Herb Crusted Roast Leg of Lamb – Simple and Easy

A Roast leg of lamb is perfect when you have guests to entertain or celebrate festive dinners such as Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter. This leg of lamb is marinated with fresh herbs of rosemary, thyme, and oregano before being slow-cooked in the oven until fork tender and melt in the mouth. Served alongside delicious roast potatoes this is a simple, easy and effortless recipe.

Best Roast Leg of Lamb, Herb Crusted Leg of Lamb, Slow-cooked Leg of lamb,

Lamb is by far the most loved meat in our family!! We love lamb and I mean we really LOVE lamb. Of course, it’s an expensive piece of meat so obviously, we save it for special occasions and festive times.

I’m born Indian so my mom made a roast leg of lamb mostly with Indian spices. One of my favorite of her recipes is the one with a combination of cilantro, ginger, garlic, and spice paste. She’d rub it all over, place it in the fridge overnight, then into the oven slow cooked over a couple of hours and dinner is ready. Someday I’ll make that and share it with you. It’s still my most favorite way to eat a leg of lamb.

I made this roast leg of lamb on Passover recently. It’s a very simple and easy recipe. A leg of lamb is very tender and can absorb lots of flavors instantly so if you don’t have time to marinate this is still very flavorful. Often I will marinate it for a few hours or even overnight, one less thing to do on the day.

Best Roast Leg of Lamb, Herb Crusted Leg of Lamb, Slow-cooked Leg of lamb,

Buying lamb

Leg of lamb is the upper part of the leg without the shank bone. The butcher will usually ask if you want it bone-in or no bone. I usually prefer bone-in but the boneless can give you beautiful slices that look pretty on the dinner table. Something to consider if you want boneless slices for sandwiches.

If you do choose a boneless leg of lamb, you can still use this recipe, but the cooking time will be much different. Which is why having a meat thermometer is very helpful.

Another great cut of meat to use for this recipe would be lamb shoulder. We made a delicious Roast Lamb Shoulder with red wine sauce if you remember. In fact, both these recipes could be used interchangeably.

Cooking with a thermometer

I personally prefer to use a meat thermometric so I don’t have to calculate and watch the clock ever so often. But you can certainly do without it. In fact, if you are new to cooking or roasting meat a thermometer can take a lot of guesswork out. The most important point to note is to make sure you insert the thermometer needle in the middle deepest part of the thick meat.

Here is how you would check with or without a thermometer

• Medium rare between 130 F to 135 F   approximately  20 minutes per pound
• or Medium – between 135 F to 140 F  approximately 22 to 23 minutes per pound
• and Medium well between 145 F to 150 F   approximately 25 minutes per pound
• not really my favorite – Well Done between 155 to 165 F   approximately 30 minutes per pound

I would strongly suggest if you going to save some leftovers to go as far as medium well. The meat still cooks even after you take it out of the oven.

Best Roast Leg of Lamb, Herb Crusted Leg of Lamb, Slow-cooked Leg of lamb,

I made this with gravy but if you prefer you can also use my cilantro mint sauce instead. I shared the recipe for my cilantro mint sauce when I share my Ginger Spiced Lamb Chops with cilantro mint sauce.

Best Roast Leg of Lamb, Herb Crusted Leg of Lamb, Slow cooked Leg of lamb,

Herb Crusted Roast Leg of Lamb – Simple Easy and Delicious (Save/Pin)

Tools 

• Roasting Pan
• Grill pan or heavy based saute pan
• Oven
• Chopping board and Knives

Best Roast Leg of Lamb, Herb Crusted Leg of Lamb, Slow cooked Leg of lamb,

Ingredients 

• Leg of lamb (with bone) – 2 kg / 4 lbs

Marinade

• Garlic – 2 cloves thinly slices.
• Rosemary fresh – 2 sprigs (or dried 1 tbsp)
• Thyme fresh – 4 sprigs  (or dried – 1 tsp)
• Oregano – 2 sprigs or (dried 1/2 tsp)
• Coarse salt – 1 tbsp
• Pepper – 1 tsp
• Paprika – 1/2 tsp
• Lemon juice – 2 tbsp
• Olive oil – 2 tbsp

Extra

• Extra sprigs of thyme and rosemary – 2 each
• Olive oil – 2 tbsp
• Baby potatoes – 1 kg (2 lbs)
• All-purpose flour – 1 tbsp
• Red wine or stock – 1/2 cup (optional for gravy)

Method

Prepare marinade

• Chop some fresh herbs – rosemary, thyme, and oregano – about 2 tbsp each.
• In a bowl combine – fresh herbs chopped, sliced garlic, paprika, lemon juice, and olive oil.
• Set aside.

Marinate the leg of lamb

• Wash clean and pat dry the leg of lamb.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Rub the marinade with your hands all over the lamb.
• You can leave this to marinade for a few hours or overnight in the fridge.
• An hour before cooking – take it out of the fridge and let come to room temperature.

Roast the Leg of Lamb

• Preheat the oven at 200C/400F for 20 minutes
• Place the leg of lamb in the roasting pan
• Surround the lamb with potatoes.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Add more fresh herbs to the roasting pan.
• Insert the meat thermometer in the thickest part of the meat but not touching the bone.
• Place in the preheated oven on the middle rack.
• Immediately, reduce oven temperature to 160 C, or  325 F.
• Roast until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 130 F to 135 F for a medium rare – which usually takes between 45 to 50 minutes.
• I prefer to cook it at medium at about 140 F to 145 F (because my kids won’t eat meat rare (red)) – which usually takes about 55 to 60 minutes.
• NOTE: While roasting If you find the meat is browning too fast on the top. Tent it loosely with foil.
• When the thermometer has reached your desired temperature remove it out of the oven.
• Loosely tent it with foil and let rest for at least 15 minutes before you cut into it.

Make the gravy

• Transfer the meat and potatoes to a serving platter.
• Place the roasting pan on medium-low heat.
• Add wine, stock or water and deglaze the pan by scraping with a spatula.
• Gather as much of the flavor you can – add one tbsp flour and cook well until the gravy is thick.
• Add more water if necessary so it’s not too thick.
• Cook it for another minute or two.
• Strain it through a sieve to remove all the herbs etc.
• Enjoy

Best Roast Leg of Lamb, Herb Crusted Leg of Lamb, Slow-cooked Leg of lamb,

Herb Crusted Roast Leg of Lamb

Author: Veena Azmanov

Herb crusted roast leg of lamb is marinated with amazing flavors of rosemary, thyme, oregano, garlic and lemon cooked with a bed of vegetables making it a complete meal on its own.

5 from 19 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dinner. Lunch

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: Christmas, Easter, Entertain, Lamb, Thanksgiving

Adjust Servings Here: 16 servings

Calories: 366kcal

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 1 hr

Total Time: 1 hr 20 mins

Ingredients

• 1 kg Leg of lamb with bone

Marinade

• 2 cloves Garlic (thinly sliced)
• 2 sprigs Rosemary fresh
• 4 sprigs Thyme fresh
• 2 sprigs Oregano
• 1 tbsp Coarse salt
• 1 tsp Pepper
• 1/2 tsp Paprika
• 2 tbsp Lemon juice
• 2 tbsp Olive oil

Extra

• 2 springs thyme and rosemary each
• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 1 kg Baby roasting potatoes 2 lbs
• 1 tbsp All-purpose flour
• 120 ml Red wine or stock optional for gravy

Metric - US customary

Instructions

Prepare marinade

• Chop some fresh herbs - rosemary, thyme, and oregano - about 2 tbsp each.
• In a bowl combine - fresh herbs chopped, sliced garlic, paprika, lemon juice, and olive oil.
• Set aside.

Marinate the leg of lamb

• Wash clean and pat dry the leg of lamb.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Rub the marinade with your hands all over the lamb.
• You can leave this to marinade for a few hours or overnight in the fridge.
• An hour before cooking - take it out of the fridge and let come to room temperature.

Roast the Leg of Lamb

• Preheat the oven at 200C/400F for 20 minutes
• Place the leg of lamb in the roasting pan
• Surround the lamb with potatoes.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Add more fresh herbs to the roasting pan.
• Insert the meat thermometer in the thickest part of the meat but not touching the bone.
• Place in the preheated oven on the middle rack.
• Immediately, reduce oven temperature to 160 C, or  325 F.
• Roast until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 130 F to 135 F for a medium rare - which usually takes between 45 to 50 minutes.
• I prefer to cook it at medium at about 140 F to 145 F (because my kids won't eat meat rare (red)) - which usually takes about 55 to 60 minutes.
• NOTE: While roasting If you find the meat is browning too fast on the top. Tent it loosely with foil.
• When the thermometer has reached your desired temperature remove it out of the oven.
• Loosely tent it with foil and let rest for at least 15 minutes before you cut into it.

Make the gravy

• Transfer the meat and potatoes to a serving platter.
• Place the roasting pan on medium-low heat.
• Add wine, stock or water and deglaze the pan by scraping with a spatula.
• Gather as much of the flavor you can - add one tbsp flour and cook well until the gravy is thick.
• Add more water if necessary so it's not too thick.
• Cook it for another minute or two.
• Strain it through a sieve to remove all the herbs etc.
• Enjoy

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Nutrition Information

Serving: 227g | Calories: 366kcal | Carbohydrates: 15.4g | Protein: 24.6g | Fat: 22.5g | Saturated Fat: 9.6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 12.9g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0g | Trans Fat: 0g | Cholesterol: 83mg | Sodium: 687mg | Potassium: 0mg | Fiber: 2.2g | Sugar: 1.7g | Vitamin A: 0% | Vitamin C: 0% | Calcium: 0% | Iron: 0%

The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you

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