This slow cooked lamb shoulder will be the juiciest, most incredible lamb roast you have ever had! With rosemary and garlic stuffed into incisions, it infuses this lamb roast with the most incredible flavour as well as adding a subtle perfume to the lamb gravy.
Lamb shoulder has more flavour and is easier to cook than lamb leg. Virtually foolproof, minimal effort, and incredible meat that is so tender that you won’t need a knife to carve this! Want to upgrade to the Rolls Royce version? Try the Ultimate 12 Hour Roast Lamb or browse the entire Roast Lamb recipe collection.
Slow Cooked Lamb Shoulder is the ultimate lamb roast
Being born into a foodie family, there is always a flurry of emails leading up to a Sunday Night Roast. It usually goes something like this:
My brother (the “serious” foodie): Let’s do a standing rib roast. Dry aged from Victor Churchill (PS A gourmet expensive butcher in Sydney!)
Me: That’s ridiculous. It will cost $100!
Brother: If we’re gonna do a roast, we should do it right. I’m not doing a lamb leg from Coles!
Me: Who said you’re cooking? I’M the Roast Queen, remember?
Brother: Self proclaimed titles carry no weight.
Me: How about a slow cooked lamb shoulder?
Brother: OK. That’ll do. I’ll do the sides.
Sister: I don’t mind. Just tell me what I need to do.
Mum: Send me a shopping list.
And thus the roles and responsibilities for a Sunday Night Roast are set.
Lamb Shoulder
Lamb shoulder is not as popular as lamb leg – and I truly do not understand why. It has more flavour and it’s far juicier. The only “downside” I can think of is that it needs to be slow cooked, it can’t be cooked hard and fast like a classic Roast Lamb Leg that’s cooked until perfectly pink and juicy inside.
On the other hand, because lamb shoulder is a juicier cut, it’s incredibly forgiving so if it’s in the oven for too long, it’s still going to be gloriously juicy.
I love using the technique of stuffing rosemary and garlic into incisions to infuse the meat with flavour. You can really only do this with rosemary because the sprigs are stiff enough to stick into the holes.
And also it works well for this recipe because it is slow roasted – the flavours do not infuse as well into the meat with a traditional roast that only takes 1 1/2 hours or so. So take advantage of it in this recipe!
OK, signing off! Love to hear if this makes it to your Sunday Night family dinner! – Nagi x
My favourite side dishes for roast lamb
More Roast Lamb Recipes
I love a good roast lamb – so I’ve shared a few over the years!
Slow Roasted Lamb Shoulder
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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Slow Roasted Rosemary Garlic Lamb Shoulder
Ingredients
- 1.8kg / 3.5 lb lamb shoulder (bone in) (Note 1)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 onion, quartered (no need to peel)
- 1 head garlic , cut in half horizontally
- 3 garlic cloves , cut into slivers
- 8 sprigs rosemary
- 1 cup water
Gravy
- 2 tbsp flour
- 2 cups beef broth (or 1 cup red wine + 1 cup water)
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 240°C/465°F (220°C fan forced).
- Rub the lamb with the olive oil, salt and pepper.
- Use a thin, sharp knife to make 12 incisions in the lamb, deep as you can but without piercing through the bottom of the lamb. (See photo in post and video
- Stuff bits of rosemary and garlic slivers into the holes (chopstick helpful!)
- Place the onion, halved garlic bulb and rosemary in the base of a roasting pan. Place the lamb on top. Pour water around.
- Cover with lid or tightly with a double layer of foil. Place in the oven, and TURN DOWN to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan).
- Slow roast, covered: Roast, covered with the foil, for 3 hours. (Note 1 for different sizes).
- Brown it, uncovered: Remove foil, check to ensure there's still liquid in the pan. If not, add 3/4 cup water (otherwise onion/garlic will burn). Turn up the oven to 220°C/425°F and roast for a further 20 to 30 minutes, until the skin is browned and crisp.
- Check if ready: By now, you should be able to part the meat with two forks – if not, just cover and return to oven at 180°C/350°F (160°C fan) until you can do so.
- Rest: Remove lamb from the roasting pan and transfer to a plate. Cover loosely with foil then a couple of tea towels and let it rest for at least 20 minutes, up to a couple of hours (after this, you may want to reheat).
- Serve with gravy (below). If you want to go all out, make Duck Fat Potatoes or Super Crispy Roasted Potatoes!
Gravy
- Tilt the pan and use a spoon to remove all but around 2 tbsp of fat (try to avoid scooping out any juices).
- Place the roasting pan on the stove over medium high heat. Add the flour and stir to mix in with the fat. Cook for 30 seconds.
- Add the stock gradually and stir to combine. Use a potato masher to mash the onion and garlic, making sure that all the garlic squeezes out of the skin.
- Allow it to simmer for 1 to 2 minutes until it is just before your desired consistency (it will thicken a bit as it cools), then remove from the stove. Season to taste with salt and pepper, strain into bowl being sure to squeeze all juices out of garlic etc, then transfer into gravy jug.
Recipe Notes:
- Smaller lamb shoulder (around 1 kg) – cut down roasting time while covered by 20 minutes (doesn’t change by much, shoulder meat needs a minimum time to breakdown);
- Boneless lamb shoulder – reduce covered cook time by 20 minutes. A 1.8kg bone in lamb shoulder will weigh about 1.3kg with the bone removed;
- Rolled boneless lamb shoulder (~1.1 – 1.3kg) – cook time per recipe.
- 2 x ~1.5kg/3lb shoulders – fit into one pan (they will shrink, so ok if touching), add 30 minutes to cover slow roast time.
Originally published February 2015, updated with new photos, new commentary and video – AND Life of Dozer added!Nutrition Information:
BEST OF SUNDAY SUPPER ROASTS
Life of Dozer
Hmm. Not surprising he’s interested in what’s going on here….
Just great. Followed this recipe verbatim.
Nagi, can I roast this the day before and re heat to serve? Or will that be a fail?
Thank you for this wonderful recipe Nagi! First time slow roasting lamb shoulder and i turned out beautifully! I ended up slow roasting for 5 hours in the oven at a lower temperature after the first 3 hours, covered in a large oval Staub dutch oven after marinating it overnight with just salt, pepper, olive oil and the garlic rosemary planted in the incisions.
I served it with a cherry tomato and chives salad with honey dijon mustard vinaigrette and some baby spinach on the side with just a drizzle of olive oil and toasted pine nuts. Utter Easter lunch perfection. Thank you!
Made it for the second time – soooo good! Was a hit at the Easter dinner. Thank you Nagi!
That’s great to hear Alla!! N x
WOW! Made this for Easter this year and it was a hit! Easy, delicious, and amazing with the three local, pastured lamb shoulders I used. Not sure I needed the water? Natural juices did their thing early on. delicious gravy. A big hit!
This recipe worked a treat – perfect lamb and gravy, and I will also definitely be using your crispy roast potatoes recipe again – the addition of salt and semolina is genius! Family absolutely loved it all 🙂
Hi- will i need longer cooking time for two in same pan? And then add root veges towards the end?
Thanks:)
Super simple and very delicious, the crispy outside with the succulent centre was devine.
Servied mine with Nagi’s extra crispy roast potatoes, garlic yogurt taziki, tomatoes, salad, pickled onions- greek kebab style. It was delicious and some people ate in wraps and said it tasted just like the delicious lamb gyros we love to eat in Greece
Nagi, this looks delicious! I seem planning to make it for our Easter dinner. I am trying to decide whether to do it in the crock pot or set my oven for a certain amount of time. We are planning a noon meal, but will be at church all morning. Thoughts?
Hi, I got a lamb shoulder that is just under 3.5 kg, can you please advise cooking time? I know with the two lamb shoulders it’s the extra 30 mins but I don’t know if that would cover the cook time for the behemoth of a shoulder I’ve bought 🙂
i have cooked this your way 3 times and have loved it every time:)
Thanks for the prompt feedback
Oven temps seemed too low. I followed times exactly but had to finish at 350 for an hour to get the job done! (Lamb shoulder, bone in).
Hi Jenny, sorry you had issues here, the oven temperature is correct though. If you had to cook an extra hour, I’d say either your oven runs very cool or was your lamb possibly bigger in size? – N x
Hi, when we make this can we skip the garlic? Im not a fan of garlic in my cooking because of the aftertaste and odour. Also if we want to cook the roasted potatoes can we place in the oven at the same time underneath it?
Hi Nagi
I have cooked a few of your amazing recipes!
Thank you so much.
There is a typo that I thought you might like to correct:
1. Lamb shoulder – not to be *consumed with lamb leg which is a leaner cut of lamb with different cooking qualities.
*confused
Best wishes and keep cooking.
Vx
Exactly as you said, the juiciest best tasting lamb recipie we have had 5 stars and will be doing it again. It’s all ready been requested again
Thanks
Really really good! Was not as tender as I hoped. Probably because the roast was not whole, the butcher cut into 1-5 inch “steaks”. Usually I marinate the lamb in yogurt and spices for a few days but this had all the same flavor without the long wait and extra ingredients.
Just fab ! Works perfectly timings are spot on ,thank you Nagi. I did a small shoulder on the bone -reduced time by 20 minutes would probably serve 4. But fed two very well ! Husband couldn’t eat it quick enough . Slow roasted shoulder works better than lamb shank or leg.
Hi Nagi, love your recipes! Any hints for doing this one on the BBQ (I have a weber pulse electric bbq)? Thanks, and hi dozer!.
Typo patrol: …not the sort of roast for craving,…
Should be “not the sort of roast for carving,”
I’m sure your family and mine will crave it! Thanks for this, I’m defrosting 3 kg of bone-in lamb shoulder now.
barbara. it seems you have found your porpoise.
THANK YOU!!! Because YES we CRAVE it!!
Another amazing recipe Thankyou so much! Loved it and love all your recipes