I’ll show you how to roast lamb perfectly. A delicious leg of lamb roast is only about 1 1/2 hours and a few ingredients away!
If you’ve never cooked a lamb roast before, I’m here to tell you it’s one of the simplest and most satisfying things you can make. All it takes is a few on-hand ingredients and a little time. During which your house will fill with the most wonderful cooking smells you can imagine.
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
What Cut Of Lamb Do I Need?
When I say “lamb roast” what I mean is a boneless leg of lamb. Look for it at your supermarket, but you might have to go to your local butcher. After they remove the bone, the meat can basically be rolled up into a nice cylinder which makes it perfect for roasting and slicing.
In fact, once the leg is boned and rolled up for roasting, it’s a lot like a pork loin roast in both shape and size. So I use the same cooking method I use for perfect roast pork loin. Starting the lamb in a moderate oven, letting it rest once it gets to the right temperature, and then blasting it in a very hot oven to brown and crisp it up. After that you just carve—no need for resting at the end because it rested already!—and serve.
But there’s one key difference. With pork, you want to cook it to at least medium. But lamb can be eaten anywhere from rare to well done. (Medium-rare is perfection if you ask me.) So there’s a bit more finesse to deciding it’s done. But just a bit! Try serving with a homemade mint sauce that is a classic pairing with lamb.
How To Prepare The Lamb Roast
Before roasting I like to unroll the meat, season it inside and out, and then roll it back up, tying it so the roast holds its shape. If you’d rather not do the tying, ask your butcher to do it, then just skip seasoning the inside, using all the seasonings in the recipe on the outside. Also, sometimes a boneless leg of lamb comes in a sort of net bag, all ready for the oven. In that case, again, just season the outside of the meat, then roast it right in the netting (but remove the netting before carving).
Note that all of what I’m saying applies to a boneless leg of lamb roast. Roasting a bone-in leg, a rack of lamb, a lamb loin, or chops—that’s for another post. :)
Want to learn more about cooking lamb? Visit TheCookful for our Lamb series with great information and recipes.
Enjoy! – Christine :)
Podcast Episode On Roasting Lamb
Listen to learn how to make this recipe, along with some great tips from Christine:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
PrintHow to Roast Lamb Perfectly
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
- Yield: 8–10 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
I’ll show you how to roast lamb perfectly. A delicious leg of lamb roast is only about 1 and ½ hours and a few ingredients away!
Ingredients
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 tsp. pepper
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 (4 1/2– to 5-lb.) boneless leg of lamb
- 3 ribs celery (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Mix together the garlic powder, pepper, and salt.
- Unroll the lamb and, if you want, trim any silver skin from the inside (see note). Sprinkle with about ⅓ of the seasoning mixture. Roll the lamb back up into a log and tie with kitchen twine every 1 and ½ to 2 inches. Sprinkle with the remaining seasoning mixture.
- Put the lamb on a rack in a roasting pan fat side up. If you don’t have a rack use 3 ribs of celery lying side by side.
- Roast until the internal temperature is 125°F for medium-rare to 150°F for well done, 15 to 25 minutes per pound (the temperature will increase as the meat rests).
- Cover the roasting pan with foil and let rest for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, increase the oven to 475°F.
- Roast uncovered for another 10 minutes, until the meat is nicely browned.
- Carve and serve immediately.
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Notes
Here’s a post on how to trim silver skin.