Lamb shanks are the king of all lamb cuts!! Slow cooked until meltingly tender in a rich, deeply flavoured red wine sauce, this recipe is worthy of fine dining restaurants yet is completely straightforward to make. Serve it over creamy mashed potato with a side of peas or sautéed spinach, with crusty bread to mop your bowl clean!
* Here for the cookbook version? Find it here -> the elegant Restaurant Lamb Shanks in Red Wine Sauce.
Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks
I have a real soft spot for slow cooked lamb shanks. I just love the look of a hunk of meltingly tender meat wrapped around the bone. Hits my carnivore sweet-spot, every time.
Honestly, if you put this and a towering frosted cake in front of me, this would win every day of the week and twice on Sunday:
Cooking lamb shanks is easy!
Being a tough cut of meat that needs slow cooking to make it fall-off-the-bone tender, lamb shanks are actually very forgiving so it’s a real easy cut to cook with.
You literally cannot overcook lamb shanks.Leave it in for an hour too long, and the meat is still succulent and juicy. The worst that will happen is that the meat falls off the bone when you go to serve it.
And if you pull it out too early and the meat isn’t fork tender, just add more liquid and keep cooking!
The only key tip I have is to brown that shank as well as you can. It is a hard shape to brown evenly, but do what you can. Browning is the key flavour base for any protein that’s slow cooked in a braising liquid, like Beef Stew, Pot Roast, Chicken Stew. If you ever see a slow cooked stew recipe that doesn’t call for browning the meat before slow cooking, proceed with caution!
I love slow cooking meat on the bone. Lamb Shanks, Beef Short Ribs and Osso Buco – better flavour more succulent!
What are lamb shanks?
If you’re new to lamb shanks, here’s a rundown: lamb shanks are from the lower leg of lambs, and they are an inexpensive, tough cut of meat.
Because of this, lamb shanks need to be slow cooked – either braised or roasted – to break down the tough meat to soften into succulent tenderness.
The meat itself is full of flavour which adds to the flavour of the sauce.
BONUS: The marrow in the bone melts into the sauce, deepening the flavour and richness. We love freebies around here!!
Classic Red Wine Sauce for Lamb Shanks
Red wine sauce is a classic braising liquid for lamb shanks, with the rich deep flavours a natural pairing with the strong flavour of lamb.
The red wine sauce is super simple to make but after hours of slow cooking, it transforms into an incredible rich, deeply flavoured sauce that’s silky and glossy, and looks totally posh-restauranty.
Just a quick note on the wine – I do not use expensive wines for slow cooking. I truly believe from the bottom of my heart that even the snobbiest of all food snobs would not be able to tell the difference if you made this with a discount end-of-bin $5 bottle or a $50 bottle. (And the New York Times agrees….)
Maybe you could tell the difference using a $100 bottle. But that’s not within my budget….
Non alcoholic sub for wine?
The wine is a key flavour for the broth in this recipe. So if you cannot consume alcohol, it is best to substitute with non-alcoholic red wine.
Please do not use more beef or chicken stock/broth, even if it’s low sodium. This sauce has amazing flavour in it because it is massively concentrated down (essentially into a jus). So if you use more stock then it will end up too salty.
This is one of those recipes that truly is terrific to make in the oven, stove, slow cooker or pressure cooker, as long as its started on the stove to brown the shanks and saute the onion etc. Right now, being winter here in Sydney, I choose the oven so it keeps my house nice and warm! – Nagi x
Slow cooked lamb shanks
Watch how to make it
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Lamb Shanks in Red Wine Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 lamb shanks , around 13 oz / 400g each (Note 1)
- 1 tsp EACH cooking/kosher salt and pepper
- 2 – 3 tbsp olive oil , separated
- 1 onion , finely diced (brown, yellow or white)
- 3 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 cup carrot , peeled, finely diced (Note 2)
- 1 cup celery , finely diced (Note 2)
- 2 1/2 cups red wine (full bodied (good value wine, not expensive! Note 3)
- 800 g / 28oz can crushed tomatoes
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 cups chicken stock , low sodium (or water)
- 5 sprigs of thyme (preferably tied together), or 2 tsp dried thyme
- 2 dried bay leaves (or 4 fresh)
To Serve:
- Mashed potato , polenta or pureed cauliflower
- Fresh thyme leaves , optional garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F (all oven types – fan and standard).
- Season shanks – Pat the lamb shanks dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Brown – Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large heavy based pot over high heat. Sear the lamb shanks in 2 batches until brown all over, about 5 minutes. Remove lamb onto a plate and drain excess fat (if any) from the pot.
- Sauté aromatics – Turn the heat down to medium low. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the same pot. Add the onion and garlic, cook for 2 minutes. Add carrot and celery. Cook for 5 minutes until onion is translucent and sweet.
- Braising liquid – Add the red wine, chicken stock, crushed tomato, tomato paste, thyme and bay leaves. Stir to combine.
- Add shanks – Place the lamb shanks into the pot, squeezing them in to fit so they are mostly submerged. (Note 1)
- Oven 2 hours covered – Turn stove up, bring liquid to a simmer. Cover, then transfer to the oven for 2 hours (see notes for other cook methods).
- Uncovered 30 minutes – Remove lid, then return to the oven for another 30 minutes (so 2 1/2 hours in total). Check to ensure lamb meat is ultra tender – if not, cover and keep cooking. Ideal is tender meat but still just holding onto bone.
- Remove lamb onto plate and keep warm. Pick out and discard bay leaves and thyme.
- Sauce – Strain the sauce into a bowl, pressing to extract all sauce out of the veggies (Note 5 for repurposing the veggies). Pour strained sauce back into pot. If needed, bring to a simmer over medium heat and reduce slightly to a syrupy consistency (see video) – I rarely need to. Taste then add salt and pepper to taste (Note 5 on sauce taste).
- Serve the lamb shanks on mashed potato or cauliflower puree with plenty of sauce! Garnish with thyme leaves if desired.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published August 2015, updated with new photos, video and a slightly refined recipe in 2018. Previously the base recipe said to blitz the sauce at the end. It looks much posher (ie fine dining style) and actually does taste nicer just to strain it because the sauce stays glossy – if you blitz, sauce becomes more matte and is not as smooth. 🙂 Recipe then further improved when it was decided to include this lamb shanks in my debut cookbook Dinner – that “restaurant” version is exclusive to my cookbook!
Life of Dozer
And I stuck my tongue right back at him….
Hi Nagi, I’ve actually got this in the oven as we speak! I’m trying it out with 1 shank to start with (want to surprise my parents with an amazing Christmas dinner if it works out!) but my sauce doesn’t seem to reduce down or thicken.. (I’m cooking it in the oven). Do you know why this might be? I’ve halved everything (as I’m using less meat at the moment for the trial), so it should work…
Help!
Hi Samantha, I’m so sorry I wasn’t awake at 1.59am my time to help you!! 🙂 Did it reduce in the end?? It’s very odd that it wouldn’t reduce – it definitely should! Laws of physics 🙂 N x
I also had this problem. At the two hour mark the liquid level was barely below where it started. I suspect this is due to my le creuset having a fairly tight seal when the lid is on. It took over an hour to reduce the liquid once the lid was removed. Next time I will take the lid off when there is an hour left on the overall time.
That being said, this recipe was easy and went over well for Boxing Day dinner. The meat was very tender and fell off the bone – excellent with mash.
Did anyone actually cook these?
Scroll down a bit! 🙂
Just a note…. Onion, celery and carrot is known as mirepoix. Celery, onion and bell pepper is “Holy Trinity”
Thanks Cyndi! I actually know it as “soffrito” 🙂
Hi Nagi
I made this dish on the weekend and we absolutely loved it!!!! Would like to know if I can freeze the leftovers for another day?
Yum Yum
Yvonne
Absolutely Yvonne! It reheat fabulously 🙂 So glad you loved it, and thank you for letting me know! N x
Yum!! These look amazing & can’t wait to try them! Have you tried them in a pressure cooker? Time poor in the morning before work so I’m looking for Pressure cooker recipes. Yum!!
Hi Kelly! Totally understand 🙂 Yep, I’ve made lamb shanks plenty of times in the pressure cooker! 1 hour for a stovetop, or 1 hr on high if you have an electric one 🙂 The other option is to make ahead! Honestly, for things like this, they taste even BETTER the next day!! 🙂
Great thanks so much! I will give it a go in my pressure cooker! Mouth watering just thinking about it ?
These look mouth-watering delicious! I’ve actually braised short ribs in a similar sauce.
Ooh, I do too!! Beef ribs are fab in this sauce! 🙂
O…M…G…. how did I miss this?! My husband and I are both huge fans of lamb and those are quite possibly the most beautiful and biggest lamb shanks I’ve ever seen! My goodness, I don’t know how you do it, but I seriously want to devour everything you post. I can totally see what I would look like now – sauce all around my mouth and surrounded by a mountain of dirty napkins. My moment of zen 😉
Aw, thanks Kathleen!! Are they big?? They are usually around 1 lb here in Australia, but to 1/5lb. EACH! 🙂
This dish does remind me of the winter holidays! My family loves lamb! And the sauce looks perfect! Will definitely try it!
Thanks Mira!! Hope you had a FAB weekend! N x
I am 100% with you on shanks being everything that is so right in the culinary world! The tender and succulent meat they yield after being braised is incomparable! Plus the way they make your house smell as they cook is divine! These look stellar, Nagi! Love the simple yet sophisticated flavors! *drooling* Pinned! Hope you are having a great weekend, girlfriend!
Thanks hun! Hope you had a great weekend too! N x
Oh my goodness! I just want to do a face plant into my computer screen… Your lamb shanks look so delicious and slow roasted tender fall off the bone, finger licking good kind of Sunday meal. My boys will be sending you personal hand writen thank you notes later… I am sure.
You’ll have to triple the recipe to satisfy those boys! 😉
Yaay, cheap wine all the way! Hmm, what am I saying about myself? I’ve NEVER used expensive wine in cooking. That sauce looks SO rich and delicious!
I hear you! When there is expensive wine in my house, if goes into the wine glass, not food! 😉
Guess what – I LOVE lamb shanks – haven’t had them for ages they have go so expensive here – growing up we used to have to have turns who was getting the shank off the roast – my mother used to wrap in foil so it was melting tender but still roasted – now I am going to have to get me some lamb shanks:-) BTW I am a farmers daughter so lamb shanks were in abundance:-)
*Gasp!* Fell off my chair – Rachel….what? You mean you and I love the same thing? He he he!! I think we should just reserve our comments for when we DON’T love the same thing!!! PS Surprised shanks are expensive in NZ, land of the lamb?
These are great shots of the lamb – so shiny and rich looking. I’m glad we can use cheap red wine (med student budget!). I’ll have to try the creamy cauliflower puree idea (but shhh, i won’t tell fiance hehe). Thanks for the recipe Nagi 🙂
Thank you Natalie, you’re so sweet! 🙂
My hubby is a huge lamb fanatic. . .he eats it every chance he gets. I am definitely bookmarking this recipe as I think it will be perfect to enjoy on a nice brisk fall day.
I think you must indulge hubby asap!! 😉
I adore lamb and can see myself making this quite a bit as the weather cools down around here. Love the cauliflower mash, too. Looking forward to the middle eastern recipe (and everything that comes in between.)
I love lamb too 🙂 Lamb is big here Down Under!! <3
I’ve never cooked lamb before (OK, I’ve actually never even eaten lamb before) but your photographs literally have my mouth watering. Time to me to get a little more adventurous in the kitchen and try this out!
OK, you freaked me out! Never cooked lamb? You gotta change that Sam!! 😉 N x
Slow cooking is the way to go, I swear you can find me braising in the middle of July in SoCal. True story ! Pinned and I won’t even go into how gorgeously edible these photos are.
ME TOO! My slow cooker is my salvation in the height of summer. No oven heating up my kitchen!
Wow! This looks absolutely fantastic! Such perfect comfort food on these oh-so-cold nights we’ve been having. 🙂
Thank you Krista! So nice to come back in to something like this after a day out on the farm, hmm…??
I love long, slow roasted lamb shanks served on a big pile of mashed potatoes – just like this. Perfect meal when it’s this cold.
Heaven on a plate. Wish I could deliver it piping hot and fresh to you 🙂
So about that Moroccan one… pretty please?
I so agree with you on getting some crust (I tend to sear/brown them first) on it and not being completely submerged.
I wanted to grab my screen the look so good, but I just cleaned it yesterday. These are beauties!
Oooh, ok yes, I must share the Moroccan one! In a few months 🙂 I sear before braising too, it’s a MUST!! 🙂