This delicious boneless lamb roast will impress your guests at your next holiday celebration or family gathering.
When planning a meal for special occasions, lamb comes to mind as a special dish for holidays, family gatherings and celebrations. At first it can seem intimidating to prepare a lamb roast, but there’s a first time for everything right? With a few key steps and a handful of simple ingredients, you can make an incredible lamb roast your whole family with rave over. This boneless lamb roast recipe is perfect for this time of year or for your next holiday meal.
When you have a quality cut of meat like a lamb roast, you want to choose a few key fresh ingredients to highlight the dish while allowing the meat to shine. This recipe is made with simple minimal ingredients that make a delicious and tender lamb roast that is full of flavor.
I like to keep it simple and use fresh ingredients. Dried herbs just will not work as well. I also prepared a delicious pan sauce to drizzle on the top of the sliced lamb meat. For this particular recipe, I prepared a Creamy Dijon Mustard Pan Sauce to top the lamb roast. It was incredible!
What You’ll Need – Ingredient Checklist
- 1 – 3-4 pound boneless lamb roast
- 2 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves
- 4 large garlic cloves
- Olive oil – ¼ cup
- Lemon juice – 2 tbsp
- Lemon zest – 1 lemon
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- Cracked fresh black pepper
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Tools You’ll Need
Steps
- Take the lamb roast out of the refrigerator one hour before roasting, bringing it to room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
- The roast will likely come prepared with kitchen twine – leave this on.
- Mince the cloves of garlic.
- Chop the rosemary leaves.
- In a small bowl, whisk the lemon juice, lemon zest and olive oil to emulsify the liquids. Add in the chopped fresh garlic and fresh herbs to make a wet rub.
- Alternatively, you can use a food processor and process the fresh herbs, garlic and liquids together in the processor.
- Spread the wet herb mixture onto your boneless lamb leg.
- Season the whole roast with kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper.
- Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil for easy clean up.
- Place the roast in the roasting pan.
- The key to tender lamb is to sear the meat at 450 degrees for 15 minutes and then slow roast the remainder of the cooking time at 325 degrees.
- I personally like roast lamb cooked medium. Cooking time depends on how you like your meat. The USDA states that lamb should be cooked to a minimum of 145 degrees for safety, though many people eat their lamb medium rare. I like to err on the side of caution, but I also like my meat cooked to medium. I took my lamb roast out at 140 degrees and let the meat rest to 145 degrees before slicing. Internal temperature guidelines are below.
- Using your instant-read thermometer, check the internal temperature of the roasted leg of lamb in the thickest parts of the roast, checking for doneness to your preference. Remember that the meat will increase in temperature while resting.
- Transfer lamb to a cutting board and let it rest for approximately 10 minutes.
- After the lamb roast has rested, slice into 3/4 inch slices.
- Serve with my Creamy Dijon Mustard Pan Sauce recipe for drizzling over the top of the plated lamb.
Internal Temperature Guidelines – Lamb Roast
I only recommend cooking your lamb roast to medium or medium-well. Cooking your boneless leg of lamb roast to medium with an internal temperature of 145 degrees satisfies the USDA guidelines for safety and leaves your lamb tender and full of flavor. Your roast will look just like the picture below with a little pink in the center.
If you prefer less pink, you can cook it to 145 degrees and let it rest to 150 degrees. Anything over that temperature is likely to dry out your lamb roast, make it taste overcooked, and will likely not produce the best results.
- Rare: 125°F to 130°F (approximately 15 minutes per pound) – NOT USDA recommended
- Medium-Rare: 130°F to 140°F (approximately 20 minutes per pound) – NOT USDA recommended
- Medium: 140°F to 145°F (approximately 25 minutes per pound) – My personal recommendation
- Medium-Well: 145°F to 150°F (approximately 25-30 minutes per pound) – Still good, less pink and not overcooked
- Well-Done: 150°F to 165°F (approximately 30 minutes per pound) – Likely to be dried out and overcooked
Helpful Tips & Key Steps to ensure the BEST Boneless Leg of Lamb Recipe
Of all the steps in this recipe, these are the key aspects to ensuring tender, flavorful lamb.
- Letting the lamb roast come to room temperature before roasting.
- Leaving the twine on the roast.
- Searing the lamb at a high temperature (450 degrees f) for 15 minutes and then slow roasting at a lower temperature (325 degrees f) for the remainder of the cooking time. This sears in the juices and makes a nice crust with your seasonings on the outside and keeps the lamb tender, moist and full of flavor. There is nothing worse than overcooked, dry lamb.
- Paying attention to the internal temperature of the lamb using a reliable meat thermometer. There are many instant read thermometers on the market, I personally recommend this one.
- Letting the lamb rest after roasting and before slicing.
If you follow these simple steps, you will have an incredible tender lamb roast filled with flavor. It will become one of your favorite family meals for special occasions.
Kid Hacks
If your kids are hesitant to try new foods (like lamb), don’t spend a lot of time talking about this being something new and different they’ve never had before. Instead, simply plate it up and serve it without a lot of hype. Often times, they will simply think it’s a meat they like and have tried before (like beef).
When I did this, my kids were oohing and aahing over the tender meat. After devouring half their food, they then asked, “mom, what is this? It is so good.” Happy mom.
Later that week, I then used the leftover lamb to make a soup. They absolutely loved it.
Where to Buy Boneless Lamb Roasts
It’s often difficult to find a high quality lamb roast in the grocery store . I highly recommend Crowd Cow for purchasing your boneless lamb roast online. If you purchase from Crowd Cow, you can feel good about knowing exactly where your food comes from. They choose their meat suppliers using the highest standards. Crowd Cow transparently lists their sourcing farm, allowing you to review the farming practices in place at the farm from which you purchase your meat.
What to Serve With a Boneless Lamb Roast
Serve your lamb roast with this simple easy recipe for a Creamy Dijon Mustard Pan Sauce.
I like to make simple side dishes when I’m serving a centerpiece meat like this boneless lamb roast recipe. There is no need to overcomplicate things. Serve with my simple recipe for roasted purple potatoes, roasted asparagus and some crusty bread and dipping oil.
Boneless Lamb Roast for Special Occasions
Equipment
- Large roasting pan
- Meat thermometer
- Sharp carving knife
Ingredients
- 4 pounds boneless lamb roast 1 boneless lamb roast, approximately 4 pounds
- 2 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves
- 4 large garlic cloves
- 1/4 cup Extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp Lemon juice from a squeezed lemon
- Lemon zest from one lemon
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- Cracked fresh black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Take the lamb roast out of the refrigerator one hour before roasting, bringing it to room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
- The roast will likely come prepared with kitchen twine – leave this on.
- Mince the cloves of garlic.
- Chop the rosemary leaves.
- In a small bowl, whisk the lemon juice, lemon zest and olive oil to emulsify the liquids. Add in the chopped fresh garlic and fresh herbs to make a wet rub.
- Alternatively, you can use a food processor and process the fresh herbs, garlic and liquids together in the processor.
- Spread the wet herb mixture onto your boneless lamb leg.
- Season the whole roast with salt and fresh cracked pepper.
- Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil for easy clean up.
- Place the roast in the roasting pan.
- The key to tender lamb is to sear the meat at 450 degrees for 15 minutes and then slow roast the remainder of the cooking time at 325 degrees.
- I personally like roast lamb cooked medium. Cooking time depends on how you like your meat. The USDA states that lamb should be cooked to a minimum of 145 degrees for safety, though many people eat their lamb medium rare. I like to err on the side of caution and cook my lamb roast to medium. I took the roast out at an internal temperature of 140 degrees and let the meat rest to 145 degrees before slicing.
- Internal temperature guidelines are below.
- Using your instant-read thermometer, check the internal temperature of the roasted leg of lamb in the thickest parts of the roast, checking for doneness to your preference. Remember that the meat will increase in temperature while resting.
- Transfer lamb to a cutting board and let it rest for approximately 10 minutes.
- After the lamb roast has rested, slice into 3/4 inch slices.
- Serve with my Dijon Mustard Pan Sauce recipe for drizzling over the top of the plated lamb.
Notes
- Rare: 125°F to 130°F (approximately 15 minutes per pound) – NOT USDA recommended
- Medium-Rare: 130°F to 140°F (approximately 20 minutes per pound) – NOT USDA recommended
- Medium: 140°F to 145°F (approximately 25 minutes per pound) – My personal recommendation
- Medium-Well: 145°F to 150°F (approximately 25-30 minutes per pound) – Still good, less pink and not overcooked
- Well-Done: 150°F to 165°F (approximately 30 minutes per pound) – Likely to be dried out and overcooked
More Recipes to Try
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This Post Has One Comment
Love this recipe! The lamb turned out incredibly delicious.