Lamb shanks are the king of all lamb cuts!! Slow cooked until meltingly tender in a rich, deeply flavoured red wine sauce, this recipe is worthy of fine dining restaurants yet is completely straightforward to make. Serve it over creamy mashed potato with a side of peas or sautéed spinach, with crusty bread to mop your bowl clean!
I have a real soft spot for slow cooked lamb shanks. I just love the look of a hunk of meltingly tender meat wrapped around the bone. Hits my carnivore sweet-spot, every time.
Honestly, if you put this and a towering frosted cake in front of me, this would win every day of the week and twice on Sunday:
Lamb Shanks in Red Wine Sauce
Recipe video above. A classic way to prepare shanks, these are slow cooked in a deeply flavoured red wine sauce until they are meltingly tender. You can’t taste the red wine at the end, it completely transforms into a rich sauce. Make this in the oven, on your stove or even in a slow cooker – instructions provided for all!Note: This is my original lamb shanks recipe. There is also a red wine lamb shanks version in my cookbook which is a little more “fine-dining” style. See Note 7 for more information!
Prep: 20min
Serving Size: 1 serving
Nutrition Facts: calories 624 kcal, Carbohydrate 31 g, Protein 42 g, Fat 25 g, Saturated Fat 5 g, Cholesterol 117 mg, Sodium 1260 mg, Fiber 6 g, Sugar 16 g, unSaturated Fat 19 g, servingSize 1 serving
Ingredients:
- 4 lamb shanks (, around 13 oz / 400g each (Note 1))
- 1 tsp EACH cooking/kosher salt and pepper
- 2 – 3 tbsp olive oil (, separated)
- 1 onion (, finely diced (brown, yellow or white))
- 3 garlic cloves (, minced)
- 1 cup carrot (, peeled, finely diced (Note 2))
- 1 cup celery (, finely diced (Note 2))
- 2 1/2 cups red wine ((full bodied (good value wine, not expensive! Note 3))
- 800 g / 28oz can crushed tomatoes
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 cups chicken stock (, low sodium (or water))
- 5 sprigs of thyme ((preferably tied together), or 2 tsp dried thyme)
- 2 dried bay leaves ((or 4 fresh))
- Mashed potato (, polenta or pureed cauliflower)
- Fresh thyme leaves (, optional garnish)
Instruction:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F (all oven types – fan and standard).
- Season shanks – Pat the lamb shanks dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Brown – Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large heavy based pot over high heat. Sear the lamb shanks in 2 batches until brown all over, about 5 minutes. Remove lamb onto a plate and drain excess fat (if any) from the pot.
- Sauté aromatics – Turn the heat down to medium low. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the same pot. Add the onion and garlic, cook for 2 minutes. Add carrot and celery. Cook for 5 minutes until onion is translucent and sweet.
- Braising liquid – Add the red wine, chicken stock, crushed tomato, tomato paste, thyme and bay leaves. Stir to combine.
- Add shanks – Place the lamb shanks into the pot, squeezing them in to fit so they are mostly submerged. (Note 1)
- Oven 2 hours covered – Turn stove up, bring liquid to a simmer. Cover, then transfer to the oven for 2 hours (see notes for other cook methods).
- Uncovered 30 minutes – Remove lid, then return to the oven for another 30 minutes (so 2 1/2 hours in total). Check to ensure lamb meat is ultra tender – if not, cover and keep cooking. Ideal is tender meat but still just holding onto bone.
- Remove lamb onto plate and keep warm. Pick out and discard bay leaves and thyme.
- Sauce – Strain the sauce into a bowl, pressing to extract all sauce out of the veggies (Note 5 for repurposing the veggies). Pour strained sauce back into pot. If needed, bring to a simmer over medium heat and reduce slightly to a syrupy consistency (see video) – I rarely need to. Taste then add salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve the lamb shanks on mashed potato or cauliflower puree with plenty of sauce! Garnish with thyme leaves if desired.
Spicy Lamb Shanks | Gordon Ramsay
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