Lamb Shanks in Red Wine Sauce

Name: Lamb Shanks in Red Wine Sauce
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 3 h 30 min
Total time: 3 h 50 min
Cuisine: European, American
Ingredients: 4 lamb shanks (, around 13 oz / 400g each (Note 1)); 1 tsp EACH cooking/kosher salt and pepper; 2 - 3 tbsp olive oil (, separated); 1 onion (, finely diced (brown, yellow or white)); 3 garlic cloves (, minced); 1 cup carrot (, peeled, finely diced (Note 2)); 1 cup celery (, finely diced (Note 2)); 2 1/2 cups red wine ((full bodied (good value wine, not expensive! Note 3)); 800 g / 28oz can crushed tomatoes; 2 tbsp tomato paste; 2 cups chicken stock (, low sodium (or water)); 5 sprigs of thyme ((preferably tied together), or 2 tsp dried thyme); 2 dried bay leaves ((or 4 fresh)); Mashed potato (, polenta or pureed cauliflower); Fresh thyme leaves (, optional garnish)

Instructions

Prep:20minCook:3h 30min

Recipe video above. A classic way to prepare shanks, these are slow cooked in a deeply flavoured red wine sauce until they are meltingly tender. You can't taste the red wine at the end, it completely transforms into a rich sauce. Make this in the oven, on your stove or even in a slow cooker - instructions provided for all!Note: This is my original lamb shanks recipe. There is also a more involved Restaurant-style red wine lamb shanks version in my cookbook which is more "fine-dining" style and involves an overnight marinade. See Note 7 for more information!

Updated at: Wed, 17 Dec 2025 00:10:50 GMT