Slow Cooker Cider Ham {giveaway}

After a busy few weeks of traveling, I’ve been getting reacquainted with my kitchen, inviting Clara to wrap on her apron and join me at the counter.

Our Montreal winter has been bitterly cold and the snow keeps piling up higher and higher around the house. I’m sure many of you on the East Coast can relate. There’s never been a better time to delve into comfort food, so we’ve been simmering pots of chili, baking bread and roasting vegetables by the tray-full.

This cider ham was the first dinner I pulled together for my family this week. It’s from Brown Eggs and Jam Jars and, incidentally, this is the very first recipe I’m sharing on the blog from the cookbook. It’s one of my favourites, and simple enough to put together while jet-lagged, tired, and suffering from a head cold. Be sure to click through for the recipe, plus a giveaway for a KitchenAid 6-quart slow cooker.

Slow Cooker Cider Ham from Brown Eggs and Jam Jars: Family Recipes from the Kitchen of Simple Bites
Slow Cooker Cider Ham from Brown Eggs and Jam Jars: Family Recipes from the Kitchen of Simple Bites

I developed this recipe with my traditional Sunday Dinner in mind, a make-ahead, no-fuss dish that could hold its own as the star of the meal. It does all that, and yields enough for leftovers, too. What more could you ask of a Sunday roast? Be sure to save the ham bone for Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup, another cold-weather favourite.

In the cookbook, this cinnamon-scented, mustard-crusted cider ham stars in an entire chapter on Sunday dinner, paired with Crispy Rosemary Roast Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts with Honey and Hazelnuts. Today, you get it as a preview of what lies between the covers of Brown Eggs and Jam Jars!

If you’re a real planner….you may want to Pin or bookmark this ham for Easter. I know, I know, it’s still a ways off, but I’m already dreaming of spring, so making a holiday menu plan isn’t that unreasonable.

Somehow, staying in from the cold has its appeal, now that we can linger around the table with family and friends.

Slow Cooker Cider Ham

This cinnamon-scented, mustard-crusted cider ham is the star of Sunday dinner.
4.37 from 19 votes
Print Pin
Course: Main Dishes
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Paleo
Essential Ingredient: Ham
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 4 hours
Total Time: 4 hours 10 minutes
Servings: 10 people
Calories: 847kcal
Author: Aimee

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups fresh-pressed apple cider (raw apple juice)
  • 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
  • 2 Tablespoons grainy Dijon mustard
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 orange scrubbed
  • 7 pounds best-quality bone-in smoked ham (6-7lbs)
  • 1 cinnamon stick

Instructions

  • Pour cider into a 6-quart slow cooker. In a small bowl, combine maple syrup, Dijon, ginger and pepper. Zest the orange into the bowl and mix the marinade ingredients together.
  • Rub marinade all over the ham, using every bit of it, and place the ham in the slow cooker. You may have to trim the ham to make it fit. Just add the trimmings to the slow cooker as well.
  • Peel the orange and coarsely chop the pulp, discarding any seeds. Add the orange around the sides of the ham and tuck the cinnamon stick in also.
  • Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours.
  • To serve, transfer the ham to a platter. Cover to keep warm. Strain liquid from the slow cooker into a gravy pitcher and serve with the ham.

Notes

This ham will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Nutrition

Calories: 847kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 68g | Fat: 56g | Saturated Fat: 20g | Cholesterol: 266mg | Sodium: 647mg | Potassium: 974mg | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 30IU | Vitamin C: 7.3mg | Calcium: 71mg | Iron: 4.1mg

Giveaway

So many of my go-to recipes are made in a slow cooker, both here on the blog, and in my cookbook, so it seems only fair to offer one for your kitchen, too.

KitchenAid slow cooker

Thanks to KitchenAid Canada, I have one KitchenAid 6-Quart Slow Cooker with Solid Glass Lid to give away to a Canadian resident (sorry, international folks, this one is nation-wide only).

To enter: leave a comment and tell me what you would make first in this brand new slow cooker!

That’s it! Good luck to all.

Giveaway ends, Sunday, March 1, 2015 at 8AM. Winner will be announced both here and on Facebook.

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201 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    THIS IS A THING OF BEAUTY – both crockpot *and* ham! My crockpot pooped out on me two weeks ago and I miss it so.

    The ham been tagged in my cookbook to make. I was going to try it out using a Dutch oven, but I’m afraid it won’t yield the same result.

    The first thing I’d make is my Mom’s gorgeous, hearty Beef Stew with Dumplings, hands down. It’s a necessity in this weather, yet also the perfect comfort food alongside some fresh homemade bread and hot apple cider. Xo

  2. There is nothing like putting together dinner in the morning and having it come out perfectly at the end of the day! Especially during these last few dragging weeks of winter. My go to is definitely Quinoa chili with fresh cornbread, mmmm!

  3. Our baby girl arrived two weeks ago and slow cooker oatmeal is proving to be a lifesaver in the morning scramble to get something warm and nutritious into everyone in the morning!

  4. 5 stars
    Oh my!!! I think this recipe might have to be the first thing I make in the crock pot. Looks amazerbeams.

  5. I’d make baked beans. I’ve always wanted to try making a batch of my own so I can play with the ingredients but have felt far to guilty leaving the oven on for the hours it would take to cook them in a conventional oven.

  6. I would try your cider ham recipe 😉
    It’s been on my mind since I read it in your book, and I was thinking to attempt it without a slow cooker.

  7. I would love to try a pulled chicken recipe with homemade barbecue sauce or something I’ve never made before is your Cider Ham. I’ve never even cooked a ham before and this sounds delicious.

  8. Thanks for the great giveaway! I think the first thing I would make is my Creole chicken recipe which is one of my faves. Although that ham is making my mouth water.

  9. I would make split pea soup – with the ham bone from tonight’s dinner! Thanks for the inspiration.

  10. Ooh, I’d probably cook something that would make use of that programmable timer. Maybe some overnight oats to have breakfast ready in the morning 🙂

  11. I’d teach my son how to make chilli in the slow cooker then gift it to him as he heads off to university next year (sniff, sniff!)
    Lovely post BTW!
    Keep warm Aimee!
    Carol @greatmealideas

  12. I would make a beef stew. I’ve never owned a slow cooker and think it might be a useful addition to my kitchen.

  13. 4 stars
    J’ai tellement d’idées!
    So much to choose from! My old slow-cooker died on me a while ago. My first recipe would probably be homemade chicken stock. Simmered for hours.

  14. I bought your cookbook yesterday and found myself up very early this morning, unable to wait!

    My first recipe in a slow cooker would be my Oncle Louis’ Haricots Cuit au Four. He passed away last year, and the recipe was passed on to his family members. My Tante Jacqui recently had surgery for lung cancer, and I think it would warm her heart to have a bowl of her brother’s baked beans.

    The only glitch? No slow cooker and the recipe is full of delicious ingredients…but no amounts!

  15. 5 stars
    Wow…I think I would try this recipe for the first time in the cooker….thanks for the giveaway!

  16. I love slow cookers. I think the are the best tool for putting dinner on the table on busy days. With this slow cooker I think the first thing I’d make is a split pea soup, so perfect in the slow cooker!

  17. I am a big soup lover (especially when it is so cold outside!) … first I would make my favourite soup … chicken noodle soup!

  18. Pork shoulder with white wine and tons of garlic is my favorite winter meal from the slow-cooker, but I also love simmering any bones, chicken, lamb or beef for the best bone broth for soups! Love how much it gels when it simmers for hours or even days for the beef bones.

  19. 5 stars
    First creation I would do is Lamb Obsession, followed by redskin fudge, followed by apple scrolls, then marinade pork belly, pulled pork… I am so in love with my slow cooker and it died tonight.

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