This recipe for baked lamb shanks is stunning because it is very calming. In a lot of red wine, the meat is slowly cooked. It only requires a quick transfer from the burner to the oven for preparation. The pan juices should be poured over creamy mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, risotto, or even soft polenta when serving this.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 3 hrs |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs 20 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
Ingredients
- ½ cup olive oil
- 4 (1 pound) lamb shanks
- ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 2 onions, cut into chunks
- 1 leek, halved and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 12 cloves garlic, unpeeled
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
- 1 sprig thyme
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 1 ½ cups red wine
- 1 pinch sea salt to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
- Heat olive oil in a heavy, metal roasting pan on the stove over medium-high heat. Toss shanks with flour to coat well; then shake off excess. Sear shanks in hot oil until well browned on all sides, then remove from the pan and set aside.
- Add celery, carrots, onion, leek, and garlic to the roasting pan. Cook until softened and lightly browned, stirring constantly; about 5 minutes. Season with bay leaf, peppercorns, thyme, and rosemary. Pour in chicken stock and red wine, increase heat to high, and bring to a simmer. Season to taste with salt. Place the lamb shanks on top of the vegetables.
- Cover the roasting pan tightly with heavy aluminum foil and place into the preheated oven. Bake gently until meat is tender and falls off the bone, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
- Remove bay leaf and herb stems before serving shanks with vegetables and sauce.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 824 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 35 g |
| Cholesterol | 173 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 61 g |
| Saturated Fat | 9 g |
| Sodium | 793 mg |
| Sugars | 6 g |
| Fat | 41 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I’ll make this again! Smoked on Traeger with applewood. 225F for about 3 hours. Golden brown. No browning required. Much of the fat is in the drip pan. Added a can of chopped tomato and full can of paste. Heavy cast iron covered pot In the oven for about 4+ hours. Check every hour and add more stock or water as required. Next time, much more tomato and stock. We like the sauce on the potatoes. Meat falls of the bone. Leftover lamb will be even tastier.
Excellent recipe – this is our go-to recipe for lamb shanks. I love to BBQ & smoke so I adapted the recipe to this approach. The smoker (Big Green Egg) is set up for indirect cooking at 275F – 300F. I use a mild smoking wood with the charcoal such as apple or pecan. The Lamb shanks are seasoned with salt, pepper and rosemary and put on the smoker for about 2-3 hour or until the internal temperature hits 165F. While the shanks are smoking, the veggies are sautéed and put in a crock pot with the seasonings & braising liquid, temp set to high. Add the lamb shanks and let them braise slowly for at least 4 hours. I usually smoke in the morning and braise all afternoon. Serve over mashed potatoes. My wife’s favorite!!
Oooh yum! I was given 4 fresh lamb shanks and wanted to try to braise it. I added to the recipe with tomato paste and balsamic vinegar. I also added 3 sliced white potatoes to use as thickening. And I cooked it in my Instapot. The smell was as the title says “Heavenly!” My family floated in on the smell lots of times before dinner was served. I added fresh chopped mint leaves to the end and everyone raved about it. Just delicious! Try it. Don’t be afraid to add your own herbs and flavors to it. Lamb is strong and can take a lot of different strong seasonings.
This is a great recipe as is. I’m doing it again tonight but with a leg of lamb. It’s cloudy today so it’s a great day to smell this all day. I serve with polenta and mint sauce.
Made this dish for family and a few friends; it was a huge hit! Got compliments from our guests, my husband and our pickiest daughter. Used white wine and beef broth (what I had on hand), would love to try it w/red wine next. I sautéed the veggies first, then braised the shanks in the same heavy skillet and then put them into baking dishes, layered the veggies on top, covered tightly w/foil, baked in 350-degree oven for 1.5 hrs. This is a keeper! Thank you for a wonderful recipe. Deeeelish!
It was very simple to make , I didn’t add the red wine, and it was delicious
We recently have become fans of lamb chops and decided to try lamb shanks. This recipe got our attention with the red wine as an ingredient. I used my cast-iron Dutch oven and this came out perfect! I have lots of thyme in my herb garden so I actually added a bit more than called for. We had mashed potatoes and poured some of the sauce over them for a yummy side! Corn-on-the-cob completed this fantastic meal. This was easy to make and tasted like I worked for hours on it.
This was delicious. I didn’t have any leeks on hand so left that part out. I would have liked the broth to be a bit stronger so next time I might reduce it a bit at the end or use more wine and less chicken broth. Wonderful just as it is though.
This was great! My family loved it. I will definitely make it again.
No changes. Made it just as directed and it was delicious!!! Can’t wait to make it again!
Didn’t have leeks and used a cast iron Dutch Oven. But other than that, followed the recipe. Delish! Only used two shanks and cut the recipe to three people. Still enough leftovers for tonight. Served over coconut rice from this site. Will be making this again. Thank you
My answer to the grease problem is to make the casserole the day before and put it into the fridge once it has cooled. The fat solidifies and is easy to remove the following day before reheating and serving. This is a family favorite and easy to make. I don’t bother to flour the shanks but simply brown them.
Delicious, made it in a dutch oven pot. I rubbed shanks with seasoning before browning. I will not rub next time it burned, so I removed all burnt seasonings which also removed grease. That was good because I think that decreased the amount of greasiness others were saying. I used balsamic vinegar & ketchup (3 shakes), a leak (frozen and cut up) and sweet wine about 2 splashes, but did not use bay leaf or peppercorns.
I love this recipe. I did substitute Beef Shanks and beef broth.This makes the whole house smell wonderful too. I made creamy polenta with some garlic, parsley, and some fresh grated parmesan. I have made it with the Lamb and it was delicious but the last time we bought the shanks they were bad…(horrible rotten meat smell when opened)…soooo bad that none of us want to eat lamb anymore. I used a tea ball for the fresh rosemary, thyme and bay leaf this time so that I didn’t have to find later.
I made these today. Lick the plate good! We only had 2 shanks, so I’m thinking maybe cook time should have been a little bit shorter. Very good, tasty. I solved the grease problem by cleaning up the shanks before the flour step.
Really good served over mashed potatoes. I used a large Dutch oven with the lid on, and 1.5 hrs was plenty for 300 degrees and the 4 shanks I had. The sauce was great over the potatoes too, so I imagine if it’s oily, it may depend on the oil content of your shanks. I did use about 1/3 cup of oil to brown them in instead of the half cup, just because I’m sensitive about too much oil. A good recipe that I will likely use again. The kids ate it up and asked for seconds!
I will definitely make this again! The only changes I made were replacing the springs of rosemary and thyme with 1 teaspoon of dried rosemary and thyme. I also cooked the entire dish in an electric skillet. It worked wonderfully.
Defiantly a keeper! Excellent recipe ~
Just made this recipe for my mom’s birthday. went down a treat. cheers
I really like this recipe and have made it several times. I use the leftover juices as soup base for lamb stew (strain, degrease, and freeze) My only problem is consistently finding lamb shanks in my area. I buy a whole lamb every year and it only comes with four. (too bad they’re not more like centipedes–creepy but delicious) 😉
This was only ok. I found the gravy bitter. I added a little sugar which helped, but I probably won’t make again.