Pressure cooking a gammon joint or ham in your Instant Pot is easy and so tasty. Of course, you can also apply this method to bacon joints and ham hocks.
First of all, you might be wondering what is the difference between gammon and ham? It's as easy as gammon is ham in its raw state. Once gammon is cooked or cured, it is called ham. So, in order to have ham, you need gammon.
There are several methods to pressure cook your gammon to turn it into ham. Catherine Phipps' rule of thumb is to allow 10 minutes at high pressure per 500g for a sliceable ham, as the Instant Pot works at a lower psi, add a few minutes minutes to the time, making it more like 11 minutes per 500g, if you want to be on the safe side increase it to 15 (Marie, regular of the Feisty Tapas communities, reckons 15 minutes per lb, one lb is about 453 g). If you want a shreddable ham, increase the time even more.
There's now a lot of talk about 8 minutes per 500 g which doesn't work too well with huge joints, my almost-3-kg Christmas gammon wasn't fully cooked through at 8 minutes per 500 g so I had to give it a bit longer. It works great for smaller joints though, this week I tried it with a 1.3 kg joint from Aldi. I'm leaving this here as feedback, if you ever think your gammon is not as juicy as it should be. However, I will be sticking to longer cooking times than 8 minutes per 500 g personally.
I cook my 700 g gammon joints for 18 minutes. I know this is longer than the times stated above but it works for me every time as I tend to buy the same size joint. You can do more than one joint at the same time, I tend to do three 700 g joints in 18 minutes (mainly because Ocado tends to have 700 g gammon joints on offer). Increase the time for bigger joints.
If you haven't got Catherine Phipps' book, The Pressure Cooker Book, it really is worth buying. All recipes have familiar ingredients and measurements for UK Instant Pot users.
The beauty of the Instant Pot is that you can leave it unattended, no need to babysit it and, do not fret, there is no rattling and no hissing. It's silent. It's sturdy. It's very safe.
I tend to use unsmoked gammon joints. If yours is smoked, you can soak it but it might not be necessary. One way to tell if a smoked gammon needs soaking is by cutting a small bit off and quickly frying it until cooked, then tasting it, if it's not too salty, no need to soak. If it's only slightly salty, you can just boil it in fresh water, discard that water. Otherwise soak it.
Who fancies Ham, Egg and Chips then? As long as you don't forget that having cooked ham in your fridge is handy for adding to risottos, pasta sauces, pizzas or even just to snack on!
My two main methods to pressure cook a gammon joint or ham in your Instant Pot
- On the trivet with water underneath
- No trivet and tons of tasty stock for other uses
Let's look at all the details for each method.
How to pressure cook a gammon joint/ham in the Instant Pot
Method 1. On the trivet
Add 250 ml of water to the base of the inner pot, place trivet and then the ham on top. Lock the lid in, steam release handle pointing to Sealing. Press the Manual button and use the - and + buttons to the right time bearing in mind the rule of 11 minutes per 500 g of gammon joint, followed by a natural release (i.e. do nothing until the float valve pops back down). You can replace some of the water with cider, beer, wine, juice... You can save the liquid for adding to tasty risottos and soups.
Method 2. No trivet and tons of tasty stock for other use
Place gammon joint in inner pot (no trivet), add a peeled onion, 3-4 garlic cloves (unpeeled, whacked with the fist), 4-5 black peppercorns (really nice with the Szechuan ones as well), one bay leaf, one carrot and any veggies you may have going off. Cover with water, always being mindful of the two thirds mark as you're going to use the pressure cooking function (only ever fill a pressure cooker, conventional or electric, two thirds maximum). Lock in the lid. Steam release handle pointing to Sealing. Press the Manual button, adjust to the right time based on 11 minutes per 500 g, natural release. As above, increase the time for bigger joints but for this method I also do 2-3 x 700 g gammon joints for 18 minutes with natural release.
My Ham and Cabbage Soup is a delicious way of using up the ham stock. Check back soon as I'll be posting more uses for the yummy ham stock you'll have left.
Tip: If you want to glaze the ham. Coat it in the glaze of your choice and pop it into a hot oven for about 10 minutes. You can also spread the coating of your choice all over it and let it stand without popping it in the oven. One of my favourite glazes to use is this chilli jam (as recommended by Lucy, who also gave me a jar last year, I need more Lucy!).
Yes, I still love my Instant Pot, I now have both the DUO 7 in 1 and the LUX 6 in 1. The Instant Pot is a modern day electric pressure cooker that also slow cooks, steams, cooks rice, the DUO 7 in 1 even makes yoghurt. My favourite function of them all though is the automatic Keep Warm product that kicks in at the end of the pressure cooking and slow cooking
cycles.
Have you joined my Pressure Cooking UK with Feisty Tapas Facebook group? As Instant Pot's social media girl, I also run the Instant Pot® UK Community.
*This post contains affiliate links, thank you for supporting Feisty Tapas*
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Chris Dean says
This is the BEST! Worth getting an instant pot just for this!
Debbie says
Love this in my Instant Pot, gammon is so easy and tasty. Lots of brilliant recipes here. Thank you.👍
MARK says
Brilliant
All I wanted was cooking time for a raw bacon joint (not ham)
I will cook bacon joint as i do a chicken. Put smaller cut vegetables cut herbs and spices under the trivet and bacon on top. (Easy to get joint out)
Now to experiment with cooking times now have a guide to go by.
Thanks
Maghie says
Wow I done it with the trivet and just water. Cant believe how delicious it turned out. I normally add carrot, onion, peppercorns and bay leaf. Not anymore. This is the way to go. Thankyou
Maria says
So glad it worked well for you Maggie!
Robbo says
Very grateful for the advice here. I am new to pressure cooking and My gammon came out perfectly. Thanks
Wendy says
I never cook gammon any other way since trying this method. Absolutely superb results, every single time!! It’s a real family favourite!!
Lily says
The pressure cooker has 3 option. Low normal or high. I am guessing the normal is right?
Maria says
Low, normal or high are just time presets. They give you preset times. High and low are actual pressure settings but Low, Normal and High are not. In the case of the Sauté and Yoghurt settings however, Less Normal and More are heat settings (less heat, more heat, etc)
Steve says
Will you be publishing your Christmas Gammon recipe for the Instant Pot? looking for a good one to try this year.
Maria says
Hi Steve, I've published my Christmas Gammon here, I can't wait to make it again next week, Maria
Kerry Hague says
I’m completely new to this way of cooking and I’ve just bought the Tefal multi-cooker. I followed your advice and cooked my gammon on a trivet with water in the bottom and 18 minutes later I had a perfectly cooked gammon. So much easier than boiling it in a pan for 90 minutes and having to keep checking it.
Mick says
Hi, regarding timings can this be used with the PKP?
Thanks
Mick
Maria says
Yes, absolutely, same timings
Norma Heyburgh says
Hi, when the gammon has reached it's time do I do slow release pressure or let it steam straight away?
Maria says
As mentioned in the post, once pressure cooking time is over, you need to do a natural pressure release, i.e. do nothing and let the float valve go back down on its own. If it's been longer than 15 minutes, you can let the rest of the steam out but I prefer it to do a full natural pressure release when I have the time
Sue says
Looking forward to trying this tomorrow for our Christmas Eve meal, then having some leftovers for later in the week.
Maria says
I can highly recommend my Instant Pot Gammon Rice recipe for your leftovers Sue https://www.feistytapas.com/2020/07/instant-pot-gammon-rice/
Nadine Finnegan says
This is brilliant! New to the instant pot world and i wanted to know how to just cook raw gammon/ham joint all others i was finding were precooked! With regards to the natural release is that once its finished cooking and i just leave the pot alone it will do it itself after a period of time? I dont need to set anything? Sorry if thats a silly question!
Maria says
Yes, natural pressure release is just leaving the pot alone at the end while you have your feet up enjoying life 😉 The steam trapped inside then dissipates on its own, this allows the meat to rest and doesn't toughen it. Also, the contents keep cooking during this time.
On the other hand, quick pressure release is setting the steam release to Venting to let out the steam trapped inside manually, very handy for things that need a short cooking time like vegetable.
Hope that helps,
Maria
Caroline says
Hi, I have tried this several times (the no trivet version) and I love it!! Tomorrow I'd like to try with 2 joints. Can you put one on top of the other or do they need to be separate side by side?
Thank you, Caroline
Maria says
Hi Caroline, I would do them side by side as you have to be mindful of the filling rules. The timings should remain the same as if it was one joint. Details on the filling rules here https://www.feistytapas.com/2020/04/instant-pot-filling-rules/
Viv O’Connor says
I always use this method for cooking gammon ham. I recently went camping with friends and took sliced ham for our lunches which they loved. I have been instructed to work out how I can post it to them 😂 it’s all thanks to your fantastic receptor and instructions thank you
Carla says
Hi,
Can you cook the joint from frozen? How would this effect the timings?
Thank you.
Maria says
Hi Carla, I don't like to cook joints from frozen as they are solid and the heat needs to get to the centre quickly for it to be safe. I recommend defrosting it first,
Maria
David Oldale says
Hi Maria , I just have to agree that this is the only way to cook a gammon/ham joint. I use my instant pot(s) every day but by far the most use is for the proofing of my bread dough, it's so easy and so accurate. I just oil or grease with lard the inner pot, put the dough in, glass lid on and set dough proofing, time and temperature usually 25C. It does the job perfectly! Then there's steak, you know what's it like if it's not fillet it's tough! I instant pot a piece of rump or sirloin (cheap) from Aldi or Lidl for 40 mins quick release then a very quick fry or grill and it's as soft and tender as fillet but with much more flavour! So you can see that my instant pot is not just a marvel but a life-saver!
Jude says
So excited to try this. Do you think it would work to replace water with flat ginger beer or cola and do the no trivet method?
Maria says
Yes, definitely!
Rachel says
just remembered I promised a gammon joint to my son as they’re having me over tor Xmas dinner (it’s Xmas eve) ! Instant pot and this recipe to the rescue, I’m going to go and put a conditioning hair mask on while it works its magic! Thank you 😊