Smoked Boneless Lamb Leg
A perfectly cooked, tender smoked boneless leg of lamb recipe. Works with goat or venison too.
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 12kcal
Cost: 30
Equipment
- 1 Pellet grill or smoker such as a Traeger
- 1 Cling film
- 1 Butchers Twine
Ingredients
Lamb
- 1 3-4 lb Leg of lamb goat or venison
- kosher salt roughly 1/2 teaspoon per pound
- 2 tbsp dry rub recipe follows or use your favorite rub
- 2 teaspoons light olive oil or cooking oil
Spiced Chili Rub
- 1/4 cup Ancho Chili Powder
- 3 Tablespoons Onion Powder
- 1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Instructions
Chili Rub (optional)
- Combine all ingredients for the chili rub and mix in a bowl. You can also use your favorite dry rub.
Debone the lamb (If needed)
- If you haven't done this before, the video will illustrate everything for you. If your lamb leg came already de-boned, you can skip to dry-brining the lamb.
- Working with the lamb fat side down, first remove the aitch bone.
- Next, begin exposing the femur, working slowly along the seams of the meat.
- Reserve both bones for making stock. I like to keep them in a freezer.
Dry brine the lamb
- Season the lamb all over with salt to taste on both sides. For a 3-4 lb lamb leg, you'll need about 2 teaspoons of kosher salt.
- Season the lamb leg all over with the dry rub on both sides. For a 3-4 lb leg, you'll need about 1/2 cup.
- Roll the lamb leg up and tie it into a cylinder as best you can. If your leg came already deboned and wrapped in twine, you can just season the outside only.
Smoke the lamb
- Preheat a pellet grill to 225 F. Smoke the lamb until the internal temperature reaches 135-140 F on a meat thermometer, depending on your preference, then remove it from the smoker. It should take about 2.5-3 hours.
Serving
- Ideally, you'll rest the leg of lamb for 10 minutes per pound of meat. You can do this in a warm, turned off oven. You can also rest it on the counter on a cuttingb board and gently warm it up before serving.
- Remove the twine with a scissors. Cut the meat into thin slices against the grain with a long sharp carving knife. Serve with some crunchy salt like Maldon at the table.
Video
Notes
- Medium rare lamb (135 F) might sound good in theory, but most people will prefer the temperature of the meat closer to medium (140F) as it helps the connective tissue become tender.
Nutrition
Serving: 5oz | Calories: 12kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 0.1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 0.1mg | Sodium: 0.4mg | Potassium: 7mg | Fiber: 0.1g | Sugar: 0.03g | Vitamin A: 26IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 10mg | Iron: 0.4mg