Tips for Reheating Leftover Lamb

Leftover lamb tends to become over-cooked and dry when reheated, but you do not have to avoid using your leftovers because of this. There are ways to reheat leftover lamb to ensure that bacteria have been killed for food safety and the meat remains moist and juicy.

If you are making lamb racks ahead of time and anticipate having extras, remove the extra lamb racks from the heat when the meat is cooked to rare. Cool the racks to room temperature and tightly wrap. Store the cooked lamb in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and cook the leftover lamb, wrapped in foil, for 15 minutes to reach medium-rare heat. Increase the cooking time to 20 minutes for medium. Leave the lamb covered with foil for 15 minutes after removing it from the oven to rest before serving. During resting, the internal temperature of the meat will slightly rise and the juices will return to the inner portion of the meat.

Instead of serving the lamb in the same form, dice the meat and reheat it in a casserole. The liquid from the casserole will keep the meat from drying out and becoming tough. One casserole from "The Blue Ribbon Country Cookbook" combines diced lamb, cooked carrots, mushrooms, onions and lamb gravy together. This recipe is easily adaptable to the ingredients you have on hand. Substitute other vegetables for the carrots and mushrooms and opt for canned beef gravy if you do not have lamb gravy. Top the casserole with mashed potatoes before baking it to make a shepherd's pie.

Cool all leftover lamb to room temperature and refrigerate it within two hours, or freeze, tightly wrapped for up to two months. Thaw frozen leftovers in the refrigerator overnight before reheating. Use a food thermometer to determine when your meat is heated through. Reheat leftover lamb meat to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit to kill any bacteria.

Grind leftover lamb in a food processor while still cool from the refrigerator. Fill 6 inch rounds of pie dough with 1 tbsp. of ground lamb. Fold the pie dough round in half to make a semi-circle and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes or until golden browned. Serve the lamb pockets with yogurt sauce for dipping.