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….
I am cooking for 20 people how many kilos of lamb shoulder would I need?
Hi Jo – You can increase the servings on the recipe with the slide bar and all the ingredients will calculate for you ☺️
Hi! I left a message previously, not sure if it was posted or not…
Anyhow, I am planning on trying your recipe tomorrow so I bought a 0.9kg chunk of lamb shoulder.
I was wondering if you had any suggestions for adjusting the cooking time accordingly… I’d be very appreciative of any help in this matter!
In any case, thank you for your wonderful website 🙂
Hi! You can’t really go wrong here because it’s slow cooked and should be almost fall apart. I’d just check at about 1.5-2 hours to ensure the meat is tender and then continue with 30 minutes uncovered.
I will be trying your recipe tomorrow evening – it looks good.
BTW, typo: “this is not the sort of roast for craving, just pull the meat off with tongs.”
I expect you meant “carving” 😉
Hi Nagi,
Will this turn out dry if I use a deboned shoulder joint?
Love all your recipes, they’ve NEVER failed me, EVER!
As long as it’s shoulder it will still be juicy! It’s got alot of fat running through it so even deboned is terrific when slow cooked! N x
I did the shoulder roast according to your recipe and it came out fantastic. Best lamb roast I ever had!! Thanks for the help.
Woah thanks for the great feedback!!
I’ve made your recipe twice already and today I will again. Super super rich and tasty gravy and the lamb is to die for, the only bad thing about this recipe is that I end up eating almost a whole shoulder to my self while pulling the meat apart 😂
I know the feeling Lu!! 😂 The struggle is real!
Can I prepare this the night before with garlic and rosemary so that my wife can easily pop this in the oven while I’m at work?
Absolutely! if anything, the flavours will permeate the meat even better! being given the time to rest the fridge overnight witht he herbs and garlic. Pop the onion and garlic (which goes into the pan) in a container or zip lock bag the night before also, if you want to be super prepared 🙂
Nagi, I am doing x 2 bone in shoulders in the same tray they weight about 1.8kgs a piece. How long should I leave them in for ? Do I need extra cooking time as there are two shoulders?? Thanks
Hi Nagi. Hoping you can help me out!
I’m planning to use your recipe for a 2.5-3kg lamb shoulder on Christmas Day. How would you suggest I adjust the cooking time for this?
Thank you in advance!
Hi Cate, as a guide, add about 30 minutes for each extra 2 lb/1 kg. It’s a very forgiving recipe as it’s slow cooked so I’d add an extra hour onto the original recipe. N x
Thanks so much. Do you have any suggestions to jazz up the final presentation for xmas? I’ve seen people use parsley scattered all over but worried it will clash with the rosemary?
Delicious. Best roast to my eyes.
Thanks so much Jen!!
A 200g tin of Goose fat is around $6 at Woolies.. maybe worth it as thats half the 15-20 you mentioned.
Looking forward to this recipe this week ! Cheers 🙂
YES! I really need to update the potatoes recipe – the price of goose fat has come down a LOT since I wrote it!!
I Ended up using duck fat and they were awesome 🙂 And the Lamb Shoulder was 2nd to none, it impressed all of our guests some mentioning it was the best lamb roast they ever had ! So i understandably took full credit 😉
Cheers Nagi
How long do I have to cook for if I’m making 2 shoulders together, weighing Around 3 kilo in total? Thanks
Same time per recipe Anita! 🙂
I love your recipes but would appreciate it if you included the target doneness temperature. That would be more helpful to me than total cooking time. Thanks.
Hi there! I have 5 people coming for dinner tomorrow night (3 being big rugby boys who eat a lot) and I plan to cook two lamb shoulders, about 1.2kg each.. is it possible to cook both shoulders at the same time? I know one shoulder won’t be enough! And is the gravy quite garlic-y?
Thanks so much 🙂
Hi Nagi!
I’ve just made his dish and am up to the gravy.
I’ve opted for the red wine gravy option but it tastes so acidic!
Please help!! I hate tot honk I’ve wasted all those lovely pan juices
I’ve used molasses to cut acidic tomato sauce.
I’m unsure how that would work in a lamb gravy.
I made this for my family, absolutely delicious and so so easy. Thank you.
That’s wonderful to hear Anita! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂 N x
It’s beautiful! Mum cooked this for me! Amazing! Now it’s my turn tonight
Going to defrost my frozen boneless lamb shoulder and make this. Sounds delicious.
Hi Nagi, I am really looking forward to trying this tonight! I have a 1.3kg shoulder (bone in), how do I adjust the cooking time? Ps I have tried loads of your recipes and love them!
Hi Vicky – maybe just 20 minutes less 🙂 Hope you love it! N x
hi, i dont suppose this recipe can be adapted for the slow cooker at all can it?
Lamb shoulder, one of my favorites. Even easier, try it sometime in a slow-cooker. Brown it first in a skillet, then into slow-cooker. Toss in a head of garlic (separated cloves, not peeled), a chunked onion, 1 cup each dry white wine and broth (any kind), then a good handful of dried fruit (ie, prunes, raisins, craisins, etc.). Add salt, pepper, DRIED rosemary and thyme. Slow cook 6, 8, or even 10 hours to fall-off-the-bone. Make gravy as you like or have degreased pot juices. Serve with something starchy, like thick wide noodles, and a fruit-forward Zinfandel or Shiraz.
YUM. YES!