Description
This Herb Crusted Rack of Lamb is elegant, flavorful, and surprisingly simple to prepare, making it perfect for holidays or special dinners. Fresh rosemary, parsley, garlic, and mint create a vibrant herb crust that pairs beautifully with the richness of the lamb. Roasted to your desired doneness and served with cool tzatziki, it’s a stunning centerpiece that’s both rustic and refined.
Ingredients
1 rack of lamb (about 1 1/2 – 2 pounds)
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
½ teaspoon coarse ground pepper
½ cup packed fresh parsley
5 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves
1 tablespoon fresh mint leaves
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Tzatziki sauce for serving, optional
Instructions
Generously salt and pepper your lamb on all sides.
In a small food processor add the parsley, garlic, olive oil, rosemary, mint leaves, and red pepper flakes. Pulse until you have finely diced herbs, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed until you reach this point.
Rub the lamb with the herb sauce and place it in a cast iron skillet or baking sheet with the fat side up. Let it sit at room temperature for at least 20 minutes or up to 1 hour.
Preheat your oven during the last 20 minutes of your marinating time to 450 F. Have the rack in your oven be slightly higher than the middle. This will help the lamb brown nicely.
Place the skillet in the oven and bake for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and gently as to not disturb the herb crust, flip the rack over and return to the oven for 5-10 minutes or until the lamb is cooked to your desired temperature. *see note.
Remove from the oven and let it rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing. Do not skip resting.
Slice the lamb in between the bones and serve with tzatziki sauce, if desired.
Notes
You can double this very easily to feed more people. If 2 racks of lamb won’t fit in your cast iron skillet you can put them in a 9×13 baking dish. The cooking time will likely be 4-6 minutes longer.
If your lamb has a thick fat layer on one side, trim it so the fat is no thicker than ¼ inch.
Most grocery stores will sell you a frenched rack of lamb. This means the bones of the lamb are exposed. Ask your butcher to do this for you if you don’t see any out.
If you don’t have kosher salt use ¾ teaspoon table or sea salt.
Lamb is usually cooked rare or medium rare but can also be cooked longer, if desired.
Remove the lamb about 5 degrees shy of the temperature desired as it will continue cooking at least 5 degrees while it rests.
For lamb rare is 125 F, medium rare is 135 F, and medium is 145 F.
People will usually eat about 2-3 lamb chops per serving.
Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the fridge. Rewarm leftovers in an air fryer at 360 F for about 2 minutes. You don’t want them to get hot, just slightly warm. You can also serve leftovers cold or at room temperature.
This won’t freeze well just because rewarming will over cook it.