s easier to brush it on the ham this way too.

There are a few Syns to account for in this recipe – 4.5 for the whole ham, which works out at about 1/2 a Syn per serving but it is so worth it for me. Especially considering in years gone by I would have cooked it in a couple of litres of cherry co*ke and poured treacle over it to glaze without measuring it, I think 1/2 a Syn per serving is a worthy hit for such a delicious meal.

If you want a serving suggestion then stay tuned for tomorrow, when I’ll be sharing my Syn Free mac & cheese recipe, pictured above with this Instant Pot Honey & Mustard Ham.

Ingredients

To cook the ham:

2 - 2.5 kg smoked gammon joint (uncooked but cured ham)
1 onion, quartered (leave skin on but wash it first)
2 ribs of celery, cut in halves
1 large carrot, cut into quarters
1 tbsp green peppercorns
1 tsp allspice berries
3 bay leaves (dried or fresh)
1 tsp dried sage
1 tsp dried marjoram
1/2 tsp whole cloves

For the glaze:

1 tbsp honey (2.5 syns)
1 tbsp marmalade (2 syns)
2 tsp mustard powder

Instructions

Start by weighing your ham, note this down in grams and removing any plastic covering. Leave any net in place to hold it's shape as it cooks.
Simply put all the ingredients for the ham in your Instant Pot, including the joint itself and cover with cold water. Be sure that it is no more than 3/4 full. If your joint is too large, cut it in half, weigh them and cook each piece separately.
Put the lid on, close the vent and set to Manual High. Cook for 15 minutes per 500g and an additional 15 minutes. e.g. a 2kg gammon would take 75 minutes.
Allow a NPR when the time is up and remove the ham from the stock and place cut surface down on a foil lined baking tray. Remove any netting, skin and as much fat as possible with a small sharp knife.
Strain the stock and chill. Remove all of the fat off the surface when it is chilled thoroughly enough for it to rise to the top then bag it up and freeze for future uses.
Preheat the oven to 200˚C. Mix the glaze ingredients together with 1 tbsp of boiling water. Use a silicone brush to coat the ham with half the glaze and cook for 10 - 15 minutes before repeating this step one more time.
Allow to cool before slicing or it will be tricky to cut thinly.

Notes

Important Information

Syn values given are correct at time of writing but may not always be accurate.
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