Aussies love slow cooked lamb shanks, and this might be the king of them all! With a rich, deeply flavoured red wine sauce, this is the sort of food you’ll find on the menu of fine dining restaurants.
Just like the Pork Braised Lamb Shanks recipe, this is straightforward to make, but calls for patience to let the lamb shanks cook slowly until they become meltingly tender. Oven, slow cooker, pressure cooker or stove top. Mop your bowl clean with Irish Soda Bread, a quick and easy rustic no-yeast bread!
Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks
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:
Cooking lamb shanks is easy!
Being a tough cut of meat that needs slow cooking to make it fall-off-the-bone tender, lamb shanks are actually very forgiving so it’s a real easy cut to cook with.
Leave it in for an hour too long, and the worst that will happen is that the meat falls off the bone when you go to serve it. If it’s not yet fork tender, just add more liquid and keep cooking.
The only key tip I have is to brown that shank as well as you can. It is a hard shape to brown evenly, but do what you can. Browning is the key flavour base for any protein that’s slow cooked in a braising liquid, like Beef Stew, Pot Roast, Chicken Stew. If you ever see a slow cooked stew recipe that doesn’t call for browning the meat before slow cooking, proceed with caution!
I love slow cooking meat on the bone. Lamb Shanks, Beef Short Ribs and Osso Buco – better flavour more succulent!
About this Slow Cooked Lamb Shank Recipe
Lamb shanks are ideal slow roasted or braised. This is a braised version, and I’ve chosen a classic red wine sauce as the braising liquid.
The red wine sauce is super simple to make but after hours of slow cooking, it transforms into an incredible rich, deeply flavoured sauce that’s silky and glossy, and looks totally posh-restauranty.
Just a quick note on the wine – I do not use expensive wines for slow cooking. I truly believe from the bottom of my heart that even the snobbiest of all food snobs would not be able to tell the difference if you made this with a discount end-of-bin $5 bottle or a $50 bottle. (And the New York Times agrees….)
Maybe you could tell the difference using a $100 bottle. But that’s not within my budget….
Non alcoholic sub for wine?
The wine is a key flavour for the broth in this recipe. However, if you cannot consume alcohol, substitute the wine with the following: 1.5 cups beef broth LOW SODIUM + 1 cup water. + 1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce. Beef has a stronger deeper flavour than chicken so will be more suited to being the sub for wine.
This is one of those recipes that truly is terrific to make in the oven, stove, slow cooker or pressure cooker, as long as its started on the stove to brown the shanks and saute the onion etc. Right now, being winter here in Sydney, I choose the oven so it keeps my house nice and warm! – Nagi x
More slow cooked fall-apart meat
I’m a big fan of slow cooked meats!!
Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks with Red Wine Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 lamb shanks , around 13 oz / 400g each (Note 1)
- 1 tsp each salt and pepper
- 2 - 3 tbsp olive oil , separated
- 1 cup onion , finely diced (brown, yellow or white)
- 3 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 cup carrot , finely diced (Note 2)
- 1 cup celery , finely diced (Note 2)
- 2 1/2 cups / 625 ml red wine , full bodied (good value wine, not expensive! Note 3)
- 28 oz / 800g can crushed tomatoes
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 cups / 500 ml 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)
To Serve:
- Mashed potato, polenta or pureed cauliflower
- Fresh thyme leaves, optional garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F/180C.
- Pat the lamb shanks dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a 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.
- Turn the heat down to medium low. Heat remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil in the same pot, if needed. Add the onion and garlic, cook for 2 minutes.
- Add carrot and celery. Cook for 5 minutes until onion is translucent and sweet.
- Add the red wine, chicken stock, crushed tomato, tomato paste, thyme and bay leaves. Stir to combine.
- Place the lamb shanks into the pot, squeezing them in to fit so they are mostly submerged. (Note 1)
- Turn stove up, bring to a simmer. Cover, then transfer to the oven for 2 hours (see notes for other cook methods).
- Remove from oven, remove lid, then return to the oven for another 30 minutes (so 2 1/2 hours in total). Check to ensure lamb is tender - if not, cover and keep cooking. Ideal is tender meat but still holding onto bone.
- Remove lamb onto plate and keep warm. Pick out and discard bay leaves and thyme.
- 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. Bring to 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.
Recipe Notes:
8. Nutrition per serving. This is conservative - it doesn't take into account fat trimmed from shanks or discarded fat. Also assumes all sauce is consumed which it probably won't be. Originally published August 2015, updated with new photos, video and a slightly refined recipe. Previously the base recipe said to blitz the sauce at the end. It looks much posher and actually does taste nicer just to strain it. 🙂
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
And I stuck my tongue right back at him….
Hi Nagi,
Can I cook this overnight and then do the sauce and reheat when I get home from work?
Sure can Lily!
I need to cook this for 6, how much should I add to the ingredients? Thank you.
Hi Lesley, you can adjust the serving size by using the scaler – this will then adjust all the ingredients for you – N x
Omitted to rate; very much deserved 5 star recipe.
Thanks Graham!
Absolutely delicious; thank you.
Prep time of 10 mins was ambitious -it took me 45 mins to amass and prep the ingredients!! Recommended you to lots of friends.
Graham in the French Alps
I did this recipe in a slow cooker, and it was food from heaven! I had friends over, and everyone loved it.
I’m so glad it was a hit Sherif!
When I tasted this straight out of the oven there wasn’t a lot of oomph to the sauce, so I left it for 24 hours. What a difference a day makes. The sauce was so much richer, just how I wanted it. Thank you Nagi, great recipe.
I love leftovers, the flavours seem to develop!
How long do you think the leftover sauce will last? I want to make it into a pasta sauce but it’s been 7 days in the fridge.
Hi Sur, If it were me I’d toss it just to be safe. You can always freeze next time!
I’ve loved every recipe of yours that I’ve cooked so far. This is no exception! I have a question about using the leftover veggies from the strained sauce option – could you give me a little more guidance for making a pasta sauce from them? I am a recipe follower to my core, so have no idea about how to ad-lib a basic sauce! Thanks 🙂
Hi Lexi, I talk about this in step 5 – theres a tip on how to use in a sauce 🙂
Well i’ve had leg of lamb in my younger years but never cooked any kind of lamb in my 66 yrs i must of got a diff. Recipe I was comming back to see what to do with the broth/veg they called for red wine vinegar 3 cups glad i only had 2 i used a extra cup of chicken broth is there any way to save it? For now it’s going in the fridge! If i didn’t mention it i’ve also NEVER ooked with ANY kind of WINE!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME !and the lamb did fall off the bone!
Hi Gloria, you can always freeze it too 🙂
OMFG THIS IS THE BEST SHANK RECIPE EVER!!!!!!!!!! Had the full restaurant experience last night at home, accompanied with creamy buttery mash and brocollini. Magnificent. Thanks so much for this wonderful recipe
Sounds like you nailed it!! WOOT!!
Amazing recipe! Followed every step and the lamb was excellent! Thank you!
Wahoo, that’s great to hear Kim!
Hi how can I cook this recipe for main meal for 20 people
Hi Leah – you can use the sliding scale to adjust the servings to 20 – I would recommend doing it in two large baking dishes. I’d prep all the sauce elements on the stove as shown and then add to the baking dishes with the shanks. Enjoy!!
Fall off the bone deliciousness. Loved this recipe, thank you! After taking out the shanks, I added a little cornflour and used a potato masher to mash the onion and carrot (I don’t like celery!) into the sauce. This thickened the sauce and dealt with the lumpy veg really easily.
Hello, can I use leg of lamb instead of shanks?
Thanks
Hi Barbara, you could but you’d need to cook it a lot longer – N x
The recipe calls for Chicken Broth & Red Wine…
If i substitute the Wine with Beef Broth, should i still include the Chicken Stock?
Hi Yasser, still include the chicken stock – N x
I made this Wednesday night! Absolutely scrumptious! Thank You Nagi
Wahoo, that’s awesome Jane!
Made these shanks today. So far the tastiest and easiest shanks recipe I have made. Will definitely be adding to the regular list to make!! Delicious!!
That’s awesome Taryn 🙂