7 roast lamb hacks to cook the best Sunday dinner this Easter

Roast lamb is the showstopper in any Easter feast.

Even with enough chocolate on the menu to single-handedly sustain the Belgian economy, nothing beats a succulent leg or shoulder joint.

However, despite the deliciousness, getting lamb right isn’t always straightforward. This is where we come in.

Roast lamb is the ultimate Easter centrepiece (Credit: Alamy/Brent Hofacker)

Roast lamb hacks

To help transform your Easter meat from bang-average to brilliant, we’ve pulled together our picks for the best roast lamb hacks around.

READ MORE: 9 best Sunday roasts in the UK that you need to try now

From a select few internet favourites, to tips from our very own Twisted chefs, these hacks are guaranteed to take your lamb to the next level.

So, for the ultimate Easter Sunday treat, here are are ultimate roast lamb hacks.

Like all meat, lamb requires generous seasoning (Credit: Alamy/Martin Turzak)

1. Seasoning

The key to a great lamb centrepiece is good seasoning. Like all meat, lamb needs a generous quantity of salt to really bring out its best flavour.

If you’re cooking a more lean cut, like leg or loin, a coating of olive oil is also advisable. If not looked after, lamb can dry out, so adding extra fat into the equation can help keep things moist.

Cooks should also note that lamb, and most roasting meats, should always be seasoned first before cooking in the oven. This is the difference between well-seasoned and flavourful and bland meat with a bit of salt on top.

A small amount of Marmite can really enhance your meat (Credit: Alamy/Lucia Lanpur)

2. Marmite

Lamb’s distinctive flavour lends itself to lots of bold and unusual pairings. One of these, despite the inevitable haters, is Marmite.

A small amount of the notorious yeast extract can go a long way in giving your lamb an earthy, umami depth. This is perfect for helping it stand up to the other strong flavours that dominate a Sanday roast.

Simply rub a small amount of Marmite on the lamb prior to cooking and prove the doubters wrong.

Both Marmite and anchovies are great roast lamb hacks (Credit: Alamy/HERA FOOD)

3. Anchovies

Similarly to the Marmite hack, another surprising pairing for lamb is tinned fish. Before you turn your nose up, however, it’s important to note that we’re not talking about making lamb taste fishy. Instead, this seasoning addition is all about flavour.

Anchovy fillets, when cooked, reduce down from individual fillets to shrivelled, super-charged packs of salty flavour. By cutting a few of them up and spreading them on your lamb, you can massively enhance the meat, without leaving a lingering fishy flavour.

READ MORE: How to make roast potatoes crispy – 4 recipes for the best homemade spuds

You don’t need a lot of anchovies to do this – just a few cut up and rubbed into a joint will make a huge difference. Even if it sounds odd, the results are worth it.

Garlic pairs perfectly with lamb (Credit: Alamy/Tatjana Baibakova)

4. Garlic

If you want to stick with something more traditional, garlic is always a great foil for lamb. However, getting it right is more complicated than rubbing a clove on your joint.

If left on the outside, garlic can easily overcook. This can give the outside of your meat an unpleasant, bitter taste – not what you want for your roast centrepiece.

To rectify this, simply make a series of small incisions in your joint and stuff garlic slices inside. This will both prevent the garlic from overcooking and give the meat a delicious flavour. This method also works as a rule for general marinating.

As Twisted chef Tara explains: “I made a lamb recently and I always cut slits into it to help the marinade absorb into it – or put some sliced gloves of garlic and herbs in there.”

Marinading lamb in yoghurt can help it become much more tender (Credit: Alamy/Laila Stern)

5. Yoghurt

The end goal of every Easter cook is tender meat. One of the best ways to achieve this is to cover your lamb in a generous yoghurt marinade.

The acidic yoghurt helps to break down the meat, making it more tender after cooking. As another Twisted lamb expert, Seren, explains, “marinate in yoghurt over night then remove the yoghurt, gives you really nice tender meat and is yum”.

Even though yoghurt and a roast might seem like a strange combination, the results certainly don’t disappoint.

Lamb shoulder is the perfect cut for low and slow cooking (Credit: Alamy/vilevi)

6. Low and Slow

Moreso than many other meatss, lamb responds really well to a lengthy cooking process.

As Tara explains: “Lamb takes a lot longer if you want it really nice tender and to fall of the bone- a good piece of lamb shoulder is a delight to cook low and slow.”

If you do want to adopt a slightly lazier approach to Sunday, getting the cut right is crucial. Joints like shoulder and shank respond particularly well to a low and slow cook, so you should bear this in mind.

Some cultures roast whole lambs over a barbecue (Credit: Alamy/Pluto)

7. Open Fire

If the weather happens to be glorious, lamb doesn’t have to be cooked in an oven.

In fact, as any fan of Turkish food will tell you, some of the best lamb recipes rely on an open flame.

Although you’ll struggle to cook bigger joints on a barbecue, this method is perfect for individual cutlets and smaller cuts.

If you want to shake things up this Easter, this hack might be the method for you.