Grilled Lamb Loin Chops with Blackberry Salsa
This impressive recipe for Grilled Lamb Loin Chops topped with Blackberry Salsa is truly restaurant worthy, thanks to its Southwestern flavors and a wonderful spicy salsa.
We eat lamb chops for dinner often in my house, and besides grilling these delicious lamb chops, I love my skillet-cooked lamb chop recipe of lamb chops in caper sauce. I have beautiful recipes for broiled lamb loin chops and broiled lamb rib chops too.
Lamb has a fairly earthy, robust flavor. I grew up eating it on my grandparent’s ranch, so I’m pretty crazy about lamb of any kind, including leg of lamb, lamb shanks and rack of lamb! Lamb loin chops are a meaty cut of chops, making for a more hearty dinner. They’re pretty delicious served with couscous, orzo or a spring salad.
To make this recipe super easy, make the salsa ahead (even the day before is fine). The time to grill lamb chops is only about 10 minutes. Easy peasy!
Ingredients Needed for Grilled Lamb Loin Chops:
- Bell Peppers: We use yellow bell peppers for this recipe, but red bell peppers or orange bell peppers will work too.
- Orange Juice: Pick up an orange and squeeze it fresh!
- Blackberries: You can use fresh or frozen blackberries to make the blackberry salsa. I recommend fresh, if they’re in season.
- Onion: Use a sweet yellow onion.
- Lime: Pick up a couple of fresh limes to make freshly squeezed lime juice.
- Fresh Chile: Habanero is suggested for this recipe, but you can sub a jalapeno. And if you’re not into spice at all, leave the pepper out of the recipe completely.
- Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- Oil: Any neutral, high smoke point oil can be used. I suggest canola oil, vegetable oil or grapeseed oil.
- Honey: This will add a little sweetness to the salsa.
- Garlic: Use fresh garlic (not the already chopped, jarred garlic).
- Lamb Loin Chops: Look for lamb loin chops that are about 1 1/2-inches thick and have a bit of marbling to them. They look like mini t-bone steaks.
How to make Blackberry Salsa:
The complete recipe for the salsa and the grilled lamb loin chops is at the end of this post. This is just a brief overview.
- You’ll need roasted bell peppers. Put them under a broiler, and turn them now and then until the skin of the bell peppers is evenly charred. Put the charred peppers in a paper bag, close tightly and let it steam until the peppers have cooled down. Then use your fingers to rub away the skin of the peppers and discard. Chop the roasted peppers, discarding seeds, core and stem.
- In a bowl, combine the chopped pepper with the rest of the salsa ingredients.
- Heat the oil in a saucepan over low heat. When it is hot, add 1¼ cups of the salsa (it may spatter slightly). Stir in the honey and garlic. Simmer, uncovered, stirring often, until the salsa has thickened slightly and looks more cooked than raw, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat and let it cool completely. Remove ½ cup of the blackberry salsa and set it aside.
How to make Grilled Lamb Loin Chops:
- Add the lamb chops to a pyrex pan and spread the blackberry salsa all over the top. Marinate for at least one hour, but it’s better if you can marinate them in the refrigerator overnight.
- When ready to cook, make sure that the lamb chops have been sitting at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Preheat the grill. Add the lamb chops to your grill rack. Pull down the cover on the grill, turning the chops once and basting them with the marinade left in the pan. It should take about 9 minutes to get to medium-rare.
- Serve the lamb chops (two chops per serving) with a little of the reserved salsa spooned on top.
Recipe Tips
- Make sure your lamb chops are at room temperature before grilling (about 30 minutes sitting outside of the fridge). Cold meat will not cook evenly.
- Use tongs vs. a grill fork when grilling to avoid piercing the meat (which will let out the juices in the lamb chop).
- My preference for lamb is when it’s served medium rare with in internal temperature of 135 degrees F. If you like it more cooked at medium, you’ll shoot for about 145 degrees F. Remove the lamb loin chops from the grill when it’s about 8 degrees below your desired temperature for serving. The temperature will rise about 8 degrees upon resting. My advice: use an instant read thermometer so you get it just right!
- Overcooking lamb can make it tough and dry. Undercooking lamb can make it chewy. Watch the temperature closely!
- This same salsa works great with chicken or pork too.
Where can you buy lamb chops?
You should be able to buy lamb loin chops at your local market. Lamb won’t have an extensive selection of choices like chicken and beef will have. But at a minimum, there should be some basic lamb offerings. Of course, a stand-alone butcher shop will probably have some amazing lamb loin chops. And I really love to buy lamb loin chops at Costco in a two pound pack of 8 chops.
What You’ll Love About This Recipe:
- This is a great recipe for entertaining, and it’s a fun recipe to make during grilling season.
- The salsa can be made ahead, which means minimal prep time for grilling.
- This is a WOW meal. It’s one that everyone will love.
PREPARE THE SALSA:
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Roast the bell peppers on a preheated grill or under a preheated broiler, turning occasionally, until the peel is lightly but evenly charred.
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Transfer to a paper bag, close tightly and steam until cool.
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Rub away the burned peel, stem and core the pepper, and chop.
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In a medium bowl, combine the chopped pepper, orange juice, blackberries, onion, lime juice, habanero and salt. Cover and let stand at room temperature to blend the flavors for 2 hours. Adjust seasoning before serving.
MAKE THE LAMB CHOPS:
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In a small heavy saucepan over low heat, warm the oil. When it is hot, add 1¼ cups of the salsa (it may spatter slightly). Stir in the honey and garlic. Simmer, uncovered, stirring often, until the salsa has thickened slightly and looks more cooked than raw, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Reserve ½ cup of the blackberry mixture.
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In a 13×9-inch pyrex pan, combine the remaining blackberry mixture and chops. Cover and marinate, turning once or twice, for 1 hour at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator. (Return the chops to room temperature if chilled).
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Preheat the grill to medium-high. Lift the chops from the marinade and lay them on the rack. Cover and grill, turning the chops once and basting them with the marinade, until it is used up and the meat is done to your liking, about 9 minutes total for medium-rare lamb.
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Transfer the chops to a platter or to individual plates. Season with salt and pepper and spoon the reserved blackberry sauce on top of the chops, dividing it evenly. Serve immediately.
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 559kcal, Carbohydrates: 25g, Protein: 23g, Fat: 41g, Saturated Fat: 16g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g, Monounsaturated Fat: 18g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 94mg, Sodium: 658mg, Potassium: 656mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 14g, Vitamin A: 346IU, Vitamin C: 202mg, Calcium: 55mg, Iron: 3mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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