lamb Leg
Leg of Lamb
The whole hind leg. Unlike a rack or a loin it is not a single muscle — it is the top round, bottom round, eye and sirloin bundled around one bone, which is why some slices off the same roast come out noticeably more tender than others.
In one line
One roast, four muscles, and a grain that changes direction while you carve.
Buy it if
You are feeding a table and want one piece of meat to do the whole job.
The tenderness gradient runs from top to bottom. The sirloin end, up by the hip, gives the tenderest slices; work down towards the shank and the muscles have done more standing and walking, so they carry more connective tissue — more flavour, more chew. Nothing has gone wrong with your roast when this happens. It is worth knowing before you carve, because you can send the top end to whoever wants it tender and the bottom end to whoever wants it to taste of something. The grain turns as you move along the leg, too, so the angle that gave you a clean slice at one end is running the wrong way six inches later. Look at each new face before you cut it.
The most useful thing you can do to a leg is have it butterflied — boned out and opened flat. It cooks in a fraction of the time, and the wildly uneven thickness that would be a defect in a roast becomes the point on a grill: the thin end reaches medium while the thick end is still rare, so one piece of meat settles an argument about doneness instead of starting one. Trim the fat cap back before it goes over fire, though. On a flat piece of meat directly above coals, rendering fat means flare-ups — in the oven, on a whole leg, that same cap is worth keeping and scoring.
Where it comes from on the animal
| Species | lamb |
|---|---|
| Primal | Leg |
| Subprimal | Whole hind leg (shank half and sirloin half) |
What else it’s called
How to cook Leg of Lamb
| Best methods | Roast Grill Smoke Reverse sear Braise |
|---|---|
| Skip | Pan sear |
| Cook to | 130–135°F at the thickest point, rested 15–20 minutes. A whole bone-in leg runs five to eight pounds. |
| Marbling & flavor | Lean inside, with a fat cap over the outside and seams of fat between the muscle groups. Those seams are where a boned leg wants to fall apart, which is why boneless legs come tied. |
Leg of Lamb vs Lamb Shank
A shank is part of this same leg — the bottom of it, below the knee — and the two get confused when a leg is sold as a shank half. They want opposite treatment: one is a fast dry roast served pink, the other a long wet braise served falling apart.
| Leg of Lamb | Lamb Shank | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of the leg | The upper leg, the roasting muscles | The lower leg, below the knee |
| Connective tissue | Little | A great deal |
| Method | Dry roast | Wet braise |
| Served | Medium-rare, sliced thin | Fully cooked, falling off the bone |
If Leg of Lamb is sold out
Closest match
Lamb Forequarter
The traditional cheaper roast. More fat and connective tissue, so it wants longer and lower rather than medium-rare.
Cooks like
Lamb Loin Roast
The same dry-roast treatment on a smaller, uniform, more tender piece — for four people rather than eight.
If you want one muscle
Lamb Striploin
None of the leg's variation. Every slice off it eats the same.
Common questions
How much leg of lamb per person?
About three-quarters of a pound bone-in, or half a pound boneless. Legs do not scale down — the smallest whole one still feeds six or seven — so for a table of four, buy a half leg or a loin roast instead.
What is the difference between a shank half and a sirloin half?
Which end of the leg you got. The sirloin half is the upper end: more tender, more expensive, and awkward to carve because of the hip bone. The shank half is the lower end: one straight bone, easy to carve, a little chewier.
Bone-in or boneless?
Bone-in roasts more evenly and is harder to overcook. Boneless carves easily, cooks faster, and can be stuffed. What should not decide it is flavour — the bone does not add any. It changes how heat moves through the meat, not how the meat tastes.
Does lamb have to be cooked through?
No, and the idea is a hangover from mutton, which comes from much older animals. USDA guidance for whole lamb cuts is 145°F with a three-minute rest, and most cooks pull a leg below that for medium-rare. Taken to well done it goes grey — there is not enough fat inside the muscle to carry it that far.