Sous Vide Lamb Chops, with a quick and easy Mint Chimichurri sauce, are perfectly tender and reverse seared for a juicy and succulent lamb recipe. The chimichurri sauce would also pair well with Smoked Leg of Lamb or Sous Vide Leg of Lamb.
Lamb chops are extremely lean and a relatively small piece of meat, so it’s easy to overcook and dry out. It’s also a pretty expensive piece of meat, so making Sous vide lamb loin chops is a great cooking method as you can monitor the time and temperature.
This lamb recipe includes lamb loin chops seasoned with flavorful spices and lemon and topped with a very quick and easy mint chimichurri sauce. Or you can use a batch of our popular lamb seasoning.
Other sous vide recipes readers love: Sous Vide Prime Rib, Sous Vide Short Ribs, Sous Vide Tri Tip, Sous Vide Pork Tenderloin, Sous Vide Ribeye and Sous Vide Corned Beef.
Table of Contents
How to Sous Vide Lamb Chops
Only a few short steps stand between you and tender lamb chops.
Step 1 – Pre-heat the water bath to your preferred temperature (consult the sous vide lamb chop temperature chart below), using a sous vide immersion circulator. It’s important to determine the correct temp and time so you don’t end up with raw or rare chops when you’re aiming for medium rare
Step 2 – Prepare the lamb loin chops by coating in spices. Once seasoned, add the chops to the sous vide bag and vacuum seal.
Step 3 – Transfer the lamb chops to your sous vide machine and set the timer for a minimum of one hour and a max of four hours. Consult the “how long does it take to sous vide lamb chops” chart below.
Step 4 – Reverse sear the lamb chops in a very hot pre-heated cast iron pan for 45 seconds per side to develop a nice crust.
Lamb Chops Sous Vide Temperature
Reverse searing will only increase the temp by 1-2°, so pull accordingly once you determine your final temperature. The lamb pictured above was cooked in a water bath of 134°F and then reverse seared for 45 seconds per side.
- Rare Lamb Chop: 115°F – 124°F
- Medium-Rare Lamb Chop: 125°F – 134°F
- Medium Lamb Chop: 135°F – 144°F
- Medium Lamb Chop: 145°F – 154°F
- Well Done Lamb Chop: 155°F +
For more cooking tips, visit our Lamb Temperature Chart guide.
How Long To Sous Vide Lamb
Lamb chops cook time is determined by the thickness of the chop (measure the height of the chop when on the counter to determine the thickness). A 6 oz lamb chop can take the same amount of time to cook in the water bath as a 10 oz lamb chop, if they’re of similar thickness.
For Lamb Chops Under 2″
Cook for a minimum of 45 minutes, however 60 minutes up to 4 hours is recommended.
For Lamb Chops Over 2″
Cook for a minimum of 60 minutes, up to 4 hours.
- Rare Lamb: 1 – 2.5 hours*
- Medium-Rare Lamb: 1 – 4 hours (2.5 hours max if under 130°F)
- Medium Lamb: 1 – 4 hours
- Medium Well Lamb: 1 – 4 hours
- Well Done Lamb: 1 – 4 hours
FOOD SAFETY TIP*: If you cook your sous vide lamb below 130°F, it should only be in the water for up to 2.5 hours. Any longer and you risk running into food safety issues.
Ingredients
Mint Chimichurri
Instead of mint jelly, we decided to serve it with mint chimichurri. It’s fresh, seasonal and brightens up the dish. It also takes only 5 minutes to prep. You can hand chop the ingredients or use a food processor. We usually hand chop so we don’t have to do extra dishes.
Only 5 ingredients, not including salt, pepper and oil, are required to make this mint chimichurri recipe.
If you’re not into mint or chimichurri, the tzatziki sauce we serve alongside our smoked rack of lamb is a brilliant substitution.
You could also make an easy mint-free chimichurri, used in our Coulotte Steak recipe, Picanha Steak recipe, or even the cilantro chimichurri featured in our Picanha recipe.
Lamb Chops
Only four spices are needed to jazz up the lamb chops before placing in the water bath: coriander, garlic powder, lemon slices, salt and black pepper.
Frozen Lamb
You can absolutely use frozen lamb. Just add an extra 45 minutes to the cooking time.
For those new to sous vide cooking, we will add our experience with frozen meat. We don’t love using frozen meat when using the sous vide method. The juice that’s emitted in the bag usually takes on a slight “freezer burn” flavor; even when the meat has only been frozen for a day or two. It’s ever so slight, but if you have a sensitive palate, we recommend sticking to defrosted or fresh meat.
Equipment Needed
- Sous Vide Immersion Circulator – Any brand will work! We use the popular Anova Immersion Circulator.
- Vacuum Sealed Bags – You can always use a Ziploc bag and use the water displacement method if desired vs a vacuum sealer with a sous vide bag.
- Sous Vide Food Container – Here’s the sous vide food container we use.
- Cast Iron Pan – Use a large enough cast iron pan, or griddle pan, to accommodate multiple lamb chops. A stainless steel skillet will work as well, but it’s imperative you pre-heat and use plenty of oil so the chops don’t stick.
How to Re-heat
The best way to re-heat Sous Vide lamb chops is to heat it back up in a water bath! Heat the water to just below the cooking temp you used the first time around. The time will stay the same as the first cook.
Recipe Notes
- Reserve searing lamb chops can create smoke. Turn on the oven fan prior to searing.
- Make sure to do a thorough job patting dry the lamb chops with paper towels after cooking. To get a good pan-seared crust, the lamb needs to be dry.
- Make sure the meat is fully submerged in the sous vide bath. If the meat isn’t fully submerged it won’t cook properly. Do not even attempt as food safety would not be guaranteed.
- If your sous vide bag floats, either re-seal or grab something to weight it down. We use sous vide weights when needed.
- We tend to use a heavy hand with dried spices as the “juice” that’s omitted can water it down. You can always wait to season until after you cook via the water batch, but before reverse searing.
- Omit the red pepper from the mint chimichurri if even a hint of spice isn’t your thing. You can see from the below picture, the red chili isn’t an overwhelming amount.
Side Dish Ideas
Roasted Mushrooms in Garlic Butter
What Wine Pairs With Lamb
Pinot Noir, Syrah or Cabernet Sauvignon
Ingredients
Lamb
- 4 Lamb Loin Chops
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt
- ½ tsp Coriander
- ⅛ tsp Black Pepper
- 1 Lemon
- 2 tbsp Canola, Vegetable or Avocado Oil, For Searing
Mint Chimichurri Sauce
- ½ Cup Parsley, Finely Chopped
- ½ Cup Mint, Finely Chopped
- ⅓ Cup High-Quality Olive Oil
- 2 tbsp Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice
- ½ Red Chili, Finely Diced
- 1 tbsp Minced Garlic
- Salt and Black Pepper, To Taste
Instructions
Mint Chimichurri Sauce
- Combine the parsley, mint, olive oil, lemon juice, red chili, garlic, salt and pepper in a small mixing bowl and refrigerate a minimum of one hour for the flavors to meld.
Lamb Chops
- Pre-heat the water bath to your preferred doneness (*Note 1) using a sous vide immersion circulator.
- Combine the spices together in a small bowl and sprinkle evenly over the lamb chops. Press down gently so the seasonings "stick" to the lamb. Place the lamb chops in a vacuum-seal bag (in a single layer) and add two slices of lemon (optional). Close the bag using a vacuum sealer or the water displacement method.
- Transfer the vacuum bag to the water bath and cook for 60 minutes minimum up to 4 hours (or 2.5 hours max if the water bath temperature is under 130°F).
- Carefully remove the bag from the water bath with tongs. Remove the lamb chops from the bag and pat dry. Discard any juice that accumulated.
Reverse Sear
- Add enough oil (approx. 1-2 tbsp) to cover the bottom of a cast iron skillet and pre-heat over medium-high heat until it's scorching hot (it will start to smoke a little). This will take approx. 3-5 minutes. (*Note 3)
- Sear each side of the lamb chops for 45 seconds. After the top and bottom have been seared, grab your tongs to brown the small edges of the chops, about 45 seconds total.
- Turn off the stove and transfer the lamb chops to a serving dish. Serve with individual bowls of mint chimichurri to keep it cold and crisp.
Notes
- Rare Lamb Chop: 115°F – 124°F
- Medium-Rare Lamb Chop: 125°F – 134°F
- Medium Lamb Chop: 135°F – 144°F
- Medium Lamb Chop: 145°F – 154°F
- Well Done Lamb Chop: 155°F +
- Rare Lamb: 1 – 2.5 hours*
- Medium-Rare Lamb: 1 – 4 hours (2.5 hours max if under 130°F)
- Medium Lamb: 1 – 4 hours
- Medium Well Lamb: 1 – 4 hours
- Well Done Lamb: 1 – 4 hours
