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….
I saw this in the recipe book, but looked it up because I was hoping I could pop the shanks in the slow cooker. I did and it was incredible. My husband said it was restaurant standard. I didn’t need to add any thickener to the gravy as I reduced it for ages and used homemade bone broth which is super gelatinous anyway. So divine. Served it with blanched asparagus.
Congratulations on the new book Nagi, looks great. I’m a big fan of your recipes and many are regulars in our family, this lamb shank recip E was a stand out favourite for the last 2-3 years- but since you’ve updated this recipe I’ve cooked it twice and we’ve not enjoyed it.. such a shame. I can see some love it, but would be wonder if you’d consider sharing the old recipe , as an alternative??. I can’t quite remember all the ingredients by heart so struggling to create that stunning deep flavour it used to have.
I put the original back and removed the cookbook version! 🙂 N x
We love this recipe, have cooked it a few times. We just use two large shanks but keep all the ingredients the same. We then freeze the left over sauce which we use to make the most delicious bolognaise sauce. We do the same with your beef cheeks recipe which is equally awesome!
Can I make this with lamb chops??
What happened to the old recipe where we didn’t need to marinade for 24 hours? I took my lamb shanks out this morning to be able to cook them for dinner tonight.
I put the original back and removed the cookbook version! 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi – last time we made this only a few weeks ago – pretty sure we didn’t need to marinate for 24 hours. I can see recipe updated Oct’22 has this been changed? We loved the original recipe and are never organised enough to start something the day before, so is the 24-hour marinade really necessary or is there a ‘short-cut’ so we can skip this.
It has been changed. I’ve asked for a copy of the original as it was more bang for buck in terms of effort to result.
Hi Andrew,
I too would love a copy of the original if you get your hands on it. I have been googling the recipe for an hour thinking i’ve gone crazy haha
I put the original back and removed the cookbook version! 🙂 N x
hi – do you have a copy of the old one? I didnt get a copy of it and i prefer the old one!
I put the original back and removed the cookbook version! 🙂 N x
Hi Andrew, did you manage to get a copy of the old version?
Oh yes please! Can you share the previous version? I accidentally cleared my first one, but I much preferred the old version as well.
I thought I was crazy. I hadn’t made the recipe for awhile but was ready to get back into it. And I was thinking I don’t remember this marinade part. Any chance we can also have the old method incl too. Pretty please. Love your website.
I put the original back and removed the cookbook version! 🙂 N x
Do you still have a copy of the old recipe if you happened to save it by any chance?
I put the original back and removed the cookbook version! 🙂 N x
Thanks Helen. I was about to type the same comment. I made this recipe a year ago and I did not need to marinade for 24 hours.
Hi Nagi, please is it possible to upload the original recipe?
I put the original back and removed the cookbook version! 🙂 N x
very hard to imagine that placing the lamb in a marinade for 24 hours and using that liquid to cook in for 2 plus hours could make a difference. I suggest adding some veggies to enhance the liquid but adding carrot at the end to cook through but still have some distinctiveness in terms of flavor. Orange slices are a plus.
Finger licking good! First time cooking lamb shanks and it won’t be the last. Thank you!
I’m going to prepare 12 lamb shanks, and while it’s easy to triple your recipe, I’m not sure how to adjust cooking times. I’m either cooking in large crock pot or atop stove in a huge Dutch oven
What happened to the old recipe? That was easier to make but I can’t find it
I put the original back and removed the cookbook version! 🙂 N x
Does anyone have the recipe from before the oct22 update? When I’ve previously cooked this it never had to marinade!
I put the original back and removed the cookbook version! 🙂 N x
Best recipe! Although can we still find the old version that skipped the marinating etc. ? that was my all time go to recipe
I put the original back and removed the cookbook version! 🙂 N x
Utterly delicious..! Fall off the bone, tasty, melt in the mouth, just as described…
Made this today for lunch and wow wow this is far the best lamb shanks I’ve ever eaten and cooked, followed your recipe and how to do from start to finish, guests where impressed, no more so then me !! Everything turned out just perfect..best of all still have a lamb shank left for tomorrow..thanks Nagi your the best ..love to Dozer too x
Hi nagi, do you have the old recipe you had before. I don’t have time got the 24 hr marinate and I fell in love with the recipe. Please my husband wants it for hos anniversary
I put the original back and removed the cookbook version! 🙂 N x
Amazing, have had requests to cook again already
Thank you
Hi 👋 I don’t have any fresh celery on hand, can I use celery seed instead?
Why did you change the recipe? How can I get the old one? I feel like if you wanted a new recipe make a whole new web page. Now I’m confused and bought the wrong things and now I’m going to have to guess.
I put the original back and removed the cookbook version! 🙂 N x
Love this recipe ! Does anyone have the original recipe that was done with chicken stock and wasn’t reduced to a red wine sauce ?
I put the original back and removed the cookbook version! 🙂 N x
Great recipe. Plenty of leftover liquids to make into a rich soup the following day. I made it on the stovetop in a large pot, and the preparation was so quick and easy! I don’t often eat meat but it was a delight to treat myself with such a warming and hearty dish.
Best lamb shanks ever Nagi!
thank you for a terrific recipe.
Could someone please share the original recipe before it was updated in October 2022. It seems it was easier and just as good from the reviews I’ve read.
I put the original back and removed the cookbook version! 🙂 N x