Anyone can make a comforting Lamb Stew in the Crockpot with a little patience and tasty ingredients. This recipe is a special one, because it takes an expensive cut and turns it into a one-pot dinner the whole family will love, even during a busy week!
Recipe Essentials
- 🍽️ Course: Main Dish
- ⏱️ Cooking Time: 8 hours
- 🍴 Servings: 8
- 🧄 Flavor Profile: Tender, slow-cooked lamb with savory herbs, hearty vegetables, and a rich, comforting broth.
- 🍚 Best Served With: Crusty bread or creamy mashed potatoes.
- 🧊 Make Ahead?: Yes, it reheats well and tastes even better the next day.
Summarize and Save This Content On
Lamb shoulder is a very forgiving cut, and it becomes succulent and tender when cooked low and slow in the crockpot. Combined with plenty of seasoning and hearty vegetables, you'll have a winning dish that's even perfect for a lazy Sunday dinner.
If you're looking for more crockpot stew recipes, you'll love crockpot beef stew and easy cowboy stew.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- It's mostly hands-off: Besides some prep and browning the lamb, it's a hands-off recipe. You don't need to spend hours in the kitchen to make this slow cooker lamb stew. Once it's in the crockpot, you just let it cook!
- You're in control of the thickness: You can decide how thick or thin you want your lamb stew to be. The thickener is added later, so you can reduce it or add more if desired.
- It's restaurant quality at home: This comforting stew recipe feels like it was made by a chef, without the prices or leaving your house!
Ingredients
These ingredients are most important to make this lamb stew in the crock pot. They are crucial for the best flavor and consistency.
- Lamb shoulder: This is the perfect cut for the slow cooker. It's rich in collagen, which breaks down more easily when cooked slowly, and it also acts as a natural thickener. You can try this recipe with lamb leg, but it's much firmer and won't be fall-apart tender.
- Dry red wine: I use this to deglaze the pan so all the tasty brown bits from searing the meat make it into the crockpot with the rest of the stew ingredients. It adds acidity as well, and most of the alcohol gets cooked out.
- Beef broth: I picked a low-sodium beef broth to have better control over the salt level. This is going to be the body of your lamb stew. If you have it, lamb stock works as a great substitute.
- Potatoes: Baby potatoes are perfect for this because it reduces prep (no cutting), but they also hold their shape as they cool. Russets are more likely to overcook.
- Flour: This stew doesn't rely on gluten development (there's no baking), so you can use regular or gluten-free flour in a slurry to thicken the stew.
See the recipe card below for exact ingredient amounts, nutritional information, and detailed instructions.
Variations
- Try a stout beer: Swap the dry red wine for a stout beer like Guinness or Murphy's for a deeper flavor profile. Use the same amount!
- Add smoky heat: Add a teaspoon of smoked paprika and ¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper for smoky flavor with a touch of spice.
- Swap the potatoes: Instead of baby potatoes, you can use sweet potatoes, turnips, or parsnips!
How to Make Lamb Stew in the Crock Pot
The steps needed for this lamb stew in the slow cooker recipe are included below. Prepare the lamb and veggies in advance so they're ready to go when you get started.
Step 1: Brown the lamb. Grab a large skillet and heat it over medium-high heat with the oil and butter. Then brown the lamb chunks on all sides, and then transfer them to the crockpot.
Step 2: Sauté the veggies and deglaze the pan. Now you can cook the carrots, onions, and garlic in the same pan for a couple of minutes or until soft. Add the tomato paste and cook it for 2 more minutes, then deglaze the pan with red wine before pouring the veggies into the pot.
Step 3: Cook, thicken, and add peas. Add the remaining ingredients (except peas) and cook on low for 8 hours. Then add the flour and water mixture and cook for another 15 minutes before pouring in the frozen peas.
Step 4: Warm and serve. Allow the peas just a few minutes to heat through, and then the stew is ready to serve with air fryer frozen biscuits.
Expert Tips
- Brown the lamb in batches: Depending on the size of your skillet, you should brown the lamb in small batches to ensure that all of the sides get contact with the pan so they brown evenly. Overcrowding can cause the meat to steam, and it won't get any color.
- Add the thickener later: You don't need to add the flour and water mixture until the last 15-20 minutes. It doesn't require a lot of time to cook, and I like to wait and see what the consistency is like first.
- Refrigerator and freezer directions: Transfer leftovers to an airtight container and store them in the fridge for up to 4 days. Put the lamb stew into a freezer-safe container and freeze it for up to 3 months.
- Reheating the leftovers: The stew is best reheated in a saucepan over medium-low heat or covered loosely in the microwave in 1-minute intervals.
This Guinness beef stew gives off a similar vibe to this slow cooker lamb stew.
Serving Suggestions
- Serve your simple lamb stew recipe with crusty bread, air fryer dinner rolls, or these flaky cream cheese biscuits. I love using them to sop up any extra liquid at the end.
- Go for a fresh pairing like this mixed green salad with fruit and nuts to balance the richness of the lamb.
- If you're looking for green veggies, green beans with bacon and brown sugar, or air fried frozen Brussels sprouts are both perfect options.
Lamb Stew Crockpot Recipe FAQs
Technically, you don't need to, but you should! Browning the lamb adds depth and texture. Not to mention all the flavorful brown bits left behind, I feel like they make the flavor of the lamb stew even better!
I highly recommend using low heat when possible. Lamb shoulder gets the most tender when it's cooked low and slow. If you cook it over high heat, the chunks will be firmer.
If the stew is too rich for your liking, add a splash of water or broth to dilute it slightly. Only a little at a time, so you can continue to adjust if needed.
If you enjoy lamb recipes, check out these pan-seared lamb chops and this herbed-garlic sous vide lamb rack. Our Dutch oven Irish stew is another one you really should try.
More Delicious Crockpot Recipes
Do you like crockpot recipes? Here are some recipes you may also like to try.
If you try this recipe and love it please leave a star rating in the recipe card below or even better, drop a review in the comment section. I always appreciate your feedback. Be sure to follow along with me on Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube for more easy recipes!
Lamb Stew (Crock Pot Recipe)
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 4 tablespoons butter unsalted
- 2 pounds lamb shoulder cut into chunks
- 2 cups carrots peeled and cut into ¼" thickness (larger round I cut in half)
- 1 large yellow onion diced
- 2 tablespoons garlic minced
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 4 cups beef broth low sodium
- 1 cup dry red wine I used a Chanti
- 1 pound baby potatoes
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour can use gluten-free flour too
- 1-2 cups water optional
- 1 ½ cups frozen peas
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and some oil and butter while working in batches and lightly sear the meat on all sides (I find it saves time to use bigger chunks and allow them to rest then cut into bite-sized pieces, but you can do that in reverse).
- Once complete with all the meat, transfer to a large Crock Pot.
- Add carrots and onion and cook until soft, then garlic for 1 minute.
- Cook tomato paste for 2 minutes, then add red wine and deglaze the pan.
- Carefully transfer all the contents to the base of the slow cooker with the seared lamb.
- Add in all remaining ingredients except for the flour, water and peas, stir to mix well.
- Cover your slow cooker and cook on LOW for 8 hours (high for 4-5), then remove rosemary sprigs.
- To thicken, mix ½ cup water in a spouted measuring cup with flour. Then pour it back into the slow cooker and cook for an additional 15-20 minutes but on HIGH.
- When ready to serve add in the peas and stir to combine (they will warm up and soften quickly).
- Taste and add any additional water as needed.
Notes
- Don't skip browning the lamb (or sauteing the veggies) to deepen the flavor of the crockpot lamb stew.
- The lamb chunks will become way more tender and juicy when the stew is cooked at low heat.
- Don't add the flour and water mixture until toward the end of the cooking process, so you can control how thick the stew is.
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