Slow-Cooked Lamb Shoulder With Rosemary Garlic & Honey

This rosemary garlic and honey slow-cooked lamb shoulder is essentially the most unbelievable lamb roast I’ve ever made! Succulent, fall-apart meat on the within, crispy browned on the skin and with essentially the most scrumptious, caramelised sauce. This lamb recipe is ideal for weekends, Christmas, Easter or Thanksgiving.

I like roasting meat on the weekends or for particular events like Christmas or Easter. Lamb roast is our household favorite and this explicit slow-cooked lamb shoulder with rosemary, garlic and honey is just essentially the most scrumptious! 

That is the principle I might be making for Christmas and I can’t wait for everybody to attempt it. For this recipe, I used a 1.3 kg lamb shoulder, which is often large enough for 4-5 individuals, so I might be roasting two of those lamb shoulders over the vacations. 

Finest Gradual-Cooked Lamb Shoulder Roast

There are various lamb roast recipes on the market BUT that is the greatest I’ve made. The key was to rating the lamb with deep slits so I used to be capable of rub seasoning and rosemary in as a lot meat as potential, plus insert the garlic cloves. 

The lamb is then slow-cooked within the oven with some purple wine and water to maintain it pretty and moist AND to kind an unbelievable pan sauce. The lamb shoulder is roasted lined with foil for simply over 2 hours, then drizzled generously with honey and completed uncovered for 30 extra minutes. 

Lamb juices and honey dribble into the pan broth, which reduces and caramelises throughout cooking. This provides you the BEST purple wine, rosemary, and honey lamb sauce with out you having to do further work! 

Substances For Lamb Roast

Lamb shoulder – for this recipe, I used a smallish lamb shoulder with the bone in, about 1.3 -1.5kg (3 lbs), which is loads for 4-5 individuals. Should you’re cooking for extra individuals, you may both use a bigger lamb shoulder OR cook dinner two in a big baking tray. See recipe notes for measurements and cooking instances variations. You should utilize boneless lamb shoulder as nicely, it should take much less time to cook dinner. 

Rosemary – this recipe makes use of 5-6 giant sprigs and the needles are pulled off and chopped to allow them to be rubbed into the meat. I like contemporary however you could possibly use dry herbs as a substitute, about 2 tablespoons. Thyme is also used.

Garlic – lamb meat loves garlic so go to city right here. I lower the cloves into lengthy items as they’re simpler to insert into the slits of the meat.

Seasoning – salt, pepper and smoked paprika, which I like with the lamb.

Honey – any runny honey can be utilized.

Purple wine – this provides flavour and acidity to our lamb gravy sauce. 

How To Make My Gradual-Cooked Lamb Shoulder

You’ll discover the complete recipe card with elements and a dietary breakdown beneath. Listed below are the steps for making my slow-cooked lamb shoulder recipe.

Step 1. Preheat the oven to 180 C / 356 F. 

Step 2. Pull the needles off the rosemary sprigs and chop them into small items. Minimize the garlic cloves (lengthways) into 2-3 items every.

Step 3. Place the lamb shoulder on a chopping board, meatier facet up. Use a pointy knife to attain the highest with deep slits (see photograph). 

Step 4. Drizzle with olive oil and rub it in. Sprinkle all sides with salt, pepper, smoked paprika and chopped rosemary, rubbing the whole lot into the meat cuts. Insert garlic items within the slits and any folds of the meat. 

Step 5. Add 1 cup of water and a couple of/3 cup of purple wine to a deep roasting pan. Place the lamb shoulder inside, meatier facet up. Cowl with one piece of foil, tucking the sides near the meat and with one other piece of foil overlaying the sides of the pan. It’s a double foil wrap. 

Step 6. Place within the preheated oven, center shelf, and cook dinner for about 2 hours and quarter-hour. 

Step 7. After cooking for that lengthy, take away from the oven and take off the foil. Scoop a few of the juices from the pan and drizzle over the lamb meat. Then drizzle generously with honey, about 4 tablespoons, spreading it evenly over the meat. You don’t want to show the lamb shoulder over, simply drizzle the highest.

Step 8. Pop again within the oven with no foil wrap and cook dinner for an additional half-hour. I discover that is lengthy sufficient and the highest of the meat might be well-browned and the honey caramelised. The liquid within the pan will scale back fairly a bit, with the honey and lamb juices included into the sauce and caramelised. 

Take away from the oven and canopy with foil for about 5-10 minutes to relaxation. Then use the spoon to scoop and drizzle the sauce within the pan over the lamb. Function is or carve the meat and serve within the pan sauce. 

Recipe tip: You’ll be able to add some pre-boiled potatoes or contemporary carrots to the pan for the final stage of cooking. They are going to take in a few of that pretty sauce although. 

Extra Lamb Recipes To Strive

Full Recipe 

Discover the complete record of elements, directions, and dietary breakdown beneath. When you’ve got questions or cook dinner this recipe, please let me know within the feedback, and ensure to fee this recipe so it’s simple for others to seek out.

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How a lot lamb meat per individual?

The meat shrinks whereas cooking, revealing a giant bone within the center, so the lamb shoulder will look smaller as soon as roasted. 

A median 1.5 kg / 3 lb lamb shoulder yields about 700-800 g/1.4lb of meat as soon as cooked. 

This ought to be sufficient for about 5 individuals (4 if they’re very hungry and love lamb). I discover that with facet dishes, you may stretch it out. 

For instance, I might be cooking for about 10 individuals on Christmas eve, so I plan to cook dinner 2 x 1.2-1.5 kg lamb shoulder in a single pan with numerous sides.  

Lamb leg vs Lamb Shoulder

Lamb shoulder is a fattier lower of lamb with extra connective tissue and requires low and gradual cooking BUT can be tastier consequently in my view. 

It ought to be slow-cooked on low to reasonable warmth, which permits all that connective tissue and fats to soften into the meat, leading to very succulent meat. A shoulder is smaller than the leg so it normally takes round 3 hours at 180 C / 356 F.   

In a nutshell, I discover lamb shoulder has extra flavour and is simpler to cook dinner. 

A lamb leg is leaner and has much less connective tissue so it normally cooks a little bit quicker however can get harder if overcooked and never lined in sufficient liquid (see my subsequent level!).

The primary factor to recollect concerning the lamb leg is that it ought to both be cooked at a excessive temperature quick to blushing pink & juicy (beneath 2 hours at 220 C / 425 F, like on this recipe https://www.recipetineats.com/roast-lamb-leg-with-gravy/. Or, it may be slow-cooked till it falls aside, however that takes extra like 5-6 hours at 170C. Something in between may be powerful and never very good. 

Each lamb shoulder and lamb leg will style scrumptious with rosemary, garlic and honey and cooked with purple wine. 

If you wish to use lamb leg for THIS explicit recipe, I like to recommend utilizing the low and gradual cooking methodology and including further water and wine to the pan. You’ll roast at 170 C / 338 F for 4-5 hours beneath the foil, then uncover and drizzle with honey and roast for an extra hour. Verify midway to see if you could add extra water and wine to verify it doesn’t dry out AND you’ve gotten sufficient liquid for the jus.