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Herb Roasted Leg of Lamb

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I had it all planned out. I would roast a boneless leg of lamb stuffed with a herb mixture for an Easter treat. My husband would be grateful to have something other than ham (which he does not really like) and there would be leftovers galore.

I had to search for the recipe I wanted to use as it had been many years since I cooked a boneless leg of lamb. I even called the market to make sure they had them and to find out the sticker price so I would not have a heart attack in the store in case it was too much. As luck would have it, they were even on sale!

Then, reality set in. Unfortunately, I did not manage to get to the store until near closing time on Thursday. The not-so-happy-to-see-me meat clerk said they did not have any boneless legs left. They did have a bone in leg on sale for two dollars less a pound…of course it weighed more though. I went ahead and bought it.

In addition, I had never cooked a bone-in leg of lamb before. Thus, I spent a lot time of Saturday researching how to roast it. Finally deciding on a variation of my original plan that now included olive oil and garlic.

Then came Easter eve, my five-year-old was so excited about the Easter bunny that she could not sleep. Thus, I did not manage to get any sleep. Although, I did realize in the middle of the night that I did not have any garlic for the lamb.

After church services on Easter, I came home and took a nap with my daughter (of course, my husband slept as well) intending on getting up after a few minutes to start prepping the lamb leg. My husband woke me several hours later…too late to cook the lamb.

Thus, we had herb roasted leg of lamb for dinner the day after Easter. I managed to get the garlic and the lamb tasted great. It was a special post-holiday treat.

As I did not really find any two recipes that agreed on how to roast the bone-in leg, I went out on my own mixing the techniques. It produced a moist, tender leg of lamb. I think I made the right decision to start with the high temp oven and lower it for the rest of the cooking time.

: Herb Roasted Leg of Lamb
  1. 1 leg of lamb, bone-in
  2. garlic, finely diced
  3. fresh mint
  4. rosemary leaves, fresh or dried
  5. thyme leaves, fresh or dried
  6. olive oil
  7. kosher or sea salt
  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
  2. Trim excess fat from leg of lamb.
  3. Place in a roasting pan/dish fat side up.
  4. With a sharp knife, make stabbed slits all over the top of the leg.
  5. In a small bowl, combine enough minced or chiffonade cut mint, rosemary, thyme, and garlic with olive oil to cover leg.
  6. Using a small spoon, knife or your fingers, place mixture in each of the slits. Cover the rest of the top of leg with mixture.
  7. Salt to taste.
  8. Cook in 450 oven for 15 minutes.
  9. Reduce heat to 340 and cook for 20 or so minutes per pound or until desired internal temp is reached.
  10. Serving with mint jelly, a fruit chutney, or gravy.
  11. Medium-rare to medium-well being the most common temperature preferences.
  12. Remove from oven, cover with foil and allow to rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing.

Parsley may be added to the herb mixture after slits are filled to coat the top of the lamb. Oregano is also frequently used with lamb. A roasting rack is often used, but it does cook okay without it

 


There are many ways to serve the lamb including with the traditional mint jelly or a fruit chutney on the side.

Comments

  1. Just tried this recipe and it was FANTASTIC! Thanks so much. We cooked our own, pasture-raised Soay ram leg cut this way… Soay are small sheep, so our leg was only about 2 lbs, but this recipe really did it justice 🙂