Smoked Leg of Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary

A bone in leg of lamb, criss cross carved and slathered in herbs and garlic. The leg is suspended over a roasting pan of winter vegetables and slow smoked/roasted on a kamado grill to a lovely medium rare. This is the perfect centerpiece for any holiday feast – Smoked Leg of Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary.

Remember that ad campaign a few years ago about, “the other white meat?” I think it’s time we start an ad campaign called, “the other red meat,” and focus on lamb. It’s such an amazing protein.

My favorite, in fact.

Lamb melds so well with a marinade and is always amazing with fresh herbs and garlic, which was what I did with this recipe.

This is such a simple dish and at the same time, absolutely incredible. Smoked Leg of Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary would make a magnificent centerpiece to any Christmas dinner, holiday meal, Christmas supper, New Year’s Eve Feast, Easter supper, Mother’s Day Meal, etc.

Also, if you are interested in another holiday feast worthy lamb recipe, let me suggest this grilled lamb crown roast or boneless leg of lamb with Gorgonzola butter or boneless leg of lamb cooked on a rotisserie over charcoal. And don’t sleep on the lamb shoulder for Memorial Day/4th of July/Labor Day. 

Smoked Leg of Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary Ingredients

• 3 pounds of red potatoes
• 1 pound of whole parsnips
• 2 pounds of whole carrots
• 1 large yellow onion
• 1 ear of garlic, cloves peeled
• 32 ounces of vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon of coarse salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of fresh cracked black pepper
• 1 leg of American lamb from Superior Farms, bone in and approximately 6 – 6.5 lbs
• 1/2 cup of olive oil, divided
• Salt to taste
• Fresh ground pepper to taste
• 4 teaspoons of fresh herbs, divided
• 1 tablespoon of garlic, minced
• 3-4 sprigs of fresh herbs

Start by chunking up the root vegetables:

Dump everything into a roasting pan:

Remove the paper from all the cloves of garlic from an ear and add those:

Finally chunk up the onion and add that as well:

Then add the vegetable stock and the tablespoon of salt and fresh cracked pepper:

Trim the Leg of Lamb

Finally, it’s time to prep the leg of American lamb from Superior Farms.

Start off the prep of the bone in leg of lamb by trimming any excess fat:

Criss Cross Carve to Increase Bark

With all the excess fat cleared away, grab a sharp knife and cut a series of slits, about an inch apart and parallel to each other:

Then rotate 90 degrees and slice across the first set of slits:

Then flip it over and season the unsliced side. But first, see this thin flap of meat that I am pointing to:

That flap will dry out while the rest of the leg of lamb is still raw.

We have two choices with that flap. Slice it off, or fold it over.

I folded it over:

Then hit it with salt and pepper:

Then mince up a teaspoon of fresh herbs (in this case, we used rosemary):

Next, drizzle some olive oil over the meat.

Work that olive oil all over the leg of lamb to act as a binder:

Then sprinkle the fresh herbs:

Place the roasting rack into the roasting pan and set the leg of lamb, seasoned side down and the criss cross sliced side up:

Repeat the process on the other side:

Time to Grill

Our leg of lamb and veggies are ready to hit the grill:

How to Make Smoked Leg of Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary

I sparked up the kamado grill and got it to 225F in the cooking chamber and added a couple chunks of pear wood:

If you don’t have access to pear wood, this extensive list of smoke woods and what they pair with can help you find the perfect wood of the ones you have access to. 

Put the roasting pan in the middle of the kamado grill (atop the smoking stones to keep the direct heat from over cooking everything):

Close the lid and let the smoke and heat do their thing.

Herb Mop

Head inside and create some garlic and herb oil to brush on the leg of lamb.

Add garlic and fresh herbs in a bowl and add the remaining olive oil (about 1/3 of a cup) and tie together a few sprigs of the herbs (in this case rosemary):

After an hour in the smoke and heat, use the fresh herbs as a brush to apply the garlic and herb oil to the leg of lamb:

This would also be a good time to stir the veggies 

After two hours, our leg of lamb is almost done and needs another brush of the garlic and herbs:

Leg of Lamb is Done

At just over 2 hours, we were at 138F degrees:

Take the roasting rack inside and remove the Smoked Leg of Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary to allow it to rest and then transfer some of the root vegetables to a platter:

Once the platter is loaded with those smoked veggies, place the leg of lamb on top to present at the holiday feast:

The beauty of cooking a roast like this is the outer edge will be more well done for those that like that and plenty rare in the middle for those that like it that way.

Here’s some of the lamb from the end of the roast:

If you notice in that pic above, the bone in the upper right is very close to the top of the leg of lamb, so I rotated the leg so I could slice from the side:

In the middle, we have a lovely pink for those that want it less well done:

Check out the smoke ring around the leg and the glistening within:

Time to sample:

Smoked Leg of Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary Run Down

This may be the best lamb I’ve ever had. It was so tender and juicy and absolutely loaded with flavor. The rack of lamb was dripping juice in almost a steady stream as we removed it from the grill. And while I love rare red meat, the medium well stuff along the outer edge with that amazing flavor crust was as good as the rare stuff in the middle. Truly magnificent.

And while I was all caught up in the Christmas spirit, you can see how this recipe would make a magnificent Mother’s Day Meal or New Year’s Eve Feast or Easter Supper, etc.

It’s perfect for just about any major meal and is as simple as it is elegant. 

If you have any questions or comments about Smoked Leg of Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary, feel free to leave them below or send me an email.

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Thank You

I want to thank Superior Farms for partnering with me on this post. I, for one, am a huge fan of American lamb! This is the best leg of lamb I’ve ever had and that lamb crown roast was probably the best lamb racks I’ve ever had too. 

Recipe Card

Print Recipe

Smoked Leg of Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary

Smoked Leg of Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary: Bone in leg of American lamb, criss cross sliced, seasoned, smoked and brushed with garlic and herbs

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time2 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Course: Christmas Dinner, Christmas Supper, Entree, Holiday Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine: American, American Fare, Grilling, Lamb, Leg of Lamb

Keyword: American Lamb, Bone in Leg of Lamb, Carrots, Easter, Easter Dinner, Easter Supper, Kamado, Kamado Grill, Leg of lamb, Mother's Day, Mother's Day Meal, New Year's Eve, New Year's Eve Feast, Parsnips, Potatoes, Primo Kamado Grill, Red Potatoes, Roasted Leg of Lamb, Smoked Leg of Lamb

Servings: 12 People

Equipment

• 1 Roasting pan and rack

Ingredients

• 3 pounds Red potatoes
• 1 pounds Whole parsnips
• 2 pounds Whole carrots
• 1 Large sweet onion
• 1 ear Garlic Cloves peeled
• 32 ounces Vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon Coarse salt
• ½ teaspoon Fresh cracked black pepper
• 1 Bone in Leg of Lamb Approximately 6 - 6.5 lbs
• ½ cup Olive oil Divided
• Salt to taste
• Fresh ground pepper to taste
• 4 teaspoons Fresh herbs divided
• 1 tablespoon Garlic, minced
• 3-4 sprigs Fresh herbs

Instructions

• Chunk the potatoes and add them to the roasting pan
• Skin the carrots and parsnips and cut into bite size pieces and add to the roasting pan
• Cut the sweet onion into chunks and add to the roasting pan
• Remove the papery skin of the cloves from an ear of garlic and add them to the roasting pan
• Mix in the 32 ounces of vegetable stock, salt and black pepper
• Trim the excess fat off the Superior Farms leg of lamb
• Slice a criss cross pattern about a half inch deep on one flat side of the leg of lamb
• On the other side of the leg, season with salt and pepper and apply a drizzle of olive oil and work that olive oil to coat the entire side
• Sprinkle a teaspoon of fresh herbs over the side and work the herbs around
• Place a roasting rack into the roasting pan and set the leg of lamb, oiled and seasoned side down
• Repeat seasoning, oiling and adding of the herbs to the side with the criss cross cut pattern
• Prepare the grill for two zone or indirect grilling with a target temperature in the grill at 225F with a couple chunks of pear wood on the coals
• Place the pan full of vegetables and leg of lamb on the grill and close the lid
• Mix the remaining olive oil, fresh minced herbs, and minced garlic in a bowl and tie sprigs of herbs into a basting brush
• After about 45-60 minutes on the fire, open the lid and brush the meat with the garlic and herb olive oil with the sprigs of fresh herbs
• While the lid is open, stir the vegetables in the pan
• Baste the leg of lamb and stir the vegetables every 20-30 minutes
• Once the leg of lamb reaches 135F (medium rare) remove the entire pan from the grill, which took a little over 2 hours in this case
• Allow the lamb to rest for a good 10-15 minutes
• Place the cooked vegetables on a platter and and set the leg of lamb on top of the vegetables to serve

Video

More pics of Smoked Leg of Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary:

Scott Thomas

Scott Thomas, the Original Grillin’ Fool, was sent off to college with a suitcase and a grill where he overcooked, undercooked and burned every piece of meat he could find. After thousands of failures, and quite a few successes, nearly two decades later he started a website to show step by step, picture by picture, foolproof instructions on how to make great things out of doors so that others don’t have to repeat the mistakes he’s made on the grill.

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This article was initially published on: December 22, 2022