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Tender, fall off the bone Lamb Shanks braised in a luxurious red wine gravy is your new family dinner recipe! Includes 4 cooking methods!
You choose how to cook them! In the oven, on the stove, in a slow cooker or Instant pot (pressure cooker). Whichever one you choose, you will not be disappointed! For a lighter side to balance the richness, serve these lamb shanks with a bowl of Chicken Pasta Salad; the fresh bruschetta flavors cut through the hearty gravy beautifully.
Why This Recipe Works
Lamb shanks are an inexpensive cut of meat begging to be slow cooked. Slow cooking turns this tough cut of lamb into the most tender, succulent, fall off the bone meat, while creating a luxurious depth of flavour in this delicious gravy. If you love slow-cooked lamb dishes like this, you might also enjoy a fiery lamb ragu with pappardelle pasta.
Along with ingredients you already have on hand, like garlic, onions, beef stock, herbs and tomato sauce (tomato puree), you’ll have a heavenly stew simmering in your kitchen.
The perfect Sunday afternoon is a slow cooking pot of lamb shanks. This is one recipe where you want to take your time cooking, while enjoying a glass of wine or two waiting for its arrival to your dinner table.
Ingredients
- Lamb Shanks: The star of the dish—becomes fall-off-the-bone tender when slow-cooked and brings rich, meaty flavour.
- Red Wine: Adds depth and complexity to the sauce, helping to tenderise the meat (can be replaced with more stock if preferred).
- Beef Stock: Forms the base of the braising liquid—infuses the shanks with deep, savoury flavour.
- Passata (Tomato Puree): Adds body, acidity, and richness to the braising sauce, balancing the meatiness.
- Onion, Carrot, and Garlic: The aromatic trio. Onion and carrot provide sweetness; garlic adds a savoury punch.
- Tomato Paste: Intensifies the umami and adds a rich, concentrated tomato flavour.
Notes: See recipe card at the bottom for full list of ingredients and measurements
How To Make Braised Lamb Shanks
Let simmer for 4-5 minutes, or until thickened to desired consistency, and pour all over your lamb shanks to serve!
- Wash and pat dry lamb shanks with paper towel getting rid of all moisture
- Heat oil in a heavy based pot. Sear two shanks in the all around. Repeat transfer to a plate, tent with foil to keep warm, set aside.
- In the pan juices, sauté the carrots and diced onions until softened, then add garlic and cook
- Return the shanks back into the pot; season with coarse salt and ground pepper.
- Sprinkle with flour, toss well and cook until brown.
- Add stock, wine, puree, tomato paste, bullion and herbs.
- Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 ½ -2 hours, stir occasionally, until the meat is falling apart.
- Garnish with parsley, serve with mashed potatoes or rice, OR if you’d like to go the extra mile try one of the sides below.
Lamb shanks go so well with creamy Easy Creamy Mashed potatoes, Mashed Sweet Potatoes or a buttery cauliflower mash. And to finish the meal on a sweet, cozy note, my Cinnamon Rice Pudding is the perfect dessert to follow all that rich, tender goodness.
Recipe FAQ’s
Yes. Replace the wine with extra beef stock or low-sodium broth for a non-alcoholic version.
Flouring helps create a crust on the lamb and thickens the sauce during braising.
Absolutely. The flavours deepen over time—just reheat gently before serving.
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Lamb Shanks
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil divided
- 4 – 6 lamb shanks trimmed of excess fat
- 1 white onion large, diced
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 2 large carrots sliced 1/2-inch thick
- 1 pinch coarse salt
- 1 pinch cracked pepper
- 1/4 cup flour
- 2 cups beef stock
- 1 1/2 cups red wine like Merlot, Pinot Noir, or a Chianti – optional. Substitute with extra stock
- 14 oz passata (tomato puree or American tomato sauce)
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 beef bouillon cubes crushed
- 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley finely chopped (divided)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 pinch salt to season
- 1 pinch pepper to season
Instructions
OVEN METHOD:
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
- Wash and pat dry lamb shanks with paper towel.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a heavy based pot over medium-high heat. Sear two shanks in the hot oil until browned on all sides. Repeat with remaining shanks and oil. Transfer to a plate, tent with foil to keep warm, set aside.
- To the pan juices, sauté the carrots and diced onions until softened, (about 3 minutes), then add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Return the shanks back into the pot; season with 1 teaspoon coarse salt and 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper. Sprinkle with flour, toss well and cook for 4-5 minutes to brown the flour.
- Add stock, wine, puree, tomato paste, bouillon and herbs. Bring to a simmer on the stove.
- Cover, transfer to lower part of the oven and cook for 2 1/2 hours, or until the meat is fall apart tender (adjust the heat so that the liquid simmers very slowly).
- Gently transfer the shanks onto a plate; tent to keep warm.
- Discard the bay leaves from the sauce and place pot onto stove. Simmer sauce over medium heat until thickened to your desired consistency. OPTIONAL: skim off any additional fat which rises to the surface.
- You should be left with about 3 cups of sauce thick enough to lightly coat the back of a spoon. *If the sauce is too thick, add a few tablespoons of stock. If the sauce is too thin, boil it over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until reduced to the right consistency. (See notes about thickening.)
- Taste for seasoning and adjust salt and pepper, if desired. Add the shanks back into the pot of sauce.
- Garnish with parsley and serve with mashed potatoes, rice or pasta.
- To serve the following day, allow the casserole to cool completely, cover and refrigerate. The day of serving, remove from refrigerator for at least an hour before reheating. Place over medium-low heat and let simmer gently for about 10 – 15 minutes, basting the shanks and vegetables with the sauce.
Notes
- Wash and pat dry lamb shanks with paper towel.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a heavy based pot.
- Sear two shanks in the hot oil until browned on all sides. Repeat with remaining shanks and oil.
- Transfer to a plate, tent with foil to keep warm, set aside.
- To the pan juices, sauté the carrots and diced onions until softened, (about 3 minutes), then add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Return the shanks back into the pot; season with 1 teaspoon coarse salt and 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper.
- Sprinkle with flour, toss well and cook for 4-5 minutes to brown.
- Add stock, wine, puree, tomato paste, bullion and herbs.
- Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until the meat is falling apart.
- Garnish with parsley and serve with mashed potatoes or rice.
- Set Instant Pot or Cooker to SEAR function (or use a pan on the stove over medium heat of you wish).
- Wash and pat dry lamb shanks with paper towel.
- Sear two shanks in the hot oil until browned on all sides. Repeat with remaining shanks and oil.
- Add all shanks to the pot. Season with 1 teaspoon coarse salt and 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper. Sprinkle with flour, toss well and cook on SEAR for a further 4-5 minutes to brown.
- Add in the onions, carrots, wine, stock, tomato puree, tomato paste, garlic, bullion and herbs. Stir well, cover and lock the lid into place. Press Keep Warm/Cancel to stop the Sauté function, then set to MANUAL mode. Choose HIGH PRESSURE for 30 minutes cook time.
- After cooking, allow the pressure to release naturally for 8-10 minutes. Open the valve and allow and remaining steam to escape (for Instant Pot, turn the valve from sealing to venting to release the pressure).
- Change the Instant Pot or cooker setting back to the SEAR setting (or SAUTE) stir well and allow the sauce to thicken uncovered, for a further 5-10 minutes.
- Garnish with parsley and serve with mashed potatoes, rice or noodles.
- Wash and pat dry lamb shanks with paper towel.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a heavy based pot over medium-high heat.
- Sear two shanks in the hot oil until browned on all sides. Repeat with remaining shanks and oil.
- Transfer to 6 quart (litre) slow cooker bowl.
- Add in the onions, carrots and garlic. Season with 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt and 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper, tossing well to combine.
- Pour the red wine into the pan or skillet and allow to simmer for 4-5 minutes, then whisk in the flour until free from lumps. Allow to reduce and thicken slightly, then pour it into the slow cooker along with the stock, tomato puree, tomato paste, bullion and herbs.
- Mix well to combine all of the ingredients. Cook on high heat setting for 6 hours or low for 8 hours, or until lamb is fall apart tender.
- Remove shanks, transfer sauce to a pot and let simmer for 15 minutes over medium heat to reduce to desired thickness.
- Garnish with fresh parley and serve with mashed potatoes or rice.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
After tasting the sauce I decided it was a little too tangy/acidic for my taste so I added about 5 tbsp of brown sugar and it made this recipe an absolute knockout!
I made Lamb Shanks for the first time following this recipe with 1 exception, I added fresh thyme and I used Kroger brand red cooking wine. I cooked them in a crock pot for about 6 hours. They were falling off the bone and absolutely delicious. My husband loved it with mashed potatoes and asparagus.
Just perfect thank you for such a delicious recipe absolutely yummy !
Absolutely delicious, the kids even liked it. Cooked in a Dutch oven in the oven for 2-1/2hrs, meat was falling off the bone.
I made this today! Absolutely amazing. Thank you for sharing the recipe 🖤
Why does this recipe call for stock and bullion cubes? Do I need to use both? Asking from New Zealand where we use cubes to make stock sometimes 🙂
I was thinking the same thing, I’m just going to dissolve 4 cubes in 2 cups of water and see how it goes.
I’m only guessing here but I’d say it’s to enhance the beef flavor. I often do this with recipes even though I use beef stock (I use “Better Than Bullion rather than the salty cubes.)
I’m in the UK and I crumbled 2 oxo cubes instead of the bullion cubes. Didn’t do the flour thing (scared). Was absolutely delicious. Much better in oven than slow cooker is my opinion after doing both ways. We eat it once a week!
The best Lamb Shanks recipe I have ever tried. Lots of sauce left over which I have frozen and will use as the base next time. I used the slow cooker on low for 8 hours. The meat just fell off the bone, served with mash and greens, sensational!
I made this just as the recipe dictates (except I had to extend the braising time). I always do this the first time — otherwise you are not really testing the recipe as it was written. Results were excellent. I cooked it stovetop; but did have to extend the cooking time to a full three hours as the tenderness was not achieved until then. The braising liquid was rich and delicious; so the leftovers for lunch the next day served over yellow rice were outstanding. I would highly recommend this. Beef, and even pork have become so tasteless since the producers have bred the flavor out of most all meats, that lamb is a wonderful alternative. It still has a flavor without having to drench it in spices.
Very good. I used a crockpot on low for 8 hours. Served on leftover pearled barley with sweet green peas.
My wife deemed the lamb shanks delicious.
I used the stove top version, halved the olive oil, and used equal parts wine and tomato sauce (Trader Joe’s Roasted Garlic Marinara). The dish was sensational and a big hit. My friends now think I am a chef!
Wonderful, wonderful recipe. Thanks!
I made this yesterday using just two enormous lamb shanks. It was delicious. I used the stove top method and it ended up being on the stove for three hours on very low heat. The meat was so tender. I also had a lot of sauce left over which I refrigerated and then this morning skimmed off the fat and put in a baggie in the freezer. It’ll make wonderful sauce for chicken in a couple of weeks.
Hi Debbie,
I’m looking at using two lamb shanks as well. Did you reduce any of the amounts of other ingredients at all?
Thanks,
Kaylee