Learn how to cook the perfect rack of lamb with this quick and easy recipe. It is beautifully blushing in the center, succulent, and incredibly full-flavored.
When it comes to elegant, mouthwatering dishes, few can rival the appeal of a perfectly cooked rack of lamb. It’s a favorite among chefs and home cooks because the meat is tender with a distinctly robust flavor and grassy notes. This recipe complements all that with a garlic-herb marinade seasoning, and the result is impressive. Whether you’re planning a special occasion dinner or want to treat yourself to a gourmet meal, learning to roast a proper rack of lamb is a skill worth acquiring.
Why You’ll Love Rack of Lamb
The epitome of succulence – As soon as you dig into your lamb chop with a fork and knife, you’ll notice how moist the meat is, and once you taste the lamb, be prepared! You’ll experience all the flavor from the browned exterior, with juices escaping the meat as soon as it hits your tongue. The flavors dance over your palate as you chew, and before you know it, you’ll wish you had roasted two racks instead of one because the lamb is that good.
The marinade – Apart from obtaining a high-quality rack of lamb from your local butcher, the marinade is a significant part of the recipe. Garlic, rosemary and herbs elevate the lamb’s natural flavor like no other ingredients and permeate the meat quickly. For this rack of lamb recipe, I chose to use parsley, oregano, and rosemary in the marinade because they complement each other well and, with the garlic, create a mouthwatering flavor combination that takes red meat to the next level.
Impressive presentation – A roasted rack of lamb is visually stunning. The elegant bone-in cut creates a striking centerpiece for any dinner table. The display is eye-catching whether you arrange one or two racks on a serving platter or plate the chops individually after slicing.
Roasted Rack of Lamb Ingredients Notes
- Rack of lamb: When shopping for a rack of lamb, look for pink meat with a fine grain and firm white fat. You also have the option to buy a Frenched rack of lamb, although this comes at an additional cost.
- Garlic: As mentioned earlier, the marinade for this recipe is garlic-forward and calls for five cloves. Use fat cloves for an even more robust garlic flavor.
- Parsley: This herb brings a light yet peppery freshness. The green bits that cling to the meat’s surface are also quite pretty.
- Oregano: Dried oregano is used in this recipe since it’s in most people’s pantries. It offers a lovely combination of pungent, earthy, peppery, and bitter flavors with minty and astringent notes.
- Rosemary: I used dried rosemary because it’s more widely available and has a more concentrated flavor. Rosemary is slightly minty and sage-like.
- Salt: Salting helps the lamb retain its juices, seasons the meat, and draws moisture from the surface to encourage browning. Due to salt’s ability to draw moisture from meat, it is added right before roasting instead of in the marinade to avoid drying out the lamb.
You’ll find the complete ingredients list with amounts in the recipe card below!
How to Roast Rack of Lamb
- Prepare: Start by patting the rack of lamb dry with paper towels. If it isn’t Frenched, you can do it now (see guide below). Prepare the marinade by adding all the ingredients to a food processor or blender and pulse until well combined. Preheat your oven as well.
- Marinade: Apply the marinade to the rack of lamb, making sure to coat it evenly. Let the lamb marinate at room temperature for 30-45 minutes. If you prefer to marinate longer, transfer the rack to a resealable bag, or pan or large bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and marinate for up to 24 hours.
- Roast: Place the rack of lamb on a sheet pan and roast it in the preheated oven for 15-18 minutes for medium-rare doneness.
- Rest: Remove the rack of lamb from the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes before proceeding to allow the juices to redistribute within the meat. After resting, separate the chops by slicing them between the bones.
Rack of Lamb Internal Temperature
The recipe instructions are for 130 degrees Fahrenheit which is medium-rare doneness after the internal temperature continues to increase 5-10 degrees while resting for 5-7 minutes. Here are few more doneness options:
- Medium-well: 140 degrees Fahrenheit
- Well Done: 150 degrees Fahrenheit
I highly recommend using an instant-read thermometer to measure doneness.
Variations, Substitutions, and Cooking Tips
How to French rack of lamb yourself – Doing so is a great way to save money. Here’s how to do it:
- Stand the rack up on one end so the “eye” of the lamb chop is visible, then score the fat side at the edge about 1 ½ inches up the rib from the eye. The marking will serve as a cutting guideline. Repeat on the other end of the rack.
Note: The “eye” is the meaty area that you eat.
- Cut across the fatty side of the rack of lamb using the score marks as a guide. The goal is to cut through the fat to access the bones. Once done, use your knife to score the underside between each bone.
- Flip the rack of lamb so the bones are facing up, and cut the flesh around each rib, using the previous score marks as a boundary.
- Turn the rack of lamb over so the fat side is up, and pull the fat and flesh away from the bones. If you made your cuts correctly, both should come off easily.
- Scrape any remaining flesh from the bones with your knife, wipe the bones clean with a slightly damp paper towel, and you’re done!
Add heat – More chili flakes would work well here, or you can process/blend half a jalapeno into the marinade.
Pan-sear prior – If you have an electric oven and want to develop more color on the exterior of the lamb, you can pan-sear it before roasting. Sear the lamb for 2-3 minutes per side in a hot pan and then transfer it to the oven to finish cooking. Remember that this method will reduce the cooking time, so monitor the internal temperature closely to avoid overcooking.
Roasted Rack of Lamb Recipe with Rosemary Herb Crust
Learn how to cook the perfect rack of lamb with this quick and easy recipe. It is beautifully blushing in the center, succulent, and incredibly full-flavored.
Ingredients
- 1 rack of lamb, Frenched
- 5 garlic cloves
- ½ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, lightly packed
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for the sheet pan
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Pat the rack of lamb dry with paper towels to remove any moisture.
- Add the garlic, parsley, oil, and dried herbs to a food processor, blender, or chopper. Run the appliance until everything is finely chopped and well combined.
- Stir in the red pepper flakes, then apply the marinade to the rack of lamb. Set the rack of lamb aside to marinate for 30-45 minutes.
- When the above time is almost up, position an oven rack in the upper third portion and preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Lightly brush a sheet pan with oil to prevent the lamb from sticking to it as it roasts.
- Season the lamb with salt and black pepper and place onto the sheet pan bone-side down.
- Transfer the pan to the oven and roast the lamb for 15-18 minutes, flipping it after 10 minutes. Cook it until the internal temperature on a digital thermometer reaches 130 degrees Fahrenheit for medium rare
- Remove the lamb from the oven, transfer it to a cutting board or platter, and then loosely tent it with foil. Rest for 5-7 minutes.
- Cut the lamb chops between the bones, plate, and serve.
Notes
A Frenched rack of lamb is when the fat is removed from the and meat from the bones, which makes nicer presentation. Frequently, pre-frenched racks of lamb can be found at supermarkets, or alternatively, you may request your butcher to french the lamb for you.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 3 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 537Total Fat: 40gSaturated Fat: 17gTrans Fat: 2gUnsaturated Fat: 22gCholesterol: 131mgSodium: 546mgCarbohydrates: 4gFiber: 1gSugar: 0gProtein: 42g
This data was provided and calculated by Nutritionix.
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