I think I’ve fallen for my slow cooker, thanks to this slow cooked spiced pulled lamb shoulder, made in my slow cooker.
Slow Cooked Spiced Pulled Lamb Shoulder
Never in my 10 years of working life have I been able to come home to a roasted joint of meat which I have cooked myself and subsequently devoured by 7pm. On a Monday. A crappy dreary January Monday.
I excitedly left my house at 8.30am this morning, wondering what on earth would greet me on my return this evening. Would the raw marinated lamb roast into as much of a thing of beauty as I hoped? Would it even cook at all? Would my slow cooker turn itself off by some horrible power-cut accident? My track record of uselessness at household things leaves me to believe these panics are not far fetched.
At 6.30pm I was greeted with this:
Lamb Shoulder in Slow Cooker
Perfect.
Monday has turned into a pretty good day.
I loosely based my spice rub on the Lamb Shawarma recipe in Ottoleghi’s Jerusalem Cookbook. I left my meat soaking into the marinade for a full 24 hours, so this is a bit of a plan in advance dish. It is however ridiculously easy, a total cooking novice could pull (and show) this off.
I’m storming my way through my foodie resolutions. Pulled Lamb. Done.
Pulled Lamb
You can use the cooking juices as a gravy if you wish (you could reduce and monté some butter in if you dare – a cooking school trick I learnt), or keep for a future cooking adventure.
I served mine with a carrot and fennel coleslaw, dressed in tahini, garlic and argan oil (amongst other things.) A simple side recipe.
Pulled Lamb with coleslaw and green salad
Other serving suggestions include:
- Hokkaido Squash & Yellow Courgettes with Mint
- Tabbouleh
- Beetroot & Walnut Houmous
- Butternut Squash Dip
My slow cooker is by Morphy Richards and is 6.5ltr capacity
Enjoy reading my recipes? Sign up to my weekly newsletter for a new recipe each week, seasonal veg ideas and much much more!
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- ½ tablespoon paprika
- ½ tablespoon Sumac
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tablespoon grated ginger
- Pinch ground ginger
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ tablespoon Maldon Sea Salt
- A good dose of ground black pepper
- Squeeze lemon juice
- 2.5 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ lamb shoulder (mine approx 900g)
- 1 onion, diced into quarters
- 100mls / ½ cup of water
- Fresh parsley to dress
- Combine the ingredients from the cumin to the black pepper above in a bowl. Add the lemon and olive oil to form a paste.
- Slit the lamb with a sharp knife in multiple place and rub the paste in all over ensuring it gets into the slits. Cover and place in the fridge for the spices to seep in – preferably at least overnight.
- -10 hours prior to dinner time place the lamb in the slow cooker with the fat side on the top. Scatter the onions on top and pour in the water. Add the lid and cook on low for 10 hours (or an alternative setting depending on what time you want to eat. High for 4-6 hours, medium for 6-8 and low for 10-12)
- When the lamb is done remove from the cooker. Since the meat is so tender the bones will just slice ride out and it may be difficult to use tongs! Remove the bones (stopping to suck out the bone marrow if you dare), and leave on a board to rest for around 10 mins. When you're ready to eat shred the lamb with a fork and scatter fresh parsley on top, with the onions on the side.
That looks really wonderful! The perfect thing to come home to and I bet the smells coming from the kitchen were amazing! I have Jerusalem, and will be cooking more from it, too but I’ll try your version. Day 6 of The Whole 30! Paleo all the way!
Thanks Ren. It was a nice surprise when I walked through the front door. Mine just used less spices than their recipe – simply because I didn’t have the recipe on me when I was shopping. I went armed with a pulled pork recipe and then there was no suitable pork! Glad to here Whole 30 Paleo is going well! 30 days will soon be up!
Looks delicious! I want a slow cooker! Found one on tesco online for £10! I’ve been raving about your slow cooker antics that someone at work bought in his book! He also brought me tons of Jerusalem artichokes… Any ideas on what to do with them?
Get a large 6.5ltr one – then you can fit whole joints of meat in and make stews that go on for days. Thanks sweetie. I might feed you pulled pork one day soon as my next experiment…. I’ve never cooked Jerusalem Artichokes – like weird little potatoes aren’t they?
Ceri you inspired me to dig out Jerusalem too! I went halfway between your recipe and theirs. Delicious!
mmmm I’m obsessed with that cookbook! What was in your spice combo?
I went for cumin, fennel, star anise, cinnamon, ginger and a bit of paprika, but not as much as Jerusalem says as it looked a bit excessive! Annoyingly I’d run out of sumac, I think that would have done very good things.
Wow – that sounds like an explosion of flavours! I need to start making use of fennel seeds and star anise a bit more I think!
Carrot and fennel coleslaw details please!
Great recipe, Ceri. Thanks. Made it for dinner tonight using the pressure cooker. I marinated the meat this morning so it was really yummy.
Great to hear Suzi – glad you enjoyed the recipe. I’m very intrigued about pressure cookers but know for an absolute fact my kitchen is too small for another appliance!
I live in Sydney. I would recommend the slow cooker over the pressure cooker but it’s too expensive these days to run the slow cooker over here due to the long cooking time. My pressure cooker has a low pressure cooking option so I used that for about half hour before hitting the high pressure button for the home run! The flavour was awesome and authentic. I’m looking forward to check out your other recipes!
Thanks for this info – I had thought that the slow cooker used only the same electricity as a light bulb? Glad you enjoyed the flavour!
I added a touch of Naga Chilli powder and honey to your recepie! It’s now in the fridge marinating and will be in slow cooker in morning! Can’t wait to get home tomorrow night! Yum Yum!! ; )
Nice touch! I hope you have an exciting return home tomorrow evening, 24 hours prep for a meal is quite something – but thankfully its super easy! Let me know how you get along!
AWESOME FOOD!!!
Thank you! I take it you enjoyed it then :). Thanks for letting me know!!
I have made this three times now and it delivers every time! It is just so utterly sensational and if you are lucky enough to have left overs – actually, we have never been lucky enough to have leftovers… 🙂
I have forwarded this recipe to my sister to make for Christmas lunch and I am doing it here for our Christmas Dinner, so guests, prepare to be delighted.
Thank you so much for taking time to give the feedback. I posted this recipe so long ago and yet it is still going strong – everyone loves it!
Hope you have a wonderful Christmas – enjoy the lamb!
Carrot and fennel coleslaw details please
I am so sorry, it was 3 years ago I made this lamb I can’t remember how I made the coleslaw. I likely just finely shredded them both and tossed them in some oil and apple cider vinegar (add yoghurt too if you want!). Thank you
I have a very big dinner of 40 people and this is one dish I am planning to serve, buffet style. What do I do with measurements?
Its hard to say if you are serving this as a main or with lots of other dishes too. For each batch of the recipe times the spices by .5 so they don’t become too strong. Hope that helps!
I stumbled across this recipe and im so glad I did! Its delicious and definitely my “go to” recipe for lamb, everybody loves it! I serve up with roast veggies and lemon cous cous. The juice from the lamb makes the tastiest gravy. Thanks for the recipe!
Ah this is so cool! Glad you’re enjoying the recipe! You’re welcome