Lamb Tacos? Heck Yeah Lamb Tacos!
You love tacos. Everyone loves tacos. But have you tried lamb meat in tacos yet? Well, get ready to love your beloved tacos just a little bit more! Imagine juicy, shredded lamb that’s been braised with all of the same lovely spices that you’d use to make carnitas—it sounds wild, we know. But it’s so delicious! You’ll braise that lovely lamb shoulder until the meat is meltingly saturated with flavor and absolutely falling apart. Then, simply shred it to make the best gosh darn shredded lamb tacos you’ve ever tasted. Lamb shoulder is a pretty affordable cut of meat, too. It’s hard to mess up this recipe and you’ll have leftovers for days! Our lamb taco meat even freezes well—you can make the shredded lamb taco meat and freeze it for up to three months so that future-you will have a speedy dinner at their fingertips.
Our Carnitas-Inspired Lamb Taco Seasoning
Though we like to dress our shredded lamb tacos up with tzatziki and tahini sauce—like a mash up of everything we love about Mexican tacos and everything we love about gyros—the inspiration for the braised lamb recipe came straight from our classic pork carnitas recipe. We adore those flavors—the heady mixture of warm spices and zesty citrus—and we love the texture of them, too. Here’s everything you’ll need to make our lamb taco meat recipe:
Lamb shoulder meat
Chicken stock
Onion
Orange
Lime
Dried oregano
Chili powder
Kosher salt
Ground cumin
Black pepper
Cayenne pepper
Bay leaves
3 Quick Tips for Buying Lamb Shoulder
What to look for, what to ask for and how to be sure you’ve got yourself a lovely cut of meat.
What to ask for: When you walk up to the butcher counter, all you need to know is that you’ll need to walk away with 3 pounds of lamb shoulder meat. Whether they have bone-in or boneless lamb shoulder on hand, the butcher should be able to help you out.
Lamb shoulder is a fattier cut and should be well-marbled. The fat should look creamy white and the meat should be a healthy pink—if you see lots of grey, walk away.
Save yourself a little work and ask the butcher to cut the lamb for you. You need the shoulder cut into 4-inch pieces.
How To Make The Best Braised Lamb Taco Meat, Ever
Make ahead, make it in a Crock-Pot, make it in an Instant Pot—this lamb taco meat recipe does all the things and then some. You can use it to make tacos, but you totally don’t have to! This carnitas-ish braised lamb shoulder is so juicy and flavorful, you’ll find many uses for it. You could make super delicious burrito bowls, or even use it in quesadillas or breakfast hash. But before you can do any of that, you’ll need to cook the lamb in all its braised glory. Here’s how to make the best lamb taco meat ever:
Season. A whole bunch of classic Mexican spices plus two kinds of citrus to work their magic.
Braise. Low-and-slow cooking—another magic-maker. Particularly with a cut of meat like lamb shoulder, braising is a wonderful cooking technique that’ll turn even a tough or fatty cut into absolutely tender, moist, juicy heaven.
Shred. Once the lamb meat is fully cooked and falls apart easily with the poke of a fork, you’ll shred it and pop it under the broiler for a few minutes to give the shredded lamb a wonderfully crisp texture.
Tools You’ll Need
More Super Duper Taco Recipes to Try
Mix Up Your Taco Night
We love a classic ground beef taco night just as much as the next guy, but it’s good to break out of our ruts sometimes, right? Enter this lovely, out-of-the-box taco meat. You can use Middle Eastern accompaniments—like the tzatziki and tahini sauce we suggest—or really anything that seems yummy to you. This meat is super versatile. You don’t even have to make tacos out of it! Whatever way you serve it, we’d love to see! Share a photo and tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper so that we can see your stuff! Happy eating!
