Pot Roasted Lamb Shank

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This pot roasted lamb shank recipe is one of my all time favourites. I love lamb anyway, but slow roasted over 5 hours in red wine. Wow, what more can you ask for. This is one slow cook that is well worth the wait.

Just look at that! Mouthwatering right? It was actually quite funny because I cooked 4 of these beauties and only one stayed together. The other 3 were so tender they fell off the bone in the pot. If it had happened to this last one then there would be no photos and no post! Unless I’d made some more…????

There is another reason why this is such a great recipe, apart from the fantastic taste. That is, with pot roasted lamb shanks you can prepare them and then put in the oven and just leave them. They will be ready at dinner time and, in truth, even if you are a little late they will be fine.

So let’s make them…

1. Get all of the ingredients together

Although this is a “put in the pot and leave” recipe there are still a number of ingredients. The measurements are in the printable recipe below, and, of course, just scale up or down if cooking more or less than 4.

There is a little preparation though. You do need to roughly chop the carrots and celery and finely chop the onion and garlic. Apart from that, for pot roasted lamb shanks, it’s just a bit of stove cooking and bang them in the oven.

2. Brown of the lamb shanks

To start the cooking you need to brown off the lamb shanks. Using a large casserole pot heat the olive oil over medium heat and simply add the shanks. Do this in batches if you need to.

Add some seasoning and keep turning the lamb shanks until they are browned all over.

Once browned remove from the pot and set aside for now.

3. Prepare the vegetables

Using the same pot (do not clean), add a little more oil and the butter and sweat off the onions and garlic over low-medium heat. Try not to burn them.

Now, add the celery and carrots and cook through. Keep the heat low-medium and use the pot lid to keep some of the moisture in. Again, you don’t want to burn the onion and garlic or else you may create a bitter taste.

Now, add the bay leaf and thyme along with the tomato puree. Mix the puree in so that it covers all of the vegetables.

Stir well and cook through for around a minute and then add the flour.

Coat all of the vegetables in the flour.

Your dry ingredients are now ready to add the wet ingredients.

4. Add the wet ingredients

The first thing to do is to add the red wine. Pour this into the pot and stir well into the flour. Cook through for 3-4 minutes. You will have what looks like a gooey red paste. Not very attractive at all but don’t worry, the wine will enhance the lamb’s flavor wonderfully.

Now, add the lamb shanks back into the pot. Make sure you also pour back any juices that have come from the lamb while it rested.

Finally, and simply, add the tinned plum tomatoes and the chicken stock and mix everything together.

Bring this to a simmer and then replace the lid and put in a pre-heated oven at 140C / 120C Fan. Leave for 5 hours checking occasionally just to make sure there is still enough liquid in the pot. If it does start to reduce too much just add some more chicken stock.

5. Finish off the pot roasted lamb shank

After the lamb shanks have been in the oven for 5 hours or more remove them and place them on the stove. They should look something like this.

The final thing to do is to check the sauce seasoning and consistency. Season to taste by adding sea salt and ground black pepper. Although the consistency should be fine with the recipe below if you do find the gravy a little thin just heat the pot on the stove and add a little cornflour and water mix until the consistency is what you desire.

Finally, leave the lamb shank to rest for 15 minutes.

6. Serve and enjoy

With the lamb shanks rested simply serve with some of the vegetables. I put the lamb on a bed of potato puree, but that was only because we had some other courses with the meal. If just having this as a midweek hearty winter dinner then why not serve with buttered crusty bread. I know, a little unhealthy but when you dip that bread in that gravy…Wow!!

Ok, my fine food followers. Pot roasted lamb shank. This was such a great meal. I do hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as I did eating it! A mouthwatering lamb luxury. If you can get these bad boys from your local butcher I urge you to give them a go. There are really worth it!!

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As always, many thanks for reading and until next time… Steve.

7. Nutritional values

8. Printable recipe

Steve Deacon

Founder & Writer

Hi, I'm Steve, founder of The Yum Yum Club. After years in the corporate rat race traveling the world, my wife Jen and I settled back in the UK to follow our true passion: great food and wine. Having worked in restaurant kitchens in my youth, I share honest home-cooked recipes, kitchen timing tips, and culinary discoveries.

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