Lamb Shoulder Roast • Two Purple Figs

This Lamb Shoulder Roast with Pomegranate molasses, warm spice and garlic is one of our favourite family recipes. It’s perfect for the Holidays and any special occasion. This is another  easy lamb recipe that I promise you’ll love and make more often than you think. 

Our Holidays, special occasions and summer BBQs were always about lamb. There’s something so comforting about making lamb and sharing it for special occasions. And I love sharing these memories with you, hoping I can inspire you to create lamb memories with your loved ones too. 

If you love a good roast, try our fool proof  Leg of Lamb Recipe , it’s great for a crowd. If you love the shanks, you’ll love this Lamb Shanks in skyr or orange braised Lamb Shanks. 

And while we’re all about the shoulder cut today, don’t miss out this viral Lamb shoulder chops recipe with fragrant rice. It’s perfect when you’re rushed on time. 

Today’s lamb shoulder roast is another melt in your mouth roast lamb that’s so perfectly spiced and tender. All our lamb recipes on this site are made using American lamb. We never compromise, and we know what good lamb is. So trust me, before deciding which recipe to cook, make sure you buy American lamb for it. 

We’re lucky to live around plenty of local butchers that source American lamb, so I can ask for any cut and they’ll have it. If you’re shopping for lamb, ask your meat person if the cut is local American lamb. You can also find lots of great ranches and farms that ship nationwide, but you’ll need to plan ahead. 

This post is sponsored by the American Lamb Board

Why You’ll Love This Lamb Shoulder Roast

• It is DELICIOUS!  Beautiful combination of tangy, sweet, warm spices, garlic, fresh and spice. 
• The yogurt marinade makes it super tender, and if you buy local lamb —you know it’s already tender melt in your mouth!
• The oven will do all the cooking for you, so you just marinate the lamb shoulder and the rest is done. 
• You need one roasting pan for the lambs shoulder, and if you’re using a disposable one, you practically have no cleanup to do!
• If you’re a plan in advance person, this recipe is a great one for you!
• This recipe feeds a crowd, so it’s great for entertaining.
• It’s also a show stopper at the table.
• Leftovers can be used endlessly!

Ingredients You’ll Need

We’re going to break down the ingredients into the lamb, the marinade and remaining ingredients for roasting. 

• Lamb. We use local American lamb shoulder for this recipe. We only buy local because it’s raised to a high industry standard and it’s as fresh as can be. So you’re buying quality lamb that’s buttery, less gamey than any other imported type, PLUS you’re supporting local hardworking ranchers. It’s absolutely a win win situation. The only thing is to actually ASK before you buy, because not all cuts are local. 

What is Lamb Shoulder? 

While you can marinate a leg of lamb with those exact spices, and it will still taste amazing! The shoulder cut is a great blend of tender meat and fat marble. It cooks quicker than a leg, and it’s more affordable. You can read all about the different cuts of lamb here.

Marinade 

• Yogurt. It tenderizes the lamb.
• Ground Spices. Lots of it! Garlic and onion powders, cinnamon, Aleppo pepper, allspice, salt and pepper
• Pomegranate Molasses. For sweet and tang! Use balsamic syrup if you can’t find it.
• Ketchup and Tomato Paste. Rich tomato taste with a sweet touch
• Whole spices. Whole cinnamon, bay leaves and cardamoms 
• Whole garlic cloves.

To Roast Lamb Shoulder

• Onions.
• Garlic heads.
• Stock.

How to Roast Lamb Shoulder 

Prepare the Lamb Shoulder 

1. The first step is to ask your butcher to trim any excess fat if you want to. You can make this cut as lean as you want by trimming any excess fat on the top of the shoulder. 
2. Like wise you can trim off the neck, the arm, or keep it as we did here. 
   
   
3. My grandmother always inserted whole garlic cloves and cardamom pods in to lamb roasts, so I do it too. You’re going to make small slits using a small paring knife and insert the garlic and cardamom into each slit. 
4. The trick here is NOT to over do it. You want to space the slits well apart, so this whole shoulder roast had about 6-7 slits all in all. That’s including front and back, sides and all.
5. This step is completely optional, but it’s just a deeper layer of rich flavor.

Marinate the Lamb 

1. A day before you’re planning to serve the lamb roast is ideal to start marinating. While you can marinate it for 1 hour and it will still taste great, we prefer an overnight marinade. 
2. Mix all the ground spices, the ketchup, tomato paste, yogurt, pomegranate molasses in a bowl. 
   
   
3. Now rub your lamb shoulder with this mixture all around, top and bottom. Not just rub, actually massage the meat, like really slather it on.
4. Cover it and let it marinade overnight.

Roast the Lamb Shoulder 

1. The next day, uncover the meat and don’t touch it. 
2. Add in whole spice to the bottom of the roasting pan. We used Turkish bay leaves, whole cinnamon sticks and whole cardamoms.
3. Around the meat, arrange onions, cut in half. Also add a head of garlic, cut in half and some fresh herbs. 
   
   
4. Finally pour in some stock around the meat. 
5. Cover the meat with a layer of parchment paper and then a layer of aluminum foil. 
   
   
6. At that point you’re ready to begin roasting. 
7. Place the roasting pan in the oven at high heat for the first hour, and then drop it to 375 and continue roasting. 
   
8. The lamb shoulder is ready when the meat falls apart and it has a beautiful golden top. You won’t uncover the roast at any point, and you don’t need to broil it. 

How to Serve Lamb Shoulder Roast

Ok seriously, we would serve it AS IS and not ask for more! Since this is our holiday recipe, and in keeping up with family recipes, we made our stuffed onions on the side. 

Stuffed onions are popular along many countries, this version however is the Turkish one. If you guys need a whole post dedicated to these, we may just do that! 

Basically you’ll cut a slit along the onions, and boil them for a few minutes. When cool enough you’ll be able to peel off the outer layers one at a time. 

The filling is diced onions, ground lamb (American lamb of course) that’s are cooked along with spices, herbs, and pomegranate molasses as well. Rice is added to the mixture at the end.

You’ll then take the peeled onion layers, one a time and stuff them with a tablespoon of the mixture. Then roll the onion layer around the filling to have a cylindrical like shape. 

These stuffed onions are then arranged in an oven safe dish. A mixture of garlic, stock, pomegranate molasses and tomato paste is poured over the onions, and then they’re ready to roast. 

They come out tender, melt in your mouth sweet onions with a tasty rice and lamb filling. You can see much of it in the recipe video, and we’re happy to share a separate post for them. Just let us know!

Other amazing side dishes for this roast would be: Stuffed sweet potatoes, Roasted butternut squash, scalloped potatoes or Mashed Potatoes, Pan fried spicy potatoes, roasted acorn squash, and more!

Roasting Lamb Shoulder Tips and FAQ

1. Always buy American Lamb. For the tastiest and freshest meat possible, do yourself a favor and buy local. You’ll taste the difference and you’ll make a difference by supporting local ranchers too. 
2. Ask your meat person or butcher to trim down the fat to your liking. We love to trim most of it, but keep a thin layer at the top. Also ask them to cut out the arm and neck if you want a smaller piece. 
3. The slits in the lamb are meant to infuse it with another depth of roasted garlic flavor. It’s completely optional, but imagine whole garlic cloves that roast with the meat—just impeccable taste!
4. You can leave the shoulder to marinate for as little as one hour, but we prefer an overnight. That way the yogurt has enough time to tenderize the meat so much. 
5. Adding whole spices is important for more flavour to infuse as it gets absorbed by the stock during roasting. 
6. You can use any type of stock, or even water. 
7. If you don’t have pomegranate molasses, or can’t buy it, you can use balsamic glaze with the juice of 1 lemon. 
8. Roasting the shoulder at a high temperature for the first hour helps the stock and meat come to temperature, and then begin the roasting process.
9. This shoulder roast was close to 8 pounds and it took 3 hours in the oven. Roasting times and temperatures are usually calculated per pound of meat. Although it’s best to keep checking on your meat every 45 minutes after the first hour. 
10. Factors that affect roasting time including the oven you’re using, the type of roasting pan, the amount of fat in the meat and much more. 
11. Once the lamb is ready, it should have a deep roasted color with easy to flake meat out of the bone. 
12. You don’t really need to have the lamb rest, you can enjoy it right away!

Lamb Roasting Times and Temperatures

The USDA recommends cooking lamb to an internal temperature of 145 degrees F. Since this a long hour roast, the meat will be well over 150 degrees F. 

Cooking time is about 20-23 minutes per pound, but as mentioned above it depends on other factors too. The roasting pan you use (dark versus light, glass versus metal, etc), and the oven you have. If you use convection or regular roast function, that also makes a difference. 

How much lamb to serve per person?

While I can’t speak for everyone, because our family LOVES lamb—kids and adults included 🙂 On average this 8 pound shoulder roast is good enough for 10 people, especially when paired with hearty side dishes. 

How to Store Leftovers?

Leftovers are GREAT! They make awesome sandwiches, toss them with pasta sauce and make a lamb ragu, serve them over salads and more!  

Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container for up to 4 days. You can freeze the cooked lamb meat in a ziplock bag, well sealed for 3 months. 

To reheat the meat from the fridge, you can place it in an oven safe dish. Cover the lamb with foil and heat it up at 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes. If frozen, reheat for 30 minutes or more. 

While you can microwave the meat to reheat, we don’t recommend it.

Holiday Lamb Recipes

Lamb Loin Chops
Leg of Lamb Recipe
Lamb Loin With Halloumi Salad
Rack of Lamb Recipe
Braised Lamb Shanks 
Boneless Leg of Lamb
Lamb Stew- Ali Nazik