Watch them be the first to leave the table if you serve these at a buffet on game day. Even serving them at a formal meal would be considered elegant. If desired, add fresh tarragon as a garnish.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 3 hrs 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs 50 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 4 lamb shanks
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 6 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 cup chicken broth
- ⅓ cup saba
- ½ teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
- Place lamb shanks into a large bowl; drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt, black pepper, smoked paprika, cinnamon, and rosemary. Toss the lamb shanks to spread oil and seasonings over the meat.
- Spread onion slices and garlic cloves into the bottom of a heavy 9×12-inch baking dish. Lay lamb shanks over onions and garlic.
- Bake lamb in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 200 degrees F (95 degrees C).
- Combine chicken broth and saba in a bowl. Pour mixture over the lamb shanks. Cover baking dish tightly with foil and place baking dish on a baking sheet.
- Bake lamb in the oven until a knife pierces the meat easily, 2 1/2 to 3 hours. The meat will be tender but not falling off the bone. Use tongs to turn the shanks over in the pan sauce. Increase temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Return shanks to oven and bake, uncovered, until meat is fork-tender and the sauce has thickened slightly, 10 to 15 minutes. Turn shanks over in the sauce after 10 minutes and check for tenderness; if still not tender enough, return to oven for 10 to 15 more minutes and test again.
- Transfer lamb shanks to a bowl and keep warm. Strain pan juices into a saucepan and place over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring often, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Skim any excess grease from top of sauce. Taste and season with salt; stir in fresh rosemary. Serve sauce drizzled over lamb shanks.
- Saba, or “mosto cotto”, is a kind of cooked grape juice–a sweet syrup made with the remnants (“must”) from the winemaking process. It’s similar to an aged balsamic vinegar. You can find it very easily online or at a fancy cheese or gourmet shop.
- You can substitute an aged balsamic vinegar for the saba.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 334 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 10 g |
| Cholesterol | 82 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 26 g |
| Saturated Fat | 7 g |
| Sodium | 1035 mg |
| Sugars | 2 g |
| Fat | 21 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Great! I made one lamb shank so made a quarter of a recipe. Used balsamic vinegar and added mushrooms. Next time, I’ll use a whole onion. It was delicious.
Amazing flavors! I made one substitution, I didn’t have Saba, but I had fig balsamic so used that instead added a splash of port wine to it and cooked it on stovetop to thicken a little. It was a great substitute! It was one of the best lamb recipes I have ever tried.
This was excellent. The recipe was followed to a tee. The only thing I added to the braising step was 8oz of sliced mushrooms that I had on hand. I have to say they did not disappoint. I love mushrooms so to me they only added to the dish. Once again Chef John you are my hero.
Absolutely delicious. I followed it almost to the TV except I added a whole tablespoon of dried rosemary and I used a whole head of garlic?. I ended up having to cook a little longer but was tender and delicious. From my photo you can see I added as a side dish savory acorn squash. Fabulous, fabulous Autumn meal
Absolutely delicious – would not change a thing. Made according to recipe – we love it
This recipe was Fantastic. The combination of sweet from the Saba and cinnamon alongside the aromatic rosemary gave the lamb a flavor that can’t be beat. I sprinkled a Teaspoon of cinnamon over the Garlic and onion bed before cooking, it gave it a little more spice for the sauce.I
I am a lover of lamb and this was delicious. Have a new stove and it may not be accurate because it cooked in 2 1/2 hours. I definitely will make again just cutting down cooking time.
Did not have Saba so I used aged balsamic. Used gluten free flour to thicken the brazing liquid and kept the onions and garlic. I think this was a good call because the sauce has so much flavor and felt the flavors did not need intenceifing. The long cooking time requires some planning; however, you will get some very nice complements and it is well worth the effort. I will be making this again for special friends. Awesome dinner!
Delicious.
Outstanding! This recipe is very flavorful and very easy. I was surprised at the complex flavors without all the fuss.
I made the recipe exactly as directed. I even ordered a bottle of saba online and waited for it to arrive before making this dish. The meat was fall-off-the-bone tender and I thought the sauce was very tasty. My husband remarked that it was the best lamb he ever had. Personally, I’ve decided that I just don’t truly enjoy lamb.
I cooked the shanks an hour longer than the recipe called for, but they were still not done. I think next time I’ll make them in a covered pot and take the top off the last 15-20 minutes. The taste was great. It’s a very good recipe. It’s just the cooking method that didn’t work fo me.
WAS great only thing is next time i would use a little less balsamic
Easy and delicious. I wondered what the cinnamon would add to lamb … deliciousness!! Highly recommend.
i followed the recipe pretty closely other than using balsamic vinegar vs. saba. It was only OK for my family and me. I really don’t ever end up liking cinnamon in savory dishes, but this was so well reviewed and I wanted to stick with the recipe, so I kept the cinnamon in.
I didn’t have saba or aged balsamic but I did have regular balsamic (Kirkland brand). I made a reduction out of that to use in place of the Saba and it turned out rreally good! I was worried there would be a vinegary taste since the house smelled like vinegar for the first 2 hours of cooking but there was no vinegar taste. I bet if I had used Saba or aged balsamic this would have been divine instead of just really good
This was one of the best meals I made. My family loved it. The saba made my whole house smell divine. You can’t go wrong with this recipe.
Well that was delicious! Used balsamic as I was too lazy to go find Saba! Also used rotisserie chicken seasoning and water since I was out of chicken broth. This was probably one of the best things I’ve ever made. So good.
I used balsamic reduction instead of saba, it was extremely delicious.
Added a bit of chili to taste…slow cooker is the best for this kind of dish…Thank’s a lot…
Follewed recipe as is and it was great. However, needed to cook longer, probably because shanks were quite large. Will make again!