Minted Roast Leg of Lamb

There’s nothing nicer than a joint of succulent leg of lamb, covered in mint sauce and cooked to perfection!

Roast Leg of Lamb

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.

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 450g + 20 mins
• Medium – just a hint of pink – 25 minutes per 450g + 25 minutes
• Well done – no pink at all -30 minutes per 450g + 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.

Mint marinade

To prepare the leg of lamb with mint marinade, sprinkle the lamb with salt to taste, then cover the whole joint with mint sauce.  This allows the marinade to stick to the meat.

Sprinkle 1/2 a packet of powdered mint marinade over the mint sauce and pat down. You can find powdered mint marinade in the gravy section of any large supermarket or buy it on-line at Amazon

Place the lamb in a roasting dish, cover with a lid and place in a pre-heated oven for the times stated above.

If you don’t have a roasting dish with a lid – then just cover the lamb with tinfoil.

10 minutes before the end of the cooking time (or 10 degrees before optimal temperature), 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 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.

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

Why not try it with my Boere boontjies (mashed green beans) and Baby Marrow with Tomato and Onion, or what about trying Potthucke (German potato cake bake) instead of the roast potatoes.

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.

Equipment

To make this recipe you will need the following equipment. In case you are missing something I have included some links to my Amazon shop pages, where you might just find the item you are looking for.

• Roasting Dish – ideally you need one with a lid.
• Meat Thermometer – of course you can just time the meat, but a thermometer guarantees the meat will be cooked perfectly.
• Carving knife – you need a sharp knife to carve the perfect slice of lamb.

• Mint marinade – in case you can’t find it in your local supermarke

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Recipe – Minted Roast Leg of Lamb

Print Recipe

Minted Roast Leg of Lamb

Juicy and succulent, minted Roast Leg of Lamb, cooked to perfection

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time1 hr 30 mins

Total Time1 hr 40 mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Any

Servings: 6 people

Calories: 382kcal

Author: VJ

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg Leg of Lamb
• Salt to taste
• 4 Tablespoons mint sauce
• 1/2 packet mint marinade You may need a whole packet depending on the size of your lamb leg
• 1 – 2 Tablespoons olive oil For roasting tin

Instructions

• Pre-heat oven to 190 °C / 375 °F.
  
• Wipe the lamb with a damp cloth
• Season with salt and then rub with mint sauce
• Pat all over with dry mint marinade powder
• Place the lamb in a roasting dish.  I like to line my dish with tin-foil to save on the washing up.
• Cover the roasting dish with another layer of tin-foil
• Place in the oven and leave for the times or temperature 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 450g + 20 mins

   – Medium – just a hint of pink – 25 minutes per 450g + 25 minutes

   – Well done – no pink at all -30 minutes per 450g + 30 minutes
• 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.

The calorie count has been calculated using an on-line calculator and is provided for information purposes only.  If the calorie count is important to you, you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.

If you made this recipe and enjoyed it, please don’t forget to give me a star rating in the comments below. And if you’d like to get in touch, you can email me on [email protected] I’d love to hear from you.

Related Recipes

If you enjoyed this, why not try my other lamb recipes. I have even included a recipe for left-over lamb in the unlikely event that you don’t finish the entire roast.

• Lamb shanks with minted gravy
• Easy Lamb Curry
• Lamb Curry in Pita (great use for leftovers)

Lamb Shanks with Minted Gravy

Fall-off-the-bone-tender, succulent lamb shanks, served on a bed of fluffy mustard mashed potatoes and smothered in delicious minted lamb gravy

View recipe

Easy Lamb Curry

Easy homemade lamb curry. Packed with vegetables and bursting with flavour.

View recipe

Lamb curry in Pita

Spicy lamb curry served in pita bread

View recipe

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