Lamb Chops substitute

Best substitute

Lamb shoulder chops

Use the same amount by weight as the lamb chops you are replacing

Best for braising

Different texture

The best substitutes for lamb chops are lamb shoulder chops (same flavour, a third of the price, but braise them rather than grill them), thick-cut pork loin chops (nearly identical cooking method, sweeter and milder), or beef sirloin or ribeye steaks cut small if you mainly want a fast pan-seared piece of meat. If you specifically need the lamb flavour and lamb is unavailable, goat chops are the only true match.

Other lamb chops substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Thick-cut bone-in pork loin chops
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight
The closest substitute in cooking behaviour: same size, same bone, same three-to-four-minutes-a-side sear, and they take garlic, rosemary and lemon exactly as lamb does.
What changes
What changes is flavour and doneness. Pork is sweet and mild with none of lamb's grassy, faintly gamy tang, and it wants to come off the heat at 145F rather than 130F, so it reads as slightly firmer and drier. Brine them for 30 minutes in salted water first and they stay far juicier.
Best for
grilling, pan-searing, weeknight dinners, cooking for people who dislike lamb
Buy chops at least an inch thick. Thin pork chops overcook before they colour.
3Goat chops or goat loin
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
The only substitute that genuinely tastes like it belongs in the same family.
What changes
Leaner and more mineral than lamb, slightly sweeter, and without lamb's waxy fat aroma, so a rosemary-and-garlic treatment tastes cleaner and a little less rich. Because there is almost no fat to protect the meat, cook it a shade less than you would lamb and rest it well, or braise it. It goes from pink to dry very fast.
Best for
lamb flavour without lamb, grilling with a marinade, braising, halal and Caribbean cooking
Oil the meat generously before it hits the heat, since it will not baste itself.
4Beef sirloin, ribeye or T-bone cut small
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight
If what you actually want is a fast, high-heat, pink piece of meat with a pan sauce, small beef steaks do the job perfectly and are usually cheaper per pound than rib chops.
What changes
The flavour is straightforwardly beefy: rosemary and mint will feel out of place, so switch to thyme, black pepper, garlic butter or a red wine reduction. A ribeye also has more intramuscular fat than a lamb loin chop, so expect a juicier, richer bite and slightly more smoke in the pan.
Best for
quick pan-seared dinners, steak with pan sauce, grilling, guests who dislike lamb
Cut into individual portions of 6 to 8 ounces so the cooking time still matches the recipe.
5Venison loin chops or medallions
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight
A good match in the ways that matter for an elegant plate: dense, fine-grained, dark meat that suits redcurrant, juniper and red wine just as lamb does.
What changes
Venison is much leaner and distinctly more gamy, and it turns liver-like and dry past medium-rare, so pull it at 125-130F and rest it. Best with a knob of butter in the pan for basting, because there is almost no fat of its own.
Best for
special occasion plates, pan-searing, fruit and wine sauces
Cook it noticeably less than lamb. Overcooked venison is unpleasant in a way that overcooked lamb is not.
6Ground lamb patties
Different texture
1 pound ground lamb replaces about 1.25 pounds of bone-in chops
Not elegant, but it keeps the exact flavour you wanted at the lowest possible price, and it is the honest answer when a shop has ground lamb and no chops.
What changes
Shape 4-ounce patties, season heavily with salt, cumin or oregano and garlic, and sear them for three minutes a side. You lose the bone, the rosy interior and the sense of occasion, and you gain a much shorter cooking time and a crust on every surface.
Best for
kofta and kebabs, flatbread dinners, cheap lamb flavour, feeding children
Keep the mix cold and handle it lightly, or the patties turn dense and rubbery.

What is Lamb Chops?

Lamb Chops is Lamb chops, sold as loin chops, rib chops, shoulder chops or British-style lamb cutlets, are small bone-in slices of lamb cut about an inch thick and designed to be cooked fast over high heat and served pink.

Cooking tips

Loin chops, rib chops and cutlets are all quick-cook cuts, but shoulder chops are not, and mixing them up is the most common lamb chop mistake. Loin and rib go on high heat for three to four minutes a side to 130F. Shoulder needs 40 minutes of braising or it stays springy.
Buy chops at least an inch thick, whatever animal they come from. A half-inch chop reaches well done before the outside has browned, which is why thin chops so often taste dry and grey.
Sear the strip of fat along the edge first, standing the chops on that edge in the pan for a minute or two. It renders into the fat you then cook in, and unrendered lamb fat is the main source of the mutton smell people object to.
Rest chops for five minutes on a warm plate before serving. They are small, so they lose their juices onto the board very quickly if you cut into them straight from the heat.
Bone-in weight is misleading when you are shopping. Allow two to three rib chops or cutlets per person but only one large loin or shoulder chop, and buy roughly a third more bone-in weight than the boneless weight a recipe lists.

Frequently asked questions

What is a cheaper substitute for lamb chops?

Lamb shoulder chops, which cost a fraction of loin or rib chops and taste more strongly of lamb, as long as you braise rather than grill them. After that, thick-cut bone-in pork loin chops are cheap and cook by exactly the same method, and ground lamb patties keep the flavour for the least money of all. Rib chops carry the biggest premium purely because they look impressive.

Are lamb cutlets and lamb chops the same thing?

In British and Australian usage a cutlet is a single rib chop cut from the rack, with the long thin bone, while a chop usually means the meatier loin chop with the T-shaped bone. American recipes call both of them chops and distinguish them as rib chops and loin chops. They are interchangeable in any recipe, but cutlets are smaller, so serve two or three per person and shave a minute off each side.

Can I use pork chops instead of lamb chops?

Yes, and it is the easiest swap to pull off, because the size, bone and cooking method line up. Two adjustments: cook pork to 145F rather than lamb's 130F, and expect a sweet, mild flavour instead of lamb's grassy tang. A 30-minute soak in salted water keeps them juicy, and sage, fennel or apple suits pork better than the mint you would serve with lamb.

Can I just leave the lamb chops out of the recipe?

Not really, because in almost every lamb chop recipe the chops are the dish and everything else is a sauce or a side. If you have no meat at all, thick planks of cauliflower, halloumi, or large portobello caps cooked in the same garlic, rosemary and lemon will give you a genuinely good dinner, but treat it as a different recipe rather than the same one with an item missing.

How do I make a substitute taste more like lamb?

Lamb's signature comes from its fat, not its lean, so you cannot fully fake it, and no honest recipe will tell you otherwise. What you can do is lean into the seasonings people associate with it: rosemary, garlic, mint, cumin, oregano and a squeeze of lemon at the end. On pork or beef that reads convincingly as a lamb dish even though the meat itself tastes of what it is.

Related substitutes

More meat & protein substitutes

Lamb Chops substitute

Other lamb chops substitutes

2Thick-cut bone-in pork loin chops

3Goat chops or goat loin

4Beef sirloin, ribeye or T-bone cut small

5Venison loin chops or medallions

6Ground lamb patties