Need an easy peasy glazed ham recipe for Christmas that’s full of flavour and looks pretty, but is simple and stress free to make? Why not try my Easy Mulled Wine Christmas Ham – only 5 ingredients and only 10 minutes hands on time!!
Well, Christmas is now in full swing at my house. I have been cooking like mad lately – recipe testing, photographing and generally getting all my Christmas content ready. I have made so many exciting things lately, I just can’t wait to share with you!! In fact I couldn’t quite contain myself and have been previewing a few of my Christmas recipes on Instagram. If you don’t already follow me there, I’d love you to hop over and take a look 🙂
For my first proper Christmas recipe this year, I wanted to do an easy peasy take on Christmas ham. It’s a real Christmas favourite, and there are a whole load of fab recipes out there, but so many are rather faffy and complicated and have numerous steps and processes. I wanted to create something that was as hassle free as possible (because let’s face it, we’ve all got enough to be getting on with this Christmas already!) BUT without compromising on flavour.
My Christmas ham recipe has only three simple steps: poaching the ham for a couple of hours, slathering it in honey and mustard and adding those all-important cloves, then finally roasting in the oven for 20 minutes to produce that gorgeous burnished look.
The key way to get flavour into a ham is in the poaching liquid. I looked at several recipes – most seem to go for a flavoured stock, a couple go for Coca Cola and one even went for Irn Bru as the poaching liquid, but I wanted to do something very simple, while still infusing my ham with the flavour of Christmas – I wondered if mulled wine might work…
And the answer is yes! Poaching the ham in a bottle of cheap supermarket mulled wine works a treat – infusing the ham with wonderful Christmassy flavours of spice and citrus, with very little work involved.
The red wine does colour the ham a lovely red, which I think adds to the effect, but if you prefer a slightly paler colour, you could use a bottle of white mulled wine or mulled cider instead.
Serve this ham with a tray of roast veggies for simple roast dinner or alongside your turkey and trimmings as part of your Christmas dinner. It would also be brilliant on Boxing Day with salad and baked potatoes or as part of a Boxing Day buffet.
To go with this ham, I would recommend a medium bodied fruity red, such as Cotes du Rhone, Spanish Garnacha or Chilean Merlot.
If you like this recipe…
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Easy Mulled Wine Christmas Ham
Ingredients
- 2 kg unsmoked gammon joint
- 750 ml mulled red wine
- 1 tablespoon runny honey
- 1 tablespoon mustard
- A handful of cloves
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 200C /180C fan / gas mark 6 / 400F.
- Place your ham in a large pot and pour over the mulled wine. Cover with a tight fitting lid and cook in the oven for 2 hours, turning the ham every 30 minutes or so to ensure the ham cooks evenly.
- Just before the ham is due to come out, mix the honey and mustard together.
- After the 2 hours is up, remove the ham from the pot and (when cool enough to do so) remove the rind. Score the fat in a diamond pattern and slather with the honey and mustard mixture.
- Poke a clove into each cross and then return the ham to the oven for 20-30 minutes, until the ham looks a lovely burnished colour, but before the glaze starts to burn.
Notes
- This recipe can be adjusted to the size of your ham. Allow 30 minutes per 500g ham for the poaching. The roasting time should be roughly the same (20-30 minutes), regardless of the size of your ham. If your ham is much bigger than mine, you will also need to increase the poaching liquid – it should come at least half way up the ham, either add some water or another bottle of mulled wine!
- Do take care when turning the ham in the hot liquid – I nearly burnt myself on several occasions! If you don't fancy the idea of turning the ham, add more mulled wine /water so the ham is completely submerged.
- The ham can be reheated the next day. Cover with foil and place in a cold oven. Turn the oven up to 200C /180C fan / gas mark 6 / 400F and cook for 30-40 minutes or until piping hot in the middle.
- Suitable for freezing.
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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Mandy says
Love the sound of using mulled wine as your poaching liquid – so yum!
Eb Gargano says
Thanks, Mandy – it works so well! Plus it makes the whole house smell amazing 🙂 Eb x
Kate - gluten free alchemist says
Christmas is getting scarily close! I have to say I feel a twang of envy to all of you bloggers who have time to play with recipes while I am stuck at work all week….. gutted!
We always do a Christmas Ham in Cherry Coke. We let it simmer away for a long time so that it just melts when you eat it. Yum! Mulled wine sounds like a lovely alternative….. xx
Eb Gargano says
Ha! I am not playing with recipes most of the time sadly. Most of the time I’m doing some sort of admin and the recipe development/photography bit gets squashed into the smallest space of time necessary 🙁 Was not quite how imagined it when I started blogging. Definitely need to have a bit of a rethink next year about how I organise myself, as I would like to spend more time in the kitchen and less time in front of the computer! Ham in cherry coke sounds nice but I did love how the mulled wine made my house really smell of Christmas!! Eb x
Corina says
I love how easy this ham is! A whole joint of ham always reminds me of home as it’s something my mum always does at Christmas or if all the family are going to visit for a few days and she wants to have something in the fridge we can all pick at whenever we’re hungry. Such a great idea to use mulled wine to poach it in and thanks for sharing with #CookOnceEatTwice x
Eb Gargano says
It’s super easy to make – and yes it is lovely to have something to pick at in the fridge. The mulled wine makes it taste so Christmassy (and makes the whole house smell of Christmas too!!) Thanks for your kind comments 🙂 Eb x
Jacqui Bellefontaine says
I usually cook mine in cider but I like the idea of using mulled wine. I bet it tastes fabulous.
Eb Gargano says
Ooh…I like the idea of cider!! Cider and porky things do go so well together, so I can imagine that tasting delicious!! Eb x
Charlotte Oates says
This sounds so delicious (and so festive). I’m not normally a huge fan of cloves but for some reason Christmas doesn’t taste quite the same without them so I can happily eat lots of clove-flavoured treats at this time of year.
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Charlotte. I just love the flavour of cloves…at any time of the year!! Eb x
Angela says
Always try to do a ham at Christmas and some recipes are so very fiddly.
Have just cooked in mulled wine, recipe easy and as has already been said house smells amazing.
Thank you.
Eb Gargano says
Thank you so much for this lovely comment. Delighted you like the recipe. Yes – I love how wonderful this recipe makes the house smell! Merry Christmas!! Eb ?
Cat | Curly's Cooking says
I absolutely love ham, especially at Christmas. I like the sound of the mulled wine too!
Eb Gargano says
Oh me too. So lovely at Christmas! Especially when it’s as Christmassy as this one. Eb 🙂
Janice says
Mulled Wine is such a lovely idea for cooking ham, all the Christmas spiced!
Eb Gargano says
Aw, thanks Janice – exactly! And already done for you, so easy peasy 😀
Rebecca - Glutarama says
Lovely simple recipe that can be enjoyed all year and not just for Christmas – this would feed our family for a few days in its various forms (chips and egg is a must!)
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Rebecca! Eb 🙂
Michelle Rolfe says
Anything mulled wine works for me, not to mention ham is a family favourite. Thanks for linking up to #CookBlogShare. Michelle x
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Michelle! Eb 🙂
Despina says
It looks absolutely amazing! Was looking for such a recipe for so long and will be doing it for my x-mas dinner!! Just a quick question: do I have to season it with salt?
Thank you!!!
Eb Gargano says
That’s great to hear! And no – gammon joints are already salty enough, so there is no need to add additional salt. Enjoy!
Despina says
Thank you so much for replying so promptly 🙂 definitely doing it!
Eb Gargano says
Great to hear! Let me know how it goes 😀