One of the safest cuts of meat is lamb shanks, and when you braise it, you have just about the safest thing there is. These lamb shanks are guaranteed to be a hit after a lengthy, slow roast in a flavorful broth.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 2 hrs 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 5 ½ pounds lamb shanks
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 rib celery, diced
- 1 large carrot, diced
- 1 ½ tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ cup red wine
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
- Place lamb shanks into a roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil; season with salt, black pepper, dried rosemary, and thyme. Toss lamb shanks to coat with oil and seasonings.
- Roast in the preheated oven until lamb is browned, about 30 minutes.
- Reduce oven heat to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat; cook and stir onion, celery, and carrot in the hot butter until onion is browned, about 10 minutes. Stir flour into vegetables until combined; mix in garlic. Cook and stir for 1 more minute.
- Pour red wine into vegetable mixture, stir to combine, and mix in chicken stock, water, balsamic vinegar, and cinnamon. Pour sauce over lamb shanks in the roasting pan. Cover roasting pan with aluminum foil, sealing foil loosely so that the sauce can reduce slightly as it cooks.
- Bake lamb shanks for 1 hour; flip lamb shanks and place foil back on dish. Continue baking until a fork inserts easily into the meat, about 1 more hour. Transfer lamb shanks to a large bowl, cover with foil, and let rest for 10 minutes.
- Pour braising liquid into a saucepan, place over high heat, and boil for 10 minutes, skimming fat as it reduces and thickens slightly. Stir chopped rosemary into sauce, check levels of salt and pepper, and serve lamb shanks with pan sauce.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 502 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 8 g |
| Cholesterol | 169 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 50 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Sodium | 153 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 27 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Nom nom!! Seriously delicious, & I didn’t change a thing! It turned out GREAT!
Excellent. Only change was I used Oxo lamb stock.to replace the chicken stock. Delicious!
This was very, very good. I followed the recipe pretty closely except for replacing the suggested cup of water with another cup of chicken broth (my own). One change: as I usually do with lamb shanks, I peeled and chopped a couple of parsnips, boiled them in the extra chicken broth, and then pureed them with a hand blender before adding them to the broth. Parsnips done like this help thicken the broth, and make the flavour richer with a subtle touch of sweetness. Note: lamb shanks are usually sold either individually by your local butcher or frozen in packages of three. It makes no sense to specify lamb shanks in pounds – they are served one per person. As it happens, lamb shanks weigh around one pound each, so the 5 1/2 pounds specified = 6 medium-sized lamb shanks = six servings.
Incredible recipe! The cinnamon really made it something unique and special. I wouldn’t have thought to add it in myself.
This was Wonderful. So delicious. I served it with Quinoa . Also great over Egg noodles Total YUM! Thanks Chef John love your narrations.
It was melt in your mouth tender. The cinnamon gives it a wonderful flavor. Very easy to follow recipe. The long bake time gave me time to make the mashed potatoes and side salad. It was well worth the wait.
Wow! Another winner from Chef John! Followed his recipe to a T and this turned out ABSOLUTELY PERFECTLY! I would never have known how to prepare it otherwise, so thank-you CJ!
Wow, this was amazing! I made this just about exactly as written and it turned out just beautifully, so delicious, full of deep flavor. This is also so easy to make I’d say it’s foolproof. Would be a great holiday or company main course. Thanks AGAIN chef John!
OMG LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!!
Everyone was impressed with the presentation, but even more with the taste! left it on a little longer and the meat almost literally fell off the bone.
Was great, first time cooking lamb, will make again, meat was so tender and the flavours a perfect compliment.
Sooo good!! I was thinking of using Chef Johns rack of lamb recipe on this because we love it so much, but I’m so glad we used this one instead. It was a nice change. Didn’t change a thing and it was perfect. Thanks Chef John. My husband jokes around and calls you my boyfriend lol. 😉
I was excited to make this dish and all was fine except I did not have an actual “roasting pan” so I used a glass 9×13 dish. When I poured the braising liquid into the pan, it shattered! Very scary. I was not hurt but the dish was ruined. I put the lamb shanks in another pan with some water and red wine and finished cooking. The lamb was good, tender just lacked flavor because of the loss of liquid. I will try it again but I will be buying a real roasting pan first!
Very tasty. Meat was so tender. Sauce reduction went well the couscous.
I’ll make it again but I’m going to double the sauce part of the recipe. It simply wasn’t enough for 5 pounds of lamb. Loved the flavors of it and it was really easy to make.
Braised it on top of stove. bake in oven for three hours at 300 degress
After cooking the shanks and draining as much fat as I could I put the pan on top of a burner and gently cooked down the juices, adding a little broth. Will make again.
It was fabulous!! The only thing I did at the end was add a little mint liquid to the drippings from the pan! I will definitely make this again!!
oh boy, this is a good one. made it as written. served it over creamy cheese grits. will definitely make it again.
Was fantastic!!!! I would suggest that the recipe should have more garlic, 6 cloves, and grate the cloves. The cinnamon was a very interesting addition. I will make it again my family loved it
I didn’t have any balsamic vinegar so I used 3 dashes of Worcestershire sauce with a dollop of raw honey and I forgot to add the cinnamon but the dish still got rave reviews from my dinner guests. I’ll definitely make this again!