Lamb Neck substitute

Best substitute

Bone-in lamb shoulder

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

Best for braises

Close match

Bone-in lamb shoulder is the closest swap and works weight for weight in any braise, tagine or stew. Lamb shank is the next best and gives even more gelatin, though it needs an extra 30 to 45 minutes. If your recipe calls for boneless neck fillet, use boneless lamb shoulder cut into similar 2-inch chunks and expect it to hold its shape slightly better. Bone-in beef chuck or beef neck will braise beautifully at 1:1 but the dish will taste of beef, not lamb, so only reach for it if lamb is genuinely unavailable.

Other lamb neck substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Lamb shank
Close match
Use the same amount by weight, or one shank per person
The most gelatinous cut on the lamb, so the braising liquid comes out glossy and lip-sticking rather than merely tasty.
What changes
Best for
braises, slow-roasting, soups where body matters, tagine
Shanks are ropier with more sinew, so give them 30 to 45 minutes longer than neck and keep them mostly submerged. The meat pulls off in coarse strands rather than the fine, buttery shreds you get from neck. Shanks also cost more per pound in most US markets.
3Lamb breast or lamb ribs
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
Cheap, very fatty lamb that delivers a deeper, more openly lamby flavour than neck, at the cost of a much greasier pot.
What changes
Best for
long braises, stews you can chill overnight, slow-roasting
You must chill the braise and lift the fat cap off, or skim aggressively while it cooks, otherwise the sauce is heavy and slick. Yield is low because a lot of the weight is fat and bone, so buy about 25 percent more than the neck weight called for.
4Goat neck or goat shoulder
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight
Leaner and stronger tasting than lamb, so the same tagine or curry comes out gamier and less rich on the tongue.
What changes
Best for
curries, tagine, birria-style braises, soups
Because goat carries far less fat, add two tablespoons of olive oil or a knob of butter at the start and expect to cook 20 to 30 minutes longer. Keep the lid on. Goat is widely available at halal and Latin markets in areas where lamb neck is not.
5Bone-in beef chuck or beef neck bones
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight
Braises to the same falling-apart tenderness, but the dish tastes deeply beefy rather than sweet and musky, which changes the character of a lamb tagine or Irish stew noticeably.
What changes
Best for
stews, braises, when no lamb is available at all
Do not try to make it taste like lamb with extra spice. What does help is keeping the recipe's original aromatics intact so the dish still reads as the intended cuisine, and finishing with a good squeeze of lemon or a spoonful of the recipe's own preserved lemon or vinegar to restore the brightness lamb fat usually cuts through.
6Lamb leg, cubed
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
The least-bad option if leg is the only lamb in the case, but be honest with yourself: it is lean, tight-grained meat with almost no collagen, so it goes from firm to dry and stringy without ever passing through silky.
What changes
Best for
short braises of 60 to 90 minutes, curries finished on the stovetop
Cut into large 2-inch chunks, brown hard, then simmer only until a piece yields to a fork, usually 60 to 90 minutes rather than three hours. Add two tablespoons of oil or a spoonful of butter to make up for the missing fat, and stop cooking as soon as it is tender. The sauce will be thinner because no gelatin is coming out of the meat, so reduce it separately or add a teaspoon of unflavoured gelatin.

What is Lamb Neck?

Lamb Neck is Lamb neck is the hard-working muscle between a lamb's head and shoulder, sold as bone-in slices, whole neck joints or boneless neck fillet, and it is one of the cheapest and most collagen-rich cuts on the animal.

Cooking tips

Lamb neck is a wet-heat cut and nothing else. Its whole appeal is the connective tissue that melts into gelatin somewhere past 165F and over a couple of hours, which is what gives Irish stew and lamb tagine their clinging, glossy sauce. Any substitute you pick has to be a collagen-rich cut too, which is why shoulder and shank work and why loin chops do not.
Bone-in neck slices, sometimes sold as scrag end in British butchers, are about 40 percent bone by weight. If a recipe calls for 2 pounds of bone-in neck of lamb and you are switching to boneless lamb shoulder or boneless neck fillet, use roughly 1.25 pounds instead or you will end up with far too much meat for the liquid.
Brown the meat properly and in batches before any liquid goes in. Lamb neck and its substitutes are all fatty cuts that will steam rather than sear if you crowd the pan, and the browned crust is where a lamb braise gets most of its depth.
Every one of these cuts tastes better cooked a day ahead. Chill the braise overnight, lift off the solid white fat cap, then reheat gently. This is especially worth doing with lamb breast or lamb ribs, which render far more fat than neck does.
If your sauce is thin after braising a leaner substitute, do not add flour. Strain the liquid, boil it hard to reduce by a third, then pour it back over the meat. You get body plus concentrated flavour instead of a floury muffle.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave the lamb neck out?

Not if it is the protein in the dish, because there is nothing left to braise. If lamb neck is one of several meats in a broth or stew, you can drop it and the dish will still work, but it will be thinner and less glossy since neck contributes most of the gelatin. In that case add a peeled marrow bone or a teaspoon of unflavoured gelatin per cup of liquid to restore body.

What is the difference between lamb neck and lamb neck fillet?

Lamb neck is usually sold bone-in, as slices or a whole joint, and is often labelled scrag end or neck of lamb in British and Irish recipes. Lamb neck fillet is the boneless cylinder of muscle taken off that neck. The fillet is tidier and easier to slice, and although it is more tender than the bone-in cut, it is still a slow-cook cut and will be tough if you treat it like a loin. Some recipes do sear neck fillet whole and serve it pink, but that only works with careful timing and a rest.

Why can't I find lamb neck in an American supermarket?

US retail lamb cases mostly stock the high-margin cuts, so you see loin chops, rack, leg and sometimes shoulder, while the neck usually gets ground or sold to restaurants. Ask at a butcher counter, an ethnic grocer, or a halal market and you will often get it for a very low price per pound, sometimes cut to order. Otherwise bone-in lamb shoulder is the substitute to buy.

Can I use lamb shoulder chops instead of lamb neck?

Yes, and they are one of the easiest supermarket stand-ins. Lamb shoulder chops, also called blade or arm chops, are just cross-cut shoulder and carry the same fat and connective tissue as neck. Use them weight for weight, brown them well, and braise until the meat pulls away from the small bones, usually two to two and a half hours.

Is lamb neck the same as lamb shank?

No. Both are cheap, tough and collagen-rich, and both work in the same recipes, but the neck is smaller-grained and softer when done while the shank is ropier and needs longer. Shanks also present better on a plate because of the single upright bone, whereas neck is a scruffier cut that shines in stews and pies where nobody sees the pieces.

Related substitutes

More meat & protein substitutes

Lamb Neck substitute

Other lamb neck substitutes

2Lamb shank

3Lamb breast or lamb ribs

4Goat neck or goat shoulder

5Bone-in beef chuck or beef neck bones

6Lamb leg, cubed