Smoked Lamb Shoulder Recipe

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This is the smoked lamb shoulder recipe you have to try because it bursting with flavor, succulent, tender, and super easy to make.

Traditionally, we have a mint sauce with roast lamb in my house, but not when it’s we are smoking or bbq-ing it. The natural flavor from the wood and charcoal is the perfect seasoning.

However, in this lamb shoulder recipe, I go one step further and add a dry rub of a few herbs and spices, which help enhance that natural flavor. 

In the recipe, I use a boneless lamb shoulder; however, you could use a bone-in leg or shoulder of lamb.

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• Sides for Smoked Lamb Shoulder
• Smoked Lamb Shoulder Recipe

Should You Smoke Bone-In or Boneless Lamb Shoulder?

You can smoke either boneless or bone-in cuts of lamb. In general, you will get a little more flavor from bone-in cuts – however, using boneless cuts do have a couple of pros: 

• You can easily pull the cooked lamb.
• Cooking a boneless lamb shoulder is easier to get even cook with. 
• You can carve easier and look better when serving on platters or boards. 

How to Smoke Lamb Shoulder

Below are my seven simple steps to smoking the perfect lamb shoulder.

Step 1: Prep Your Lamb Shoulder

Trim the lamb’s shoulder of excess fat and membrane. Rinse thoroughly in cold running water. Pat dry with a paper towel. 

Step 2: Preheat Your Smoker

Preheat your smoker to 225°F. Ensure that you have a water pan set in your smoker to ensure that your smoked lamb shoulder does not dry out.

See how to use a water pan here.

Step 3: Give Your Lamb a Rub

In a bowl, combine salt, rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, bay leaf, black pepper, cayenne pepper, cumin, and garlic powder.

Pat the lamb’s surface with a paper towel and cover thoroughly with olive oil. Fully coat with your dry run, ensuring there are no gaps.

Step 4: Place Your Lamb in The Smoker

Once your smoker is temperature, place your lamb on the grates fat side up. Spritz the lamb every 25 minutes during the two hours of cooking

Step 4: Monitor The Internal Temperature Of The Lamb

When the center of the lamb reaches 165°F, this takes around 3-5 hours, then wrap the lamb tightly in the foil.

Place thermometer probes back into the shoulder and continue smoking until the internal temperature reaches 205°F. 

Step 5: Unwrap and Baste With BBQ Sauce.

Once you reach 205°F, unwrap the lamb, then baste it with your BBQ sauce, and put it back in the smoker for 15 minutes.

Step 6: Rest

Remove and rest in foil for at least 45 minutes.

Step 7: Remove The Bone and Slice

Pull the bone out of the lamb, slice

What Temperature Do You Smoke Lamb Shoulder?

For smoked lamb, you want to reach an internal temperature of 205°F. Using temperature as a guide rather than an exact cooking time is very important.

What to do with Smoked Lamb Shoulder

Your options are endless with smoked lamb; however, some of my favorites are:

• Smoked lamb tacos.
• Smoked lamb mac and cheese.
• Greek lamb Gyros.
• Lamb nachos.
• A classic leftover smoked lamb sandwich.

Ides for Sides

Lamb is super versatile and can go with almost anything. However, here are my top recommendations. 

• Garlic Bread
• Lemon and garlic wilted greens.
• Grilled pita bread and tzatziki
• Smoked Mash Potatoes
• Moroccan Hasselback potatoes
• Sweet potato chips.
• Smoked sweet potato with miso butter
• Garlic butter grilled asparagus.
• Greek Salad

Looking for More Lamb Recipes?

See the other cuts of lamb you can use here;

Smoked Lamb Shanks

Smoked Lamb Rack

Smoked Lamb Burgers

Smoked Lamb Kabobs

Smoked Lamb Shoulder Recipe

Can You Smoke Butterflied Lamb Shoulder?

You can smoke butterflied lamb shoulder. I have smoked a butterflied lamb shoulder in the past and it has turned out fantastic. 

Once butterflied, I filled it with Greek-inspired ingredients like garlic, lemon, paprika, cumin, thyme, rosemary, oregano, and olives then roll into a log and smoke following the same method as below. 

FAQs

I get lots of questions about my smoked lamb recipe, so I have put some of the common ones below. Happy to answer any more questions you have.

Not only do the kids love smoked lamb, but they also love my lamb koftas! They are a cool spin on burgers and always a hit at our cookouts!

Smoke On!

Charlie

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