This slow cooked lamb is cooked to perfection and literally melts in your mouth. Smothered in harissa and lemon juice, it is bursting with flavour and served with an incredible wild rice salad with fresh mango. Perfect for feeding the family, or having lots of delicious leftovers for easy weekday lunches.
If you fancy something a little different for your Sunday roast, then this slow cooked leg of lamb with wild rice salad is it! All that delicious flavour from slow roast lamb, but served with a light and flavour packed rice based salad.
It's herby and zesty, with a little kick of heat. This proves that salads don't have to be boring! This is something special for when you have a little more time.
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Why you will love this slow cooked lamb leg
- The BEST way to cook lamb - It has to be a slow roast leg of lamb for a really comforting Sunday dinner and this will give perfect results every time.
- Perfect for feeding the family - The great thing about leg of lamb recipes is that you get a lot of food. So, this is one of those recipes that is good for feeding a big family.
- Makes great leftovers - Just making it for a few of you? Well, that just means you have more leftovers. Carry on reading for all our favourite ways to use leftover slow roasted lamb.
Ingredients needed
- Lamb - The best lamb to use for this recipe is a whole leg of lamb. It's nice and lean, gives perfectly tender lamb, and it's great for feeding the whole family or making lots of leftovers.
- Oil - We used olive oil for this, as we find it's best for making a marinade.
- Salt and pepper - Sea salt and black pepper help to perfectly season the lamb. Generously season.
- Harissa - This North African hot red chilli paste can usually be found in a small jar next to the ready made pastes/lazy chilli and garlics or in a tube in the world food aisle. The main ingredient is roasted red peppers and that is mixed with chillies, garlic, herbs and spices with a little rose and some oil, so it does have a little bit of a kick to it. It is easy to make your own Harissa Paste.
- Lemon - This really lightens up the marinade for the lamb. Make sure you use a juicy lemon.
- Wild rice and long grain rice - Filling and low in fat, this is the star of the salad that accompanies the slow cooked roast lamb. You can use any rice you like, but we love this combination.
- Chilli - If you don't like spicy food, then you could leave it out, or you could take the seeds out of the chilli to make it less spicy.
- Mango - This adds so much freshness to the salad, however you need to make sure that you are using a fresh and juicy mango. We have more tips on choosing the perfect mango in our FAQs at the bottom.
- Fresh herbs - We have used fresh coriander and mint for a delicious balance of flavour. You could use fresh parsley if you don't like coriander though.
- Greek yogurt - You want thick and authentic Greek yoghurt, as you need to be able to spread it across the plate. Don't use a runny Greek yogurt, as you just won't get the same result.
A full ingredients list with measurements is in the recipe card below.
How to make slow cooked leg of lamb - Step by step
Prep: Preheat your oven to 160°C/140°C(fan)/325°F/Gas 3
One: Drizzle the lamb with 1 tablespoon of the oil and season. Cook in a hot pan until browned all over.
Two: Mix together the harissa, remaining oil and lemon juice.
Three: Spread the harissa mix all over the lamb and roast for 3 hours.
Four: Cook the wild rice and long grain rice together for 20-25 minutes. You can buy it already mixed in the supermarket.
Five: Mix together the onion, chilli and and lime juice.
Six: Add the cooked rice to the onion and chilli and then add the mango. Mix well.
Seven: When the lamb is cooked, remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Shred with a sharp knife.
Eight: Serve the lamb and rice salad topped with the chopped herbs and the Greek yogurt on the side.
Best cut of lamb for roasting
We have used a whole slow cooked leg of lamb, as this is a great recipe for feeding the whole family, or having lots of leftovers. The leg is the most versatile of all lamb cuts.
It is lean enough to serve pink (if that is your preference) and it has enough fat on it to remain succulent when well-cooked. Lamb leg is the most tender and is best when roasted.
You could use a shoulder of lamb instead, however we find these are more fatty. This would also change the cooking time too. Why not try our Slow Cooker Lamb Shoulder if you have lamb shoulder to use?
Roast leg of lamb cooking time
This leg of lamb recipe does require some patience, as it takes 3 hours to cook in the oven. However, it is totally worth the wait. Lamb should be cooked low and slow, and it just falls off the bone and is deliciously tender.
Slow roast leg of lamb is also really forgiving. If you leave it in for an extra hour on this low heat, then it will still be amazing and super juicy.
The cooking time will of course depend on the size of the lamb, and how hot your oven runs as they all cook differently.
What temp to cook lamb
Low and slow is the way to go with roast leg of lamb, and we cook ours at 160°C/140°C(fan)/325°F/Gas 3. Any higher and it will change the cooking time, but we find that it gets tough when cooked quicker at a higher temperature.
Serving Suggestions
This salad pretty much has it all. However, we always try to add some extra vegetables to our meals where we can, so here are some of our favourite vegetable side dishes that go perfectly with the roast lamb and salad:
- Slow Cooker Green Beans
- Air Fryer Asparagus
- Balsamic and Garlic Roasted Cauliflower
- Broccoli Salad
- Cucumber Dill Salad
- Roasted Lemon Asparagus
- Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
- Grilled Corn with Herb Butter
Extra tips
- There is no need to marinate the lamb first. If you want to, then you could put it in the fridge for an hour once you have added the harissa and lemon.
- A leg of lamb is really forgiving when it comes to cooking time. Every oven will vary, so if you find the meat isn't quite tender enough, the you can put it back in the oven and it will still be nice and juicy even if it is cooked for 45 minutes to an hour longer.
- The nutritional information for this will not be totally accurate, because there is a lot of fat the comes out when cooking, which is not used.
- You don't even need to carve this lamb. It should be so tender that you should be able to pull the meat off the bone with two forks.
FAQs
Lamb is not only a rich source of protein, but it is also a great source of many vitamins and minerals, such as iron, zinc, and vitamin B12.
Read more about the health benefits of lamb.
We used a 2.1kg leg of lamb and we found that was enough to serve 6 people along with the salad.
The best way to tell if a mango is ripe is by the feel of it. Give the mango a gentle squeeze and it should give slightly which means that the flesh inside is nice and soft. It is similar to checking if a peach is ripe.
Don't focus on the colour too much, as different types of mango have different colours when ripe. Whilst you might think that a darker red, rather than green, would mean it is ripe, it doesn't necessarily work that way.
The best way to check that lamb is cooked is to use a meat thermometer. The safe internal temperature for cooked lamb is 62°C/145°F. It should be inserted into the thickest part of the meat that's not touching any bone.
The rice is ready when two-thirds of the grains have burst open to reveal the creamy white interior.
More lamb recipes
If you’ve tried this slow cooked lamb recipe, let us know how you got on in the comments below.
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Recipe
Slow Cooked Leg of Lamb (with Wild Rice Salad)
Ingredients
- 2.1 kg (4.66 lb) Leg of lamb
- 1 tablespoon Olive oil - for the lamb
- 1 tablespoon Olive oil - for the sauce
- 2 tablespoon Harissa
- 1 Lemon - juice only
- 120 g (0.75 cups) USA wild rice
- 180 g (1 cups) USA long grain rice
- 2 Red onion - thinly sliced
- 1 Red chilli - finely chopped
- 1 Lime - juice only
- 2 Large mangoes - about 250g/9oz each; peeled and cut into matchsticks
- 15 g (1 cups) Fresh coriander (cilantro) - finely chopped
- 15 g (0.33 cups) Fresh mint - finely chopped
- 4 tablespoon Greek yogurt
- 2 pinch Sea salt and ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 160°C/140°C(fan)/325°F/Gas 3.
- Drizzle 2.1 kg Leg of lamb with 1 tablespoon Olive oil and season with 2 pinch Sea salt and ground black pepper. Cook in a hot pan until browned all over.
- Mix together 2 tablespoon Harissa, 1 tablespoon Olive oil and the juice of 1 Lemon.
- Spread the harissa mix all over the lamb and roast for 3 hours.
- Cook 120 g USA wild rice and 180 g USA long grain rice together for 20-25 minutes.
- Mix together 2 Red onion, 1 Red chilli and and juice of 1 Lime.
- Add the cooked rice to the onion and chilli and then add matchsticks cut from 2 Large mangoes. Mix well.
- When the lamb is cooked, remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Shred with a sharp knife.
- Serve the lamb and rice salad topped with 15 g Fresh coriander (cilantro), 15 g Fresh mint and 4 tablespoon Greek yogurt on the side.
Recipe Tips
- There is no need to marinate the lamb first. If you want to, then you could put it in the fridge for an hour once you have added the harissa and lemon.
- A leg of lamb is really forgiving when it comes to cooking time. Every oven will vary, so if you find the meat isn't quite tender enough, the you can put it back in the oven and it will still be nice and juicy even if it is cooked for 45 minutes to an hour longer.
- The nutritional information for this will not be totally accurate, because there is a lot of fat the comes out when cooking, which is not used.
- You don't even need to carve this lamb. It should be so tender that you should be able to pull the meat off the bone with two forks.
Nutritional Information
The nutritional information provided is approximate and is calculated using online tools. Information can vary depending on various factors, but we have endeavoured to be as accurate as possible.
As all appliances vary, cooking times are a guide. Please note that by changing the serving size, the cooking time may also need to be altered.
Wanda says
This is totally my kind of meal! The photos and instructions make it look so easy to make. Bookmarking for the weekend!
Nathan says
I LOVE lamb but I never have a good excuse to go out of my way to make it, so this recipe is perfect. Gorgeous photographs too, I'm hungry after just looking at them!