Herb-Crusted Grilled Lamb Chops
In this monthly series, I commit to cooking whatever is on the cover of Bon Appetit, Saveur or maybe some other food magazine. There’s a reason these particular dishes are on the cover – they’re usually the best recipes in the magazine.
If you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed that I attended the Food & Wine Conference this past weekend. I won’t be doing a formal recap, but let it suffice to say that I came home grinning from finally getting to hug friends who up until now have lived in my computer, meeting new people, and feeling inspired to keep cooking, writing and photographing.
Speaking of inspiration, one of my favorite things about the weekend was how many people told me “I love your Cook The Cover series!” Some months (like when the recipe is a fail), I’m on the fence about keeping it going, but those comments certainly convinced me to keep it up.
The cover of the July 2014 issue of Bon Appetit featured herb- and spice-crusted grilled lamb chops. I’m all about any excuse to cook and eat lamb (ideally with Greek yogurt mashed potatoes on the side), so I was pretty excited about this one.
I mostly stuck with the original recipe, just adapting the amounts to feed two people instead of eight. However, the herb mixture in this recipe is one that I feel you don’t really need to measure any amounts. Your eyeballs, not your measuring cups, are your best tool here.
As a general rule, I personally find it a waste of time to measure ingredients for marinades, rubs and the like.
The main goal of these types of things is to get flavor into or on the outside of the meat, and as long as the ratio of these ingredients is more or less correct, the exact amounts aren’t as important.
In other words, I’m too lazy to stuff cilantro and parsley leaves into measuring cups.
Even with my lazy woman’s approach to this recipe, these lamb chops were as tasty as the version served at my favorite Lebanese restaurant.
The herb mixture ended up tasting almost like tabbouleh, but instead of being a side dish, it was serve crusted onto the meat. Gotta love flavor efficiency like that.
Even Jeff got in on the grilling action, mainly because he was excited to finally have a new pair of grilling tongs, after several years of begging for a pair. Up until now, the poor guy was stuck with my culinary school-issued pair of short, no frills, utility kitchen tongs.
While they mainly did their job, they certainly weren’t long enough for any serious grilling. The back of our grill gets too hot, and those old tongs were just too darn short. Burns ensued, complaining followed.
When OXO kindly offered to send me a selection of their best grilling tools for recipe development purposes, I jumped at the chance, if only so Jeff could finally get a pair of OXO Good Grips 16″ tongs. Look at him smile over that pair of tongs. Smiling, AND grilling his wife lamb chops for dinner. What a difference a good pair of tongs can make in my household.
While I keep saying over and over that I’m not a kitchen gadget person, I think that stance might be slowly changing. OXO keeps winning me over with things likes the Corn Stripper. Is it strange that I just thought of an ear of corn swinging around a pole, while gentlemen corn put dollars in her husk? Ummmmm. Moving on.
This tool is clean, efficient, and does exactly what it claims too. I eat a lot of corn in the summer, but jaw problems prevent me from eating it directly off the cob, so this thing will be in heavy rotation throughout the summer.
I’ve also been digging the Little Salad Dressing Shaker for quickly shaking up vinaigrettes for light summer salads, grilled veggies and sliced tomatoes. You can make, pour and store your homemade salad dressings all in this one dishwasher-safe shaker.
Back to those lamb chops. It’s hard to make hunks of meat look beautiful, but let me tell you, they tasted even better than they looked. Bon Appetit killed it with this recipe this month! Also, I pretty much feel like the Queen of England every time I eat lamb chops at home.
Especially because my dog totally looks like she could be part corgi. Does the Queen still have corgis? Do ears of corn go to strip clubs? These are the kinds of questions I don’t want to have to answer.
![Herb-Crusted Grilled Lamb Chops - Whip up a quick herb and spice rub to make this simple restaurant-quality meal at home! | foxeslovelemons.com](jpg/herb-crusted-grilled-lamb-chops2-480x480.jpg)
Herb-Crusted Grilled Lamb Chops
Ingredients
- 1/2 small yellow onion
- 1/3 cup fresh cilantro leaves and stems
- 1/3 cup fresh parsley leaves and stems
- 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/4 teaspoon garam masala
- 4 bone-in lamb rib chops (about 1 pound)
- Vegetable oil, for grill
Instructions
- In food processor, pulse onion, cilantro, parsley, mint, cumin, paprika, allspice, salt, red pepper flakes and garam masala until very finely chopped. Place lamb in a large dish and rub both sides of lamb with herb mixture. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to 12 hours to marinate.
- Preheat grill for direct grilling over medium-high heat. Lightly brush grill grates with oil; transfer lamb to grill. Cook 3 minutes per side for medium-rare; transfer to platter and let stand 5 minutes before serving.
Disclosure: I received a set of grilling tools from OXO at no charge. I was not compensated for writing this post, and all opinions are my own.
I tried these for dinner tonight, and we really enjoyed them. However, I need to know how you get yours to come out so the herbs are still green. My husband does the grilling, and somehow everything comes out rather crispy-crittered when he does it. (I’m sure it would for me, too…) Is there a secret that we don’t know about? Thanks, Susan
Hmmmmm, Susan. Well, we definitely like our lamb on the rare side, so we only grilled them for a few minutes per side. I also used every bit of that herb mixture, so every chop was really crusted with a thick layer of it. We also kept the chops away from the hot spot of our grill, which for us, is the back right of the grill. Everything gets too crusty back there.
Lori, I think one of our problems is that the only lamb chops I could find was shoulder chops. I used all the herb mix, too, but it had to be spread out over a larger area. Those lamb chops are one reason I’m tired of our small local store, and am getting to where I’m ready to start driving to a larger one, just so I can get what I want. Thanks for your advice – I’ll share it with my husband.
Ohhh, that could be it. I have trouble finding a good variety of lamb in my area, too. The original Bon Appetit recipe called for untrimmed lamb chops, but I could only find chops that had been frenched (because of course, the stores can charge much more for those with very little work on their end). If you’re using shoulder chops, maybe make a batch-and-a-half or even a double batch of the herb rub next time? If you have any left over, it would be good on chicken the next night 🙂
Well, duh!!!!!!! I’m glad one of us has a brain… Great idea to make the extra herb rub. That way I wouldn’t have so much parsley and cilantro left over. And I’m certain it would also taste good on chicken. The only problem this idea doesn’t solve is all the things I want that my closest Albertsons doesn’t have (unfortunately they are the only major chain in town). Thanks, Lori. I’ll make a note on my recipe. 🙂
Thanks for making me look so good in the pictures. And, I have to be honest, I literally am beaming ear-to-ear over the new tongs. The ability to grab a steak, corn on the cob, bread, shrimp, etc from the back of the grill without burning arm hair is such a wonderful feeling. And that little corn cutter device is pretty cool too.
You always look good in pictures, because you’re so handsome! That’s actually not sarcasm, although I’m sure it sounds like it.
I’m glad you and the tongs will live happily ever after.
I hope you are making tons of elotes now that you have a cornstripper (corn+mayo+cayenne+lime Juice+cilantro).
Also, thank you for specifying that you leave the stems on. This has been a point of some contention around my house lately 🙂
Heck yes, Hannah. I actually make a Roasted Mexican Street Corn Salad that has all the flavors of elote. I make this ALL THE TIME, ALL SUMMER LONG: https://foxeslovelemons.com/roasted-mexican-street-corn-salad
I definitely leaves the stems on herb when I’m just throwing them in a food processor for marinades or sauces. I mean, the processor basically pulverizes them, anyway. As long as the stems are green and still somewhat tender (not brown and woody), why bother picking the leaves off?
This sounds wonderful. The way it looks reminds me a bit of chimichurri sauce. I’ll give serious consideration to trying this. It’s been years since I’ve had lamb chops and this sounds like a great way to fix them.
I’m glad that Jeff finally has some tongs worthy of his grilling ability. 🙂
Yes, Susan, it’s definitely like a cross between a thicker version of a chimichurri, and a version of tabbouleh without the grain. I LOVE chimichurri, so the opportunity to just put a thick crust of it on the outside of some meat was right up my alley!
Jeff is still loving his tongs. Funny how such a small thing can make such a big difference. No more burnt fingers!
I’m so glad you had fun at the F&W conference, I really wish I could have gone. I love lamb chops but have never attempted to make them! I think I’m over thinking it….. This recipe is exactly what I’ll try when I make me some chops very soon!
P.S. I will never be able to ‘strip’ an ear of corn again w out giggling 😉
I definitely recommend the conference if you can make the trip next year. I learned a lot and got to connect with so many friends!
You should definitely give lamb a try. It really is very forgiving. Even if you don’t get them perfectly medium-rare (we didn’t), they’re still juicy and delish!
YUMMMMM! OMG I love lamb and these with herbs all over it’s bad self got me excited!
Thanks Sophia! This recipe didn’t disappoint. Such a treat!
I love lamb rib chops and they are perfect for grilling – fast and flavorful.
Corn strip clubs? Thank you for that!
Yeah, the ears of corn could have little thongs made out of corn silk or something?
OK, I need to stop.
All the Windsor family members have corgis! I think Prince William and Kate got one too. This makes me long for a grill. I guess the grill pan will do.
It’s so strange. Why don’t the royals get a more refined breed of dog? Because based on the experience I’ve had with corgis, they are anything but regal! haha.
Bah! Corn stripper! I laughed out loud. I’m glad this cover recipe didn’t disappoint. I’m actually making tabbouleh today and now I keep thinking maybe I need to put it on some meat and grill it!
Oh girl, I LOVE me some tabbouleh. It’s strange, because I went from hating fresh mint a couple years ago to craving tabbouleh on the regular. Oh, how our tastebuds change!
Corn stripper? I guess it depends on how many ears you want to strip, but if you’ve got a grill this guy’s got a technique using a corn stripper of a different kind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mANlKEfg1NY
For those of us who grow gardens and can our own corn at harvest time, the video was an eye opener.
Thanks Fred, I’ll have to check that video out!