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Easter is a great holiday to cook for as it is a time to be with friends and family celebrating. This year the menu featured a traditional dish but one with a twist. I decided to go with a Leg of Lamb and smoke it on the Big Green Egg. This recipe combines the low and slow ability of the BGE with a unique Mediterranean flavor infused into the meat. Now sit back, grab your favorite glass of Shiraz, and enjoy this recipe for Smoked Leg of Lamb on the Big Green Egg.
Smoked Leg of Lamb on the Big Green Egg
Leg of Lamb is a bounteous cut of meat and can weigh anywhere from five to nine pounds. I decided to go with the narrow shank (which is the bottom half of a leg of lamb) as it has more bone and as a result, more flavor.
Here is the mise en place ready to season the narrow shank of lamb: Fresh rosemary, garlic, Kalamata olives, and butter.
To season the Leg of Lamb for the long cook I put 1/2″ slits all through the narrow shank and filled each with a slice of garlic, fresh rosemary, and sliced Kalamata olives.
After all the slots were filled with the garlic, rosemary, and olives I softened butter and mixed that with Meat Church Holy Cow
, chopped rosemary, and salt. I rubbed that butter mixture all over the Leg of Lamb and let it come up to room temperature.
While the meat was coming up to room temperature it was time to set up the Big Green Egg for indirect using a Plate Setter (or convEGGerator). Once the temp measured 250° it was time to put in some wood chunks and get the smoke flowing. I used a mix of Hickory and Pecan wood chunks for this cook which gave the lamb a well balanced smokey flavor.
I placed a drip pan with 2 cups of chicken stock, sliced garlic, and fresh rosemary underneath the leg of lamb to catch all of the drippings that fell. When the lamb was resting I strained this mix which made a delicious jus served with the lamb.
After 1.5 hours the internal temp of the Lamb was 130° and it was time to sear it. I removed the plate setter and cranked open the vents to get the fire nice and hot. Once the BGE was up to 600° I placed the Leg of Lamb back on the grill grate for 2 minutes per side until I got that nice crust.
I took the Leg of Lamb off the BGE and let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing. The internal temp rose to 140° which is the perfect temp for lamb. The color of this lamb was incredible.
Once the Lamb rested it was time to slice and serve. Side dishes included homemade Tzatziki sauce and a medley of Israeli couscous with spinach, roasted red pepper, and Kalamata olives. This meal was fantastic!
Smoked Leg of Lamb on the Big Green Egg
Ingredients
- Narrow shank of the leg of lamb
- 3 Sprigs Fresh rosemary
- 4 Cloves Garlic sliced
- 6 Kalamata olives sliced
- 3 Tbls Butter
- 1 Tbls Meat Church Holy Cow
- 2 C Chicken Stock
Instructions
- To season the Leg of Lamb for the long cook I put 1/2" slits all through the narrow shank and filled each with a slice of garlic, fresh rosemary, and sliced Kalamata olives.
- Soften the butter and mix that with Meat Church Holy Cow seasoning, chopped rosemary, and salt.
- Rub the butter mixture all over the Leg of Lamb and let it come up to room temperature.
- While the meat is coming up to room temperature set up the BGE to cook indirect using a Plate Setter and to hold the temp at 250°.
- Place chunks of wood onto the hot coals allowing the smoke to start.
- Place a drip pan with 2 cups of chicken stock, sliced garlic, and fresh rosemary.
- When the lamb slowly cooks the drippings fall into the stock mixture making for a delicious jus when strained and served with the lamb.
- After 1.5 hours (or when the internal temp of the Lamb hits 130°) it is time to sear it.
- Remove the plate setter and crank open the vents to get the BGE up to 600°.
- Place the Leg of Lamb back on the BGE (2 minutes per side) to get that nice crust and beautiful flavor.
- Take the Leg of Lamb off the BGE and let it rest for 10 minutes so the internal temp raises up to 140° before slicing and serving.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Based on 11 Review(s)
I am pescetarian, mostly vegetarian. It looks yummy!
Jesse thanks for the comment. I post a lot of seafood recipes here. Please let me know what you’d like to see more of!
I made this with (a couple of minor modifications) this week. Incredibly good! Gonna do this again soon. I accompanied it with a warm farro salad (alos delicious): farro, grilled zucchini, feta, a few pieces of tomato, raw garlic (pressed), raw green onion (chopped), olive oil, lemon juice S&P.
Ian – thanks for the comment. That warm farro salad sounds so good! I can’t wait to try it the next time I make this leg of lamb.
good but majorly overdone at 140, and i don’t like lamb rare. next time, i’d pull it at 130.
What did you use to measure temp? 140 was perfect mid-rare for me!
Thanks for the tips, Chris! I did a 4.5 lb. boneless leg of lamb today. It was/is awesome! I had never tried stock in the drip pan, but it worked out great.
And for readers of other comments, I took mine off when my Redi-Chek thermometer said 140. I put it under foil for 10 minutes to rest and then carved. It was a perfect medium-rare.
Thanks for the post Ray! I love this recipe and glad is proved to be successful for you.
Everybody seems to ignore the bone? I don’t see it on the finished product, and wonder how they achieved the lovely slices.
Holy cow this was phenomenal. I did it on our regular propane barbecue, roughly following the directions. It was the best leg of lamb we’d ever had. The au jus was excellent. No other condiments needed. Thanks for the great recipe.
Thanks Heather! This just made my day.
Best leg of lamb I’ve ever cooked – thanks so very much for the recipe!
Thanks Steve! One of my favorite recipes.
can i do this leg of lamb on a louisania kamado b bq
Yes
This was great. I’m not sure I did the smoking correctly though. Is the idea to lift the convEGGtor and drop hickory chips on top of the coal, which is sort of what I did? Not sure that gets a lot more smoke than straight BGE coal. Anyway, I make my own “HolyCow” and I use Dill infused Olive oil as the fat instead of butter. And no kalamata olives. It cooked about two hours. I’ve not been able to get leg of lamb to cook properly in the past. The guidance on setting up the BGE and temperature fixed that problem and made me a star. Also, I found a simple mint “gravy” recipe elsewhere which was a big hour on the lamb.
Thanks for the kind note to start my day! As for the chips and smoke, agreed on all points. I wrote this post a long time ago and have since changed the way I set up my coal for smoking. Cheers my friend!
We are going to try this with an organic grass fed “small” 2.5lb bone in leg. We do not have time to get the Holy Cow, what are the spices so we can make a substitute please?
If you don’t have time to get that rub just use a good salt, pepper, garlic mix. Throw in a little paprika as well.