Boneless Leg of Lamb Recipe - Southern Cravings (2024)

FAQs

How long do you cook boneless leg of lamb? ›

To calculate cooking times, for medium, cook 25 minutes per 500g, plus 25 minutes and for well done cook 30 minutes per 500g and an extra 30 minutes. Allow to rest before serving. If rolled, remove string. Allergens.

The netting should be left on to hold the de-boned pieces together. Directions: Leave the netting on a boneless cut of lamb until it is fully cooked, then cut it off with a pair of kitchen shears being careful not to cut or burn yourself.

A boneless leg is easier to carve, while bone-in can be a bit more difficult to slice. If you're looking for a more intense lamb flavor, bone-in is the way to go.

For the perfect roast lamb, we recommend seasoning the surface of the meat, and then searing it, especially fat side down in a pan before roasting. Why bother with searing? Contrary to some stories, searing is less about locking in moisture, and all about improving the flavour!

Whether boneless or bone-in, the perfect leg of lamb should be either oven-roasted until blushing pink on the inside (with an internal temp around 130°F) or roasted long and slow for several hours until the meat is very tender and falls apart to internal temp around 175°F (I often use the slow cooker for that).

The leg and rack of lamb are perfect for herb-crusting and oven-roasting; since the shank and shoulder are a bit tougher, they fare well in stews or braises—the long cook time allows them to significantly break down and become fork-tender.

Place meat on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Roast the leg of lamb for at least 2 hours (see chart below for exact cooking times). For the juiciest results, we prefer cooking a leg of lamb to a medium rare (145°F) or medium (160°F) internal temperature.

Follow this tip: Before the lamb hits the oven, be sure to give it ample time to come to room temperature. Depending on the size of the cut, an hour to two should do the trick. Not only does this essential step cut down the cook time, but it also ensures that the meat is evenly cooked.

Lower temp = more succulent meat – Tough cuts like lamb shoulder need slow-cooking to tenderise them.

Roasting a leg of lamb can be as easy as putting it into an oven and turn on the heat, however, there is a trick to make it super tasty and this trick is to seal the meal. Sealing the meat means to quickly cook the outside of it so that it gets golden and tasty, even before the rest is cooked at all.

Should lamb be cooked in foil when roasting? ›

Leg of Lamb on Bone

It is a spectacular roast to look at, and is full of flavour. You will want to wrap the Lamb loosely in foil for the first 20 minutes in the oven, then remove the foil and cook for the rest of the remaining time.

Never start cooking lamb straight from the fridge (or – perish the thought – the freezer). Always let the lamb come up to room temperature before you put it in the oven.

The lamb will need to cook for about 20 minutes per pound (2 hours for a 6-pound leg of lamb; 2 hours and 40 minutes for 8 pounds). An instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the meat, not touching the bone, should read 145 degrees when the lamb is medium-rare.

You can also check the internal temperature of the lamb if you prefer pinker meat – it will be 55C for medium (pink) and 70C for well done. Cover with foil and rest for 15 mins before carving. Save the tray juices and onion slices to make gravy.

For a lean piece of meat, cook at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) for the first 15 minutes, then turn the temperature down to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) to continue roasting — the meat will take about 25 minutes per pound to reach medium rare.

If you're using a boneless lamb leg, you may need to adjust the cooking times slightly, as boneless cuts can cook faster than bone-in ones. Shoulder roast: Cooking a lamb shoulder roast is a bit different from a lamb leg due to the shoulder's higher connective tissue content.