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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!
Delicious tasty and comforting dinner on a dreary rainy Sunday.
(Seconds were had!)
Easy to make, in fact made mostly second stage in a slow cooker,
Thanks Natasha!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Paul. Thank you for that great feedback!
Clearly, this is Julia Child’s recipe for Beef Bourguignon, but with lamb, and taking out a lot of the extra steps that don’t change the flavor. OMG – WOW – incredibly, amazingly, memorably wonderful!!! This has now become my go to recipe for lamb, even though I love curry so much and had some really great curry recipes!! This has displaced all my stewed lamb recipes for top of the heap. Great Job, and THANKS!
I’m so glad you loved this recipe Faye! Thank you for that amazing review!
Awesome!
I don’t often comment on recipes but this turned out amazing. Will definitely be doing this again.
That’s so great Gerard!! Sounds like you found a new favorite!
So yummy! We found lamb stew meat reduced and froze it for a bit – had to try your recipe and it is awesome. Thank you
You’re welcome, Karen! Thank you for that 5 STAR review!
I see the calorie count but what is the serving size please?
Hi Max, This recipe makes 8 servings. The serving size will be about 1.5 cups or so. I hope that helps.
We made this recipe and love it. One issue we did have is that the stew itself (broth & veggies) taste too much of beef and not enough of lamb. We were thinking about substituting chicken broth for some or all of beef broth. Thoughts/suggestions?
Hi David, we thought the beef broth had richer flavor and better color but chicken broth would also work well.
I think we may try half beef half chicken next time, and also heavily brown some lamb scraps for fond, to see if we can get a more lamb-flavored broth. Thanks.
That sounds delicious! I hope you love that combination!
Hi,
I’m hoping to make this recipe today (New Year’s Eve!), but just realized I don’t have a dutch oven that’s big enough. Can I cook it on the stovetop in a soup pot instead? Or any other suggestions for how to cook in the oven – would a roasting pan work? Thank you!
Hi Shannon, I haven’t tried it that way but it should work! Several of our readers have reported success using stovetop only. Enjoy!
You can certainly cook this or any other stew on the stovetop if that’s what you’re looking to do. Most other recipes recommend cooking the recipe on low for 1-2 hours, upwards of 2 1/2. The average seems to be 1 1/2 hours. This recipe reheats very nicely, so don’t be afraid to cook it 3 hours before it needs to be done. First you follow the recipe as instructions say, bring it to a boil (as it says to), and then turn it to low to simmer on the stovetop instead of putting it in the oven. If you are using more delicate and easy to cook veggies (like peas and corn), consider cooking the dish out for 40-50 minutes before adding those delicate veggies into the mix for the remainder of time.
Thank you for this suggestion! Midway through making this beautiful recipe, I read I needed to put the stew in the oven. Dred- my oven is broken! Your reply helped ease my spirits!
I always have the same problem with other dishes! I don’t have any oven safe pans or pots, so when it tells me to stick it in the oven, I have to either put it on the cookie sheet or do it on the stovetop. xD Glad I could help, hope it was in time.
Made it tonight! modified once I realized that we actually did not have any mushrooms. We really loved it. Served with rice and a green salad
I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Karen!
This recipe is awesome! My son is a fussy eater but he asked for more. So delicious. Thank you Natasha!
That is the best when kids love what we parents make. That’s so great!
hi, is there any substitution for the wine as I can’t use wine? or bacon? so sorry.
Hi Linda, it still should work just using more broth. The wine does give this lamb stew rich flavor so it wouldn’t taste quite the same and may need additional seasoning to compensate.
Natasha, Initially I was nervous abt making such a dish, but boy oh boy am I glad I did!!
Can you say OMG, this dish is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!
I used a tawny port and the fact that the dish didn’t last an hour magnifies this! This hearty and delectable stew will definitely be a staple for the colder months!
THANK YOU NATASHA!
#FIVE ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #Winning
That’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review!!
Thank you for the recipe! Can this recipe work without bacon?
Hi Sima, it would still work without the bacon, you could just use a light (not extra virgin) olive oil to saute the lamb instead. It may need slightly more salt if omitting the bacon.
Hi Natasha, I notice some discrepancies in the ingredient conversions you offer from US customary to metric. Weights convert but volume and length do not. I know it’s an auto conversion but a web technician or a human eye might like to go over your recipes for the benefit of your international visitors. Yummy recipe by the way!
Hi Matthew, which ingredient are you having trouble with in this list so I can address it. We currently have liquid measurements converting to mililiters and ingredients that are measured by weight (dry ingredients) in grams.
I’m not actually having trouble, thank you Natasha. I brought up the ingredient conversions for reasons of consistency. The conversion misses “4 medium carrots 10 oz” for example, while successfully converting “4 oz bacon” to “113.4 g bacon.” But the bacon “chopped into 1/4″ strips” is not converted to 6.25mm strips. And a human wouldn’t be quite so exact in converting the bacon strip anyway. A human would round off the metric bacon strip to 6mm. And I noticed under instructions… “In a 5Qt dutch oven” is not converted. Again, neither of these things are particularly important. However, if your website offers a metric conversion, it would be consistent to convert all measurements. In the meantime, I’ll enjoy your lamb stew and follow your recipes with pleasure.
Natasha. What can I substitute the bacon with? We eat only clean food.
Hi Natasha, it would still work without the bacon, you could just use a light (not extra virgin) olive oil to saute the lamb instead. It may need slightly more salt if omitting the bacon.
Depending on what you mean by clean, there are alternatives to replace that salty smokey meaty flavor. Other meat options include pancetta, prosciutto, smoked sausage, smoked ham, Canadian bacon. The last 3 might not fit this recipe though.. There are also plenty of veggie fake bacon alternatives, but you should be sure to search how good of substitutes they really are beforehand. Or just use a bit more salt and some sort of replacement for the fat like a touch of lard? Lard is a good option because fat is not nearly as bad for you as sugars, meaning you get some great flavor without sacrificing health.
Thank you for sharing!
So you are suddenly flummoxed by your own food choices and have to reach out for help. Really? Please just give up on the silly self-righteous food point-scoring and just have some nice oranges straight from the tree.
I used a meaty lamb neck (don’t eat pig) for the meat, but it was fatty so I roasted it in the oven to melt the fat then used two tablespoons of the fat for sautéing the onions and garlic. I used white wine instead of red (didn’t have red at home). Also, I used fresh thyme at the end with the chopped parsley. I skipped flouring the meat since the lamb neck was roasted in the oven. The nutrition information with the original recipe is extremely high in sodium, I think eliminating the bacon drastically reduces the sodium.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
I am reading comments before making this recipe, noticed someone was concerned about bacon, due to it being unclean, (understood & agreed.) We striv to refrain from that which God has deemed unclean for eating, (He knows how He made things and why they should not be consumed.) Fortunately, we are still able to enjoy bacon, (not as pork,) but as turkey or beef, (the latter being our preference.) Hope this helps.
Made this three times now, it’s a complete win. I cannot find substantiated advice on how the alcohol in the wine cooks off, can you help? Feeding this to my kids (it’s completely kid friendly), my littlest is only 7 months though. What do you think? Am I helping to develop a fantastic palate or should I skip this ingredient?
“It’s completely kid friendly” from a taste perspective! Passed with flying colors with my toddler
That’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review
Hi Jo, It still should work just using more broth if you are concerned. The wine does give this lamb stew rich flavor so it wouldn’t taste quite the same and may need additional seasoning to compensate.
Cooking off alcohol content takes much longer than we think. There will almost always be some remaining alcohol. With a dish like this that cooks for hours, the content could be as little as 5%, but for children that young it is not advised. You can try substitutes for the wine like grape juice with a splash of vinegar; this will help to keep the flavor profile and the dash of vinegar will cut down on the sweetness of the juice. Or just use more broth with vinegar to supplement the lack of acidity with a ratio of (1 cup of broth+1tbps vinegar):1 cup wine.
I usually use a mix of mushroom broth (I use it as a substitute because I cannot eat beef) and balsamic vinegar if I cook for people who don’t consume alcohol (same proportions as in Erin’s comment).
This was delicious! I omitted the bacon (I don’t eat it) and the onion (I can’t eat them). I was trying to replicate a recipe I’d made while living in India years ago – I didn’t have any idea what cut of lamb I’d used there. I found this recipe while trying to see whether I could use leg of lamb in stew. I used curry powder and a little cinnamon in place of the thyme and bay leaves, used cilantro instead of parsley and used a small can of tomato sauce instead of the paste. I also used a lot of vegetable in addition to the carrots, mushrooms and potatoes – a red pepper, a sweet potato, green beans, peas and spinach and added chopped dried apricots. But the technique and measurements were your recipe. So good!
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review
I can’t believe how delicious this recipe is. I halved it but other than that,followed the recipe exactly.
The liquid cooks down to a lovely gravy. What a surprise when I took off the lid!
Thank you for sharing that awesome review with us, Nancy! I’m so glad you enjoyed that!
Sorry do you have a wine free recipe
Hi Ann, it still should work just using more broth. The wine does give this lamb stew rich flavor so it wouldn’t taste quite the same and may need additional seasoning to compensate.
Because the recipe is for a stew and stews, by nature, intend to slow cook and tenderize the meat, using broth with a dash of vinegar is the recommended substitute. The rule is 1 teaspoon vinegar for every cup of broth you are subbing for the wine. You would use white vinegar to replace the loss of acidity the wine would have provided.
1) Do all the same stuff but without the wine.
2) substitute using something else you do like. Cordial?
It still should work just using more broth if you are concerned with using wine. The wine does give this lamb stew rich flavor so it wouldn’t taste quite the same and may need additional seasoning to compensate.
Hi Natasha, we just made this recipe exactly like you said and I have to tell you this is delicious. Definitely a keeper. Thank you.
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite, Alla!
I really don’t think I have enough words to praise this recipe. It’s just come out the oven and I had to write this review immediately. I honestly didn’t think I was capable of making something this delicious! I made mine in a smaller portion to the recipe, my wine of choice was a Merlot and I added some pearl barley (only because I had originally planned to make soup and the barley had been soaking overnight). This recipe is definitely a keeper and just in time for those winter nights!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Paula!
hey Natasha can I cook it in instant pot?
Hi Anna, I honestly have not tested that in an instant pot so I cannot advise. If you experiment please let me know how you like that recipe