Leftover Lamb Recipes

As cooked lamb cools, the flavor mellows, becoming sweeter and less gamey. Tim Love combines chilled slices of lamb with greens, then adds a dressing made with both raspberry vinegar and preserves. Better yet, use leftover lamb slices to make a quick and easy salad.

This North African-inspired soup is perfect for using up cooked lamb, or substitute leftover beef.

For a pretty blend of colors as well as flavors, Sang Yoon lays slices of cumin-spiced lamb on a bed of jicama, carrot and lettuce. "Lamb seasoned with cumin is very Indian, as well as Sichuan and Yunnan. But no one in Asia would serve lamb on a salad; that's just me being Californian," Yoon says. For a quick meal, try using leftover lamb slices.

Chef Way Andrew Carmellini serves fresh pappardelle with a ragù of house-ground lamb shoulder cooked in lamb stock. He finishes the dish with fresh ricotta and chopped mint.

Easy Way Use store-bought pappardelle, ground lamb and chicken stock, then top the dish with fresh ricotta and mint. You can even use leftover ground lamb and mix it in with the spices. 

In his super delicious mash-up of cuisines, Chicago chef Mike Sheerin packs a flavorful Greek gyro–inspired lamb filling into dumplings, steams them and serves them with tzatziki. This is also a grat way to use leftover ground lamb. 

The Good News Even if you're cutting down on fat, you can still eat a little lamb; a 4-ounce portion of roasted loin or leg contains as little as 4 grams of saturated fat. It's wonderful when coated in an easy olive-powder crust and served with lots of fiber- and potassium-rich adzuki beans. Plus, you can even use leftover ground lamb or cubed lamb in this recipe. Just mix in the cooked lamb with the spices and cook just until heated through.