Baked Lamb and Yogurt
This lamb builds boneless lamb shoulder, long-grain rice and plain yogurt into a weeknight-friendly meal you can have ready in about 65 minutes. You'll find the full ingredient list (with a scaler to change the servings), 7 steps of method, substitutions, and ideas for what to serve alongside.
You'll mainly reach for oven and pan. At medium difficulty across 7 steps, it's manageable with a little attention.
What you'll need
Shopping list (3)
Pantry staples (you likely have these)
🔁 Unit converter
How to make it
- Cut the lamb into bite-sized cubes and season with salt and pepper. Melt half the butter in a heavy pan and brown the lamb on all sides, then add the chopped onion and cook until softened.
- Pour in enough water to just cover the meat, bring to a simmer, cover and cook gently for about 1 hour until the lamb is fork-tender; reserve the cooking liquid.
- Meanwhile, rinse the rice and parboil it in salted water for about 6 minutes so it is half-cooked, then drain well.
- Heat the oven to 180C and butter a baking dish. In a bowl, whisk the yogurt with the eggs and flour until smooth, then season with salt and pepper.
- Spread the parboiled rice over the base of the dish, arrange the cooked lamb on top and moisten with a few spoonfuls of the reserved cooking liquid.
- Pour the yogurt and egg mixture evenly over the lamb and rice, then dot the surface with the remaining butter.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the topping is set and golden brown and the egg-yogurt custard is fully cooked through, then let the dish rest for 10 minutes before serving so it firms up enough to slice.
You'll use: Oven · Pan · Saucepan · Whisk · Baking dish
Ingredient substitutions
- Butter
- olive oil (¾ the amount) · coconut oil · margarine
- Eggs
- ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce (baking) · 1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp water per egg
Tips & common questions
How long does Baked Lamb and Yogurt take to make?
About 65 minutes from start to finish — an estimate based on the 7 steps and 9 ingredients. Times vary with your kitchen and how much prep you do ahead.
What can I use instead of butter?
Try olive oil (¾ the amount). See the substitutions section above for more swaps.
Can I scale this recipe up or down?
Yes — use the servings control above the ingredients and every quantity rescales automatically (fractions included). Cooking times stay roughly the same; very large batches may need a little longer.
How should I store leftovers?
Cool leftovers quickly, refrigerate in an airtight container, and eat within 3 days. Reheat until piping hot throughout.
Related recipes
Baked Lamb and Yogurt is an original recipe developed in-house by Consomee. Photo: Salad with olives and vegetables - Albanian cuisine.jpg by Luca Conti, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons. We add the serving scaler, ingredient tools, timing and structure on top — how we source recipes.