Slow-roasted ham with lemon, garlic & sage

Name: Slow-roasted ham with lemon, garlic & sage
Prep time: 18 min
Cook time: 32 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Polish
Ingredients: 5 chopped cloves Garlic; Zest of 1 Lemon; 15g Salt; 10g Black Pepper; 50 ml Vegetable Oil; 2kg Pork Shoulder; 500ml Dry White Wine

By The Spice & Simmer Kitchen · Published May 3, 2026

A one-pot Pork recipe with Polish flavors, built for busy weeknights when you want real food without a sink full of dishes. Comes together in roughly 39 minutes, serves about 4, and uses ingredients you can find at any normal grocery store. The technique is simple: build a base in your pot, layer in the main ingredients, simmer until everything has had time to talk to each other, and serve straight from the pan. If you're cooking for picky eaters, this one tends to land — the flavors are recognizable, the texture is comforting, and there's nothing weird hiding in the ingredient list. Perfect for the kind of evening where you want dinner on the table by 7pm and the kitchen empty by 7:30.

Step-by-step instructions

Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Bash the garlic, sage, lemon zest, salt and pepper together using a pestle and mortar until the mixture becomes a paste. Stir in the oil, then spread the mixture over the pork shoulder, avoiding the skin on top. Score the skin using a sharp knife, then rub a large pinch of salt into the skin. Tie the pork together using kitchen string.
Line a large baking tray with a double layer of foil and put the pork on top, skin-side up. Bring the sides of the foil up around the pork to create a parcel, then pour the wine into the tray around the sides. Transfer to the oven and reduce the temperature to 140C/120C fan/gas 1. Roast for 4-5 hrs, or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the pork reads 70C.
Turn the oven up to 240C/220C fan/gas 9. Carefully spoon the pork roasting juices from the pan into a saucepan and cook over a medium heat for 10-15 mins, or until reduced by a third. Season to taste.
Meanwhile, arrange the foil around the meat so only the skin is exposed, then return to the oven for 10-15 mins until the skin is puffed up and browned all over. Leave to rest for 20 mins before slicing. Serve with the sauce drizzled over.

Why this works on a weeknight

Slow-roasted ham with lemon, garlic & sage lands at about 50 minutes total — a little longer than our 30-minute target, but most of that time is hands-off simmering, which is why it earned a spot in our Sheet-Pan Dinners collection. The technique is forgiving, the ingredient list is grocery-store standard, and the active cooking time is short enough that you can answer a text message in the middle without ruining dinner.

Cleanup notes

This is a single-pan recipe, so the cleanup is exactly one pan, one cutting board, and one knife. While the dish rests, fill the pan with hot soapy water — by the time you are done eating, the residue lifts off with a single pass of a sponge. Skip the steel wool on cast iron; a stiff brush and warm water are all you need to keep the seasoning intact.

Make-ahead and leftovers

Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat in a dry pan over medium-low with a splash of water or stock to loosen the sauce. Slow-roasted ham with lemon, garlic & sage actually improves overnight as the flavors keep talking to each other, so doubling the recipe and packing tomorrow's lunch is a high-leverage weeknight move.

Filed under 🍳 Sheet-Pan Dinners Pork Polish