Quick & Simple Roasted Rack of Lamb

I’ve never made rack of lamb at home before because it always seemed overly intimidating. And ‘cause I’m lazy.

But when I was at Trader Joe’s this afternoon, the little itty packs of frenched lamb racks looked pretty harmless…and tasty. So on a whim, I bought some. Turns out rack of lamb is easy to make and take no time at all. Plus, if you have a kick-ass meat thermometer, there’s no way you can mess this up.

Here’s what I assembled to feed two people:

1 rack of lamb (~1 pound)
1 tablespoon of Dukka seasoning
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons coconut oil or ghee

Here’s what I did:

Basically, I followed the directions in my Cook’s Illustrated The Best Meat Recipes book for roasting a rack of lamb. Those kitchen nerds haven’t let me down yet!

I preheated my oven to 425 F and placed a foil-lined baking sheet on a rack in the lower middle of my oven.

After seasoning the lamb very generously with salt and pepper, I sprinkled on the Dukka seasoning.

Per my chef sister, you should always try to salt your meats ahead of time (up to 24 hours), but I salted them only 10 minutes prior to searing. Still, the chops tasted great.

I heated 2 tablespoons of coconut oil over high heat in my large cast iron skillet, and when it began smoking, I added the rack of lamb, meat side down. I let the meat sizzle for 4 minutes until a nice crust formed. Then, I flipped the rack over and cooked it for 2 more minutes on the other side.

Next, the rack went into the oven on the preheated baking sheet.

In case you’re wondering, inside those two other foil packets were Portobello mushrooms that I planned to serve as a side dish.

I roasted the lamb for roughly 12-15 minutes, If you want it cooked medium rare, wait ’til the temperature of the meat reaches 125 degrees; for medium, wait for it to hit 130 degrees. Mine ended up closer to 133 degrees because I kind of forgot to check on my lamb.

After I removed the rack from the oven…