Easy, flavorful braised lamb shank recipe, braised in a miso red wine sauce. A comforting and warm dish that can be served with potatoes, noodles or rice.
Sundays usually mean lazy dinners and when I'm feeling lazy, I love meals that just braise in a pot without much fuss. Although this dish looks elaborate, you'll be surprised how easy it is to put together and how much flavor is packed into the sauce - the magic ingredients are red wine and miso that have been simmered for approximately 2 hours and reduced into a silky gravy. This is literally a 'set it and forget it' type of meal.
Alternatively, if you are not a fan of lamb, this recipe also works with big pieces of beef short ribs as well. So I highly encourage playing around different types of meat for this recipe. Although I found that meats with a bit of connective tissues and a bit of tendon (like lamb shanks and pork hocks) really give the sauce a full-bodied silkier texture.
INGREDIENTS FOR MISO RED WINE BRAISED LAMB SHANK
- Lamb Shanks - Lamb shanks are the main ingredient in this recipe, but if you don't like lamb you can substitute it with beef ribs as well.
- Broth - For a heartier and full-bodied sauce, I like to use beef broth for this recipe.
- Miso - For this recipe, I like using red miso because it is the most full-flavored and robust miso. The lighter misos will work too but they tend to be more delicate and lighter in flavor.
- Red Wine - You can use any type of dry wine for this. I like to use drier red wines for a bit more flavor and tang. My rule of thumb with cooking with wine is, if you enjoy drinking it, it will probably work well for cooking too but don't waste money and save the expensive wines for drinking only.
PREPARATION
This braised lamb shank recipe is meant to be an easy Sunday dinner so the preparation for it is minimal and quick. I usually just smash my garlic and do a rough chop, slice up the onions and ginger and that's it! Most of the onion and garlic melt into the sauce anyway so you don't need to worry too much about presentation.
BROWN THE LAMB AND ONIONS FOR EXTRA FLAVOR
I like to brown meats to give it a bit more flavor. When I do brown it I usually use a bit of oil with 1 tablespoon of butter but that is completely optional - using oil on its own is fine as well.
Once you brown the lamb shanks, it's important to brown the onions, garlic, and ginger as well. I like to do it after the lamb shanks are browned first so that the garlic and onions don't burn. Browning the garlic and onions will add another depth of flavor and it will infuse into the lamb a bit too since you will be browning them together.
TIMING AND HEAT
Every stove is different and some may be stronger than others so I always like to check at the 1-hour mark (set a timer!) on how the sauce reduction is doing. If it seems a bit watery still, I will continue to cook it for another 45 to 60 minutes and check again to see if the sauce has thickened and reduced. I have had days, where I used a different stove burner (usually a smaller burner) and cooking it for 1 hour and 45 minutes still wasn't enough time to reduce the sauce. When that happens I usually just thicken the sauce with a corn starch slurry. You be the judge of how thick and concentrated you like your miso red wine reduction 🙂
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Miso Red Wine Braised Lamb Shank Recipe
Recipe Notes
- Lamb shanks are the main ingredient in this recipe, but if you don't like lamb you can substitute it with beef ribs as well.
- You can use any type of dry wine for this. I like to use drier red wines for a bit more flavor and tang. My rule of thumb with cooking with wine is, if you enjoy drinking it, it will probably work well for cooking too but don't waste money and save the expensive wines for drinking only.
- For this recipe, I like using red miso because it is the most full-flavored and robust miso. The lighter misos will work too but they tend to be more delicate and lighter in flavor.
Ingredients
- 3 lamb shanks (1kg)
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 onion
- 2 slices ginger
- 900 ml low sodium beef broth
- 3 tablespoons red miso
- 2 cups red wine
- 3 bay leaves
- salt to taste
Corn Starch Slurry (Optional, to thicken sauce)
- 2 ½ tablespoon corn starch
- 3-4 tablespoons cold water
Instructions
Preparation
- Peel and roughly chop the garlic and set aside for later
- Slice the ginger and set aside for later
- Peel and slice the onion and set aside for later
Putting It Together
- In a large pot, add 2 tablespoons of oil and 1 tablespoon of butter and set the heat to medium heat.
- When the butter has melted, and the oil is hot, sear the meat on all sides until it turns a bit brown (approximately 7-10 minutes)
- Once the lamb has been browned, add the onion, ginger and garlic into the pot and brown it (approximately 5-7 minutes)
- Once the onions have been browned, add the red wine, beef broth, miso and bay leaves into the pot and mix the miso around until it has dissolved into the liquid.
- Adjust the stove to high heat until the broth starts to boil.
- Once the broth is boiling, reduce the heat to medium low to low heat. (Adjust the heat until you get a low gentle rolling boil). Cover the pot with a lid and braise it for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
- At the 1 hour and 30 mark, check on the broth. If the sauce has not thickened, continue to cook it for another 30 minutes to reduce the liquid.
- If after 2 hours the sauce still hasn't thicken to a silky gravy-like consistency , mix 2 ½ tablespoons corn starch and 4 tablespoons of cold water together to make a slurry and mix it into the broth a little bit at at a time (keep stirring while you are add it it in) until it has thickened the gravy.
- Remove the ginger and bay leaves and taste the sauce. If you prefer it saltier, adjust the saltiness by adding some salt.
- Serve with rice, potatoes or noodles. Enjoy! 🙂
Nutrition
*Nutritional information is calculated using online tools and is an estimate*
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Amber says
Could I make this recipe in a slow cooker? If so, what would any adjustments be?
Joyce Lee says
Hi Amber,
If you were to make this in a slow cooker, the only adjustment would be you would need to cook the lamb shanks for a lot more time before they get tender and fall off the bone.
Make sure you still brown the lamb shanks and aromatics (ginger, garlic, and onions) in a frying pan before you transfer it to a slow cooker.
Once you transfer the lamb shank and aromatics to the slow cooker, I would add the liquids (wine and broth) directly into the slow cooker with the miso and bay leaves and gently mix the miso into the liquid until it dissolves.
You may need to keep it in the slow cooker for 6-8 hours depending on how powerful your slow cooker is and what setting you set it to (low or high).
Once the lamb shanks are tender, if the sauce has not reduced and thickened by then, then you may have to use a corn starch slurry to thicken it.
Depending on how much liquid is in the slow cooker, I would mix start by 1 tablespoon of corn starch with 1.5 tablespoons of cold water to make a slurry and then adjust the slow cooker to high. Once you see the sauce gently bubbling, add in the corn starch slurry slowly and keep mixing the sauce until the sauce has thickened.
Make sure you don't stop mixing until the sauce starts to thicken so that the slurry doesn't clump up. If the sauce is not thick enough for you, mix more corn starch slurry (add less this time, 2 teaspoons + 2.5 teaspoons of cold water) and slowly mix it into again.
Hope this helps! and hope you enjoy it!
Madison Smith says
Amazing...! This is looks sooo gooo & more delicious and so succulent....i will definitely make this in upcoming weekend...Thanks for sharing & keep shared your new recipe....!
Joyce says
I hope you enjoy these as much as we do! 🙂
heather (delicious not gorgeous) says
ooh love how flavorful this sounds!! i might not be a wine person but put it in a braise and i'm there (:
Joyce says
It's funny how the flavor changes when we cook with it eh? 🙂 It definitely helps cut the heavy lamb shank feeling
Josie says
I followed your MISO RED WINE BRAISED LAMB SHANK RECIPE, turned out very good. At first, I was doubtful to my cooking whether it's OK .... my husband enjoyed this the most, praising me with thumb-up !
Thank you.
Joyce says
YAY! Happy he enjoyed this!
Makos says
I was thinking of making lamb shanks for some time now! These look so succulent and tender, and the miso-red wine sauce must go really well with them 🙂
Joyce says
I'm on a bit of a kick with miso lately and using it as a salt replacement haha! It works well because it also adds umami to it too as a bonus! 🙂