This slow-roasted Greek Leg of Lamb Recipe with citrus and vegetables is simply incredible. It’s juicy, fall-apart tender, and perfect every time. This one-pan Greek lamb roast is the perfect recipe for Sunday roast or any special occasion throughout the year.

Greek leg of lamb roast on a bed of potatoes and fennel, in a black baking dish.

This post was originally published on April 13th, 2020.

Easter is the biggest celebration of the year in Greece. My other half is Greek, and he often talks to me about how they would roast a whole lamb and feast for hours or days even, after fasting for Lent. Hopefully, I’ll get to partake in the festivities next year, but for this year we made our own and…It. Was. AMAZING!

Contents hide

1 ❤️ Why you will love this recipe

2 🗝️ Key Ingredients & Substitutions

3 🥣 How to make Slow-Roasted Lamb

4 🫙 Storage Instructions

5 🪄 Recipe Notes & Tips

6 🥔 What vegetables can I bake with this recipe?

7 🍽️ What side dishes can I serve with Greek Lamb?

8 😋 More roast recipes you will love:

9 📖 Recipe

10 Storage instructions

❤️ Why you will love this recipe

Easy recipe: Prep it the night before. The next day when you cook it, after popping it in the oven for a bit, all you have to do is turn it over halfway through and then add veggies to the pan towards the end. Easy peasy.
It uses simple ingredients: For this Greek-style lamb used an organic lamb leg, plus oranges, lemon, fennel, and potatoes from our weekly local veggie box (this has been GREAT during the pandemic), plus spices and herbs from our cupboard.
It’s a one-pan meal: Everything is cooked in a large roasting pan. One pan = less mess to clean up later = win!
The lamb is SO tender: I’ve never seen anything like it. Not even at restaurants where they’d charge £30-£40 for this kind of meal.
The vegetables taste amazing! They soak up all of the delicious pan juices and taste just like Greek Lemon Potatoes. Super tasty.
Adaptable: This recipe works for paleo, Whole30, low-carb, keto, gluten-free, and dairy-free diets. We added potatoes because roast potatoes are a traditional side dish for Greek lamb, however, you can add any good roasting vegetables that you prefer. See the list below for more ideas.
It’s authentic: This traditional roast leg of lamb is a Greek recipe, just like the one we eat in Athens, Greece on Easter Sunday.

🗝️ Key Ingredients & Substitutions

Lamb: The protein, the star of the show. We used a 2kg (4.4lbs) leg of lamb with the bone in. You can use a boneless leg of lamb instead, however, bone-in cooks better in my opinion.
Herbs & seasoning: Mustard powder, garlic powder, thyme (dried or fresh), kosher salt, and pepper. Hello, flavor! If you don’t have any thyme on hand, fresh rosemary is a good alternative.
Citrus fruits: The juice of two fresh oranges and one lemon to be exact. This provides citrusy tartness and sweetness, and it really comes out in the vegetables.
Veggies: Use what you have on hand! We used onion, fennel root, and potatoes. All root vegetables would work well, along with radish, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts if you’d rather keep it low-carb.
Honey & olive oil: For more sweetness and Greek flavor.

🥣 How to make Slow-Roasted Lamb

It’s just a few easy steps, but it’s best to start the night before! We have made it without marinading overnight and it was great, but the flavor is next level if you make it this way:

Prepare the marinade (the night before):

Add orange juice, lemon juice, mustard, garlic powder, thyme, sea salt, black pepper, olive oil, and honey together in a large freezer bag.
Close the bag and shake well/squeeze to combine.
Add the leg of lamb to the bag and marinade it in the fridge overnight.

The next day:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C/392 degrees F.
Remove the lamb from the zip lock bag and place lamb in a large baking dish or a large roasting pan without the marinade. Keep marinade at the side.
Bake the lamb for 20 minutes.
Remove the lamb from the oven after 20 minutes and reduce the heat to 140°C/284°F.
Pour 3/4 of the marinade over the lamb, cover the pan with aluminum foil or a lid if it has one, and cook for 1.5 hours.
Take the lamb out of the oven and remove the aluminum foil or lid. Carefully turn the lamb over, re-cover it with the aluminum foil or lid, and cook for another 1.5 hours.
While the leg of lamb is slow roasting, prepare your vegetables.
Take the slow-roasted leg of lamb out of the oven. Peel back the foil or lid and add the vegetables and remaining marinade to the pan.
Cook for 1 hour covered with aluminum foil.
Remove the foil or lid and cook for 30 minutes uncovered.
Check the internal temperature with a meat thermometer. I aim for 65-70°C/150-160°F which is medium-medium well done.
Make sure the lamb rests for 10 minutes before slicing it with a sharp knife on a cutting board. Allowing it to rest keeps the meat nice and juicy.

Fork and knife slicing open Greek leg of lamb roast on a bed of potatoes and fennel.

🫙 Storage Instructions

Allow the meat and vegetables to cool to room temperature and store any leftover Greek-style roast lamb and veg in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Reheat in the microwave or oven until heated through.

You can also freeze this slow-cooked lamb for later. Freeze it in a freezer-safe container or freezer bag for up to 3 months. Thaw completely before reheating.

🪄 Recipe Notes & Tips

Cooking times: Cooking times will vary for different sizes of lamb legs. The best way to check if it’s done is by inserting a meat thermometer.
Switch up the vegetables: Any roasting vegetables will work for this recipe. See below for a few ideas.

Greek leg of lamb roast sliced open on a bed of potatoes and fennel, in a black baking dish.

🥔 What vegetables can I bake with this recipe?

Here is a list of vegetables you can use in this recipe. Just insure that the vegetables cover the bottom of the pan, around the sides of the lamb in one layer, without too much overlapping:

Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Carrots
Fennel root
Parsnip
Brussels sprouts (low carb)
Cabbage (low carb)
Bell Peppers (use green if low carb)
Leeks (low carb)
Radish (low carb)
Turnip (low carb)
Rutabaga (low carb)
Swede (low carb)
Collard greens/similar greens (low carb)
Cauliflower (low carb)
Squash (low carb)
Zucchini (low carb)
Butternut squash (low carb)
Beets
Whole cloves of garlic or garlic slivers (low carb)

Meat falling off the bone of Greek leg of lamb in a black roasting pan with potatoes and fennel.

🍽️ What side dishes can I serve with Greek Lamb?

Other than the vegetables that are roasted in the pan, here are a few more options:

Pickled Beet Salad
Greek Salad (horiatiki)
Stuffed Grape Leaves
Crusty bread (gluten-free or regular)
Greek Stuffed Tomatoes
Greek Stuffed Cabbage with Avgolemono Sauce

😋 More roast recipes you will love:

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📖 Recipe

Slow Roasted Greek Leg of Lamb Recipe with Citrus

Bethany Galloway

This slow-roasted Greek Leg of Lamb Recipe with citrus and vegetables is simply incredible. It’s juicy, fall-apart tender, and perfect every time. This one-pan Greek lamb roast is the perfect recipe for Sunday roast or any special occasion throughout the year.

5 from 3 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 4 50

Total Time 5

Course dinner

Cuisine Greek

Servings people

Calories 307 kcal

Ingredients

4.4 lb leg of lamb 2kg
2 oranges juiced (3/4 cup/177ml)
1 lemon juiced (1/4 cup/60ml)
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons thyme dried or fresh
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons honey
4 tablespoons olive oil

Optional Veggies (switch it up if desired!)

6 medium potatoes optional (see note 2)
1 fennel root optional (see note 2)
3 medium onions optional (see note 2)