What Sauce Goes With Gammon? ⋆ 7 You Have To Try ⋆

Are you having gammon for dinner? Wondering what sauce you can pair with it? As it turns out, the sauce varieties that go with gammon range from savory dipping sauces to sweet sauces with all sorts of sauces in between! 

So what sauces go with gammon? Fruity sauces such as a simple applesauce or the slightly more complicated Cumberland sauce work beautifully with gammon. You can also pair gammon with a cold dipping sauce, such as a mustard, onion, or BBQ sauce. In addition to that, you have hot (as in warm, not spicy) parsley and cider sauces that work well with gammon.  

Can you serve gammon without a sauce? Yes, but it may be a bit dry.

You can serve anything without sauce, but unless combined with really juicy vegetables, many meat and fish dishes get pretty dry. 

Now, let’s deep dive into these recommended sauces for gammon and how to make them!

Best Sauces For Gammon (Gammon Sauce Options)

• BBQ sauce–can you go wrong with BBQ sauce? Well, yes, you can, but not in this instance!
• Roasted apple sauce–a very traditional sauce to serve with gammon
• Parsley sauce–a mild ad cream sauce
• Cider sauce–if you love cider, you have to try this cider sauce!
• Onion sauce–this is a cold dipping sauce
• Mustard sauce–another cold dipping sauce that pairs perfectly with gammon
• Cumberland sauce–this British classic should not be missed!

Gammon With BBQ Sauce

A BBQ dipping sauce with a chunk of meat is never wrong, is it?!

This recipe calls for cooking the sauce together with the gammon.

Meaning that instead of dipping the gammon in the sauce once cooked, the gammon is smothered in the sauce while cooking.

Should you wish to use it as a dipping sauce, however, you only need to follow one easy step–mix the ingredients in a pan and cook for ten minutes!

Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy! 

Ingredients

• 2 Cups tomato sauce
• ½ Cup apple cider vinegar
• 6 Tbsp brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 3 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 3 Star anise
• 2 Tsp hickory liquid smoke
• 2.5 Kg bone-in smoked large gammon (if you want to rub the gammon with the sauce while cooking)
• 1 Pineapple, peeled and thinly sliced into rounds (if you want to rub the gammon with the sauce while cooking)
• 1 Cup honey (if you want to rub the gammon with the sauce while cooking)

Method

Option One–Sauce Only

Step One: Place all the ingredients into a saucepan, bring to a simmer and let simmer for 10 minutes, or until thickened. 

Step Two: Remove from heat and let cool. Serve at room temperature with the cooked gammon. 

Option Two–Gammon Rubbed in BBQ Sauce 

Step One: Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. 

Step Two: Place all the ingredients for the BBQ sauce into a saucepan, bring to a simmer and let simmer for 10 minutes, or until thickened. Remove from heat and let cool

Step Three: Remove the skin of the gammon and place it on a large baking tray. Using a sharp knife, score the fat–cutting in a checkered pattern looks nice. Do not cut into the meat. 

Step Four: Rub the gammon with the BBQ sauce (check that it’s cooled enough first). Layer the sliced pineapple on top. Pour the honey on top. 

Step Five: Place the smoked gammon in the oven and roast for one hour. The gammon should be golden and warmed through (note that gammon has been smoked or cured in advance, hence it’s not the same as cooking raw meat). 

Gammon With Roasted Apple Sauce

Gammon is often served with sweet sauces, such as a BBQ or apple sauce.

In the Nordics, especially, apple sauce, lingonberry sauce, and sweet jellies are popular to serve with various meats.  

Ingredients

• 6 apples
• 120 ml orange juice 
• 5 ml cinnamon
• 80 g sugar
• 15 g butter

Method

Step One: Core and peel the apples and juice the oranges if using fresh orange juice. 

Step Two: Place all of the ingredients in a pot and cook on low heat until the apples are soft. 

Step Three: Place the sauce in a blender and blend until smooth. 

Tip: If slow roasting the gammon in the oven, you can put the ingredients for the apple sauce in a pot and roast together with the gammon–just remove and pure when the apples become soft. 

Gammon With Parsley Sauce 

This is a mild sauce flavored with parsley. Very creamy and easy to make. 

Ingredients

• 25 butter
• 350 ml whole milk – 4 tbsp milk
• 25 g flour
• 25 g curly parsley, chopped 

Method

Step One: Melt the rest of the butter over medium heat in a small pan. 

Step Two: Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the flour. 

Step Three: Turn the heat down to low and cook while stirring for 30 seconds. 

Step Four: Remove from the heat once more. Whisk in the milk bit by bit. 

Step Five: Heat the milk until it boils, whisking continuously. 

Step Six: Stir in the parsley and season the sauce to taste. 

Gammon With Cider Sauce

Gammon with cider sauce is a classic!

And if you’ve never made cider sauce before, this is the perfect excuse to do so.

It’s actually a straightforward recipe, so if looking for something simple, this is one of the best sauces for your gammon!

Ingredients

• 1 Cup dry cider
• ¾ Cup chicken stock
• 2 Tsp mustard
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp butter

Method

Step One: Put all the ingredients in a saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring continuously. The butter should melt, and the sugar dissolve. 

Step Two: Bring to a low boil, then let simmer for 10 minutes. 

Gammon With Onion Sauce

Onion is one of those ingredients that works with almost anything.

At least if you ask me!

Onion also happens to be the featured ingredient in this sauce.

It’s a fresh and easy-to-make dipping sauce that’s perfect for gammon!

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp butter in a small pan over medium heat.
• 3 Thinly sliced shallots (or about a third cup of regular onions) 
• ½ Cup sour cream
• ¼ Cup plain yogurt
• 1 Tsp Dijon mustard
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Step One: Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. 

Step Two: Add the shallots or onion to the pan. Cook while stirring till the onions become soft. 

Step Three: Remove the cooked shallots or onion from the heat and let cool (at least 10 minutes). 

Step Four: Whisk together the yogurt, Dijon mustard, and sour cream. Stir in the onions. Season to taste. 

Step Five: Serve the sauce immediately at room temperature, or store it in the fridge till use (it’s great whether served at room temperature or cold). 

Gammon With Mustard Sauce

This is another dipping sauce that’s ridiculously easy to make.

In fact, on this list of mainly very easy-to-make sauces, it might just win the prize for easiest to make!

Though it’s a tough choice to make!

While the onion sauce also features mustard, the mustard is in centre focus in this recipe (and there’s no onions in it!). 

Ingredients

• 200g/7oz Full-fat crème Fraiche
• 6 Tbsp full-fat mayonnaise 
• 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard 
• 2 Tbsp wholegrain mustard 
• A pinch of caster sugar 
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

Step One: Put all the ingredients in a bowl and stir—season with salt and pepper to taste. Place in the fridge if you aren’t using the sauce immediately–it will last for quite some time, granted the crème Fraiche isn’t about to expire. 

Note: While the recipe calls for full-fat crème Fraiche and mayonnaise, there’s no saying you can’t cheat and use low-fat versions. You could even make your own mayonnaise, but that would be a project for a rainy day when you have the time to do so!

Gammon With Cumberland Sauce

You can’t get more British than this! Or maybe.

Perhaps you eat the gammon with Cumberland sauce while standing outdoors in the pouring rain clad in a tweed suit and Wellies.

Not that any self-respecting Brit would do that, but still. 

Ingredients

• ½ Orange
• 1 Lemon
• ½ Lb redcurrant jelly
• 5 Tbsp port

Method

Step One: Peel the rind thinly from the lemon and the orange. Then cut the peel into thin shreds. 

Step Two: In a pan, cover the rind with cold water, bring to the boil and boil for two minutes. Remove from heat. Drain the water. 

Step Three: Squeeze the juice from the lemon and orange. 

Step Four: Pour the juice into a pan and place the redcurrant jelly in the pan, too. Heat over low heat while stirring continuously until the jelly melts. Then let simmer for five minutes. 

Step Five: Stir in the rind and the port. 

Step Six: Serve the gammon with the hot sauce if the gammon itself is hot. If you’re serving cold gammon, allow the sauce to cool before serving.

Finally

Each of these seven sauces just pair so beautifully with Gammon; even if they all offer something different.

So give one a try and perhaps try something else the next time you want to serve this deliciously salty pork.

At least that way you can plan ahead and get all the ingredients you need!

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