Real-deal Xinjiang cumin lamb recipe that yields crispy juicy lamb pieces coated with a bold cumin chili spice mix, stir fried with onion, garlic and cilantro. It’s a dish you can easily make at home, and it tastes just like what you’d get in China. {Gluten free adaptable}
Cumin lamb (孜然羊肉, Zi Ran Yang Rou), originally from Xinjiang cuisine, is such a popular dish that I thought was a Beijing dish growing up. It is just one of those dishes you see everywhere, no matter whether in a small diner or high school cafeteria.
When visiting China for the first time, especially the northern or western part of the country, you might be surprised at how popular lamb is. As a matter of fact, it is a staple for the Chinese Muslim community, which consists of about 20 million people. My family serves lamb quite a lot because my grandma used to make a mean lamb stew. Now, living in the US, where lamb dishes are not very common, I cook this dish at home to satisfy my nostalgia.
What is cumin lamb
Cumin lamb, when done properly, is very addictive. The lamb cubes are crispy on the surface and buttery tender inside. They are coated in a bold spice mix that includes cumin powder, chili pepper, and Sichuan peppercorns. Tossed in a fragrant oil with plenty of aromatics such as ginger, garlic, and onion, the lamb comes out like a flavor bomb that explodes in your mouth.
If your knowledge of Chinese food is based on Americanized-Chinese-style dishes from takeout restaurants in the US, you might be shocked to find out this dish does not include a stir fry sauce. That’s right! It is a different type of stir fry that uses dry spices instead of a sauce to season the food. Sometimes Chinese cookbooks call it a dry stir fry. It is actually the cooking method that’s most popular in the northern part of China, where I grew up.
This recipe uses a very easy approach to help you recreate the authentic experience in your own kitchen, without using a wok.
Ingredients
What cut of lamb to use
My favorite cut for cumin lamb is lamb leg. The meat has just the right amount of fat to keep the cooked pieces juicy and it’s very flavorful. If leg is not available, other cuts such as medallions, deboned loin chops, and stew meat are OK as well.
Mise en place
When you’re ready to cook, your table should have:
- Dried chili peppers and chopped ginger and garlic
- Cilantro
- Marinated lamb coated with cornstarch
- Spice mix
- Onion
How to cook cumin lamb
To cook cumin lamb:
- Sear the lamb in a heavy pan
- Once the lamb is browned and the inside is still pink, transfer it to a plate
- Saute the aromatics and chili pepper
- Add the onion for a quick stir
- Add back the cooked lamb with spice mix
- Stir to coat everything
Achieving the perfect cumin lamb stir fry
Here are some short but very important notes to help you cook the real-deal cumin lamb with perfectly cooked meat and a bold flavor.
1. Cut the meat to proper size
Although cutting the lamb into thin slices is the most popular way in Chinese restaurants, I stick to cubes when it comes to home cooking. Since the stoves in most home kitchens are not as powerful as those in restaurants, cutting the meat this way will help you avoid overcooking and yield tender meat.
2. Marinate the meat
This might be the most important step. Not only will the liquid ingredients eliminate any gamey flavor from the lamb, they also tenderize the meat over time. If you have extra time, I highly recommend marinating the meat for an hour or even longer, which will yield ultra-tender lamb.
3. What pan to use
My favorite piece of cookware is the heavy duty carbon steel 12.6-inch frying pan from DeBuyer. It’s extremely helpful if you use an electric stove at home. It heats up very hot, holds heat well, and is nonstick when properly seasoned. Instead of stirring the meat constantly, I sear each side until just golden while the inside is slightly pink, then set it aside. This way, the meat will be cooked perfectly at the end.
4. Use a generous amount of oil
It might look like a lot of oil, but remember, we’re cooking a dry stir fry and need plenty of oil to toast the spices and bind the ingredients together. Without enough oil, the spices will burn easily and stick to the skillet.
5. Add the spice mix at the right time
Don’t add the spices too early, which will burn them. And not too late, because we want to toast the spices with the hot oil so they are extra fragrant. We add them at the end of the cooking, and leave them in the pan for about 1 minute.
6. Use plenty of aromatics
Fresh garlic, ginger, and onion are the key components and make the lamb extra fragrant. Also, don’t be surprised by the huge bowl of dried chili peppers. Their purpose is to add aroma to the oil, but not spiciness. Make sure you use mild Chinese or Korean chili peppers, so the dish won’t be too spicy. If you prefer a less spicy dish, add 2 to 3 dried chili peppers instead of the quantity listed.
That’s it! Now you have the secret weapon to recreating the real-deal cumin lamb in your own kitchen. I hope you enjoy the dish as much as I do!
More Xinjiang-style recipes
- Da Pan Ji (Chicken Potato Stew with Noodles, 大盘鸡)
- Xinjiang Lamb Skewers (新疆烤串, chuar)
- Ding Ding Chao Mian (丁丁炒面, Fried Noodles in Lamb Tomato Sauce)
- Uyghur Lamb Pilaf (Polo, 羊肉抓饭)
- Baked Samosa, Two Ways (Uyghur Lamb Meat Pie, 烤包子)
Real-Deal Xinjiang Cumin Lamb (孜然羊肉)
Ingredients
- 1 lb (450g) lamb leg , cut to 3/2-inch (1.5-cm) cubes
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
Spice mix
- 2 tablespoons cumin powder
- 2 teaspoons Sichuan chili flakes (or Korean chili flakes)
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground Sichuan peppercorns (Optional)
Stir fry
- 4 tablespoons peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
- 1/2 cup dried Chinese chili peppers
- 1 small white onion , large diced
- 1 thumb ginger , minced
- 5 cloves garlic , sliced
- 1 cup cilantro , chopped
- Toasted sesame seeds for garnish (Optional)
Instructions
- Combine lamb, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, and salt in a big bowl. Mix well. Let marinate for 20 minutes at room temperature, or in the fridge up to overnight.
- Combine the ingredients for the spice mix in a small bowl.
- When you’re ready to cook, drain the extra liquid from the bowl of lamb. Add the cornstarch, a few tablespoons at a time, and mix, until all the lamb pieces are coated.
- Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add the lamb pieces and spread them out with a pair of tongs or chopsticks, so they don’t overlap. Let cook without touching until the bottom side turns golden, 1 minute or so. Flip the lamb and cook the other side until slightly golden, while the inside is still a bit pink, 30 to 40 seconds. Transfer the lamb to a big plate.
- Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, the dried Chinese chili peppers, ginger, and garlic. Stir a few times to release the fragrance. Add the onion. Stir and cook for about 1 minute, until the onion just starts to turn tender. Add back the lamb and sprinkle the spice mix all over. Stir immediately to coat the lamb with spice. Remove the pan from the stove and carefully try one piece of lamb. Sprinkle a bit more salt on it, if needed.
- Add the cilantro and give it a final stir. Transfer everything to a big plate immediately. Serve hot as a main dish.
Video
Nutrition
The recipe was published on Jan 2, 2018 and updated on Jun 22, 2022 with new video and images.
That’s an awesome recipe! For me it was even easier than ‘regular’ stir fry, no bother with the sauce 🙂 Tried a similar dish in a takeout – they slice the lamb more thinly but I actually preferred your way – the meat is way more juicy. Would for sure make again!
Hi Valentina, thanks so much for trying out the recipe and I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the dish. Yes, I’ve tried stir frying with thinly sliced lamb before, but it’s so tricky to keep the meat tender.
Hope you have a great day 🙂
This is one of our family’s restaurant favourites here in Beijing – adding this to the list of “try at home” (…with ayi supervision, as she laughs and watches!).
Hi Darcey, I believe your ayi will be quite impressed if you cook the dish and let her taste it 😉 Happy cooking and hope you enjoy the dish as much as I do!
Flavor was awesome! We eat paleo, so I made some substitutions to avoid gluten and processed sugar. I did use tapioca starch instead of cornstarch, and I’m not certain that switch had the same effect. I was hoping the lamb would be a bit crispier. Was that meant to be the case in the original recipe?
Happy New Year Maggie from a cold and wet France. Thanks for another lovely recipe, I am looking forward to cooking many
more of your recipes over the coming year, they are always so good and full of useful advice.
Happy New Year Tricia! Thanks so much for your kind words. I hope you have a happy and delicious new year 🙂
Hi Maggie,
Thanks for this recipe. I recently introduced my husband to XinJiang food when we visited Omar’s Restaurant in Los Angeles. It blew his and his parents’ mind that there’s halal Chinese food. I can’t wait to try this cumin lamb recipe and make it for him.
By any chance do you know how to also do cumin lamb on skewers?
I’ll let you know when I make it and how it turns out.
Hi Anna, I’m glad to hear Xinjing food is well received in your family! I do have a lamb skewer recipe here: http://omnivorescookbook.com/xinjiang-lamb-skewers/
Happy cooking and can’t wait to hear how the dish turns out 🙂
Hi Anna,
Since you live in Los Angeles, you should also visit Dolan’s Uyghur Cuisine, city of Alhambra. The brother of Omar’s restaurant opened the same restaurant , it’s bigger and fancy in city of Artesia. Another one is Silk Road Garden, city of Rowland Heights. Happy eating.
This was delicious! I didn’t even realize how much I’d missed this dish. Thank you!
You’re the most welcome Georgia! Happy cooking 🙂
About your statement:
“If your knowledge of Chinese food is based on Americanized-Chinese-style dishes from takeout restaurants in the US, you might be shocked to find out this dish does not contain a stir fry sauce. ”
Your assertion that using a stir-fry sauce is somehow not authentic and limited to Americanized Chinese food is very short-sighted. Chinese people in the South regularly use what you call a “stir-fry sauce” regularly in wok cooking. Seems somewhat amateurish to try to distinguish your cuisine as authentic by dismissing techniques that are indeed found in Southern Chinese and Americanized Chinese food as not authentically Chinese. It is also rather presumptuous that your audience is only familiar with Americanized Chinese food, as Chinese people and their cuisine have been in North America for over a century. It appears to be a cheap knock at the efforts of early Chinese immigrants to adapt Chinese cuisine with the ingredients available to them then.
Another quick lesson for you is that “dry stir fry” or 干烧 is not just a technique unique to the North, and Southerners have several dishes that employ this technique that North Americans have been exposed to.
Hi Lin, sorry! I never meaned to say that stir fry with sauce is not authentic. I wrote it this way because most of my American readers only know Cantonese type saucey stir fry from Chinese restaurant here in the US and it took quite some length to explain the different types of stir fries. I rarely claim my recipes are authentic and others are not, because I moderate recipes to adapt it for home cooks outside of China, and most of them do not reflect authentic method used in China. Apologize if my post is offensive.
You are way too kind in this reply! That is why I love you and your recipes! No fuss and genuinely delicious!
I had this in China and loved it. Cant wait to recreate it at home.
Happy cooking and hope your dish turns out great 🙂
I just made this as a treat for my birthday. It was delicious. This is one I will make over again. With great recipes like this, I have a hard time finding a dish to eat in a restaurant. Thank you so much for posting the recipe along with the history of the dish.
I’m so glad to hear you enjoy the dish Stephanie! Me too, I make it once in a while for a treat 🙂
Thanks for all the kind words and hope you have an awesome day!
Dear Maggie,
Just made this cumin lamb dish and this really got me off my track. This is magnificent! Such a wonderful sensation, how the chilies tingle and the hint of Sichuan pepper sticks to the palate afterwards.
Thank you so much for your wonderful recipes.
I’m so happy to hear you made the dish! A lot of my friends love this dish so I took a lot of time refine the recipe. Glad to hear you like it as much as I do! 🙂
Hi Maggie,
One thing I forgot to mention: it was not clear to me where the Shaoxing wine should be added. Is this for marinating the meat?
Regards,
Sytse
Oops, I forgot to mention it in the recipe steps. Yes, it is for marinating the lamb. I just added it to the recipe. Thanks so much for letting me know!
Exceptional recipe: quick, authentic, delicious. The best cumin lamb I’ve made yet. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Thanks for the kind words, Emil! It’s one of our favorites as well.
This is also very good with chicken breast substituted for the lamb.
It is a wonderful recipe
I have become addicted to your blog, you do such a fantastic job. Thank you.
I am excited to soon try this recipe with Icelandic lamb, which is said to be the world’s best lamb and has a very own taste to it. However, Shaoxing wine or sherry are very (impossible?) hard to get in Iceland – what do you recommend as an alternative?
Thank you and greetings from Iceland
Thanks for sharing! I made this today and it was delicious. I used lamb hot pot meat instead of cubes.
Made it for dinner tonight and turned out so delicious! The only adjustment I made was adding some cumin seeds in addition to the powder. Definitely up there in my top favorite recipes from your blog. Many thanks!!
The real-deal Xingjiang cumin lamb recipe indicates the lamb should be “1 pound lamb leg, cut to 3/2-inch (1.5-cm) cubes.” Do you mean “…2/3-inch (1.5-cm)…”?
Sorry about the confusion! Yes I mean 2/3. Just edited the recipe. Thanks for letting me know!
Nice! I often made what I thought was cumin lamb and it was one of my best dishes, but this version is even better.
This is great! Quick and easy with a relatively short ingredients list. I used chicken thighs instead of lamb and it was fantastic. I served it with rice and stir fried garlic-sesame greens. My boyfriend called it a perfect meal. This is going into rotation for sure. Thanks for posting!
Mine tasted delicious. Thank you for your recipe 😀
Quite interesting flavor but my lamb meat was a bit too chewy ☹️
I liked it but doubled up on everything– onions, garlic, ginger and used hand-pulled noodles instead of rice. It’s a keeper. Many thanks.
Do you use lamb with skin here
Hi Imran, for this recipe you should use skinless lamb. Happy cooking!
This is delicious! I did make some changes: I used stew beef (already cut into chunks) instead of lamb since neither the local Asian market or my regular grocery store had lamb. I doubled the spices and used rice wine vinegar to substitute for shaoxing wine. I accidentally marinated the beef with the cornstarch added to the marinade but it doesn’t seem to have made a difference. I added cumin, red chili flakes, ginger, and onion powder to the rice cooker. I also added broccoli to make it more of a complete meal. It’s absolutely delicious! The whole dried peppers really lend a wonderful tingly spice as a supporting act to the meat itself, which is so juicy and tender – definitely marinate overnight! I will definitely be making this again!
Perfect! This recipe turned out better than the best Sichuan restaurants I frequent.
So good! I picked this recipe while trying to use up some lamb that had sat in the freezer a little too long but the flavor turned out great and the lamb was so tender! It’s great for us to make this at home since my children can’t handle spicy, la, heat. But they do love Sichuan peppercorn, so even omitting the Chinese peppers we still had tons of flavor. So happy to find this is easy to prepare at home, thank you!
Omg – where has this site been all my life! Every dish I’ve tried so far turns out restaurant quality. The cumin lamb was amazing – better than any I’ve had out. I may never eat out again. Thank you Maggie!
I used this as the basis of my lamb dish and added some bulgogi sauce and shitake mushrooms. Absolutely delicious.
I will try this lamb recipe tomorrow.
While I like all sorts of spicy food my wife does not.
Generally, what can I do to temper the heat of some of your dishes and still preserve the flavour?
Hi Peter, yeah you can definitely makes the dish less spicy. You can skip the Sichuan chili flakes from the spice mix (or use a very small amount if you wish). In the stir fry, you should still use a few dried chili peppers to infuse aroma to the oil. The dish won’t turn spicy if you use the mild dried chili peppers. I would definitely keep the Sichuan peppercorns or even use more. It has different sensation than spiciness and it adds a lot of aroma to the dish.
This recipe blew my mind! I made it exactly as written. I ensured not to crown the pan allowing the lamb to develop an excellent crusty brown. The flavors are addictive!! I. Could. Not. Stop. Eating. It.. Thank you so much for sharing🙂🙂
Awesome recipe, but when I first tasted the dish I really felt like something was missing. Like you had the flavor hit the roof of your mouth and around the sides but it was missing roundness to it – something that completes the dish. After some trial and error I figured it out- it needed five spice!!!!!!!!! With the five spice it’s perfect
Your recipe for Real-Deal Xinjiang Cumin Lamb is a winner, thank you so much! I had some fatty shoulder chops so I cut the meat off and made your dish last night. I was heavy on the chili flakes for the extra heat and it was a fantastic meal served with white rice. The dish looked as good as yours as well. Your dish matched some of the best that I have had in restaurants in Canada and the US. Well done.
Basic recipe is fine but the aromatic and spice levels are overwhelming even for sophisticated palates accustomed to Sichuan cooking. Cumin, red pepper flakes, red peppers, garlic — I will try this recipe again cutting them 50%. This is probably a country-style recipe rather than one which would be served at a fine restaurant in Beijing.
Nonetheless, thanks for posting this.
This looks amazing! I’d like to adapt it to use as Kao Baozi filling. I was thinking of making it as stated, and then take out the hard bits (chili peppers) before stuffing the buns. Do you think this would work or would the meat end up being over cooked? Or do you have any suggestions that might help?
I’ve seen buns using similar method (as a way of using leftovers in a different way). If you use the recipe directly I think the meat will definitely be overcooked.
I would under cook the lamb if using them in the buns. Also chill the cumin lamb in the fridge before steaming. That would help.
I made this and it was fabulous.
I shared your link on Reddit.
Hope you don’t mind. 🙂
No problem at all! Thanks for sharing and I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the dish 🙂
This was sooo good! I made it with fresh cumin in my spice grinder, coriander+spinach instead of cilantro, and I wanted to lighten up the night so I made this with seitan instead of lamb. Really let that cumin and sichuan peppercorn shine!
Tasty! I was a bit hesitant about the amount of cumin but it was perfect. Thank you for the recipe.
Hi – I’m definitely going to try this but one question – how long is the lamb actually cooking? About 2 minutes during the sear and than just long enough to coat with the spices at the end? That sounds like a short time to cook the meat, so just want to make sure I didn’t misread anything. Thanks!
Hi David, the lamb will need a very short cooking time otherwise they might turn very tough. It’s not necessarily 2 mins depending on your stove, but you should leave the center a bit pink. They will be cooked more once you add them back to the pan, ideally, just cooked through when you’ve done cooking.
Wow – I tried it as written and turned out perfectly tender and delicious! Anyway, thanks for the recipe!
I will try this with pork. Anything I should watch out for? I am looking for a recipe like the Cumin Ribs at Di Shui Dong Shanghai and this looks close to its taste
I think you can use the recipe for pork without any issues 🙂 Happy cooking!
The Uighurs and Hui don’t consume alcohol. How would they make it?
I think they simply skip it.
These dishes are very properly in Beijing and we do use alcohol to adds another layer of flavor. But since the spice mix is quite strong I think it’s totally Ok to cook without the wine.
This was AMAZING!!!! The best taste – wanted to eat more but excited again to have it tonight.
Delicious recipe! The lamb came out perfectly cooked and was not gamey at all. I used lamb shoulder & a non stick pan and would recommend trimming off most of the fat before cooking. I marinaded it for about 8 hours and flipped the lamb chunks half way through to get even coverage.
We’ve made this vegetarian by replacing the lamb with deep fried tofu (apologies). Otherwise we kept everything the same. Excellent flavor combinations. Don’t forget salt!
I had this for dinner last and so delicious.I had know dried Chinese chili peppers so substituted them with Red Peppers and still tasted Beautiful.Thank You Maggie for teaching me to cook Chinese with your Beautiful Recipes.
Thank you so much for this recipe! I fell in love with cumin lamb at a local Szechuan restaurant, and the flavor profile of this Xinjiang version reminds me very much of that. It’s now in my regular rotation. I just want to add that the Korean chili flakes do work really well and sometimes I skip the cornstarch when I get some really good, fatty cuts of lamb.
Thus recipe works, hint if adding xtra veges, cook them separately first with ginger garlic and an additional teaspoon of spice mix. This recipe is great and is the only time my wife who is Chinese, said my. Cooking was correct taste for the dish.
I will definitely do this – what size should the lamb cubes be approx?
I am still looking for Dry Fried Cumin Ribs like you get at Di Shui Dong in Shanghai 🙁
1/2″ or slightly larger (about 1 cm) cube is great. I love the dry fried cumin ribs too, but it’s a bit hard to make (I think it’s slow cooked first, then deep fried), also I cannot find the correct rib cuts in the US. One of these days I might develop a recipe but I probably need to use lamb chop instead.
Do you have a video showing how to prepare this dish?
I don’t have one right now but I’ll make sure to add it to me to-do list 🙂
I had this dish from a noodle place in Seattle- true love at first bite- can’t wait to try my hand at this dish-thanks so much!
Let me know how it goes! Happy cooking 🙂
Great recipe! Flavors were popping in all directions. Is MSG an ingredient that would enhance this dish? If so, what amount? Thanks!
Yes! MSG kinda enhance everything you cook lol You can use a small amount like 1/4 teaspoon in many stir fry dishes that yield 4 servings. It will make the dish slightly saltier (but less salty than using 1/4 teaspoon salt). If you’re concerned about the salt level, slightly reduce the salt or the soy sauce.
Good and Simple. It makes me sad what is happening in that city. Shameful.
This was an awesome recipe. I think I messed up on the peppers though. Are they supposed to be chewy?
Hi David, the peppers are there to add flavor and for the appearance of the dish, and you shouldn’t eat them. They are dried peppers so they are quite tough. If you prefer some peppers in the dish, I would simply chop up some mild chili peppers such as anaheim or cubanelle, and add them along with the onions.
Made it with chicken. Fireworks in the mouth. A great recipe for one of the truly great dishes in the world. Ma la heaven!!!
Hi, the recipe instructions is missing the shaoxing wine. Didn’t realize it was part of step 1 until I watched the video
Sorry about that! I just updated the recipe and now it is correct.
Hi this all looks amazing, but – 1/4 cup corn starch for a pound of meat? That sounds like way too much. Other recipes for similar dishes usually call for about a TBSP or so
I used quite a bit of cornstarch to create a light batter, combined with a bit more cooking oil, you will have a lightly fried lamb (similar to the restaurant style, slightly crispy, but not as crispy as deep fried). It’s totally OK to reduce the cornstarch to 1 tablespoon. The meat will be tender and juicy, but won’t be crispy.
The best in life, is exactly the dish i ate in a Beijing restaurant. Amazing and easy, the way u write is smooth and u simplify a very complex process to easy to follos steps
Ok, so I totally bastardized it and used the flavor-profile to make myself a stir-fried brown rice with ground lamb and a bit of sesame oil because I didn’t have seeds and, you know what? Still good! It’s a good combo of spices, however you do it. Thanks.
Such a lovely recipe. Yummy!!!
Took me three tries to nail it but more than worth the effort. What worked for me finally was cutting the lamb and onions into the proper size pieces (the video helped a great deal), marinating the lamb over night, and proper browning of the lamb.
We raise sheep, grow our own peppers, onions, garlic, and cilantro so this recipe is just a joy for me to have figured out. While the Sichuan peppercorns may be optional I highly recommend including them. Your happy tingly mouth will thank you. Thank you so much for sharing
This is a truly fantastic recipe! It’s deeply flavorful, beautiful, and not too hard to execute. I doubled the sichuan pepper, as I love the mala effect. And I have made it with chicken thighs to excellent effect, in addition to the original lamb. Yum! Truly addictive!
Maggie, great recipe.
Just returned from Datong and enjoyed this with a full roasted leg. Not cubed. Wow.
I’m thinking of a Thanksgiving dish here in November.
I used lamb loin, which is normally expensive but I got a good price.
I liked this a lot – used a variety of peppers (bell, nardello, etc) and onions but will likely increase qty and variety of root vegetables next time