Lamb Tacos with Mint Chimichurri
Slowly braised in citrus juice with onion and chipotle peppers, this lamb barbacoa makes the best lamb tacos. Serve them with toasted tortillas with a mint chimichurri and pickled onions for a simple, yet elegant main course.
Why we love these lamb tacos
- I honestly can’t remember where I had lamb tacos first, but I remember how incredibly decadent they were. I knew eventually I would have to replicate them at home.
- The chimichurri sauce this is served with is totally optional, but we love it because it’s full of dairy-free flavor and it’s really fresh and vibrant.
- While this recipe might seem fancy, it’s honestly super easy to make and requires barely any hands-on time.
- If you want to speed the recipe up, you can even cook it in a pressure cooker and dinner will be ready in no time.
Ingredients & substitutions
Leg of lamb – I buy boneless leg of lamb for this recipe. If you have one with a bone, it will work just as well. It might even have a bit more flavor, but honestly, there’s so much flavor in these lamb tacos, that it won’t make a difference.
How to make lamb tacos
Prep and preheat. Preheat your oven to 350˚F and trim any excess fat from your meat.
Make the dry rub. Mix the spices and salt together in a small bowl using a fork (or a whisk). Then, rub it all over the lamb leg until it’s nicely coated.
Sear in the flavor. Heat a large dutch oven to medium-high and let it get nice and hot. Add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil to coat the bottom and sear the meat on each side until it’s nice and golden brown.
Make the braising liquid. Next, deglaze the pan with orange juice and scrape up all of the browned bits to get all the flavor into your liquid. Then, add the onion, chipotle pepper, garlic and lime juice.
Roast the leg of lamb. Return the meat to the pot and cover. Transfer it to the oven (or put everything in an oven safe covered dish) and bake for about 3 hours.
After the lamb is completely cooked through, it should easily shred. Remove the meat from the pot and shred it. Then, return it to the pan and coat it with the cooking juices.
Serve the tacos as desired.
Everything you need to know about lamb tacos
You don’t have to cover leg of lamb when you’re roasting it, but for this recipe we do because we don’t want the juices to evaporate in the oven.
The cooking time for leg of lamb depends on the size of each piece. Generally, you’ll want to cook it for about 20 – 30 minutes per pound for it to be safe to consume, but, for taco meat, I prefer to cook mine until it reaches an internal temperature of about 175˚F to get that falling-apart tender texture. Since we’re keeping it covered, it should maintain it’s moisture.
There are several ways to prevent lamb from drying out. First, make sure you’re adding some sort of liquid when cooking liquid to the pan (at least a 1/2 cup). Second, searing helps seal in the juices, so don’t skip that step. Lastly, make sure not to over cook the meat.
More taco recipes you will love
- BBQ chicken tacos with fresh pineapple salsa
- Blackened fish tacos with cabbage slaw
- BBQ dry rub steak tacos
- Corned beef and cabbage tacos
More roasting recipes you should try
- Red wine braised chuck roast
- Roasted shishito peppers
- Pan seared cap steak with roasted poblano chimichurri
- Oven roasted patatas bravas
Lamb Tacos
- Total Time: 0 hours
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Description
Slowly braised in citrus juice with onion and chipotle peppers, this lamb barbacoa makes the best lamb tacos. Serve them with toasted tortillas with a mint chimichurri and pickled onions for a simple, yet elegant main course.
Ingredients
For the Rub:
- ½ tsp oregano
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp salt
For the tacos:
- 4 pound boneless leg of lamb
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1 onion, sliced
- 2 chipotle peppers, chopped
- 2 tablespoons adobo sauce (from can of chipotles)
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
To assemble:
- Tortillas (corn or flour)
- Mint chimichurri
- Pickled red onions
- Fresh cilantro
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350˚F.
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Mix spices in a small bowl. Pat lamb dry and rub spice mixture to coat all sides.
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Heat a large Dutch oven to medium high. Add oil.
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When oil is hot, sear the lamb on all sides until golden brown. Remove lamb and set aside.
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Deglaze with pot with orange juice and add the remaining ingredients to the pot.
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Return the lamb to the pot. Cover and transfer to the oven and roast for about 3 hours.
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Remove from oven and shred the lamb. Return it to the pot and stir to coat in the cooking liquids.
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Serve lamb in flour tortillas with mint chimichurri and pickled onions.
Notes
Nutrition information reflects values for prepared lamb only – taco assembly ingredients have not been calculated.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 3.5 hours
- Category: Main Course
- Method: Roasting
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