Lamb Shanks with minted gravy

Treat the family to these delicious lamb shanks in minted gravy, served on a bed of creamy mustard mashed potatoes. This slow cooker recipe turns a humble lamb shank into a culinary masterpiece with hardly any effort on your part. I've also included instructions for cooking the lamb shanks either in a pressure cooker, on the hob or in the oven, so you can choose whichever method suits you the best!

Jump to:

• Slow cooker lamb shanks in minted gravy
• Alternative cooking methods
• What you will need
• Ingredients
• What to do
• Other ways to cook lamb shanks
• Minted lamb shanks FAQ
• Save for later
• Related recipes
• 📋The recipe

Slow cooker lamb shanks in minted gravy

Get ready for a culinary treat. These lamb shanks cooked in the slow cooker in minted gravy are out-of-this-world delicious. Here's why:

• The meat is tender and succulent and falls from the bone at the touch of a fork.
• The minted gravy made with my secret ingredient (more on that below) perfectly cuts through the richness of the lamb.
• The hint of rosemary infuses the dish with an earthy fragrance.
• And the creamy mustard mashed potatoes are the perfect vessel for soaking up the delicious gravy.

I haven't packed this dish with loads of other herbs and spices. This is a simple dish, made with simple ingredients, and it is designed to let the flavour of the lamb shine through.

I hope you'll love it!

Alternative cooking methods

Lamb shanks are quite a tough cut of meat. They contain a lot of muscle that benefits from long and slow cooking. Which is why I've made these lamb shanks in the slow-cooker.

However, with this recipe, you are not tied into any particular method of cooking. Lamb shanks are also perfectly suited for cooking in a pressure cooker, for simmering on the stove, or for braising in the oven. I've given details for all of these methods below.

Whichever method of cooking you choose the meat turns out meltingly tender and succulent, and falls easily from the bone. Each method has its own advantages:

• With the pressure cooker, the high-pressure environment cooks the lamb to fork-tender perfection in a fraction of the time.
• On the stove, the slow simmering process helps infuse the delicious flavours right into the meat.
• And the longer low-and-slow roasting process in the oven brings out the natural juices of the lamb.

But however you choose to cook it, this recipe for lamb shanks is incredibly easy.

In a nutshell, this is what you have to do:

• Brown the lamb in a frying pan.
• Place it in your chosen cooking vessel with fried onions.
• Cover with stock.
• Leave it alone to cook.

You can’t really go wrong with cooking a lamb shank. If you accidentally overcook it, the worst that will happen is that the meat will fall off the bone, and you’ll be left with a lamb stew instead of a lamb shank!!

What you will need

You will need a slow cooker.

You will also need a frying pan for browning the meat and frying off the onions.

A stick-blender will be needed for blending the gravy.

If you are not going to be cooking these lamb shanks in a slow cooker, you may be interested in these appliances:

• pressure cooker - I absolutely love my Ninja multi-cooker - it's an air fryer and pressure cooker in one!
• dutch oven - a cash iron Dutch oven is invaluable for making stews and casseroles in the oven.

Ingredients

**You can get the complete list of ingredients and full instructions for making lamb shanks in minted gravy on the printable recipe card at the end of this post**

I made this recipe using 2 lamb shanks. If you have more people to feed you can simply add more lamb and increase the amount of stock and flavourings.

• Lamb shanks - depending on the size of the lamb shanks, I normally allow one shank per person. The ones I used for this recipe weighed roughly 450 grams each (that's about a pound). It may seem a lot, but remember there is a large bone running all the way through the shank so you will only get half the weight in actual meat. You can also easily remove the bone and cut the meat into smaller portions before serving.
• Onions - I used 2 medium-sized onions which were coarsely chopped.
• White cabbage – this is my secret ingredient for really tasty gravy. Because of the long slow cooking time, the cabbage disintegrates, leaving only flavoured liquid behind. If you don't enjoy cabbage you can leave this out and add extra stock to compensate.
• Lamb or vegetable stock – you can make this using a stock cube
• Mint sauce - I used shop-bought mint sauce. You could also use a powdered mint rub, the sort that you would normally use to rub over a leg of lamb if you were making a roast. If you don't have either of those you could use a teaspoon of dried mint.
• A word of warning on the mint sauce - the brand I use is quite mild - other brands may differ, and be quite vinegary. Taste the mint sauce before you add it to the lamb and use your own judgement as to how much you will need. You don't want the flavour to overpower the lamb. You can always taste halfway through the cooking time and add more if you think it needs it.
• Tomato puree - you may know it as tomato paste. This is simply highly concentrated tomatoes, normally sold in a tube or in a can. Not to be confused with tomato ketchup.
• Rosemary - 2 or 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary laid on top of the lamb shanks add a lovely flavour. If you don't have any fresh rosemary you can add a teaspoon of dried rosemary or simply leave it out.
• Sunflower oil - if possible, use a neutral-flavoured vegetable oil - I wouldn't use olive oil as it has quite a strong taste. The oil is used for browning the lamb shanks and the onions.
• Salt – optional, to your own taste. I used half a teaspoon of salt per shank.
• Cornflour - this is used for thickening the gravy.

Don’t be surprised by the short list of ingredients. Trust me, this is all you need to make the most delicious lamb shanks with minted gravy.

Mustard mashed potatoes

This should be sufficient for 2 people. To make for more, simply double up the ingredients. Don’t double up on the salt, use your own discretion on the amount of salt you will need to cook the potatoes.

• Potatoes - for mash I like to use a floury potato like a King Edward, but feel free to use whatever potatoes you would normally use when making mash.
• Salt - this is added to the water when we boil the potatoes.
• Butter - use unsalted butter. The potatoes are boiled in salted water so we don't want to introduce any more salt.
• Cream - if you prefer you could use milk. This is used to add a little creaminess to the potatoes.
• Dijon or Wholegrain Mustard depending on your taste. I have to admit I like the little pops of mustard flavour that you get with wholegrain mustard.

What to do

Lamb shanks

The process shots below are for making the lamb shanks in a slow cooker, but the process is very similar whether you are using a pressure cooker, the hob or the oven.

Make the gravy

Tip – don’t add all of the cornflour mixture at once – drizzle it in slowly. You may find you don’t need all of it. On the other hand, if the gravy doesn’t thicken sufficiently you may need to use a little more cornflour and water mixture.

Mustard mash

Half an hour before the meat is done you can make the mustard mash.

To Serve

• Place a pile of mashed potato into the centre of a plate and position a lamb shank on top.
• Add your choice of vegetable on the side.
• Pour the minted gravy over the lamb shanks.
• Sit back and wait for compliments.

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Other ways to cook lamb shanks

Pressure cooker

Follow the recipe above, but cook the lamb shanks for approximately 30 minutes on high pressure. Consult the manufacturer's manual for exact cooking times for your own model of pressure cooker.

Stove-top

Follow the recipe above, but make the following changes:

• Use a large saucepan with a tightly fitting lid.
• Increase the stock until you have sufficient to cover the lamb shanks.
• Bring the lamb shanks to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer.
• Simmer for 2 and a half to 3 hours or until the meat is tender. Actual cooking time will depend on the size of your lamb shanks. Larger shanks will take longer.
• Keep your eye on the liquid and top up with more stock if it starts to boil dry.

In the oven

Follow the recipe above, but make the following changes:

• Use a casserole dish with a tightly fitting lid.
• Double the amount of stock
• Cook at 160C / 325F for 2 and a half to 3 hours or until the meat is tender.
• Check occasionally to see that there is still sufficient liquid in the casserole. If not, top up with extra stock.

In all instances above you need to ensure that you are left with at least 2 to 3 cups of liquid to make the gravy.

Minted lamb shanks FAQ

Save for later

If you would like to try these lamb shanks in minted gravy, why not save the recipe to one of your Pinterest boards so you can find it easily? Just click on the image below.

Alternatively, you can save the recipe by clicking on the floating heart icon on the right-hand side of the screen.

Related recipes

If you enjoyed these lamb shanks in red wine gravy, you might like to try some of my other lamb recipes:

You can get all of these plus other similar recipes on my lamb recipes page.

📋The recipe

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