This recipe for Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks makes a hearty, slow-cooked dish. The succulent lamb meat ends up, melt in your mouth tender and because it’s made in the slow cooker, you can make it all year round without heating up the kitchen!
I originally posted this recipe about a year ago, but I am re-posting it now because it needed a bit of a makeover with photos that really do the dish justice. I’ve also altered the recipe slightly after re-testing it and giving it a few flavorful tweaks.
These lamb shanks are really flavorsome and are perfect for throwing in the slow cooker so when you come home after a long day, you come home to a beautiful home-cooked meal!
I have made this for two instead of four and when I do, I don’t change any other measurements except the amount of lamb.
This is because it needs the liquid to braise properly and I like to serve it with couscous which sucks up the gravy so you end up needing more than you would otherwise, but because the sauce is so delicious, for me the couscous is the perfect bed for this fantastic meal.
That said, it’s a very versatile dish and can be served with anything from noodles to mashed potatoes, or rice.
Although there are a lot of ingredients, don’t let it fool you – it’s really simple to make.
You start out with browning the meat and adding them to the preheated slow cooker.
Then, add the vegetables to the pan just to soften them slightly.
You coat them in flour, add the vermouth and other ingredients to make the sauce and pour it over the meat in the slow cooker. They cook for 3-8 hours in the slow cooker (3 hours on high, 5 hours on medium and up to eight hours on low) and they are absolutely amazing after a busy day!
PLEASE NOTE: These cooking times are approximate. All slow cookers cook differently and you may need to adjust the time according to how your slow cooker cooks.
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Let's Make Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 lamb shanks
- 2 celery stalks chopped
- 1 large onion chopped
- 2 large carrots chopped
- 6 cloves large garlic chopped
- 1 teaspoon anchovy paste
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 leaves large bay
- 6 juniper berries
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 cup vermouth or white wine
- 4 cups lamb stock if you don't have access to lamb stock use 1/2 chicken 1/2 beef
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- Salt and pepper to taste
- a good handful of fresh parsley chopped
Instructions
- Preheat slower cooker on low heat.
- Heat the oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Sprinkle lamb on all sides with salt and pepper. Add lamb to pot and brown on all sides.
- Transfer lamb to slow cooker.
- Add vegetables. Sauté to soften slightly, about 3-5 minutes.
- Mix in tomato & anchovy paste. Mix in cinnamon, juniper berries & salt & pepper. Sprinkle in the flour and coat the vegetables.
- Add the stock and vermouth. Bring to a boil to cook off the alcohol and thicken the sauce, stirring occasionally, boil for 3-4 minutes until thick. Pour the vegetable/sauce mixture over the lamb in the slow cooker.
- Cook on 3-8 hours - 3 hours on high, 5 hours on medium and 8 hours on low
Ritchie says
I made this for Sunday dinner, served with mashed potatoes and green beans, amazing!
Erren's Kitchen says
How lovely, that sounds like a wonderful Sunday dinner 🙂
Val Russo says
This dish was over the top!!!! The meat fell off the bones.
Erren's Kitchen says
I’m so pleased you enjoyed this dish Val 🙂
Cathy@LemonTreeDwelling says
Wow – these are incredibly tender!