Intimidated by lamb? Don't be! Grilled Rack of Lamb is so tender, flavorful, juicy, and delicious. And did I mention that it's EASY to make?! If you can grill a hamburger, you can grill a rack of lamb. I promise.
So let's do this.
Do you need a marinade for grilled lamb racks?
The first thing you need to know is that lamb marinade is KING. Really, anytime you grill a marinade is going to buy you some time / margin of error, and add great flavor.
Grilling meat is just as much an art as it is a science, so the marinade can help you make a phenomenal product if your "art of grilling" skills aren't perfectly honed yet.
And even once they are, I think you'll still be pro-marinade. I know I am!
How to grill a rack of lamb
There are a few tricks to guarantee success when grilling lamb:
- Marinate the lamb to keep it tender
- Cover the Frenched (exposed) bones with foil to prevent burning
- Don't overcook! Medium Rare to Medium at MOST.
- Cook the exterior on high direct heat, and the interior with indirect heat (I go into more detail on this below)
How to cook with indirect heat on a gas grill
This is KEY to this recipe. If you're using charcoal, carry on. You got this, because direct heat on a charcoal grill is putting the meat, you guessed it, directly over the coals. Indirect heat on a charcoal grill is moving the meat so that it is not directly over the coals.
But for a gas grill? It's a little different, although the concept is the same.
Direct heat is the same - cook the meat directly over where the flame is on the grill.
Indirect heat on a gas grill is easiest with the MOM method - which stands for Medium-Off-Medium. The idea is that you have the outer burners on, set to Medium, and the middle burners off.
For a four burner grill, the outer two would be on Medium, and the inner two would be off.
For a three burner grill, the outer two would be on Medium, and the inner single burner would be off.
How long should you grill rack of lamb?
Cook the rack over high, direct heat for 4 minutes. Flip the rack, and cook for another 4 minutes over high, direct heat. Move the lamb to indirect heat, place the lid on the grill, and cook for another 15 minutes for Medium Rare, 20 minutes for Medium.
Do you cook rack of lamb fat side up or down?
Start cooking the lamb with the fatty/meaty side down, then flip it later. Scroll up a few pictures and you'll see an example. You can tell which side is the fatty/meaty side because you will not be able to see the bones through the meat. The underside of the rib rack shows most of the bones through the chops.
What to serve will grilled rack of lamb:
Grilled Rack of Lamb
Ingredients
- 6 - 8 bone rack of lamb
- ½ cup olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice juice from ½ lemon
- 4 - 5 cloves garlic
- 8 - 10 leaves fresh mint
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons salt
Instructions
- Combine ½ cup olive oil, juice from ½ lemon, 4 - 5 cloves garlic, 8 - 10 leaves fresh mint, 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves, 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, and 2 teaspoons salt in a food processor until well blended.
- Place the rack of lamb in a resealable bag. Pour in the marinade and rub all over the lamb to coat it. Seal the bag and let marinate, refrigerated, for at least for 4 hours and up to 24 hours.
- Set a gas grill to high heat or prepare a coal grill. The rack of lamb has two sides - one where you see mostly bones and another where you see mostly meet. Grill lamb over direct high heat with the lid open and with the "mostly meat" side down for 4 minutes. Flip and cook the other side over direct heat for another 4 minutes.
- Move lamb to indirect heat (see notes for how to cook on indirect heat on a gas grill). Put the lid on the grill. Cook for another 15 minutes or until an instant read thermometer reads 125° for medium rare.
Notes
Use this to help you remember how to grill on indirect heat: M-O-M - Medium Off Medium. So on a four burner grill, the outer two burners are on medium and the middle two are off. The meat goes over the off burners in the center of the grill.
Absolutely fabulous! I made exactly as the recipe said. I marinated it for 4 hours but would try for 24 hours next time. It can only get better! :).
Was so good I made it twice in one week! Will definitely make again. Marinated 24 hrs both times and doubled up on the garlic and lemon juice.
Cooked it on a gas grill and waited til the surface temp was about 800 with a laser thermometer til throwing the rack on. The rack came out perfectly seared on the outside and the inside medium rare and juicy with tons of flavor! Thanks for this!
This comes out AMAZING on charcoal! Very simple to make and oh so much flavor. Medium/medium rare was how I did my racks and they were perfect. Hit 133 degrees, removed from grill and let stand a few minutes, then cut. Wunderbar! Try it!
I did not use the recipe but did use the cooking instructions on a tru-infrared grill. Came out great.
Easy marinade to make. I put rack directly on grill 5 minutes per side then moved to middle of grill and used foil underneath and lowered temperature since I only had two burners on my Weber grill. 15 minutes later pulled it and cut it perfecto! Thanks.
Hi. Thanks for the recipe. Sounds perfect! I'm making it now and will comment later. One question: when you move the rack to indirect heat, is that meat side up, down, or both ( flipped halfway through the 15 minutes )?
When you move the rack to indirect heat, it should be meat side up.
So overall the cook will look like:
Direct Heat, Meat Side Down, 4 Minutes
Flip!
Direct Heat, Meat Side Up, 4 minutes
Move away from Direct Heat
Indirect Heat, Meat Side Up until done.
Does that help?
It can be so hard to describe these things well without video!
Great explanation easily understood!