Veal Shank substitute

Best substitute

Cross-cut beef shank (beef osso buco)

Use the same amount by weight, plus 45 to 60 minutes braising as the veal shank you are replacing

Best for osso buco

Different taste

The best substitute for veal shank is cross-cut beef shank, which is the same cut on a grown animal, costs far less, and is sold in most supermarkets as beef shank or soup bones. It needs about an extra hour of braising and tastes stronger and beefier than veal. Lamb shanks are the next best choice and are excellent, and beef cheeks or short ribs work if you want the same silky sauce without a marrow bone. The bone is not decoration: the marrow and gelatin are what give osso buco its body.

Other veal shank substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Lamb shanks
Different taste
Use 1 shank for every veal shank piece
Superb braising meat with the same collagen and marrow, and widely available where veal is not.
What changes
They break down in about two hours into meat that falls off the bone, and the sauce turns glossy. The flavour is unmistakably lamb, grassy and slightly gamy, which sits beautifully with the lemon, garlic and parsley gremolata that finishes osso buco and does change the character of the dish. Shape is different too: a whole tapered shank rather than a neat round, so it reads as a lamb dish on the plate.
Best for
osso buco style braises, rich red wine sauces, gremolata, special occasions
Trim the heavy exterior fat before browning or the sauce turns greasy.
3Pork shank or pork osso buco
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
Increasingly sold cross-cut and labelled pork osso buco, and it is the closest match to veal in flavour, because both are mild and slightly sweet rather than assertively beefy.
What changes
It braises in about two hours and gives a good gelatinous sauce. The differences are that pork is fattier, so skim the sauce, and the meat is a little looser in the grain, so it shreds more readily than veal's tidy fibres. In a saffron risotto milanese setting, this is a very convincing plate.
Best for
osso buco, risotto milanese pairings, milder braises, affordable substitution
The best flavour match. Beef shank is the better texture and presentation match.
4Beef cheeks
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight
No bone and no marrow, but cheeks are so loaded with collagen that the finished sauce turns as glossy and lip-coating as any shank braise, and the meat itself is silkier than shank ever gets.
What changes
Three hours at 300F and it yields to a spoon. What you lose is the visual drama of the bone and the spoonful of marrow that osso buco traditionalists prize, and the flavour is a good deal richer and beefier than veal. Add a couple of marrow bones to the pot to recover most of that.
Best for
braises where presentation is flexible, pasta sauces, very silky texture, make-ahead dinners
The best choice if you want the sauce right and are not serving the meat on the bone.
5Bone-in beef short ribs
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight
Easy to find, bone-in, and full of both fat and collagen, so they deliver a deep, glossy braise in about two and a half hours.
What changes
They are much fattier than veal shank, which makes the sauce richer but means you should chill and lift the fat off before serving, and the flavour is robustly beefy. The bones are not marrow bones, so you get body from connective tissue rather than the buttery marrow centre. Excellent eating, noticeably heavier than the original.
Best for
red wine braises, polenta and risotto dishes, wide availability, generous portions
Cook the day before and skim the set fat. This dish is greasy served straight from the pot.
6Turkey drumsticks or thighs, bone-in
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
The cheap and unexpected option, and it genuinely works: dark turkey leg meat has enough connective tissue to braise for ninety minutes into tender, sliceable meat, and the bone contributes some gelatin.
What changes
It is mild, which is true to veal, but much less rich, so the sauce will be thinner and will want a spoonful of butter stirred in at the end plus a well-reduced wine base. Best when the gremolata and the risotto underneath are doing most of the work.
Best for
light braises, very tight budget, lower-fat cooking, large batches
Add a marrow bone or a splash of demi-glace to give the sauce the body turkey cannot supply.

What is Veal Shank?

Veal Shank is Veal shank is the cross-cut lower leg of a young calf, sold in thick rounds with a ring of marrow bone in the middle, and it is the cut that osso buco is built on because its collagen and marrow melt into the braise.

Cooking tips

Tie each shank round with kitchen string around its circumference before browning. The muscle is held to the bone by a thin membrane that lets go during cooking, and untied shanks fall into loose pieces and stop looking like osso buco.
Brown the flat faces hard in a dry-ish pan before any liquid goes in, and do not skip it because the recipe says braise. Almost all the savoury depth in the finished sauce is built in those four minutes a side.
Braise with liquid coming only two thirds of the way up the meat, not covering it, and keep the pot at 300-325F. Fully submerged shanks poach rather than braise, and the sauce ends up dilute.
Match the timing to what you actually bought: veal shank takes about 90 minutes to two hours, pork shank two hours, lamb shanks two hours, beef shank two and a half to three. Test by twisting a fork in the meat, and if it resists, it simply needs longer, not hotter.
Finish with gremolata, which is raw garlic, lemon zest and parsley chopped together and scattered on at the table. It is not a garnish, it is the acid and freshness that cuts through a very rich braise, and it matters even more when you have swapped in a fattier substitute like short ribs.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use beef shank instead of veal shank for osso buco?

Yes, and it is the standard substitution, sometimes sold outright as beef osso buco. It is the same cross-cut shank with the same marrow bone, so it looks and behaves the same. Two adjustments: give it 45 to 60 minutes longer to become tender, and expect a much beefier, more mineral flavour, which suits a tomato and red wine braise better than a delicate white wine one.

Is veal shank the same as osso buco?

Osso buco is the name of the Milanese dish, which translates as bone with a hole, and it is now also used as a butcher's label for the cut. So a package marked osso buco is cross-cut shank, usually veal, sometimes beef or pork. If a recipe asks for veal shank you can buy anything labelled veal osso buco, and cross-cut veal shin is the same thing again.

Can I use boneless meat instead?

You can, and beef cheeks or chuck will give you delicious braised meat, but be aware of what the bone contributes. The marrow melts into the sauce and gives it a buttery richness, and the bone's collagen is what makes the sauce cling to a spoon. If you go boneless, drop two or three marrow bones into the pot, or add a couple of tablespoons of demi-glace at the end to make up the difference.

Can I just leave the veal out?

Not in osso buco, since the braised shank on the bone is the entire dish. What you can do is keep everything around it: make the saffron risotto milanese, make the gremolata, and braise a substitute such as beef shank, lamb shank or a whole head of cauliflower in the same wine, tomato and aromatic base. The cauliflower version is genuinely good but is a different meal, not a swap.

Why is veal shank so hard to find and expensive?

Veal is a small market in the US, many shoppers avoid it on welfare grounds, and shanks in particular are usually cut to order rather than kept in the case. Supermarket meat counters can often order it with a few days' notice, and Italian delis and independent butchers are the reliable sources. Given the price gap, cross-cut beef shank at a fraction of the cost is a genuinely sensible choice rather than a downgrade.

Related substitutes

More meat & protein substitutes

Veal Shank substitute

Other veal shank substitutes

2Lamb shanks

3Pork shank or pork osso buco

4Beef cheeks

5Bone-in beef short ribs

6Turkey drumsticks or thighs, bone-in