How to Butcher Lamb Legs (or Goat)

Cooking a whole leg of lamb or leg of goat can be intimidating, but there’s a lot more that you can do with a whole leg than roast them whole once a year for your holiday table. In this post I’ll show you how to butcher lamb legs into individual roasts.

 

Grass fed goat leg on a cutting board.
A nice leg of goat.

 

The different cuts from a leg of lamb

With a sharp knife, the process is relatively easy and economical as it can turn what would be one larger cooking project that you may feed a family with, into 4, 5, or more meals, depending on how many people you’re serving, and the size of the leg.

An infographic showing all of the different roasts from a lamb leg.
Cutting up a leg into roasts yields a number of unique roasts for you to cook instead of one large piece of meat.

Besides a number of different, unique roasts, you also get the femur and hip bones, which are great for soup, as well as some trip and scrap for stock or stew, along with a smaller roast (the trip tip).

Soup bone, trim, and the tri-tip

An infographic illustrating the scrap and trim left over from trimming a lamb leg.
Trim, soup bones, and a small tri-tip roast will be leftover after trimming.

The finished individual roasts can be frozen and used as needed (I recommend vacuum sealing them) but you don’t have to limit your culinary creativity to just roasts either. Here’s a few ideas:

Ideas for your roasts

Chef Alan Bergo
Chef Alan Bergo, The Forager Chef

 

 

This recipe is by James Beard Award-winning Chef Alan Bergo. He’s a chef from Minnesota and author of The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora. Learn more about Chef Alan at foragerchef.com. 

Looking to buy lamb or goat online? Shepherd Song Farm: Grass to table. We raise lambs & goats traditionally, humanely and sustainably. 100% Grass Fed, Pasture Raised, Never Confined, no Hormones, Grains or Animal Byproducts. Born, raised and processed in the U.S.A. Good for you and good for the environment.

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how to cut up a lamb or goat leg into roasts
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How to Butcher Lamb Legs (or Goat)

A whole leg of lamb or goat can be intimidating, but they're easy to cook when cut down into smaller muscles.
Prep Time5 minutes
Active Time30 minutes
Total Time35 minutes
Keyword: lamb leg butcher
Cost: 30

Equipment

  • 1 Boning knife
  • 1 Cutting board

Instructions

  • Find the femur and expose it with a paring knife.
    Cutting a lamb leg into roasts
  • Remove the femur and hip bone.
    Cutting a lamb leg into roasts
  • You'll be left with three large chunks of meat.
    Cutting a lamb leg into roasts
  • Trim the silverskin and fat to reveal the individual muscles, feel free to use your hands as needed to help pull them apart.
    Cutting a lamb leg into roasts
  • After trimming you'll be left with a number or unique, smaller roasts.
    Various Roasts from a leg of lamb
  • You'll also have trim and scrap left over for making stock or stew.
    Cutting a lamb leg into roasts

Video

Notes

To freeze lamb roasts individually, vacuum seal them, label, date and freeze.