Mediterranean Braised Lamb Shoulder Chops
on Oct 22, 2023, Updated Jan 14, 2024
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
These slowly cooked Mediterranian-style lamb chops are fall apart tender and nestled into a lovely vegetable-studded red wine and tomato sauce.
This is one of those cold-weather meals that makes you feel ok about cold weather. The smell of the lamb shoulder chops braising is such a beautiful prelude to the experience of eating this rich, fall-apart meat nestled in a saucy blend of vegetables. But be warned: this has to be cooked low and slow. The cooking time cannot be rushed, no matter how amazing this smells.
This braised lamb chop recipe features tomatoes, red wine, rosemary, thyme, and garlic. The sauce that is created by the slow braise begs to be ladled over the tender meat atop a pile of mashed potatoes, noodles (egg noodles are particularly great), polenta, or maybe a rice pilaf of sorts. So be sure and make those or some sort of starch to soak up the sauce.
It may seem unusual that the zucchini is braised for so long with the meat in the cooking liquid, but it’s more than fine. It definitely gets quite soft, but it fills out the sauce nicely, kind of thickening it. And along with the mushrooms, it removes the need for making a separate vegetable, which is always a nice thing. This whole recipe is made in one skillet, adding to the appeal. If you wanted to round out the meal, you could add Best Parmesan Roasted Broccoli or a Crispy Brussels Sprouts Salad.
Table of Contents
Mediterranean Braised Lamb Shoulder Chops: Slow cooking makes these shoulder chops fall apart tender, and the vegetable studded sauce is incredibly flavorful.
Tweet This
Ingredients
- Olive oil
- Onion
- Carrots
- Minced garlic
- Lamb shoulder chops – About 1 inch thick.
- Mushrooms – You can use any mushroom you like, such as button, cremini, or shiitake.
- Zucchini or summer squash
- Dried thyme and rosemary – Dried herbs are just fine in a slow-braised dish like this.
- Red wine – Choose a wine you’d like to drink with the dish! If you want to sub in more tomatoes or chicken or beef broth for the wine, you can.
- Tomato sauce or pureed tomatoes
- Water or chicken broth
- Chopped fresh parsley – adds color and a nice burst of herby-ness.
FAQs
Lamb shoulder chops can also be called arm or blade chops. Shoulder chops are bigger than rib or loin lamb chops. Rib chops are usually significantly more expensive and should be cooked quickly and kept rare. Shoulder chops have more fat and connective tissues, so they are tougher than other lamb chop cuts. Braising them is a terrific cooking method to ensure tender, deeply flavorful chops.
Lamb shoulder chops are versatile in that they can be cooked quickly or slowly, both with delicious results. They are quite economical – usually significantly less expensive than rib chops, but from a nearby cut.
Lamb shoulder chops can be tough, so they are best either braised or cooked very low and slow or else quickly cooked over high heat. It’s the in-between cooking methods that aren’t so good for shoulder chops. Cooking them like more tender cuts of meat will result in tough chops. In a braised lamb shoulder chop recipe like this, they will become fall-apart tender.
How Long to Cook Lamb Shoulder Chops
Sear up the chops, which is recommended for the best flavor and outer texture. You will want to cover the pan, then lower the heat to medium-low, and let everything simmer for about 2 hours. You’ll know the chops are done when they are very, very tender, with the meat practically falling off the bone.
Variations
- I have also made the same meal with sweet potatoes in place of the zucchini and mushrooms, and it’s another delicious version. My whole family went crazy for these chops in both versions. I know I’ll keep going with this recipe, swapping in vegetables as they occur to me and as they show up in the market.
- This is a stovetop slow-braised recipe, but you could also transfer it to a 300-degree oven for the 2-hour cooking period if you prefer to finish braising it in the oven and free up your range.
How to Make Mediterranean Braised Lamb Shoulder Chops
- Sauté the vegetable base: In a large skillet, sauté the onion, carrots, and garlic in olive oil until everything is tender and starting to brown, about 7 minutes.
- Sear the chops: In the same pan, sear the chops for about 4 minutes on each side until the chops are browned.
- Sauté the rest of the vegetables: Cook the mushrooms, zucchini, thyme, and rosemary until the vegetables become tender and golden, about 7 minutes.
- Stir in the carrot and onion mixture.
- Deglaze the pan: Add the red wine and stir to release any browned bits from the bottom. Stir in the tomato sauce.
- Finish cooking the chops: Tuck the browned chops into the mixture. Cover the pan, and simmer, covered, for 2 hours, until the meat is very, very tender.
- Serve: Sprinkle with parsley. Serve with the pan sauce and vegetables.
Tips
- Don’t forget the parsley at the end. This kind of slow-braised dish really benefits from a last pop of fresh green.
- One of the other little tricks I do often is to finish a dish with some chopped arugula. It serves the same purpose as parsley or another herb but adds a peppery punch that I think is very welcome as a counterbalance to a rich dish.
What to Serve With Lamb Shoulder Chops
More Lamb Recipes to Try
- Make Your Own Lamb Gyro Board
- Lamb Chorba
- Orange-Thyme Rack of Lamb Chops
- Grilled Lamb Chops and Onions with Herb Salad
- Lemon-Garlic Semi-Boneless Leg of Lamb
- Grilled Rib Lamb Chops
Pin this now to find it later
Pin It
Mediterranean-Braised Lamb Shoulder Chops
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil (divided)
- 1 medium onion (roughly chopped)
- 4 large carrots (roughly chopped)
- 3 large garlic cloves (minced)
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper (to taste)
- 2 1 -inch thick lamb shoulder chops (about 2 pounds total)
- 2 cups sliced mushrooms (such as button, cremini, or shiitake)
- 1 cup diced zucchini or summer squash
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 teaspoons dried rosemary (crushed)
- 1 cup red wine
- ½ cup tomato sauce or pureed tomatoes
- Water or chicken broth (as needed)
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- In a large skillet, preferably cast-iron, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrots, and garlic, and season with salt and pepper. Sauté until everything is tender and starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Scrape the mixture into a small bowl.
- Season the lamb with salt and pepper on both sides. Give the skillet a quick wipe with a paper towel (be careful; that skillet is hot!), and return the skillet to the heat. Add 1 more tablespoon of olive oil, make sure the pan is very hot, then add the chops and sear for about 4 minutes on each side until the chops are browned on both sides. Transfer the chops to a plate.
- Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to the pan, and then the mushrooms, zucchini, thyme, and rosemary. Sauté until the mushrooms give up their liquid, that liquid evaporates, and the vegetables become tender and slightly golden, about 7 minutes.
- Stir in the carrot and onion mixture. Add the red wine, stir to release any brown bits from the bottom, and let it reduce by a little bit, about 2 minutes, then stir in the tomato sauce and tuck the browned chops into the mixture. Cover the pan, lower the heat to medium-low, and let the liquid very gently simmer for 2 hours, until the meat is very, very tender, almost falling apart. Check periodically to make sure there is still liquid in the skillet, and add a bit of water or broth if necessary.
- Sprinkle the finished dish with the parsley. Serve the lamb chops with the pan sauce over your choice of starch.
I’m with you on the climate warming and don’t consider that politics.
But anyone who didn’t cook this because they did think so has really lost out. I made it last night (left out mushrooms as I didn’t have any) and it was absolutely delicious, stunningly so.
I will be making it again–and again–and again.
Thanks and be well
Daniel Boyarin
thanks, Daniel!
Just tried the recipe – really good.
And keep up with the comments on climate change. Politics is mostly opinion which shouldn’t be confused with scientific facts.
I’m curious about translating this to a slow cooker recipe. If I seared the chops and then put everything else in the slow cooker, could I cook like a roast, 3-4 hrs on high or 6-8 on low? Thanks!
I would say sure! either! they will get very fall apart, but that’s nice.
Lise I’m going to do this today. This by far looks like the best recipe I’ve searched for. I have 3 shoulder chops from a lamb my friends raised and I helped butcher. Salt Fat Acid Heat recommends seasoning WAY in advance (sp) even the night before. But I just did mine now and will marinate when I get ingredients together! I am playing tennis 6-8 so don’t want to feed my family at 10 (or eat before) ;). Hope yours turned out great.
And, Katie, climate change is REAL. SCIENCE is REAL.
I’m sorry that people have not tried your recipe because of your seemingly political views. Personally, I don’t think that the climate should ever have become a political thing. While I may, and do, disagree that climate change is a result of, or can be changed, by human activity, it has nothing to do, IMHO, with food.
That said, I can’t wait to try this which I will do on Monday. My butcher was selling the Lamb shoulder chops for a steal, and I bought some last week and froze them. Just have to pick up some red wine and fresh parsley. I like a nice cab for recipes calling for red wine.
I just made a nice roasted veggie wellington, and have a lot of leftover phyllo dough, and thought I’d make a spanikopita side dish.
I can’t wait to try this!
Regarding the climate, can our politicians agree to disagree on the cause, and work together more to find how to deal with it, whether we can change it or not? How did our ancestors, prehistoric and otherwise, deal with the changing climate, which has gone on for the millennia?
Joyce, thanks so much for writing — and I hope you like the lamb! Re: climate change and food and politics, I wish they didn’t feel so related so much of the time, but I think they are pretty intertwined. Having said that I respect other people’s right to have their opinions, and if my opinion means that some folks don’t want to make my lamb chops, well, I certainly won’t be offended. I hope yours come out gorgeously!
I am most eager to try this recipe—my husband and I will love it. We’ll have to wait, though, because our home was mostly destroyed in a ravaging fire here in Oregon. My pots and pans, my spices, my freezer full of just-purchased lamb (and other good, local meat): Gone. Our beautiful, lush green valley in the rainforest burned ferociously. Thirty miles of burn. Seven hundred + houses burned to the ground and thousands homeless. Why? Because of global climate change. And, by the way, this isn’t a political message to all of you giving Katie Workman a hard time for her views. It’s science. It’s fact. Our forest has suffered from climate-change related drought for years. The highly unusual 70 mph winds are a result of climate change. It doesn’t matter, folks, if you believe in it. Take it from someone who was jarred awake by a firefighter and told that my husband and I had only minutes to escape with our life: it’s coming to a neighborhood near you.
Debra, I am so sorry. I cannot imagine what you are going through. If you email me through the site with your address I would love to send you a roasting pan or skillet, whichever you prefer to help you restart your kitchen, wherever you are at the moment. I am watching the news of the wildfires with my heart in my throat, and just send love to you and your family during this unthinkable time.
Interesting recipe but was at first confused then turned off by your comments on climate so I chose another recipe that was posted without political opinions. Yes, the science of climate has been politicized.
yes, well, sometimes I serve up a small garnish of politics with the recipes – and if we need to disagree to disagree, that’s ok!
What starch would you recommend? Pasta, mashed potatoes or rice?
you will not go wrong with any of those! I would say that mashed potatoes would be my first choice…..
Another person who will solely try this BECAUSE of your politics err I mean science… thanks!
:)
I stopped by your site to see this lamb recipe, I will stay for the politics.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, oh and the recipes.
The recipe looks tasty, but it’s tiring to see political junk inserted where political junk shouldn’t be inserted.
I am nit familiar with cooking with wine. Could you tell me what type of red wine would be best. Dry?
Truly whatever wine you like to drink would be good here!