Grilled Leg of Lamb With Spicy Lime Yogurt Sauce

Name: Grilled Leg of Lamb With Spicy Lime Yogurt Sauce
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 12 to 15 servings
Ingredients: 1 (5- to 6-pound) boneless butterflied leg of lamb, well trimmed; 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil; 1/4 cup mixed chopped thyme and rosemary; Grated zest of 1 orange; 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice; 8 garlic cloves, minced; 2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, more as needed; 1 teaspoon black pepper; 1 1/2 cups plain Greek yogurt; 1/2 cup basil leaves; 1/4 cup mint leaves; 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil; 1 (1-inch-thick) slice of ginger, coarsely chopped; 2 garlic cloves, peeled; 1 small jalapeño, halved and seeded if desired; 1 large scallion, trimmed; Grated zest of 1 lime; 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, or to taste; 1 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste

By Melissa Clark

Total Time: 45 minutes, plus at least 2 hours’ marinating
Rating: 5(394)
Notes: Read community notes

Leg of lamb is elegant, and one leg can feed a crowd. Marinate it with a garlicky herb paste, the longer the better. Overnight in the refrigerator is ideal, but even a few hours at room temperature will help. Just make sure to always pat your lamb dry after marinating; this helps eliminate flare-ups. Butterflied legs of lamb tend to be unevenly cut, giving you thicker and thinner parts. This is good if some of your guests like their lamb more well done than you do, but problematic if everyone likes it rare. If you want rare all around (or well done for that matter), consider cutting the lamb into pieces according to thickness so you can take the thinner ones off the grill first.

Featured in: Late Summer’s Grilling Sweet Spot

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Ingredients

Yield:12 to 15 servings

For the Lamb

1(5- to 6-pound) boneless butterflied leg of lamb, well trimmed
¼cup extra-virgin olive oil
¼cup mixed chopped thyme and rosemary
Grated zest of 1 orange
1tablespoon fresh orange juice
8garlic cloves, minced
2½teaspoons kosher salt, more as needed
1teaspoon black pepper

For the Yogurt Sauce

1½cups plain Greek yogurt
½cup basil leaves
¼cup mint leaves
¼cup extra-virgin olive oil
1(1-inch-thick) slice of ginger, coarsely chopped
2garlic cloves, peeled
1small jalapeño, halved and seeded if desired
1large scallion, trimmed
Grated zest of 1 lime
1tablespoon fresh lime juice, or to taste
1teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

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Step 1
Pat lamb dry with paper towels and place it on a rimmed baking sheet. In a bowl, combine oil, herbs, orange zest and juice, the minced garlic cloves, salt and pepper. Rub mixture all over lamb. Cover with plastic wrap and let marinate at room temperature for 2 hours, or overnight in the refrigerator.
Step 2
Meanwhile, prepare the sauce: Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Taste and add more salt if you like.
Step 3
Heat the grill. Wipe lamb with paper towels, removing most of the rub, then grill until a digital thermometer reads 120 degrees for rare or 130 for medium (about 6 to 15 minutes per side, depending on how you like your meat and how thick the lamb is). If the meat starts to char before it’s done, move it to a cooler part of the grill to finish cooking. Let rest for 10 to 15 minutes before slicing and serving with the yogurt sauce.

Ratings

5 out of 5

394 user ratings

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Private Notes

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Cooking Notes

Lynette6 years ago

I have another recipe for butterflied marinated grilled lamb and it gives an alternate oven method. Place it on a broiling rack. Broil it for 35 minutes or until it reaches the temp you wish, turning once. Hope this helps.

Sierra6 years ago

The yogurt sauce is AMAZING. It's both delicate and complex, with a nice combination of subtle heat from the jalapeno and cool from the mint.

We served this sauce on lamb shoulder steaks served on a bed of fresh pea shoot sprouts, which provided a nice texture and gave the dish a very 'Spring' look and feel. Drizzled yogurt sauce generously on both lamb and sprouts. Big hit.

This sauce is perfect for lamb, but I think it would be good with almost anything.

Kelly6 years ago

If you want to cook it evenly, you can make slashes in the butterflied leg which will make the three sections level. And it helps the marinade penetrate the meats. Lots of how-to videos of this on You Tube.

Laurie Wood6 years ago

I have made this dish several times to rave reviews. It has become a staple in my household. I followed the directions to exactly with spectacular results. I often make the yogurt sauce as a dip for other dishes as well. The flavors become better the next day. Simply delicious!

Kirsteen4 years ago

Melissa Clark does it again! Yes, the lamb itself is tasty, but what makes this recipe is the lime sauce. Surprise! It contains mint, but the addition of the jalapeno and lime are genius. I cut the lamb into slices and laid it on a bed of wild watercress, the latter which adds some good texture, even when the heat of the lamb tries to wilt it (much hardier than arugula), and offers a small bit of spice to complement the sauce, which was served on the side.

Valerie5 years ago

I found the raw garlic a bit strong so I added a spoonful of tahini. IT smoothed out the flavor quite well.

Allyn2 weeks ago

After marinating, cooked lamb in sous vide and seared on grill. Sauce didn’t have the green tint, next time would add more greens and zest. Did add Aleppo pepper to give sauce more depth of flavor. Prefer Jerusalem lamb recipe. Sous vide temperature 130 degrees for sliced pieces, 135 for shredded pieces.

Jim3 months ago

Great marinade; 3.5 lb boneless leg started on the grill (4 min per side), finished in a 425 oven to 130 internal degrees. Just about the best piece of meat I have ever cooked. The sauce is outstanding as well. This will become a house favorite.

Denis in Boston3 months ago

Used this sauce with another Melissa Clary lamb and it was great! Couldn’t find Basil so used more mint. The pepper is important.

LR3123 months ago

NYT Cooking, this sauce bar none has paid for the added subscription fee. Tangy. Not too overpowering & will be a staple in our freezer for lamb, tacos, and countless other meals to come. Chef’s kiss to the team!

Patrick6 months ago

I have made this recipe several times for dinner parties. It is always a hit. My only suggestion is to find a high-end butcher and buy US lamb of the highest quality that has never been frozen. It is a bit like wine, if you start with the best grapes, you are half way there. If you start with poor grapes you will never make an excellent wine.

David6 months ago

Very tasty. I had a bone in leg of lamb, so I roasted in the oven. Otherwise I made per the recipe. The marinade gave a great flavor to the lamb. The sauce was very tasty.

bex_mylife8 months ago

This was good but I wouldn’t make it again. You could definitely use this sauce on a variety of foods. I would try the sauce on a gyro.

Shores35711 months ago

Wow, this lamb was crazy good. The marinade was super flavorful and the sauce spicy and cool at the same time. I threw caution to the wind and threw in the entire jalapeño - it was spicy in the best possible way. My only comment the recipe makes an absurd amount of sauce and no matter how much I like it some will go to waste. Next time I’ll halve the sauce but will definitely make again!

Lauren1 year ago

The sauce is amazing!!! I used the extra as a veggie dip, as a spread on sandwiches, & anything else I could think to put it on.

eric1 year ago

Delicious. Labneh sauce wonderful

David1 year ago

This is good but I'd make adjustments to the sauce. It makes way too much sauce, unless you want to drown the lamb in the sauce. I'd use only 1/2 of a jalapeno. A full jalapeno overpowers the rest of the flavors.

Kevin1 year ago

Made this as written and it was a dinner party hit. The lime sauce is truly delicious. I did reduce the mint slightly because I really dislike the flavor of mint. The non-lamb eaters put the sauce on the simple roasted chicken which also worked well. This will be on permanent rotation in our house.

Jim L1 year ago

This was great with the grilled lamb. There was a good amount let so I made some linguini and tossed in some of the water and parmesan cheese with the remaining sauce and it was excellent as well!

Sandy1 year ago

Awesome marinade. I liked the sauce, but not as much as the marinade. First time it started to rain, so I rolled the butterflied lamb back up into a roast and stuffed it back into the elastic casing and roasted it in a pre-heated 500 degree F oven for 5 minutes a pound, then left it in there for another two hours with the door closed. Perfect med rare all the way through, and the marinade on the inside gave such great flavour. Will grill outside tonight.

El Hjelmseth1 year ago

The picture looks like the leg was rolled before cooking. Has anyone tried to roll and tie this and then cook it?

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