How to slow cook lamb (2024)

FAQs

How do you keep lamb from drying out in a slow cooker? ›

Lamb leg is lean, so to slow cook it's best to partially submerge in a flavoured liquid which keeps the flesh moist plus infuses with flavour. I'm using garlic and rosemary in this recipe – classic lamb flavours!

Cuts like the shoulder, shanks and forequarter are much more forgiving than a leg of lamb, and they can stay in the slow cooker for a couple more hours than the recommended cooking time. However, if you leave lamb in the slow cooker for too long it will become stringy and dry.

Transfer to oven and roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest section of lamb registers 125°F to 130°F (52° to 54°C) for medium-rare, or 130°F to 135°F for medium (54° to 57°C), 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Remove from oven and let rest, uncovered, for 40 minutes.

so give a little more info and folks can do a bit of helping you up your lamb game. If you have cooked it long enough it will be tender. If it is not tender the collagen has not broken down fully. Make sure the temp is low on your crockpot not medium or higher.

Slow-cooking lamb requires patience. While cooking, resist the urge to keep checking on the lamb and refrain from opening the oven or slow cooker. Opening the lid or foil too often will lower the temperature and extend the cooking time, making the meat less juicy and tender.

Slow-cooking lamb

Slow cooking in liquid transforms tougher cuts of lamb into fork-tender meat. Neck, shoulder and belly, either diced or as whole joints, are the best cuts for slow cooking and need to be cooked for at least 2 hrs at 150C to soften the meat.

No, lamb shanks don't have to be completely covered in liquid, but they also can't be dry roasted. In a slow cooker, the steam trapped inside from any added liquids will be enough to cook the shanks.

A lamb leg is classic. A 3-hour shoulder is excellent. But for the most succulent roast lamb of your life, slow-roast it for 12 hours in the oven overnight. Cooked at a very low temperature with plenty of braising liquid, you can set-and-forget without a worry.

No, you don't have to brown lamb before slow cooking. The meat will still become moist and fall-off-the-bone tender. However, the slow cooker will never be hot enough to brown the meat, so if you decide to skip this step be aware that the finished dish may look paler than expected.

As the end of the cooking time draws near, press the outside centre of your lamb lightly with tongs or a clean fingertip to judge its degree of doneness. As a rough guide: Very soft = rare – bright red, raw centre. Soft = medium rare – pink inside with a red centre.

Is it better to cook lamb slow or fast? ›

Slow cooking in liquid transforms tougher cuts of lamb into fork-tender meat. Neck, shoulder and belly, either diced or as whole joints, are the best cuts for slow cooking and need to be cooked for at least 2 hrs at 150°C to soften the meat.

I put about 1/16 layer of broth at the bottom of the crock, wrapped the meat in foil(shiny side against the meat), and slow cooked for 8 hours. And the meat came out tasty. It had browned, oozed all kind of good juice, and was very moist.

With chewy cuts, you are going to braise it long and slow to get a tender outcome, and diced lamb is either served as stew or meat pie, 2–3 hrs simmered with a thickener like flour.

Whether boneless or bone-in, the perfect leg of lamb should be either oven-roasted until blushing pink on the inside (with an internal temp around 130°F) or roasted long and slow for several hours until the meat is very tender and falls apart to internal temp around 175°F (I often use the slow cooker for that).

Lower temp = more succulent meat – Tough cuts like lamb shoulder need slow-cooking to tenderise them. The lower the roasting temperature, the less total moisture evaporation and thus juicier meat. 3-hour lamb is cooked at 180°C/350°F, while the 12 hour lamb is cooked at only 100°C/212°F.

The juices need time to redistribute throughout the meat. Cut too soon and the juices will end up pooling on the cutting board, leaving you with a drier cut of meat. Follow this tip: For a more tender and juicy piece of lamb, allow the meat to rest for at least 15 minutes after removing it from the oven.

They don't need to be completely submerged, just as long as most of the meaty end is mostly submerged, that's fine. If you don't have a pot large enough, you can switch to a baking dish for the slow cooking part, and cover with a double layer of foil if you don't have a lid for it.