How Do I Barbecue Lamb?

The first step in barbecuing lamb is deciding which type you want to prepare. You can consider, for example, lamb chops or burgers, lamb kebabs, or leg of lamb. Making the best out of barbecue lamb, no matter which type you choose, usually means preheating your grill to bring it to the right cooking temperature and applying oil or cooking spray to prevent the meat from sticking to the grill. You may also do well to tenderize and marinate the lamb to ensure that it is as tender and flavorful as possible.

When you are planning to barbecue lamb, you might first benefit from tips that recommend various types of lamb that lend themselves to grilling and the required cooking time. For example, you can choose to grill lamb chops, which generally require about 9 to 15 minutes of cooking over medium heat on a covered grill. You can also make lamb kebabs using barbecue skewers and adding any other ingredients you like onto the skewers with the lamb. Generally, these require about 13 minutes of cooking on a covered grill over medium heat. Lamb burgers can also be cooked using medium heat on a covered grill for about 8 to 10 minutes while a leg of lamb will usually require about 35 to 40 minutes over medium heat on a covered grill.

Preparing your grill is important when you want to barbecue lamb. You will typically need to apply cooking spray on the grates or otherwise grease the part of the grill on which you will place your food. It is usually important to only lightly grease the grill grates, however. You may also do well to preheat the grill to the desired temperature. Many recipes call for barbecuing lamb over medium heat.

Taking steps to make the lamb more tender may translate into a more pleasant eating experience as well. This can mean tenderizing the lamb before you grill it by pounding it with a meat tenderizer. You may also do well to marinate the meat prior to cooking it, which helps in a couple of different ways. First, it can help to make the barbecue lamb more tender overall, and second, it can add flavor to the lamb. Depending on your tastes, you can use a marinade base such as wine vinegar, oil, or yogurt and then add spices such as garlic, rosemary, pepper, thyme, and curry.

As with other types of meat, it is critical to ensure that lamb is cooked to a safe temperature before you consume it or serve it to others. This typically means cooking the lamb to at least 160°F (about 71.11°C) to destroy pathogens in the meat. You can measure the lamb's temperature with a meat thermometer.