This easy-to-make lamb stock recipe with roasted lamb bones and vegetables is the perfect base for soups, stews, or sauces.
Recipe for homemade lamb stock
Making lamb stock is super easy, healthy, and delicious. It's also a great way of using any leftover fresh or roasted lamb bones you might have. Just the bones, a few vegetables, spices, and water, and a few hours of gentle simmering, and you will have a flavorful, brightly colored stock perfect for making any kind of soup, stew, or sauce.
Simmer the lamb broth or stock a few hours longer to get an amazing, concentrated lamb bone broth.
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What do you need?
Lamb's bones:
- You can use either raw, meatier bones or already roasted ones, leftover from making a roast. Either bones from oven baked lamb shoulder or roast leg of lamb, actually, any kind of bones you have are ok for this recipe.
- If the bones are fresh, roast them in the oven before cooking them in water. Or, if they are meatier, simmer them raw and use the meat to make lamb bone soup. After about 2 hours of cooking time, remove the meat from the bone and set it aside. Return the bone to the pot and continue simmering for a few more hours to obtain a more concentrated stock or broth.
- If you don’t have enough lamb bones, add some beef, chicken, or turkey bones. The stock will have a milder lamb flavor, but it will be delicious.
Vegetables: The usual vegetables that are always used for making broths and stocks are onions, garlic, celeriac or celery sticks, carrots, and parsley stems. You can add some leeks or leftover greens from spring/green onions.
Spices: Sea salt, black peppercorns, juniper, and allspice berries, cloves, and bay leaves. I use all these spices in such recipes, but if all you have are the most common ones, like salt, pepper, and bay leaves, they should be enough. The spices and herbs add depth and complexity, but the stock will still taste great without them.
How to make lamb stock?
- Prepare the bones. If using leftover bones from making a roast, just place them in a large pot.
- Add all the prepared vegetables and spices. Cover with water. (1)
- If using fresh bones, roast them first. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius/ 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking tray with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Rub the bones with oil and roast for about 40 minutes, turning halfway. They should be nicely browned.
- If you use meaty fresh bones, you can cook them raw and use the meat to make soup. In this case, remove the meat from the bones after 2 hours of cooking time and reserve it for the soup. Return the meatless bone to the pot and continue simmering for a few more hours. The longer you simmer it, the more flavor it will have. (2)
How to make lamb bone broth?
- Making bone broth is just taking the recipe one step further, meaning cooking it for longer.
- I cook the broth for making a simple soup for only 2 hours.
- To make stock, I add about 3-4 hours to the cooking time, so a total of 5-6 hours.
- To make lamb bone broth, I cook everything for at least 12 hours and up to 24. Usually, I start early in the morning and turn off the heat when I go to bed.
How to make the stock in the slow cooker?
- Place the roasted bones and all the solid ingredients into the slow cooker or crockpot.
- Add water as instructed in the instruction manual; there is usually a mark in the pot that shows you where to stop.
- Cook the lamb stock on slow for 12 hours.
- Strain and store.
Tips for making a good stock
- It is preferable that at least some of the bones are roasted. If you want to use the meat from a fresh bone, make sure that some of the other bones are roasted. Roasted bones add more flavor.
- Use vegetable scraps, especially if you have organic vegetables. I save the peel and ends of organic carrots, the slightly wilted greens of green onions, the stems of parsley, and even the peel of regular organic onions (all thoroughly cleaned) and use them to make stock or broth.
- When it comes to celery, I use celeriac most of the time because celeriac is more common and a lot cheaper than celery sticks here, in Germany. But celery sticks are just as well.
- Always cover the ingredients with cold water; never warm. Slowly heating the water contributes to keeping the broth clear.
- Never let the liquid come to a hard boil; it should only simmer steadily but gently. This will help the liquid remain clear as well.
- As the lamb stock comes to a simmer, there will be some foam forming on top of it. Use a slotted spoon to remove it. The foam is excess protein, fat, and bits of bone. This also ensures a clearer, cleaner stock.
- But if, for any reason, the liquid turns cloudy, don’t worry about it. It will taste the same; it will just not look as pretty.
- Always add the salt after the broth starts to simmer. Adding salt to the cold water will prolong the time needed for the water to start to simmer.
- Strain the finished stock very well. I always strain it twice. Once to remove the large parts (bones, veggies, and the rougher impurities). And once, through a fine sieve lined with cheesecloth to remove the finer impurities.
- Cool and refrigerate it in a large pot. The fat will turn solid, and you will be able to remove it very easily using a slotted spoon. Always remove the fat from lamb (or beef) stock; it’s not nice. I am not very particular when it comes to chicken fat, though; that doesn’t have such a strong, soapy taste.
Make more homemade stocks or broths, such as the chicken stock I always make for Semolina Dumpling Soup or any other chicken soup I make, turkey bone broth, venison broth, salmon stock, or beef broth.
How to store?
Lamb stock or bone broth (and any other kind) can be stored in the fridge for up to one week, or it can be frozen for at least 4 to 6 months. I had it even longer than that, and it was fine.
Freeze in airtight containers suitable for freezing or in ice cube trays. Freezing it in cubes allows you to remove only a small amount if you need it to make sauce or add extra flavor to various dishes.
Lamb stock uses
Make hearty soups with meat, vegetables, any kind of pulses, potatoes, grains, and rice. Try this Rice and Beans Soup or this Bone Broth Soup with Vegetables; you can replace the regular liquid with lamb stock.
Make Lamb Casserole, Leftover Lamb Ragout, Irish Lamb and Potato Stew, or Romanian Lamb Stew. Use for risottos or for making gravy for serving with meat and potatoes or for adding to other dishes like Leftover Lamb Shepherd's Pie, for instance.
Recipe
How to Make Lamb Stock
Ingredients
- 1.2-1.5 kg lamb bones 2.3-3.3 lbs, Notes 1 and 2
- 1-2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 large carrots
- 3 pieces of celeriac about 150 g/ 5.3 oz or 3-4 celery stalks
- 1 large onion
- 3-4 garlic cloves
- 1 small bunch of parsley or only the stems from a larger bunch
- 3-4 bay leaves
- 10 black peppercorns
- 5-6 juniper berries
- 5-6 allspice berries
- 6 cloves
- 3 liters cold water enough to cover the ingredients completely, 10 cups
- coarse sea salt
Instructions
Lamb stock:
- Roast fresh bones: If the bones are fresh, preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius/ 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking tray with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Rub the bones with the oil and roast for about 40 minutes until deeply brown. Transfer to a large pot together with the released juices.
- Clean the vegetables very thoroughly. Snap the carrots in two, halve the onion (no need to peel), leave the garlic cloves whole (no need to peel). Cut the celeriac into 2 or 3 larger pieces. Add all to the pot. Add parsley, bay leaves, peppercorns, juniper, and allspice berries.
- Simmer: Cover with plenty of water. Gently bring to a simmer, don’t let it boil. Remove the foam with a slotted spoon. Only add the salt now. Let the stock simmer steadily for 5-6 hours.
- Strain: Once it’s ready, strain into a clean pot to remove the solids. Strain again through a finer sieve (you can line it with cheesecloth for even better results).
- Taste and add salt as required, you can always add more salt when cooking with the stock, so don’t add too much now.
- Remove fat: Let cool completely and refrigerate for about 12 hours. Now you can remove the solid fat with a slotted spoon.
- Store: Transfer the stock to jars and refrigerate for up to one week. Or freeze in suitable containers for up to 6 months.
Lamb bone broth:
- Simmer for at least 12 and up to 24.
- Strain and store as instructed above.
Slow cooker:
- Fill the slow cooker: Add the roasted bones and solid ingredients to the slow cooker/crockpot. Add water as instructed in the instruction manual; there is usually a mark in the pot showing you where to stop.
- Cook on slow for 12 hours.
- Strain and store as instructed above.
Notes
- You can use leftover roasted bones or fresh ones. If using fresh, you should roast them. If you want to make lamb soup, use at least one meaty bone. Simmer for about 2 hours, remove the meat from the bone, and reserve it for the soup. Return the meatless bone to the pot and continue simmering the stock.
- If you don’t have enough lamb bones, add some beef, chicken, or turkey bones, either leftovers from making a roast or roasted for making the stock.
Donald Kidd says
Extraordinarily thorough recipe...I was pleased to learn that I can combine lamb bones with chicken bones for a milder tasting lamb broth.
Adina says
I am glad to hear it.
Assia says
Hi there, for the stove-top method when making bone broth, do you put a lid on the entire time? Thank you in advance.
Adina says
Hi Assia. No lid.