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Whether it’s a Sunday roast, a Friday night dinner party or a mid-week slow cook, a roast leg of lamb is a delicious and versatile joint of meat that will wow your dinner guests with minimal effort.
Our expert guide to cooking roast lamb covers everything from how long to cook your meat, what size leg to buy and how much lamb you’ll need per person, and the herbs and spices that will enhance its flavour, making sure your leg of lamb is the star of the show.
Make sure to also check our guide to the best frozen roast potatoes - based on our independent consumer taste tests.
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Here's a basic step-by-step guide to roasting lamb:
Once you know the weight of your leg of lamb, you can work out roughly how long it will take to cook it. The total cooking times for a leg of lamb (medium done) are as follows:
If you prefer it well done, you can alter the cooking times to 30 minutes per 450g/lb, plus an extra 30 minutes.
Make sure you also check the cooking times listed on the packaging, or ask the butcher if you’re not buying from a supermarket.
Cooking times can also vary depending on how well your oven sticks to its temperature. When we've tested ovens, we've found that some overheat by 30ºC more than the temperature you set on the dial – enough to turn a perfectly tender joint of lamb into a crispy mess.
If you're looking to replace your oven, find one that will cook accurately and evenly with our built-in oven, freestanding cooker and range cooker reviews.
See our meat thermometer reviews and serve your guests perfectly cooked lamb.
If you’re trying to calculate how much lamb you’ll need to cook, a good rule of thumb is 400g + 200g per person. The list below will give you an idea of roughly what weight of lamb you'll need to feed everyone around your dinner table.
Read our expert reviews of electric carving knives and make quick and light work of carving up your lamb.
While a well-cooked leg of lamb will taste fantastic on its own, fresh herbs and the right accompaniments can add a delicious depth of flavour to your plate.
Here are some of the best herbs, spices, sauces, and condiments to pair with your lamb:
Best red wines - serve your lamb with one of our top-rated picks for a perfect pairing.
To slow roast a leg of lamb, all you need to do is lower the heat and lengthen the cooking time. We also advise covering the lamb with foil to help the meat retain its moisture.
Alternatively, use one of our best slow cookers.
Coined the best roast leg of lamb recipe, Jamie Oliver uses a marinade made up of rosemary, garlic, olive oil and lemon zest to flavour the lamb and advises cooking the joint on the hot bars in the oven rather than in a roasting pan.
Another one of Jamie’s leg of lamb recipes swaps out the marinade for a herby butter and the hot bars for a traditional pan, filled with veg.
Like Jamie, Nigella also rubs her leg of lamb with a marinade. But this one features rosemary, oregano, lemon, orange, garlic, olive oil and salt, which once cooked will form a soft, fresh crust on the top of your joint.
Nigella’s herbed leg of lamb recipe also advises cooking your lamb in half an inch of water.
Mary’s crowd-pleasing, one-pot, slow roast leg of lamb recipe takes around 5 hours, so you’ll need to start earlier in the day.
Seasoned with garlic, paprika and thyme, the lamb is then cooked with ratatouille-style vegetables and covered with foil to keep it moist.
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