These American skillet lamb chops are made stove top in the skillet with browned cipollini onions. Topped with a fresh tarragon honey mustard sauce, they’re a bright, refreshing and incredibly quick dinner!
And just like that we’re into February.
Month of cutesy heart desserts, chocolate galore, the red velvet (<–gross) takeover and…lamb?
Yep, lamb.
I’m so excited to be working with the American Lamb Board this year to share recipes, tips and info all about this delicious meat.
I feel like there’s definitely this stigma of lamb being complicated or intimidating and as a long time lamb lover, I want to help dispel that misconception because it couldn’t be further from the truth!
My lamb journey started way back in the day with yearly trips around Easter time to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx to procure the best roast we could find for the holiday (along with the obvious cannoli I’d of course insist we grab from the many a bakeries down there).
Marrying a Greek and many Greek festival celebrations later, the lamb love has remained strong straight through.
I also don’t think people realize that lamb can be a great source of lean protein (in cuts like leg, loin and rack) with a healthy dose of omega-3 fats (5x more than beef per serving!), making it a great all-the-time option, not just a holiday celebration meal like these skillet lamb chops and cipollini onions.
If you’re still sitting there thinking “nope, still intimidated!” let’s walk through this one.
From prep start to on the tabled finished (ok, minus the annoyingly long time cipollini onions can take to peel – they’re lucky they’re cute), this skillet lamb chop meal is done in 35 minutes.
That’s it!
Stove top skillet meals are where it’s at and that doesn’t change with lamb.
The lamb and onions basically brown deliciously in some olive oil, butter, salt and pepper and then come to life with the addition of the tarragon honey mustard sauce.
Honey mustard is a staple dressing/sauce combination for me. It’s just so delicious with that perfect balance of spicy mustard and sweet honey. In fact, you’ll find me eating this honey mustard chicken and Brussels sprouts salad pretty much all winter long.
And tarragon is one of those herbs that I don’t use often but when I do I always say to myself “damn, this is delicious, why don’t I use it more often?!”
I love it as the fresh herb in this simple turmeric chicken salad and also use it when making air fryer lamb chops as part of the fresh herb marinade.
The sauce is sweet, bright, herby, refreshing and mustardy all at once and I promise you’ll be wanting to douse anything and everything (not just the lamb!) you can find with it.
To celebrate the month of love, the American Lamb Board is hosting Lamb Lovers Month.
With a fun Lamb Lovers Lib on their site, you determine your language of love. Are you a “Classic Romantic”, a “Homebody Lover” or “Looking for Love”?
Fill out the fun mad-lib style questionnaire and you’ll find out! With your results, you’ll get a recipe that embodies your love category and be entered to win a prize in your category, winners picked weekly!
As evidenced by the fact that when I made these skillet lamb chops and cipollini onions I invited my parents over for a low key dinner by the fire with some delicious red wine in hand, I’m definitely a “homebody lover”, no questions asked.
Give me a cozy meal (like this brown rice penne with lamb and mint pesto), my sweatpants and some wine and you’ve won my heart.
Love this skillet lamb chops and cipollini onion recipe?
Try these other lamb recipes: Peach Honey Grilled Lamb Chops, Pistachio Crusted Lamb Chops with Red Wine Cherries and Apple Cider Braised Lamb Shanks.
Skillet Lamb Chops and Cipollini Onions with Tarragon Honey Mustard Sauce
Ingredients
For the lamb and onions:
- 6 American lamb loin chops
- about 15 cipollini onions, peeled
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- kosher salt and black pepper
For the tarragon honey mustard sauce:
- 1 1/2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- 1 1/2 tablespoons stone ground mustard
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 1/3 cup fresh tarragon
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Place the olive oil and butter for the lamb chops in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Liberally season the lamb chops with salt and pepper.
- Once hot, add the onions to the skillet and let brown on one side, about 3-5 minutes. Flip onions over, cover the skillet and let brown on the other side for another 3-5 minutes.
- Remove lid from the skillet, place the lamb chops among the onions and cook for about 3-4 minutes per side for medium rare.
- Make the sauce by combining all the ingredients except the olive oil in a food processor. With the processor running, drizzle the olive oil in and process until well blended.
- Serve the lamb chops and onions with the sauce.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
*This post is sponsored by the American Lamb Board, one of Running to the Kitchen’s 2016 partners!
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
Great recipe Gina! My wife and I loooove lamb, and take every opportunity to cook it , especially when a new take on it comes up. I’d have to say the tarragon sauce was new for both of us, but did not disappoint (how do you get it so green though?) Been a great year on RTtK so far!
My mum made lamb chops a couple of times each month when I was growing up and I’ve always been smitten with the flavor. Love this skillet version and that gorgeous sauce!
Mmmm….this looks amazing!! Dinner tonight for sure:)
I’m going shopping tomorrow and I know what I’m buying!!! I love lamb, especially this cut. This looks fantastic and perfectly cooked! I like your meat cooking skills though :).
This looks like a quick and delicious meal. Lamb is my favorite meat and the mustard sauce sounds like a perfect complement. Can’t wait to try it out.
We just bought more lamb this week – it is seriously my favorite meat and my boys love it too. This looks so good girl!
Well, this dish is so beautiful!. I am trying to avoid meat for the next few months but I can almost taste this lamb and the onions and the mustard through my screen. Nicely done!
Lamb has a very special place in my heart, as it’s the first thing I ever cooked for my husband when we were dating! I am ALL about this dinner and can’t wait for more delish lamb recipes! Pinned!
The meat looks amazing and the onions too! I have to try it at home