How To Cook A Leg Of Lamb - Great British Chefs

• Recipes
• Chefs
• How To Cook
• Features
• Competitions

• Search by ingredient, dish or cuisine

  Popular

  Search history

  Chicken

  Lamb

  Salmon

  Venison

  Sea Bass

  Duck

  Michelin

  Vegetarian

  Dessert

  Cod

Recipes

• Everyday and easy
• Main ingredients
• Vegetarian main ingredients
• Carbohydrates
• Fish and Seafood
• Meal Type
• Diets
• Courses
• Cuisine
• Michelin and Advanced

Everyday and easy

• Midweek meal
• Quick
• Quick pasta
• Easy cake
• See all easy recipes

Main ingredients

• Chicken
• Beef
• Lamb
• Pork
• Salmon

Vegetarian main ingredients

• Cheese
• Egg
• Mushroom
• Tofu
• Vegetarian

Carbohydrates

• Pasta
• Potato
• Rice
• Noodle
• Bread

Fish and Seafood

• Prawn
• Cod
• Sea bass
• Mackerel
• See more fish and seafood recipes

Meal Type

• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Main course
• Snack
• Cake

Diets

• Vegan
• Vegetarian
• Pescatarian
• Gluten-free
• Dairy-free

Courses

• Canapés
• Starters
• Mains
• Desserts
• Petits fours

Cuisine

• Mexican
• Italian
• Indian
• Thai
• Chinese

Michelin and Advanced

• Michelin star
• Michelin star starter
• Michelin star dessert
• Challenging
• Dinner party

How to Cook

• Meat and poultry
• Fish and seafood
• Vegetables
• Knife skills
• Cakes and baking
• Sous vide
• Pickling
• Chef tricks

Meat and poultry

• Chicken
• Beef
• Lamb
• Pork
• Duck
• See all meat and poultry guides

Fish and seafood

• Monkfish
• Haddock
• Sea bass
• Mackerel
• Red mullet
• See all fish and seafood guides

Vegetables

• Beetroot
• Butternut squash
• Red cabbage
• Sweet potato
• Tomato
• See all vegetables guides

Knife skills

• Butchery
• Fish preparation
• Vegetable preparation
• Chiffonade
• Sharpen a knife
• See all knife skills guides

Cakes and baking

• Line a tart tin
• Blind bake
• Make macarons
• Bake cakes
• Make sweet pastry
• Make biscuits

Sous vide

• Sous vide meat
• Sous vide fish
• Sous vide vegetables
• Sous vide fruit
• Tips and tricks
• See all sous vide guides

Pickling

• Pickled asparagus
• Pickled mackerel
• Pickled gooseberries
• Pickled cucumber
• Pickled red cabbage
• See all pickling guides

Chef tricks

• Brining
• Fish stock
• Rib-eye steak
• Chorizo crisps
• Pomme purée
• Crispy chicken skin

VISIT OUR SHOP Sign in | Subscribe | VISIT OUR SHOP Sign in | Subscribe

• Recipes
  • • • Everyday and easy
      • Midweek meal
      • Quick
      • Quick pasta
      • Easy cake
      • See all easy recipes
    • • Main ingredients
      • Chicken
      • Beef
      • Lamb
      • Pork
      • Salmon
    • • Vegetarian main ingredients
      • Cheese
      • Egg
      • Mushroom
      • Tofu
      • Vegetarian
    • • Carbohydrates
      • Pasta
      • Potato
      • Rice
      • Noodle
      • Bread
    • • Fish and Seafood
      • Prawn
      • Cod
      • Sea bass
      • Mackerel
      • See more fish and seafood recipes
    • • Meal Type
      • Breakfast
      • Lunch
      • Main course
      • Snack
      • Cake
    • • Diets
      • Vegan
      • Vegetarian
      • Pescatarian
      • Gluten-free
      • Dairy-free
    • • Courses
      • Canapés
      • Starters
      • Mains
      • Desserts
      • Petits fours
    • • Cuisine
      • Mexican
      • Italian
      • Indian
      • Thai
      • Chinese
    • • Michelin and Advanced
      • Michelin star
      • Michelin star starter
      • Michelin star dessert
      • Challenging
      • Dinner party

  • After something else? Take a look at what's new and get inspired.

    LATEST RECIPES
• Chefs
• How To Cook
• Features
• Competitions

Search by ingredient, dish or cuisine

Popular

Search history

Chicken

Lamb

Salmon

Venison

Sea Bass

Duck

Michelin

Vegetarian

Dessert

Cod

See our Leg of Lamb Recipes: Roast Leg of Lamb

Lamb is a very popular meat in the UK. For many, the ultimate roast is a leg of lamb with mint sauce or redcurrant jelly. A leg of lamb has a strong taste and can take robust spices, herbs and sauces. Diced up or minced, it’s fantastic in curries, tagines and pies.

What to look for when buying a leg of lamb

Always buy lamb from a decent butcher and opt for British and organic if you can. Keep in mind that the meat of grass-fed animals contains more omega-3 fatty acids than grain-fed ones. If choosing a rare breed of lamb it may be darker and taste more gamey.

When choosing lamb, look for a deep pink colour with dry, white fat.

Lamb should be stored covered in the fridge for 2–3 days or frozen on the day of purchase.

Leg of lambLeg of lambRecipe CollectionHow to cook lambHow to cook lamb

How to cook a leg of lamb

Leg of lamb is traditionally roasted in a hot oven (190˚C–220˚C) though it can also be slow cooked at lower temperatures for much longer. Lamb leg steaks are widely available for pan-frying and grilling and diced leg can be used for stews, tagines and pies.

When cooking a leg of lamb whole, don’t remove any excess fat – it adds flavour and helps keep the meat tender. The fat will render down during cooking; drain it from the roasting tray and whisk it into your gravy for an extra boost of lamb flavour.

It is important to let the meat come to room temperature before beginning to ensure it will cook through evenly. It is also imperative to let the meat rest after cooking, 20 minutes is sufficient. Wrap the leg in tin foil to prevent it from getting too cold.

Use a meat thermometer to test whether your meat is cooked or not; it’s not essential but will help determine to what stage the lamb is cooked, from rare (48–54˚C) to medium-rare (55–59 °C) to medium (60–66˚C) to well done (67–74˚C) and give a more consistent result. Roast lamb should be served pink in the middle. If overcooked, it is dry, chewy and unpleasant.

To decrease the cooking time, you can ask your butcher to remove the bone running down the middle of the leg, a technique known as butterflying. This is ideal for cooking on a barbecue. Try marinating the meat before cooking as Robert Thompson does in his recipe for Chargrilled leg of lamb with salsa verde and roasted beetroot.

Roast leg of lamb with rosemary and anchovyRoast leg of lamb with rosemary and anchovyby Andrew MacKenzieHow to cook lamb shoulderHow to cook lamb shoulder

Serving suggestions

Traditional flavour pairings for roast lamb are mint, rosemary, redcurrants, anchovies and garlic – see Andrew MacKenzie’s Roast leg of Welsh lamb with rosemary and anchovy or Shaun Rankin’s Roast leg of lamb with honey and minted Jersey Royals. Or try Andy Waters’ Moroccan lamb with fluffy cous cous or Anna Hansen’s Roast Baharat and lemon marinated Welsh lamb with sweet potato and fresh coriander.

Subscribe to the

Great British Chefs Newsletter

Join an ever-growing community of food lovers now by subscribing to our newsletter and get all the latest recipes, features and much more to your inbox

SUBSCRIBE Terms and conditions

Get in touch

Please sign in or register to send a comment to Great British Chefs.

You may also like

How to slow cook beefHow to slow cook beefHow to cook tongueHow to cook tongueHow to cook pork cheeksHow to cook pork cheeksHow to cook rib-eye steak to perfectionHow to cook rib-eye steak to perfectionHow to make chorizo crispsHow to make chorizo crispsHow to cook lamb cutletsHow to cook lamb cutletsHow to cook the perfect fillet steakHow to cook the perfect fillet steakHow to cook beef rump capHow to cook beef rump capHow to cook pork shoulderHow to cook pork shoulderHow to cook pork chopsHow to cook pork chopsLoad more

NAVIGATE

• Home
• Recipes
• Chefs
• Michelin star results 2026
• Ingredients
• Recipe collections
• Features
• How to cook
• Competitions

FOLLOW

SITES

INFORMATION

• Contact
• Work with us
• Insights and consultancy
• Great British Chefs shop
• Join our Great British Chefs Cookbook Club
• FAQs
• About us
• Jobs
• Contributors
• Privacy Policy
• Terms and Conditions

© Great British Chefs 2026 MANAGE COOKIES