Super Easy Minty Lamb Stew {Slow Cooked}

This Minty Lamb Stew is so simple to put together and takes less than 10 minutes prep, you can then let the oven do all the work. The result? Tender lamb that falls apart, fresh mint and a rich gravy. Pretty prefect with mash!

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Minty Lamb Stew

Love lamb? We do too. I'll generally either cook a half leg of lamb or make this casserole. The one thing that lamb has to be is tender, and making a casserole like this gives you that fall apart meat that's just...Oh so good!

To make this stew you'll need a casserole dish with a lid so the gravy reduces and thickens and then the oven does all the hard work. There's really very little prep work to do so it's a great dinner recipe to make when you have a few hours before dinner and want to leave something in the oven.

I use a cast iron casserole to make this because you can brown the meat on the stove top and then put it straight into the oven. I don't really want to be fussing around with numerous pans and food transfers before it gets into the oven, so using a cast iron pan makes this a one pot wonder!

And of course we all love leftovers, and the leftovers from this make an easy quick and healthy next day lunch. Perfect!

Ingredients

The list of ingredients for this recipe are fairly basic:

Lamb

I've used Lamb shoulder, diced, to make this stew. This is a cheaper cut of lamb than other parts and it's perfect for slow cooking it and using it in a stew. It becomes very tender and has that fall apart quality that's so yummy and great for smaller kids.

We've all eaten chewy meat at some point in our lives and it's awful. You can chew and chew and chew.....but not this one!

I tend to find the cheaper (and less popular) cuts of meat are much cheaper than the more popular cuts so I like to use these as and when I can. Slow cooking most meats gives you the tenderness you want and it's hardly hard work :)

Fresh Mint

Do you grow mint in your garden or kitchen? It's so easy to grow yourself and means you'll always have a supply on hand for cooking.

I've used dried mint in this recipe that goes in the stew for the duration of the cooking and then a load of fresh mint stirred through the stew after cooking. Lamb and mint go hand in hand, so feel free to use the mint liberally :)

Red Wine

To make the gravy alongside the stock I've used red wine. This reduces down and adds a lovely flavor.

However..I know some people don't like to use alcohol in their cooking and so you can also simply swap out the wine for more stock. The flavor is slightly less rich but you still end up with a delicious gravy!

Thickening The Gravy

I use a tiny bit of corn flour to thicken the sauce. I prefer the sauce not to be too thick for this and the tomato paste helps to thicken it anyway.

As the stew cooks and simmers away the sauce with become thicker. It will likely look far too thin while you're prepping it to go into the oven.

The magic happens while it's bubbling away and when you go to stir it through half way through cooking you'll see the thickened gravy looking at you back!

Additions

There are loads of things you could add to this stew as additions. I've kept the recipe simple and straightforward so that I can add whatever I have that needs eating up with it, but sticking with the one pot theme you could add extra's to make this into a complete meal in it's own right.

I add carrots as they're well liked and add a little color. There's no hard and fast rules here!

Here's some things you could add to this stew:

• Potatoes - Cooking your potatoes in this stew will give you super soft potatoes cooking in the flavor of the gravy. Yum!
• Red pepper - Try dicing some red pepper into this casserole before it goes into the oven if your kiddos like it
• Onion - I deliberately kept the onion out fo this recipe as we had an onion phobic joining us for dinner! I mostly would put an onion into a stew, if you're unsure if yours will go for onion, try grating the onion instead of slicing or dicing it, it makes the onion almost vanish into the gravy while keeping the flavor. Smart!
• Bacon - Diced bacon browned off in the pan when you're browning off the lamb adds an interesting flavor twist. I've done this several times and the bacon goes surprisingly well with the lamb
• Rosemary - In a total change from the mint, you could replace it with Rosemary, another lamb favorite! I'd recommend adding some dried rosemary into the precooked pan and omitting the fresh rosemary at the end. Rosemary has such a potent flavor, for my kids I know it would be way to strong!

Oven Or Slow Cooker

I've used both the slow cooker and the oven to slow cook this stew. Which do I prefer? Honestly I don't notice a lot of difference. I suppose at a push I'd say the sauce thickens up better in the oven, I guess it's just hotter and of course it's quicker to make this in the oven.

If you're out all day and want to come home to a ready cooked meal you can just serve up then go for the slow cooker, if you're hanging about the house, use the oven. Or not!

How To Eat Lamb Stew

As far as a potato goes, I served this with mashed potatoes.

Mash is absolutely delicious with this, it's amazingly good at soaking up the gravy plus all the kids love mashed potatoes (do any not?!). You could also add cut potatoes (see above additions) into the stew before cooking.

I added carrots to this when I made it this time, but you could leave them out all together and then add a couple of vegetable sides when you're serving it. These green beans and onions go well as do these Brussel sprouts if you fancy them!

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How Do You Cook Lamb Stew Meat So It's Tender?

The best way I know to ensure your lamb is super soft and tender is to slow cook it.

I believe meats tends to become chewy when the proteins in them are overcooked and so as slow cooking is done on a lower heat than usual, there's far less chance of this happening, giving you tender meat.

How To Make A Minty Lamb Stew

Ingredients

• 1 kg Lamb shoulder Diced
• 1 Cup Lamb stock Made up with boiling water
• ½ Cup Red wine Or swap for more stock, same quantity
• 4 large Carrots Peeled and cut into battons
• 4 tbsp Tomato paste
• 1 tbsp Butter For browning the lamb
• 1 tsp Dried mint
• 2 tsp Corn flour Mixed with 4 tablespoon cold water until all corn flour is disolved
• Salt and pepper To season
• ¼ Cup Fresh mint Chopped finely

Instructions

• Heat your oven to 180F or 350C
• In a cast iron casserole dish melt your butter and then add the diced lamb and season it really well with salt and pepper
• Brown the meat until it's fully sealed, try not to move it around the dish too much, and bits that catch add to the flavor
• While the meat is browning make up your lamb stick and add the red wine and tomato paste. Stir to combine
• When the meat is fully browned (about 5 minutes) add the stock, wine and tomato mixture to the dish and stir. Then add the dried mint and mix
• Mix your cornflour with cold water and mix until the cornflour is fully dissolved and then add to the dish. Mix everything well and then pop it into the oven for 1 hour
• Remove from the oven and give everything a good stir and make sure it's all combined
• Put the stew back into the oven for 1¾ - 2 hours and then take it out and stir through
• Throw the fresh mint over the stew and mix through
• Leave the stew to sit for at least 20 minutes before serving

Minty Lamb Stew Recipe