This recipe for Lamb Stifado is a meltingly tender, slow-cooked stew of lamb shoulder with baby onions in a rich red wine sauce spiced with cloves and cinnamon.
Today I am sharing with you my recipe for Lamb Stifado. This Greek-inspired dish is a hearty, warming stew of slow-cooked lamb shoulder and onions cooked in a sauce laced with cinnamon and cloves.
Lamb shoulder is the perfect cut for this kind of long, slow cooking. You will be rewarded at the end with lamb that is melt-in-your-mouth tender, promise!
Plus its relatively hands-off cooking - once you have browned off the onions and lamb, all you have to do is let the stifado simmer away on the stove until you are ready to eat.
Table of Contents
Ingredients you will need for this recipe
- lamb shoulder
- baby/pickling onions
- a regular brown onion
- ground cumin
- ground cloves
- fresh rosemary leaves
- cinnamon
- fresh garlic
- tomato paste
- red wine vinegar
- dry red wine
- tinned cherry tomatoes
- beef stock
- salt
- olive oil for frying
*Please see the recipe card below for exact quantities and detailed instructions
How to make lamb stifado
- Fry sliced onions and pearl/pickling onions until starting to soften, then remove to a plate.
- Fry lamb shoulder pieces in batches until browned then add to the plate with the onions.
- Add back the lamb and onions to the pot, then add garlic.
- Add in tomato paste along with the herbs and spices.
- Then add red wine vinegar and dry red wine to the pot and simmer to reduce.
- Add tinned cherry tomatoes and beef stock and simmer until lamb is tender.
My top tips for making this recipe
- More colour means more flavour. When browning the lamb you want some good colour, not just beige! This will give you bags more flavour in the end.
- Trim the lamb as well as you can, and skim off any excess fat that has risen to the top after it's finished cooking.
- I am serving 2 baby onions per person in this recipe. You could go with just one if you like. If you can't find small onions for this recipe you could substitute some or all of them with more sliced brown onions too.
- I like to break up the cherry tomatoes a little while they are still in the tin so more of them release their juices.
- This lamb stifado is simmered with the lid on, but open a crack to keep it moist while the lamb is getting good and tender. I wedge a teaspoon in between the pot and the lid to allow a small amount of steam to vent without it drying out. Without this, the tomato-based sauce tends to splutter and splatter.
- I use cinnamon a bit like salt in this recipe - to taste. Start with the ¼ teaspoon as written in the recipe, then you can add a little more at the end if you like.
Serving suggestions and ideas for add-ins
What to serve with lamb stifado?
- Serve as is with crumbled feta and chopped parsley on top, or I like fresh parmesan.
- You could also serve this stew spooned over pasta with plenty of bread to mop up the sauce.
- Just as the lamb finishes cooking, add some dried orzo (risoni) pasta to the simmering sauce and turn this lamb stifado into a version of another Greek classic called Youvetsi.
- A bed of mashed potatoes would be great too!
Other recipes you may enjoy
Moroccan Style Lamb Shanks - soft, tender lamb shanks, slow-cooked in Moroccan spices until the meat just falls away from the bone!
Lamb and Mushroom Ragu - a slow-cooked lamb shank ragu packed with vegetables. Just stir through some pasta for a complete meal!
Roast Lamb Shoulder - this slow-cooked lamb shoulder will give you moist, tender, pull apart lamb that is so soft it shreds with just two forks.
Cumin Rice - with fried whole cumin seeds plus onion and garlic together with basmati rice, this Jeera Rice (cumin rice) recipe is packed with flavour and so easy!
Lamb Stifado
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg trimmed lamb shoulder cut into roughly 4-5 cm (2") pieces
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 12 pickling/baby onions (see my notes)
- 1 large brown onion sliced (see my notes)
- 4 fresh garlic cloves crushed
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary finely chopped
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- a pinch of cinnamon (see my notes)
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 375 ml dry red wine
- 400 g tinned cherry tomatoes tomatoes broken up slightly (see my notes)
- 375 ml beef stock
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
Instructions
- Heat olive oil (2 tbsp) in a large, heavy-based pot. Fry sliced brown onion (1 large) and baby onions (12) until starting to soften, then remove to a plate.
- Fry lamb shoulder (1.5kg cut into 4-5cm/2" pieces) in batches until browned then add to the plate with the onions. When the last of the lamb is finished browning, add reserved lamb and onions back to the pot.
- Add garlic cloves (4 - crushed) and fry for 30 seconds.
- Then add in tomato paste (2 tbsp), ground cumin (2 tsp), fresh rosemary (1 teaspoon - finely chopped), ground cloves (¼ tsp), and cinnamon (a pinch) then fry for a further minute.
- Add red wine vinegar (1 tbsp) and dry red wine (375ml) to the pot and simmer to reduce by about a third.
- Add tinned cherry tomatoes (1 x 400ml tin - tomatoes broken up slightly), beef stock (375ml), and fine salt (1 tsp) then simmer with the lid on but slightly ajar (see my notes) for 1½ hours or until lamb is tender. Add more cinnamon or salt as required then serve.
Notes
- More colour means more flavour. When browning the lamb you want some good colour, not just beige! This will give you bags more flavour in the end.
- Trim the lamb as well as you can, and skim off any excess fat that has risen to the top after it's finished cooking.
- I am serving 2 baby onions per person in this recipe. You could go with just one if you like. If you can't find small onions for this recipe you could substitute some or all of them with more sliced brown onions too.
- I like to break up the cherry tomatoes a little while they are still in the tin so more of them release their juices.
- This lamb stifado is simmered with the lid on, but open a crack to keep it moist while the lamb is getting good and tender. I wedge a teaspoon in between the pot and the lid to allow a small amount of steam to vent without it drying out. Without this, the tomato-based sauce tends to splutter and splatter.
- I use cinnamon a bit like salt in this recipe - to taste. Start with the pinch as written in the recipe, then you can add a little more at the end if you like.
This was so tender, whole family ate the lot and wanted more.
Great, Frances!