Scrambled Eggs, Cheese, and Avocado Tortilla Bowl Recipe
September 16, 2025
Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks in Red Wine Sauce Recipe
Lamb shanks are the king of all lamb cuts!! Gradual cooked till meltingly tender in a wealthy, deeply flavoured pink wine sauce, this recipe is worthy of positive eating eating places but is utterly easy to make. Serve it over creamy mashed potato with a facet of peas or sautéed spinach, with crusty bread to mop your bowl clear!
* Right here for the cookbook model? Discover it right here -> the elegant Restaurant Lamb Shanks in Pink Wine Sauce.
I’ve an actual mushy spot for sluggish cooked lamb shanks. I simply love the look of a hunk of meltingly tender meat wrapped across the bone. Hits my carnivore sweet-spot, each time.
Truthfully, if you happen to put this and a towering frosted cake in entrance of me, this might win on daily basis of the week and twice on Sunday:
Being a tricky reduce of meat that wants sluggish cooking to make it fall-off-the-bone tender, lamb shanks are literally very forgiving so it’s an actual simple reduce to prepare dinner with.
You actually can’t overcook lamb shanks.Go away it in for an hour too lengthy, and the meat remains to be succulent and juicy. The worst that can occur is that the meat falls off the bone if you go to serve it.
And if you happen to pull it out too early and the meat isn’t fork tender, simply add extra liquid and maintain cooking!
The one key tip I’ve is to brown that shank in addition to you’ll be able to. It’s a exhausting form to brown evenly, however do what you’ll be able to. Browning is the important thing flavour base for any protein that’s sluggish cooked in a braising liquid, like Beef Stew, Pot Roast, Chicken Stew. For those who ever see a sluggish cooked stew recipe that doesn’t name for browning the meat earlier than sluggish cooking, proceed with warning!
I really like sluggish cooking meat on the bone. Lamb Shanks, Beef Quick Ribs and Osso Buco – higher flavour extra succulent!
For those who’re new to lamb shanks, right here’s a rundown: lamb shanks are from the decrease leg of lambs, and they’re an affordable, powerful reduce of meat.
Due to this, lamb shanks should be sluggish cooked – both braised or roasted – to interrupt down the powerful meat to melt into succulent tenderness.
The meat itself is stuffed with flavour which provides to the flavour of the sauce.
BONUS: The marrow within the bone melts into the sauce, deepening the flavour and richness. We love freebies round right here!!
Pink wine sauce is a basic braising liquid for lamb shanks, with the wealthy deep flavours a pure pairing with the sturdy flavour of lamb.
The pink wine sauce is tremendous easy to make however after hours of sluggish cooking, it transforms into an unimaginable wealthy, deeply flavoured sauce that’s silky and shiny, and appears completely posh-restauranty.
Only a fast notice on the wine – I don’t use costly wines for sluggish cooking. I actually consider from the underside of my coronary heart that even the snobbiest of all meals snobs wouldn’t be capable of inform the distinction if you happen to made this with a reduction end-of-bin $5 bottle or a $50 bottle. (And the New York Occasions agrees….)
Perhaps you possibly can inform the distinction utilizing a $100 bottle. However that’s not inside my funds….
Non alcoholic sub for wine?
The wine is a key flavour for the broth on this recipe. So if you happen to can’t eat alcohol, it’s best to substitute with non-alcoholic pink wine.
Please don’t use extra beef or chicken inventory/broth, even when it’s low sodium. This sauce has wonderful flavour in it as a result of it’s massively concentrated down (basically right into a jus). So if you happen to use extra inventory then it should find yourself too salty.
That is a type of recipes that actually is terrific to make within the oven, range, sluggish cooker or stress cooker, so long as its began on the range to brown the shanks and saute the onion and so forth. Proper now, being winter right here in Sydney, I select the oven so it retains my home good and heat! – Johnsat x
Ingredients
- 4 lamb shanks , around 13 oz / 400g each (Note 1)
- 1 tsp EACH cooking/kosher salt and pepper
- 2 – 3 tbsp olive oil , separated
- 1 onion , finely diced (brown, yellow or white)
- 3 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 cup carrot , peeled, finely diced (Note 2)
- 1 cup celery , finely diced (Note 2)
- 2 1/2 cups red wine (full bodied (good value wine, not expensive! Note 3)
- 800 g / 28oz can crushed tomatoes
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 cups chicken stock , low sodium (or water)
- 5 sprigs of thyme (preferably tied together), or 2 tsp dried thyme
- 2 dried bay leaves (or 4 fresh)
- Mashed potato , polenta or pureed cauliflower
- Fresh thyme leaves , optional garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F (all oven types – fan and standard).
- Season shanks – Pat the lamb shanks dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Brown – Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large heavy based pot over high heat. Sear the lamb shanks in 2 batches until brown all over, about 5 minutes. Remove lamb onto a plate and drain excess fat (if any) from the pot.
- Sauté aromatics – Turn the heat down to medium low. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the same pot. Add the onion and garlic, cook for 2 minutes. Add carrot and celery. Cook for 5 minutes until onion is translucent and sweet.
- Braising liquid – Add the red wine, chicken stock, crushed tomato, tomato paste, thyme and bay leaves. Stir to combine.
- Add shanks – Place the lamb shanks into the pot, squeezing them in to fit so they are mostly submerged. (Note 1)
- Oven 2 hours covered – Turn stove up, bring liquid to a simmer. Cover, then transfer to the oven for 2 hours (see notes for other cook methods).
- Uncovered 30 minutes – Remove lid, then return to the oven for another 30 minutes (so 2 1/2 hours in total). Check to ensure lamb meat is ultra tender – if not, cover and keep cooking. Ideal is tender meat but still just holding onto bone.
- Remove lamb onto plate and keep warm. Pick out and discard bay leaves and thyme.
- Sauce – Strain the sauce into a bowl, pressing to extract all sauce out of the veggies (Note 5 for repurposing the veggies). Pour strained sauce back into pot. If needed, bring to a simmer over medium heat and reduce slightly to a syrupy consistency (see video) – I rarely need to. Taste then add salt and pepper to taste (Note 5 on sauce taste).
- Serve the lamb shanks on mashed potato or cauliflower puree with plenty of sauce! Garnish with thyme leaves if desired.
Notes
1. Lamb Shanks – sizes vary considerably so make sure you get ones that will fit in your cooking vessel! 4 x 400g/13oz lamb shanks fits snugly in a 26cm/11″ diameter Chasseur dutch oven which is what I use. They don’t need to be completely submerged, just as long as most of the meaty end is mostly submerged, that’s fine. If you don’t have a pot large enough, you can switch to a baking dish for the slow cooking part, and cover with a double layer of foil if you don’t have a lid for it. You can also ask your butcher to cut the shaft so it bends if you are concerned, or to trim it slightly.
Cook time – 350-400g shanks should cook to “fall apart tender” but still holding onto bone in 2.5 hrs at 180°C/350°F. It can take up to 3 hrs, so to err on the side of caution re: dinner timing, give yourself 3 hours oven time. Shanks are the sort of thing that can sit around for ages and stay warm (keep covered in pot) and the flavour just gets even better. In fact, if you are cooking to impress, cook it the day before then reheat to serve – flavour will develop overnight, like with any stew!
2. Onion, carrot and celery is the “holy trinity” of slow cooking, creating a beautiful flavour base for the sauce. It’s not a deal breaker to exclude the carrot and celery, but it does give the sauce an extra edge.
3. Wine – Use a good value full bodied red wine, like cabaret sauvignon or merlot. Shiraz is ok too. No need to use expensive wine for slow cooked recipes like this (and the New York Times agrees). Use discount end of bin specials (I get mine from Dan Murphey’s). Pinots not suitable, too light. 99% of the alcohol in the red wine evaporates during cooking. The sauce does not taste winey at all, it completely transforms.
Non alcoholic sub: 1 1/2 cups beef broth LOW SODIUM, 1 cup water. + 1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce. Beef has a stronger deeper flavour than chicken so will be more suited to being the sub for wine.
4. Most of the alcohol in the red wine will evaporate during this step but not completely – it will finish evaporating during the slow cooking. The sauce does not taste winey at all, it completely transforms.
5. Sauce options: The other option is to blitz the sauce using a sick blender. The sauce will be thicker, and you’ll have more of it (leftovers great tossed through pasta). This is what I used to do, but nowadays I prefer to strain the sauce because I like how glossy and rich it is – this is how restaurants serve it. You could also skip straining or blitzing, it just means you get little veg lumps in the sauce. All are tasty options, it mainly comes down to visual.
TIP: If you strain the sauce, keep the veggies etc in the strainer to make a terrific sauce, they are loaded with flavour even though all juice is squeezed out of them. What I do is make a basic tomato sauce with garlic, onion, canned tomato and water. Then I blitz that with the veggies. Use it to make a killer pasta or lasagna!!
Sour sauce? Sounds like there might’ve been issues with your canned tomatoes (poor quality = overly sour, good quality = sweet). Add a touch of honey or sugar, simmer for few minutes. Also, you didn’t rush the carrots/celery sautéing step did you?? Cooking them for 5 minutes sweetens them! 🙂
6. OTHER COOK OPTIONS:
Slow cooker – Follow recipe to step 7. Bring sauce to simmer, scrape bottom of pot to get all brown bits into the liquid. Place shanks in slow cooker, add the sauce. Cook on low for 8 hours. Remove shanks, strain and reduce sauce to desired thickness on stove (if you blitz per Note 5, you won’t need to reduce).
Pressure Cooker – Follow Slow Cooker steps, cook for 40 minutes on high. Release pressure according to manufacturer directions. Stove – to cook this on the stove, cook for about 2 hours on low, ensuring that you check it at 1 hour then every 30 minutes thereafter to ensure there is enough braising liquid (because liquid evaporates faster on the stove) and the bottom of the pot isn’t catching. Turn the lamb shanks twice. You won’t get the brown crust, but the flavour is the same!
7. Original recipe vs cookbook version – The original lamb shanks recipe is from 2015 which was improved in 2018. There is also a very elegant red wine lamb shanks recipe in my cookbook which is an elegant fine-dining version.
Nutrition per serving. This is conservative – it doesn’t take into account fat trimmed from shanks or discarded fat. Also assumes all sauce is consumed which it probably won’t be.
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