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
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
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….
A superb meal! I cook it often, and usually add a handful of olives, and a few anchovies to add depth. I also replace mashed potatoes with scalloped ones for special occasions.
I’ve made this recipe a few times now. It’s definitely a great recipe though I’ve personally found that using less tomato in the dish makes for an even better result. For 4x lamb shanks I only use around 400g of tomato (chopped or puree’d)
Also a small tip: definitely cook it the day before and then when serving, place the lamb shanks covered in the oven for 30 minutes or so because they tend to go cold very quick. This is something that has happened to me countless times so very worth keeping them warm before serving.
The rest of the recipe I follow as per the guide.
I made this last night and it was amazing! We’re at 6700ft so we have to add time to braised recipes. I started this at 1pm and at 5 it was ready to have the lid taken off (I checked it at 4, not ready yet!) I substituted NA wine. It was SO good!
Made this in my pressure cooker today. I didn’t have red wine so I improvised and used white. It still turned out really amazing! My family LOVED it! 👍🏻👍🏻
Hi fam, just thought I’d leave a comment for anyone attempting this on the stove instead of the oven (as I got halfway through the recipe and realised I didn’t have a big enough oven proof pot with a lid so stove it was!) I cooked it on low for about 3 hrs with the lid on, turning the shanks maybe a couple of times during this period. Turned out great and best of all I didn’t have to reduce the liquid/sauce any more after those three hrs as the stove top method naturally does that, even when the lid is on!
I brown these on the BBQ before putting them in a pot in the oven its fast and mess free.
I live in Canada and Canadians as a rule don’t eat lamb, but guess what I have made this three times and every time was a hit. I even passed this recipe on!! Coodo’s to you. Thanks Marie Lucifora
This is one of the best meals I’ve ever made (and I cook a ton!!). The directions are straightforward and perfect. This was divine!!!
I made this in my pressure cooker as I was short on time. I had an unexpected extra guest for dinner so added 2 more small shanks. There was more than enough sauce for the pressure cooker. Was absolutely delicious! Had the sauce as is for the shanks (only what was needed) but blended the rest with a stick blender and made the most outstanding pasta bake the next night. It even makes a delicious soup all on its own. It’s criminal to throw this sauce away!
Can you cook it on the stove?? Low heat??
Of course you can thats basically a slow cooker.
A recipe that actually works as promised! The lamb shanks were absolutely delicious, exactly as I’d imagined when reading the recipe. Thanks so much 😊
Love your recipes and appreciate the work you do for people in need in our communities.
Hi I read this recipe then decided to follow the same recipe in the dinner book however just realised the method is totally different needing to be marinated for 24 hours. Bit late for dinner tonight as it’s now 5 pm. I’m sure it will be delicious tomorrow night when I get home from work
Very nice. Added a spoon of redcurrant jelly at the end. Added a sweetness I thought it needed
Amazing using a slow cooker. Thank you
“…the sauce using a sick blender.”
Is it OK to use a blender that is in fine health? 😉
I was unable to get lamb shanks and bough lamb steaks instead. I followed the recipe and the finished product was absolutely delicious. I even had creamy mashed potatoes and peas as my sides and ladled some of the extra red wine sauce on the potatoes and peas. Fabulous!
Again another amazing meal from Nagi!!! The flavours were deep and delicious! I used red wine and followed the recipe ingredients and then cooked in my slow cooker. I love my slow cooker as I can remove the inside and use it on the stovetop and then just pop it into the SC – this way I’m sure to get all the flavours from the bottom of the pan!
Followed the recipe to a T and they were perfection.
I opted to keep the chunky veggies in and the sauce was a delight – I even used the leftovers to make a shakshouka the next day and it was marvellous.
Thanks again Nagi x
Delicious! I was worried I’d rushed a few steps but she turned out glossy and melty