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Active Time
1 3/4 hours
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Total Time
14 hours
You can't beat the drama — not to mention the deliciousness — of a bone-in leg of lamb. Since it is a thick cut, a garlic, lemon, and spice paste is rubbed all over it and tucked deep inside to penetrate the meat; slow-cooking over indirect heat results in a crisp, smoke-infused crust and a juicy, medium-rare center.
Ingredients
Makes 8 servings
Special Equipment
Step 1
Mince garlic, then mash to a paste with salt. Stir together garlic paste, oil, lemon zest and juice, thyme, pepper, and allspice. Put lamb, fat side up, in a large ceramic or glass dish. Using a paring knife, make 1 1/2-inch-long slits (about 2 inches deep) 2 inches apart all over leg. Reserve 1 teaspoon thyme mixture and push remainder into slits, then rub all over with reserved teaspoon of mixture. Marinate lamb, covered and chilled, 12 hours.
Step 2
Let lamb stand at room temperature 30 minutes before grilling.
Step 3
Prepare grill for indirect-heat cooking over medium-hot charcoal (high heat for gas). If using a gas grill, preheat all burners on high, covered, 10 minutes, then turn off all burners except burner closest to you.
Step 4
Oil grill rack, then grill lamb over area with no coals (or over turned-off burner or burners), covered, without turning, until thermometer inserted into thickest part of roast (almost to the bone but not touching it) registers 125°F for medium-rare, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours (temperatures in thinner parts of leg may register up to 160°F). To maintain medium-hot charcoal, add more charcoal (about 2 cups) every 15 minutes.
Step 5
Let lamb stand on a cutting board, uncovered, 30 minutes.
If you aren't able to grill outdoors, lamb can be roasted on a rack set in a large (17- by 11-inch) roasting pan in a 375°F oven, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours.
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Reviews (6)
Back to TopReally fantastic and fairly easy. I bought a legless lamb roast at Costco, and was able to use fresh thyme from my garden (that's how I found the recipe - looking for a use for the thyme). It's amazing how the subtle spicing stands up to strong flavor of lamb. I was able to use my gas grill, following the instructions given. Pulled it at 125 degrees, then it came up to 140 while it was resting. Perfect!
rmurray
Bay Area, CA
8/26/2011
We have made this recipe 8or9 times. It's always perfect and always a showstopper. Perfect for entertaining; plus amazing leftovers!
patjones
Virginia
11/14/2010
I had to use my oven...I can only imagine the goodness that I would have had if I had used the grill! Next time I will double the marinade.
Anonymous
Tacoma, WA
9/23/2008
This recipe is terrific. I prepared it for family and friends to plaudits all around. The only observation/issue I have with the recipe is that the gas grill instructions did not work well with my grill. If you have a large grill, my suggestion would be to leave half the burners on, because one was not sufficient to cook the meat in any reasonable amount of time.
jkestell
Johannesburg, South Africa
9/1/2008
This was a delicious marinade. I will definitely do it again and try it with beef too. I was not able to marinate it for more than 4 hours, but it was still very flavorful. I think I did about double the amount of the marinade though. The "medium rare" was on the rare side of medium rare when I did it.
cookninberkeley
5/4/2008
This preparation has exceptional flavor. The garlic and spice spiked into the meat permeated the meat but was not too dominant, especially since I marinated it for 2 days. The toughest part of this is planning ahead to marinate. Will be doing this for a dinner party next week. We took the wine rec and opened a bottle of Chianti. Very nice.
bbennett1950
Colorado Springs
7/11/2007
