Our Slow Cooker Lamb Shoulder is seasoned with rosemary, thyme, and garlic and slow cooked in tomatoes until pull-apart tender and flavorful. Potatoes and carrots and cooked together with the lamb to make it a 1 pot meal that's great for holidays, Sunday dinners and family gatherings.
This slow cooker lamb shoulder recipe is simple and made with 6 easy ingredients, plus lots of seasonings and herbs. Everything gets added to the crockpot together to make it a dump and go, set it and forget it dinner so you can go about your day without doing any hands on work!
Leftovers are great for sandwiches, wraps and grain bowls or dinner salads.
If you love lamb or Middle Eastern style roasts, this is a great alternetive to pressure cooker leg of lamb, slow cooker lamb stew and crockpot Middle Eastern beef stew.
Table Of Contents
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Lamb shoulder: this is a tender cut of lamb meat perfect for slow cooking and roasting. Bone-in lamb shoulder will give the best flavor and more tender meat, but boneless lamb shoulder works too. A whole roast may be difficult to find, so using lamb shoulder chops is my preferred way to make this.
- Canned diced tomatoes: unseasoned
- Fresh rosemary and thyme sprigs: remove the leaves for use and discard the stems. Can substitute with dried herbs with a ratio of 1 sprig to approximately ¼ teaspoon of dried herb.
- Garlic: fresh garlic cloves give better flavor than minced garlic in a jar.
- Carrots and potatoes
- Salt and pepper
High Versus Low Setting
Lamb is best when cooked low and slow, whether you are cooking it in a slow cooker or the oven. A long cook time at a low temperature creates juicy and tender lamb roasts. I prefer to cook lamb in my slow cooker on low for this reason but you can use both the LOW and HIGH settings. This recipe takes just 4 hours on low, but if you'd like it done quicker use the high setting for 2 hours.
Do I Need To Brown The Lamb First?
I highly recommend browning the meat prior to slow cooking because this locks in the juices and makes for a more tender and juicy lamb shoulder. But, if you want to skip this step you can.
How To Make A Gravy For Serving
Beyond the juices from the tomatoes and the natural liquid the lamb releases while slow cooking, this recipe does not use additional liquid. But you can make a gravy you can whisk 1 tablespoon of melted butter with 1 tablespoon of melted butter until a paste forms. Mix with 1 cup of hot water or vegetable broth and stir into the crockpot with about 1 hour of cooking time left.
Kristina's Tips
- This recipe works best with bone-in lamb shoulder. Lamb shoulder chops are generally easier to find than lamb shoulder roasts. Either works!
- If you only have boneless lamb shoulder, you can use it but add a little more garlic and herbs to increase the flavor you lose from the bones.
- Lamb bones can be reserved to make bone broth. Freeze cleaned bones until ready to use.
Instructions
- Add the olive oil to a large frying pan and sear the lamb shoulder over medium heat for 2 minutes on each side. If you want to skip this step, you can but searing locks in the juices and make a more tender outcome.
- Pour the canned tomatoes and their juices into the slow cooker. Add the seared lamb and sprinkle the black pepper, salt, rosemary leaves, thyme leaves, and minced garlic on top.
- Cut the potatoes in half and peel and halve the carrots. Put into the slow cooker on top of the lamb.
- Cover and set to LOW for 4 hours or HIGH for 2 hours. When finished, submerged the carrots and potatoes into the broth and cover for 30 more minutes on the KEEP WARM setting.
Recipe
Slow Cooker Lamb Shoulder
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 lbs lamb shoulder chops or roast
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 24 oz diced tomatoes 1 large can
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme leaves removed
- 4 sprigs fresh rosemary leaves removed
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 2 carrots peeled and cut in half
- 2 potatoes halved
Instructions
- Add olive oil to a large frying pan and sear the lamb shoulder over medium heat for 2 minutes on each side.
- Pour the canned tomatoes and their juices into the slow cooker. Add the seared lamb and sprinkle the black pepper, salt, rosemary leaves, thyme leaves, and minced garlic on top.
- Layer the halved potatoes and carrots on top.
- Cover and set to LOW for 4 hours or HIGH for 2 hours. When finished, submerged the carrots and potatoes into the broth and cover for 30 more minutes on the KEEP WARM setting.
Notes
Nutrition
Jerika says
Wow! This Slow Cooker Lamb Shoulder looks so delicious and bursting with flavors!:) Can't wait to try this recipe and use my spices that's on my garden. Thanks!:)
nancy says
SO JUICY!! pinned for later