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The lamb morsels in this Lamb Stew just melt in your mouth and so do the potatoes. This recipe is uncomplicated (a one-pot meal!) and it simmers in the oven for awhile so every bite is completely delicious. The lengthy (and care free) baking time creates a most satisfying broth consistency. Even if you have no clue what the old days were like, this lamb stew will take you there!
My 2 and 8-year old kiddos both loved this lamb stew (which shocked me because they love their usuals like Mom’s meatball soup and borscht). They both asked for refills! I was beaming of course because this lamb stew recipe is loaded with healthy ingredients and my family was was gobbling it up with such satisfaction. It’s a winner, especially for special occasions, like Easter!
Ingredients for Lamb Stew Recipe:
This hearty lamb stew is a meal in itself and so satisfying! This lamb stew recipe is a close relative to our beef stew recipe (a reader favorite!). We turned it into a one-pot recipe so it is easier and a little heartier with more potatoes. We also experimented making it gluten free and we were all so impressed with the results.
Gluten Free Substitution: I have tested this with this gluten free flour and it worked wonderfully.
How to Make Easy Lamb Stew:
1. In a large dutch oven pot, saute chopped bacon over medium heat until golden brown and fat is released. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon to a large plate.
2. While bacon cooks, season trimmed and chopped lamb pieces with 1/2 Tbsp salt and 1 tsp black pepper. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup flour. Toss to combine and coat the meat in flour. Cook the lamb in 2 batches in hot bacon grease over medium heat until browned (3-4 minutes per side) then remove to the same plate with bacon.
3. Add diced onion and sauté 2 minutes. Add garlic and sauté another minute, stirring constantly. Add 1 1/2 cups wine, scraping the bottom to deglaze. Add thickly sliced mushrooms, bring to a simmer and cook 10 minutes uncovered. Preheat Oven to 325 degrees F.
4. Return bacon and lamb back to the pot then add 4 cups broth, 1 Tbsp tomato paste, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp dried thyme and 2 bay leaves. Add potatoes and carrots then stir to combine (potatoes should be mostly submerged in liquid. Bring to a boil then cover with lid and carefully transfer to preheated oven at 325˚F for 1 hour and 45 minutes. When done, potatoes will be easily pierced and lamb will be very tender. For a lower fat stew, spoon out any excess oil at the surface of the stew.
Serve with soft crusty bread to soak up that broth which is loaded with amazing flavor!
Explore our Most Popular Stew Recipes:
- Beef, Rice and Tomato Stew (Kharcho)
- Red Borscht (a beef and beet stew)
- If you love lamb, don’t miss our Lamb Chops
Lamb Stew Recipe

Ingredients
- 4 oz bacon, (4 strips, chopped into 1/4" strips)
- 2 lbs boneless leg of lamb or lamb shoulder, trimmed of excess fat, cut into 1 1/2" pieces
- 1/2 Tbsp sea salt for the lamb plus 1 tsp for stew
- 1 tsp black pepper for lamb plus 1/2 tsp for stew
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour or gluten free flour*
- 1 large yellow onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 1/2 cups good red wine, *
- 1 lb button mushrooms, thickly sliced
- 4 cups low sodium beef broth or stock
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 1/2 lbs small yellow potatoes, halved or quartered into 1" pieces
- 4 medium carrots, 10 oz, peeled and cut into 1/2" thick pieces
- 1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped for garnish
Instructions
- In a 5Qt dutch oven, saute chopped bacon over medium heat until browned and fat released. With a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to a large plate.
- While bacon cooks, season lamb pieces with 1/2 Tbsp salt and 1 tsp pepper. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup flour and toss to coat. Cook lamb in 2 batches in hot bacon grease over medium heat until browned (3-4 min per side) then transfer to the plate with bacon.
- Add diced onion and sauté 2 min. Add garlic and cook another minute, stirring constantly. Add 1 1/2 cups wine, scraping the bottom to deglaze. Add sliced mushrooms, bring to simmer then cook uncovered 10 min. Preheat Oven to 325˚F.
- Return bacon and lamb to pot and add 4 cups broth, 1 Tbsp tomato paste, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp dried thyme and 2 bay leaves. Stir in potatoes and carrots, making sure potatoes are mostly submerged in liquid. Bring to a boil then COVER and carefully transfer to preheated oven at 325˚F for 1 hr and 45 min. When done, potatoes and lamb will be very tender.**
Notes
** For reduced fat stew, spoon out any excess oil from the surface when it comes out of the oven.
Nutrition Per Serving
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Q: Are you cooking up any special Easter recipes?
Is lamb typically on the menu for you? I’d love to hear about your Easter dinner traditions!
Husband went out to get groceries and supplies ahead of a huge Montana winter storm and surprised me with an 8.5 lb boned leg of lamb. I cut it in two pieces and wanted to make a stew with the smaller piece. Found your recipe and read the comments and decided this would work best with what I had. When it’s -30 degrees there’s no running out for something needed. Used light olive oil for browning the pieces (no bacon), cabernet, baby bellas (I had just fried up and froze a few days before!), my beef bone broth, and our homegrown garlic, onions, and carrots. Potatoes getting low so I made a soft, buttery polenta and added peas to the stew. Absolutely delightful!
I grew up not eating lamb because my dad had worked in a sheep slaughterhouse and couldn’t abide the smell, and my husband never liked how his mom (an otherwise excellent cook) fixed lamb. Well I made up for all the years without lamb, and changed my husband’s mind about it, and your recipe, Natasha, goes into my files!
Thank you!
That’s amazing, Nancy! I’m so glad to hear that. Thank you for a sharing.
This was so good! I could only get shoulder chops with bones. I cut around the bones but threw them in too. Meat literally fell off the bones after cooking and was super tender. Perfect comfort food on a snowy day!
Thank you for sharing, Jen!
Natasha’s kitchen, thank you for this recipe. I made it for family tonight and utilized both lamb AND venison. It was great! Here in TX we finally had some cooler weather which paired well with this stew, J.Lohr’s Cabernet(also in stew), and a rosemary flat bread to sop up all of that goodness. Well done!!
That sounds amazing, Mike! So glad you tried this recipe.
Amazing! We’ve made this twice and everytime we are blown away with how good this is. We don’t do the last step of putting it in the oven, we just let it simmer until potatoes are done. Won’t ever make a stew any other way and plan on trying it using venison steak as well.
I’m so happy you loved this recipe, Jill! Thank you for sharing this wonderful review with me!
Great recipe. I’m an advanced home cook, know how to chop, prep ingredients and can safely say the prep time is NOT 20 minutes. Maybe with two people working for you. Unless everything comes magically cleaned, chopped and prepared please give yourself 1.5 hours of prep time. That aside, yay for this lovely meal!
You are right, Lex. It took me about an hour to prep. I also had to make a roux to thicken the stew. It was quite thin.
I cannot have potatoes. Have you tests with yams or sweet potatoes? Love alll your recipes!
I haven’t tested this with yams or sweet potatoes but feel free to experiment!
Hi Natasha, will this work with a pressure cooker instead of an oven?
Hi! I haven’t tested that to advise.
I am planning on making this for a dinner party. Would it work well to make the day before?
Hi Heather. Yes, this reheats well.
This turned out great! I didn’t use any flour but the broth turned out rich and delicious. Thank you for testing your recipes before posting, we all have wasted too many ingredients on worthless recipes online.
You’re so welcome! Of course, it is important to test the recipe a lot of times until it becomes perfect before actually sharing it. Thanks for appreciating what we do.
What do you think about this. After deglazing and adding back the meat… add the tomatoe paste, caramelized, then add the broth. I make a Moroccan stew and that’s a step that I use. However, I’m not sure if it will work on this meat since it is cooked with flour on it. What do you think? Recipe looks amazing and I can’t wait to try it today.
Hi Colleen! Without testing it, I’m not sure how to advise but worth experimenting with. Let us know how it turns out.
I just purchased ground lamb and was looking for a recipe. Do you think your amazing lamb stew recipe would work? Otherwise, I’ll wait until I have the correct cut of lamb. Thank you!
Hi Lorie! To be honest, I’ve never tested that to know what the outcome would be like. Let us know if you experiment.
Funny you should ask…I just made this recipe using ground lamb! I mixed 1 1/2lb of lamb with 1/4:1 ratio panko crumbs, 1/2 tsp dried thyme & a dash of onion powder and 1 beaten egg, then formed my ~1″ meatballs using a scoop. I rolled them with damp hands until they were smooth but not too compacted.
I followed the recipe for crisping the bacon, then browned the lambballs (lol) until they were nicely browned on all sides. After that I just followed the rest of the recipe! It turned out great!
I always enjoy your blog/recipes so thank you. Wanted to share a tip I learned having grown up in the 60/70’s and stews were big, my grandmother always covered her stew with parchment paper and then lid. This prevents the meat and veg from getting dry edges as the jus condensed. Can’t attach a pic. Sorry!🤨
Please keep blogging!
That’s a great tip! Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Lynn! I’m going to try that next time!
Made it many times. Just love this stew. It is even more tender than beef stew and has sophisticated flavor. With fresh chabata bread is a must. The only thing I changed a bit is adding additional 1.5 cups of liquid and used “better than bouillon” chicken instead of beef. I tried both and I like the chicken better 1 full teaspoon. Tip. If your stock is bitter it is because you scorched the bottom of the pot. Keep the heat med-high when browning meat. The bottom of the pot should be brown to dark brown–not black like a charcoal. Thank you Natasha for this amazing dish. This one 10/10
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Nikolai!
This is the best recipe I have ever made. So delicious and nourishing. I added leek and some filet mignon since I had it on hand. Cant wait to make it again!
Sounds amazing, James! Thank you for sharing!
Absolutely loved this recipe it was stewpendus, me and my boyfriend love it so much, only thing we did different was not use bacon since we had a very fatty piece of lamb and used some chilli and corriander at the end since we like a little bit of heat
Hello Sasha. great to hear that you both loved this recipe a lot! Thanks so much for the review.
I don’t eat pork and I was wondering if I omitted bacon would it be better to use butter or olive oil to browned the meat?
Hi Sashae, You could sub for turkey bacon or just leave it out. It does add great flavor to include it though. I hope you love the recipe.
I was wondwring, if i skip the mushrooms, do i still have to cook it for 10 minutes before adding the bacon n lamb back in?
Hi Cleetus! I do recommend that step, even without the mushrooms but you could reduce the time, since you are not cooking the mushrooms. I hope you love this recipe!
Thanks for a great recipe, my 6 year old said I may make it again! I have added slightly more salt, thyme and spices, also some chutney. I did everything on stove top (after step 4, I simmered the stew for 1.5 – 2hrs) and it still came out perfect, meat falling off the bones etc 🙂
Sounds great! I’m glad that it was a huge success.
I don’t usually write reviews on recipes, but this one here is making me change my ways. Such a balanced recipe packed with flavor. I did add a little more meat than the recipe called for only because I had more than 2 lbs, so I added a little more broth. I ended up adding extra onions (because I love them) & thickening the liquid a tad at the end with cornstarch and water. Made polenta with it. So good!
Hi Nina! Thank you so much for taking the time to share. I’m so glad you loved it.
Natasha, I was up until 2AM this morning making this but so worth it. It is simply divine. I am gifting some to my artisan French baker neighbor who brings me the world’s best baguette when his exclusive bakery/cafe has spares. You will understand that I would never gift lamb stew to a French chef and baker if it were not top notch! Thank you for a fabulous keeper recipe.
Hi Anne! That’s awesome! Thank you so much. I’m glad you found a keeper!
I have made this several times now and it’s always a hit with my 3 adult sons, it’s just excellent! I know this is a stupid question but I was wondering if I left the skins on the potatoes if they would have they would maintain their texture better when after stew is frozen?
Hi Marty, it’s possible, but without trying that myself, it’s hard to say. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
I just made another batch today with the potato skins on the mini yellow potatoes. It came out excellent! I’ll repeat another batch tomorrow to give to my neighbor’s. Fantastic recipe.
Wonderful! Thank you for the feedback, Marty! 🙂
Fantastic. I made this with leftover lamb roast from Easter. The only thing I changed was adding a little olive oil after browning the first batch of meat since there was no more bacon greas. Will definitely make again.
Sounds great and I’m so glad that it turned out so well. Thanks for this review, Scott!