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Home » Main Meals » Minted Roast leg of lamb – with homemade gravy

Minted Roast leg of lamb – with homemade gravy

Author: VJ Published : April 2019 Updated : February 2023 / Be the first to comment!

Recipe
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I can’t think of anyone who doesn’t love lamb, my favourite is this minted roast leg of lamb. And it’s easier to cook than you would think. Follow my steps below to find out how to cook lamb that is succulent and delicious, every single time.

A roasted leg of lamb being carved into slices.

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Roast Leg of Lamb

Minted roast leg of lamb is a bit of a luxury when you are only two people to share it, so when I found my local supermarket selling whole lamb legs for the price of a small piece of lamb roast, I grabbed a few and asked the friendly butcher to chop them in half for me.  The result – a freezer stocked with enough lamb roasts to stock a small farm!

We love lamb.  There is so much you can do with it – roasted in the oven with garlic and rosemary, slow-cooked pull-apart lamb in the slow cooker, pot-roasted in the pressure cooker, or this way – minted and roasted to perfection.

Lamb is a very easy meat to cook. Just pop it in the oven and forget about it until it is done.

Follow my cooking times below to get perfect roast leg of lamb. Every. Single. Time.

A leg of lamb on a table with dishes of vegetables.

How to prepare and cook a leg of lamb

Equipment

You will need a roasting tin large enough to hold your leg of lamb. If the roasting tin has a lid, so much the better. But don’t worry if it doesn’t have a lid, you can just cover it with a sheet of tinfoil.

Ingredients

Ingredients for minted roast leg of lamb.
Ingredients for minted roast leg of lamb:

Lamb leg joint – the size doesn’t really matter – you can work out the cooking times for different sizes of lamb legs from the cooking times instructions below.

Mint rub – this is sold in packets in the supermarket (in the gravy section), or you can order it on-line from Amazon. This is the one I use and it is a dry powdered mint-flavoured rub which comes in 60-gram packets. Depending on the size of your lamb you will probably need half a packet.

Mint sauce – this is optional, but I like to rub the lamb with a little mint sauce before adding the mint rub as it helps the rub to stick to the lamb.

Sunflower oil – one or two tablespoons to rub over the lamb.

Salt – to your own taste.

What to do

An uncooked leg of lamb rubbed with oil and mint sauce in a roasting pan.

Rub the lamb all over with a tablespoon of oil and a teaspoon of salt. Then rub it with a tablespoon of mint sauce.

A leg of lamb which has been covered with dry mint rub before going into the oven.

Cover the lamb on all sides with the mint rub, taking care to pat it well onto the lamb.

Place the lamb in a large roasting tray.

A cooked leg of lamb in a roasting pan.

Cover the roasting pan with a lid (or a sheet of tinfoil) and roast for the times given in the cooking times below.

15 minutes before the end of the cooking time, remove the lid to allow the lamb to brown.

Rest the lamb

It is very important to allow the lamb to rest for at least 20 minutes after removing it from the oven. This gives the meat time to relax and allows the juices to settle. If you carve it straight out of the oven all the delicious juices will just run all over your chopping board.

Leave the lamb in the roasting pan with the lid on, and let it stand until you are ready to carve.

Make the gravy

For a quick and easy gravy just mix 1 Tablespoon of lamb gravy granules with a little boiling water and then make it up to 1 cup with the remains of the lamb roasting juices.  The minty flavour from the lamb adds a delicious taste to the gravy.

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Cooking times for leg of lamb

The ideal way to cook your lamb to perfection is to use a meat thermometer.  When the internal temperature reaches a certain point your lamb is done and should be taken out and rested.

  • Medium rare – very pink – 55 – 60 °C
  • Medium – just a hint of pink – 61 – 66 °C
  • Well done – no pink at all – 67 – 71 °C

If like me, you don’t own a meat thermometer you can just time your lamb instead

  • Medium rare – very pink – 20 minutes per 450 grams (or per pound) + 20 mins
  • Medium – just a hint of pink – 25 minutes per 450 grams (or per pound) + 25 minutes
  • Well done – no pink at all -30 minutes per 450 grams (or per pound) + 30 minutes

The above times and temperatures assume an oven temperature of 190°C / 375 °F

For more information on cooking lamb, along with information on the different cuts of lamb, see this handy guide.

Slices of roast lamb on a plate with vegtables.

What to serve with roast lamb

I like to serve my minted lamb with roast potatoes and a selection of veggies and plenty of gravy made with the roasting juices.

Here are a few vegetable side dishes you may like to try:

  • Boere boontjies (mashed green beans)
  • Baby Marrow with Tomato and Onion
  • Glazed carrots (vichy carrots)
  • Creamy leek and brussels sprouts bake
  • Buttered cabbage and leeks with mustard seeds
  • Crispy smashed rosemary potatoes instead of roast potatoes.

Save for later

If you would like to make this minted roast lamb why not pin the recipe to one of your Pinterest boards so you can find it easily. Just click the image below.

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

Other recipes

You may also like these other lamb recipes:

  • Lancashire hotpot
  • Easy lamb curry
  • Lamb shanks with minted gravy
  • South African lamb bredie
  • Lamb curry in pita bread

The recipe

A roasted leg of lamb being carved into slices.

Minted Roast Leg of Lamb

I can't think of anyone who doesn't love lamb, my favourite is this minted roast leg of lamb. And it's easier to cook than you would think. Follow my steps below to find out how to cook lamb that is succulent and delicious, every single time.
Recipe by: Veronica
Main Course
Any
Calories 382
Prep 10 minutes
Cook 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes
Servings: 6 – 8 people
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5 from 1 vote

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Equipment

  • Roasting dish
  • Meat thermometer
  • Carving knife

Ingredients

  • 3.5 pounds / 1.5 kg Leg of lamb
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 tablespoons mint sauce
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons dry mint rub marinade You may need more depending on the size of your lamb leg
  • 1 – 2 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

  • Pre-heat oven to 190 °C / 375 °F.
  • Wipe the lamb with a damp cloth
    3.5 pounds / 1.5 kg Leg of lamb
  • Rub the lamb all over with a mixture of salt and oil and then rub on the mint sauce
    Salt, 2 tablespoons mint sauce, 1 – 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • Pat all over with dry mint rub marinade.
    2 to 3 tablespoons dry mint rub marinade
  • Place the lamb in a roasting dish.  You may want to line your dish with tin-foil to save on the washing up.
  • Cover the roasting dish with a lid or a layer of tin-foil
  • Place in the oven and leave for the times or temperatures indicated below.
    *Internal temperature
     – Medium rare – very pink – 55 – 60 °C
     – Medium – just a hint of pink – 61 – 66 °C
     – Well done – no pink at all – 67 – 71 °C
    *Cooking time
     – Medium rare – very pink – 20 minutes per 450 grams (or per pound) + 20 mins
     – Medium – just a hint of pink – 25 minutes per 450 grams (or per pound) + 25 minutes
     – Well done – no pink at all -30 minutes per 450 grams (or per pound) + 30 minutes
    A 1.5 kilogram leg of lamb will take 90 minutes to cook to medium doneness
  • Remove from the oven and allow to rest for at least 20 minutes before carving

Notes

Cooking times will vary depending on how well done you like your lamb.
I like to rub the lamb with mint sauce before adding the powdered mint marinade.  This allows the marinade to stick to the meat.
It is very important to allow the lamb to rest for at least 20 minutes before carving and serving.  The resting time allows the juices to settle, and the meat to relax.  If you carve the meat as soon as it comes out of the oven, all those delicious juices will run out onto your carving board and the meat will be dry.
A 1.5kg leg of lamb is more than sufficient to feed 6 to 8 hungry people as part of a roast dinner.  The calorie count has been based on 8 servings.

Nutrition

Calories – 382kcal | Carbohydrates – 0.2g | Protein – 35.7g | Fat – 26.6g | Saturated Fat – 10.6g | Sodium – 292mg | Potassium – 13mg | Fiber – 0.2g | Calcium – 6mg

I am not a nutritionist. The nutrition information has been calculated using an on-line calculator, and is intended for information and guidance purposes only. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.

Unless otherwise stated, a cup is the standard US cup containing 240 ml. In all my recipes this cup is assumed to hold 140g of flour. For help converting other ingredients between cups, grams, ounces and other measures, see my recipe conversion calculator.
All my recipes are developed and tested at sea-level. For tips on adjusting recipes for high altitudes see my post on baking at high altitudes.
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Filed Under: All Recipes, Main Meals

About VJ

In my previous life, I was an IT Consultant. Now that I've swapped an office for a kitchen I have a lot more time to spend on things that interest me such as trying out new recipes. Most of my cooking is based around quick and easy meals, and you'll probably find a little South African influence creeping in due to the many years I spent there.

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In my previous life, I was an IT Consultant. Now that I've swapped an office for a kitchen I have a lot more time to spend on things that interest me such as trying out new recipes. Most of my cooking is based around quick and easy meals, and you'll probably find a little South African influence creeping in due to the many years I spent there.

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