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!
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.
You literally cannot overcook lamb shanks.Leave it in for an hour too long, and the meat is still succulent and juicy. The worst that will happen is that the meat falls off the bone when you go to serve it.
And if you pull it out too early and the meat isn’t 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!
What are lamb shanks?
If you’re new to lamb shanks, here’s a rundown: lamb shanks are from the lower leg of lambs, and they are an inexpensive, tough cut of meat.
Because of this, lamb shanks need to be slow cooked – either braised or roasted – to break down the tough meat to soften into succulent tenderness.
The meat itself is full of flavour which adds to the flavour of the sauce.
BONUS: The marrow in the bone melts into the sauce, deepening the flavour and richness. We love freebies around here!!
Classic Red Wine Sauce for Lamb Shanks
Red wine sauce is a classic braising liquid for lamb shanks, with the rich deep flavours a natural pairing with the strong flavour of lamb.
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. So if you cannot consume alcohol, it is best to substitute with non-alcoholic red wine.
Please do not use more beef or chicken stock/broth, even if it’s low sodium. This sauce has amazing flavour in it because it is massively concentrated down (essentially into a jus). So if you use more stock then it will end up too salty.
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
Slow cooked lamb shanks
Watch how to make it
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Lamb Shanks in Red Wine Sauce
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)
To Serve:
- Mashed potato , polenta or pureed cauliflower
- Fresh thyme leaves , optional garnish
Instructions
- 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 (Note 5 on sauce taste).
- Serve the lamb shanks on mashed potato or cauliflower puree with plenty of sauce! Garnish with thyme leaves if desired.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published August 2015, updated with new photos, video and a slightly refined recipe in 2018. Previously the base recipe said to blitz the sauce at the end. It looks much posher (ie fine dining style) and actually does taste nicer just to strain it because the sauce stays glossy – if you blitz, sauce becomes more matte and is not as smooth. 🙂 Recipe then further improved when it was decided to include this lamb shanks in my debut cookbook Dinner – that “restaurant” version is exclusive to my cookbook!
Life of Dozer
And I stuck my tongue right back at him….
Hi, I just came across boneless shanks in Coles which i didn’t see before. Oddly enough, cheaper than shanks with bones! $12 vs ~$15! Wonder if the recipe will work for those? Also, oven cooking is not technically “slow cooking” which is reserved for cooking at lower temp of 80-90C for long time. Can I use Instant pot slow cooking mode instead of oven? Tnx
This recipe is amazing and my 8 year old daughter is begging me to make it again – because the veges go into a lasagna that’s even better than the shanks!!
(Also, when I’m cooking, my daughter asks me now if it’s a Nagi recipe – even she knows they’re always good!! 🤣)
I’ve made this recipe many many times. But alas, my wife doesn’t like lamb shanks. I considered getting a different wife, but this one is pretty neat. So to compromise, I put some beef short ribs in the mix as well. Cook them in the same sauce, exact same technique. It’s pure magic…
And the lovely wife… she approves 🙂
I’m a big fan of Nagi’s recipes and have tried many of them, including the others lamb shank recipes.I followed this recipe to the T and must say that it wasn’t as good as the others. The tomato was too much, made my dish sour and needed honey to balance it out. Next time I will use half the tomato.
Hi Charl! I’m sorry yours came out too sour, it sounds like the canned tomatoes you used might’ve been sour. I’ve had problems with poor quality canned tomatoes too, so disappointing. I’m glad you raised this point though, I will add it as a tip! N x
This recipe is a cracker. My partner made it yesterday and the aroma in the house was amazing. It tasted fantastic too. We’re using the leftover sauce and meat for pasta tomorrow night. This type of food makes me very happy.
I think I stuffed up. I don’t have an oven safe pot so I was transferring the shanks and sauce to a different baking dish for the slow cook and didn’t let the sauce come to a simmer before starting the slow cook in the oven .. it’s been in the oven for over an hour now so it’s probably too late. Will the sauce taste okay or is the wine going to be really strong ? It’s smelling strong right now lol.
On the non-alcoholic sub for the wine – this recipe is already non-alcoholic. The alcohol is burned off in the cooking process. If you don’t drink wine, then freeze the remainder for next time you need to cook with red wine.
Hi Nagi, my family loves this recipe so much, and I was wondering how I can double it. I’ve got 8 lamb shanks to use. Do I just double the recipe? I plan on cooking this in the slow cooker. Any advice appreciated! Thanks, Liz
This was just amazing 🤩 a real family winner! Can you reuse the sauce with something like beef meaty bones? Slow cooked?
I don’t understand the pressure cooker instructions.
I made this in my electric pressure cooker on high for 40mins. I assumed the stove directions that followed were for pressure cookers that work on a stove so I ignored this bit.
We did enjoy the meal but the meat was quite tough and chewy, and we had an excessive amount of liquid sauce that would have taken ages to boil down.
I think next time I’ll try the oven option for a better result.
Hi Pauline, there are two types of pressure cookers. One that is electric and one that is used on the stove. The first sentence for the pressure cooker, is for the electric ones. The second sentence relates to stove use type.
I usually love Nagi’s recipes but this one lacked depth of flavor. Maybe should have used beef stock instead of chicken? I was looking for the amazing flavor found in the Beef Cheeks recipe (they were too pricey today) but found this sauce light on somehow and lacking richness.
I followed the recipe exactly and was so pleased with the result. I cooked 3 good-sized shanks for 3 adults, we could have eaten more, they were so tender and flavoursome. It is absolutely worth the effort of straining the vegies off the sauce and having a smooth pouring sauce – oh my goodness, that sauce is a taste sensation!
I followed the recipe exactly and was so pleased with the result. I cooked 3 good-sized shanks for 3 adults, we could have eaten more, they were so tender and flavoursome. It is absolutely worth the effort of straining the vegies off the sauce and having a smooth pouring sauce – oh my goodness, that sauce is a taste sensation!
this was FANTASTIC! i will note that i accidentally used twice the garlic and onions–i cut the recipe in half because i had only one shank but forgot to halve the garlic and onions, so that may have made a good recipe even better!
Omg this is unbelievably good thank you so much for sharing your recipe. I will be making it again and again.
I love all your recipes. Just wondering if I can I make this the night before for a dinner party? It’s because I won’t have enough time to do this on the actual day.
Hi Katrina, did you get a reply to this question as I am making this today for dinner tomorrow night and am concerned it won’t keep well in the fridge.
It taste’s even better the next day! I make sure it’s properly heated up the next day.
I made these tonight for a dinner party and they were amazing! I did add 1 sprig of fresh roesmary and I also left tge dutch oven uncovered for the duration per Gordon Ramsay’s technique.
I’ve cooked this about three or four times now and it’s been a wonderful each time. A favourite with everyone. I confess I blitzed the veg each time and we love the flavour.
Amazing!!!! I am not a great cook. I usually just grill. This time I decided to try to cook lamb shanks since I always get them at restaurants. OMG!! This recipe is fantastic and so easy! Thank you!!!!
Although I am one of your biggest fans, both my wife and I thought that this recipe was lacking something. It was good but not quite as tasty as you usually do things. I have compared the recipe with one we have used previously which uses paprika, crushed coriander seeds and less chopped tomatoes, followed by a tablespoon of honey.