We show you how to cook the best honey roast gammon joint. We give you the cooking time per kg for how long to boil gammon in a pan, as well as the instant pot/pressure cooker gammon method.
A simple honey and mustard glaze is poured over the boiled ham before being oven-roasted giving a delightful sticky, sweet taste. Most popular at Christmas, but we love it all year round for a delicious Sunday roast dinner with all the trimmings, use up leftover slices of ham for lunch!
How to cook a honey roast gammon joint?
Check out the slideshow below for easy to follow step by steps to creating this simple roast gammon dinner.
The recipe card instructions tell you how to long to boil and roast a 2kg gammon joint. But we have also given the cooking times for per kg for all gammon joint sizes.
Jump to RecipeShould I boil or roast a Gammon Joint?
You can boil or roast a gammon joint, we find combining the two methods, is best resulting in moist meat from boiling. With a delicious sticky roasted honey glaze coating from oven roasting
Boiling a Gammon Joint is quicker than roasting alone and gives moister Gammon slices.
However, to give the glaze the best finish, it needs a little time to roast in the oven.
Gammon boiled in a pan or a pressure cooker then coated in a delicious sticky glaze to finish off in the oven.
How to boil gammon?
When boiling gammon you need to cover with water, you can add herbs, peppercorns, onion or vegetables can also be added to boiling step if desired.
We love the taste of the ham as it is & prefer to add flavour from the glaze instead! So we keep it simple with just a couple of bay leaves.
Make sure to submerge the gammon joint to cover over the top with water, if you lose water during cooking add more.
Also it should be noted that although its called boiled ham or gammon, it should not be boiled for the whole duration, simply bring to the boil then lower to a simmer.
How long to boil gammon joint per kg?
See below cooking time chart for how long to boil gammon joint of different sizes on the hob or using a instant pot, pressure cooker.
| Gammon joint size | How long to boil | How long to pressure cook |
|---|---|---|
| 1 kg (2.2lb) | 45 minutes | 25 minutes |
| 2 kg (4.4lb) | 1 hours 30 minutes | 50 minutes |
| 3 kg (6.6lb) | 2 hour 15 minutes | 1 hours 15 minutes |
| 4 kg (8.8lb) | 3 hours | 1 hours 40 minutes |
| 5 kg (11lb) | 3 hours 45 minutes | 2 hours 5 minutes |
So now you know how long to boil gammon, no matter the joint size. Time for turning this simple boiled ham into a honey glazed roast gammon
The roasting time for boiled gammon is 30 minutes, this cooking time is the same for all boiled gammon joint sizes. The gammon is cooked already you are just roasting the fat layer and adding a delicious glaze.
Pressure cooker gammon method
To speed things up, you can use a instant pot, pressure cooker to cook the Gammon Joint. No checking in on it just leave for it for the allotted time.
If you haven't got a Pressure Cooker, I highly recommend the Pressure King Pro, we have had ours for 3 years now and use it every week!
You will see below in recipe card both instructions for how to pressure cook gammon using a pressure king pro or instant pot, or how to pan boil the gammon!
Removing skin from Gammon?
After the gammon has boiled, it is best to remove the thick skin, leaving the fat layer still intact.
The gammon fat will be super soft and ready for scouring in a diamond pattern, we then added cloves for extra flavour!
In all honesty, we went a bit OTT with cloves here, but wanted it to look even and well covered for the photo! You can use half the amount we used!
Honey and mustard glaze
A simple glaze for roast gammon is this honey and mustard glaze, it is easy to make with equal amounts of runny clear honey and English mustard.
You could try out our Sticky Beer and Honey Glaze instead for another option.
Pour your chosen glaze over the top of the gammon joint, making sure to save some to add again halfway through roasting.
I also highly recommend adding a layer of foil under the gammon joint as the honey is hard to clean off the baking tray!
How long to cook glazed gammon in oven?
Oven roast glazed gammon in a preheated oven at 180°c fan / 200°c / 400°f for 30 minutes, halfway through add more glaze to the top.
When finished remove from oven and cover loosely with foil, allow to rest for 10 minutes before carving.
You have got to agree that it is quite a masterpiece roast dinner to bring to the Christmas dinner table!
There is enough to serve 8 people with a 2kg gammon joint.
Gammon Serving Suggestions
A roast gammon is obviously great served for a traditional Sunday roast dinner served with Roast Potatoes and Roasted Parsnips and Yorkshire Puddings as seen below.
Honey roast gammon is also great served with any of the below.
- Gammon, Egg and Chips
- Cold meats platter
- Sandwich
- Gammon, Mash & Cabbage
- Gammon Salad
Or chop gammon into cubes for adding to
- Rice
- Pasta
- Quiche
- Omelette
Honey Roast Gammon Joint
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 kg (4 ½ lb) unsmoked Gammon/Ham Joint
- 500 ml (2 cup) Water
- 2 Bay Leaves
- cloves
Honey & Mustard Glaze
- 4 tablespoon Honey
- 4 tablespoon English Mustard
Beer and Honey Glaze option (click through)
Instructions
- Soak the gammon joint for a few hours in cold water, we normally do it overnight, or if you don't have time, rinse under cold water a few times to wash away excess saltiness.
Pan Boiled Gammon
- Place in a deep pan, fat side up, fill pan with enough water to cover the gammon joint.Add bay leaves and bring to the boil. Turn heat down to a simmer and leave to cook uncovered for 1 ½ hours. Top up with more water if gammon is sticking out of the water?
- Mix together the glaze ingredients of honey and mustard.
- After 1 ½ hours, remove from pan and allow to rest, for 10 minutes. Remove netting from the boiled gammon joint.
- Remove the skin/rind away from the gammon leaving a juicy layer of fat
- Score the fat layer of the gammon with a sharp knife into diamonds
- Push cloves into the corners of each diamond
- Cover a baking tray with foil, before adding gammon joint on top.Pour most of the honey and mustard glaze over the top save a little to reglaze halfway through oven cooking
- Place in preheated oven at 180°c fan / 200°c / 400°f for 15 minutes.
- Reglaze by brushing over remaining honey and mustard glaze.
- Cook for a final 15 minutes keep an eye on it and remove sooner if the honey glaze begins burning. Cover with loosely with foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes before carving
- Carve slices of gammon to your desired thickness.
- Serve with your choice of sides.
Pressure cooker method boiled ham
- Drain the water and place the gammon fat side facing up in the pressure cooker potAdd the Bay leaves and pour 500 ml of water over top, it will not cover the gammon that is fine.
- Close the lid, pressure valve turned to the closed position.Place the pressure cooker on meat setting for 50 minutes.
- Once the Pressure cooker is finished, allow 10 min natural release. Carefully remove the meat from Pressure cooker.Follow from step 3 above, to oven roast the pressure cooked gammon
Video
Notes
Pan Method
Bring to boil, then simmer for 45 min Per Kg / 20min per lb The following joint sizes on the hob, simmer for time indicated below, and 30 min in oven to crisp off.- 1kg - 45 min
- 2kg - 1hr 30 min
- 3kg - 2hr 15 min
- 4kg - 3hr
- 5kg - 3hr 45min
Pressure Cooker Method-
Pressure cook for 25 min Per Kg / 11 min per lb. Allow 10-minute natural release on all joint size. The following joint sizes in pressure cooker take time indicated below, plus 10 min natural release and 30 min in oven to crisp off.- 1kg - 25 min
- 2kg - 50 min
- 3kg - 1hr 15 min
- 4kg - 1hr 40 min
- 5kg - 2hr 5min
Nutrition
This post was originally published on 10/12/2019 and has been modified on 08/06/2021 with updated pictures, new video and simplified cooking times per kg for how to make honey roast gammon joint with a simple honey and mustard glaze.
Frequently Asked Questions?
Most store bought gammon joints in the UK are ok to use straight away, I normally soak for a few hours to remove some of the saltiness. If buying from the butchers ask if it will need soaking first, it depends how they have cured it?
Yes, keep netting on when boiling to keep it together, and remove before removing skin to roast.
The tough gammon skin should be removed, leaving behind a layer of fat which soaks up the glaze and becomes crispy when oven baked. 
Always makes an appearance at our Christmas table! A firm family favourite. Also great for boxing day when we like to pig out on cold meats and cheeses!
Hope you enjoyed this honey gammon roast joint recipe and found it easy to follow? Please spare some time to leave us a comment/review below.
Tina Lamb
Followed the instructions to boil and roast the joint. Was very impressed with both the taste and how moist the gammon was. The glaze was good too.
Kay
Thank you, Tina, for the great review 🙂
So glad your Gammon's joint came out great, and you liked the glaze also 😉
Marie
It looks delicious. Very good instructions and very simple. I will try this method.
I would like to use my tower precision cooker but I don't understand the use of another pot inside and how much water do I need for a 2kg gammon.
Susan Morley
Brilliant to have all the alternative instructions and timings for pan and pressure cooking all together, I have mine in the pressure cooker now, and will roast with the honey and mustard glaze later, can't wait to taste!
Thank you 😁
Kay
Glad our gammon joint recipe has been helpful to you Susan. Hope you enjoyed your gammon as much as we did this year!
Sally
Hi many thanks for the cooking times.
We have a ham every Christmas and I always cook it on Christmas Eve. Every year I have to search the internet for cooking times. This year I bought a notebook for cooking tips and this will be the very first entry.
We wish you a very merry Christmas and hope the New Year brings you everything you wish for.
Kay
Hi Sally,
Glad you found our Gammon Roast Joint cooking times so helpful, very excited to be your first entry in your cooking tips book. Hope some more of our recipes will take your fancy too!
Hope you and your family had a fantastic Christmas day and a very Happy New year to you!
Thanks again,
Kay & Luke
Denise Edwards
Thanks. Seems easy enough. Following recipe later today. Merry Christmas
Jenny Johnson
This sounds delicious! I would like to cook this the day before as we have church Christmas morning so rushed and no pressure cooker and we celebrate at lunch. Do you think it would work to do the simmering the day before, cool, put in the fridge and then heat Christmas day adding the glaze. Thinking it would need a bit longer than the 30 minutes as coming from the fridge cold. Any thoughts?
Luke
Hi Jenny,
Yes, boiling the gammon joint the day before will work, prepare it up to step 5, scoring gammon fat.
To finish the gammon in the oven the next day from chilled I would first warm it in the oven without the cloves and glaze and cover with foil at 180°c fan / 200°c / 400°f for 20 minutes.
Then remove foil and add a few cloves and the glaze.
Continue cooking the glazed gammon uncovered at the same temperature for 15 minutes then reglaze and finish for another 15 minutes, keeping an eye on it and add foil if browning to much.
Wishing you and your family a fabulous Christmas Day.
Luke & Kay
PS. We are making ours today too!
Andrew Evans
This is how i cook my gammon joint, however, i also pre-boil my joint in coke first, bring to boil and then drain, repeat and then carry on as per recipe though i only add honey as the glaze as not everyone likes mustard.
Kay
Thank you, Andrew for the comment and review 🙂
We have cooked gammon in coke before, and the kids loved it 😉
I hope you enjoyed your glazed gammon; enjoy!!
Liz
This is my dad's favorite type of meat but I think it's called something different here in the US. I'ms end this recipe to my mom!
Allyssa
This is perfection! It taste really amazing and I can say that I highly recommend this one! Thank you so much for sharing this! Super helpful and Job well done!
INSCOL
Great !! I loved it.
Jere Cassidy
I have never heard of gammon but realized it is close to ham. This is the perfect recipe for the holiday's and that glaze looks amazing.
Kay
Thank you so much, Jere 🙂
The glaze just brings the ham/gammon so much flavour, enjoy!!
Jacqueline Debono
I love gammon at Christmas! I think I like it even more than Turkey! Your glaze sounds delicious!
Kay
We prefer it to Turkey which is why we do both!!
Simone
I just love that glaze, it sound so delish! What a great holiday recipe 🙂
Kay
thank you we love it too!
Monica
This looks so delicious! I have never heard of or cooked Gammon. You gave such clear and complete details on how to prepare this, that I feel very confident I can cook this for my family of six. Thank you for a new recipe!
Kay
Perfect for big families, glad our step by steps are helping x
Aimee DiPasquale
That looks delicious. I have never heard of Gammon.
Kay
Hi Aimee
Thank you, we call it Gammon but I'm sure in the states they call a Ham joint same thing really!
Hope you enjoy if you try this recipe!!
Ai
Oh man, that glaze looks like perfection!! Those veggies also look perfectly roasted! YUM!!
Kay
Hi Ai
Thank you for great words
The glaze was perfection and the roasted veg was superb!!
Enjoy!
Nyxie
This looks so amazing. I love honey glaze over my gammon joints, for some reason they always taste better with honey.
Kay
Hi Nyxie
Thank you for comment
We loved the gammon and honey glaze is definitely our favourite for this recipe!!
Gari
Color came out just perfect and that glaze, I'm all in.
Kay
Hi Gari
Thank you!!
We loved this gammon recipe and it came out great with our Beer and honey glaze!
Lynne
Could you please tell me how to make the beer and honey glaze plz??🙏🥰
Genevieve
This Gammon recipe looks so good and perfect for Christmas!
Kay
Hi Genevieve
Thank you, this gammon was lush and yes it's fantastic for Christmas!!
Enjoy!
Angela
This looks so simply delicious and juicy!
Kay
Hi Angela
It sure was delicious!!
Thanks for your comment
Erika
I love salmon and adding the cloves is a great idea!
Kay
I assume you meant Gammon! lol Not sure the cloves would work with Salmon! It was lovely!
Colleen | Bakes & Blunders
That glaze looks amazing! Heck, the honey and mustard glaze sounds good too. Looks delish 😀
Kay
Give it a go you will love it!
Raquel
This looks really fancy and upscale, but you made it seem really easy to prepare. That's awesome! Thanks for sharing (:
Kay
It was so easy! I have always done it on hob previous years, this is the first time in pressure cooker! Came out even better!
Christy Boston
You had me at the beer and honey glaze. This looks so interesting and sumptuous - a great cold weather recipe to try this week, I'm thinking!
Kay
Beer and Honey glaze is perfection! I don't even normally like beer!
Tamara J
I have never tried a gammon joint, but this is definitely on my list of foods to try very soon! That glaze looks so amazing and flavorful.
Kay
You will love it! The glaze was so good! We just finished off the last bit tonight with Yorkshire puddings, Apple Sauce, Stuffing and Vegetables!