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Slow-cooker lamb stew is the recipe that single-handedly justifies owning a slow cooker. Twenty minutes of actual work in the morning. Walk away. Live your life. Come home seven hours later to a kitchen that smells like rosemary and Sunday lunch at someone else’s house.

The trick is the browning step. Don’t skip it. Throwing raw lamb directly into a slow cooker gets you grey lamb in beige liquid. Browning the lamb hard before it goes in builds the deep mahogany colour and the savoury edge that separates pub-good stew from canteen-fine stew.

Choosing the lamb cut

Lamb shoulder is best. Lots of connective tissue that breaks down over the long cook into pure savoury silk. Lamb leg works fine too but needs less time (about 6 hours on low) and gives you a slightly leaner result. Don’t use lamb chops or backstrap; too lean for the long cook.

Scotty Boxa

Slow-Cooker Lamb Stew (Set It and Forget It)

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Slow-cooker lamb stew with rosemary, red wine, and root vegetables. Brown the lamb, throw it in, walk away. Dinner in seven hours.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 7 hours
Total Time 5 minutes
Ingredients Method Nutrition Notes

Ingredients
 

  • 1.2 kg lamb shoulder or leg, cubed
  • 3 tbsp plain flour
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 brown onions, diced
  • 4 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 3 carrots, thick chunks
  • 2 parsnips, cubed
  • 500 g baby potatoes, halved
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 cup dry red wine shiraz works well
  • 500 ml beef or lamb stock
  • 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
  • 2 bay leaves

Instructions
 

Method
  1. Toss lamb in flour with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a heavy pan over medium-high. Brown the lamb in batches, 3 minutes per batch. Transfer to slow cooker.
  2. Add remaining oil to pan. Cook onions 5 minutes until soft. Add garlic 1 minute. Stir in tomato paste, cook 1 minute, then deglaze with the red wine, scraping the pan.
  3. Pour the wine reduction over the lamb in the slow cooker.
  4. Add carrots, parsnips, potatoes, stock, rosemary, and bay leaves. Stir to combine.
  5. Cook on LOW for 7 hours, or on HIGH for 4 hours, until the lamb shreds with a fork.
  6. Fish out bay leaves and rosemary stalks. Taste and adjust salt and pepper. Serve over creamy mashed potato or with crusty bread.

Nutrition

Calories: 520kcal

Notes

No slow cooker? Use a heavy-lidded dutch oven on the stove (low simmer 3 hours) or in the oven at 150°C / 300°F (3 to 4 hours).
Wine swap. Use beef stock plus 2 tbsp Worcestershire if you don't drink wine.
Make-ahead. This stew is even better the next day. Cool, refrigerate, reheat gently. The flavour deepens overnight.
Servings: 6 people
Calories: 520

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What to serve it with

Mashed potato is the obvious pick. Crusty bread is the lazy pick. Both are correct. If you’ve got the energy, soft polenta also works beautifully. A green vegetable on the side stops the meal feeling brown.

This freezes well. Portion into single-serve containers, label with the date, eat within three months. By week six you’ll forget what was in there, hence the labelling.

I’m Scotty Boxa. Australian author, professional bad decision maker, and the bloke responsible for the rest of this website.

If this lamb stew got the family fed, the rest of Heat & Serve will get them through the winter. 25 soup and stew recipes for cold weekends, slow Sundays, and tired Tuesdays.