Tender grilled lamb chops served with flavorful harissa yogurt tahini sauce. Smoky, spicy, and delicious, the Moroccan spices are irresistible.
Death is the mother of beauty. ~ Wallace Stevens
Here’s another delicious catering recipe I wanted to share with you: Grilled Lamb Chops with Harissa Yogurt Sauce. The lamb is seasoned with a simple Harissa spice rub, then grilled alongside summer veggies of your choice. Today I’ve used sweet peppers, zucchini and summer squash. It all gets plattered up together with the flavorful harissa yogurt sauce-an easy and surprisingly fast meal that is perfect for summer grilling and entertaining.
Feel free to use store-bought harissa paste or make your own from scratch, either way, I know you’ll love these North African flavors paired with the lamb. Such a delicious combination!
How to make Grilled Lamb Chops with Harrisa Yogurt Sauce
Step one: This recipe starts making the harissa spice rub. You’ll likely have all the spices in your spice drawer. You can easily do this ahead!
Step two: Prep the lamb. I love using tender lamb chops for this recipe, but lamb sirloin, shoulder, or lamb loin would all work well too. You can also turn these into kababs, threading skewers with one-inch chunks of lamb. If using chops, trim the fat away, then coat generously with the spices.
Step three: Make the Harissa Yogurt Sauce. Simply mix a couple of tablespoons of Harissa Paste to plain yogurt with tahini paste, garlic, salt and pepper. For extra smoky flavor stir in a little smoked paprika. Feel free to whisk this up, up to 3 days ahead.
I usually make my own Harissa Paste, but had this in the cupboard from Trader Joes, so I gave it a try. Also- know that you can make the yogurt sauce without the harissa paste, in a pinch, just add smoked paprika.
Step four: Time to Grill! Heat the grill to medium-high heat. If grilling veggies, I would grill these first then set them aside, covered.
Grease the grill well. Grill each lamb chop for a few minutes on each side- until good grill marks appear. Grill the sides too!
I prefer my lamb cooked to medium or medium rare, but you do you. Cover until ready to serve.
Step five: serve them up. Serve them on a platter with the vegetables and the harissa yogurt sauce on the side. Or drizze some sauce over top of each top. You can also cover the bottom of the platter with the sauce, then pile everything over top- this is how I usually do it.
Scatter with fresh parsley and mint leaves.
Serving Suggestions
Serve the grilled lamb chops with basmati rice, grain, or couscous like you see here. Our Moroccan Rice , Couscous or Cauliflower Couscous would pair nicely along with a leafy green salad or this Cantaloupe Salad with Mint.
A simple flavorful summer meal- I hope you enjoy it!
More Favorite Lamb Recipes!
- Grilled Lamb Chops
- Oven-Roasted Lamb Chops with Indian Curry Sauce
- Grilled Lamb Kebabs with Herb Salad
- Grilled Lamb Kofta Wraps
- Harissa Roasted Leg of Lamb
- Slow-Roasted Lamb Shawarma
- Grilling recipes from around the Globe!
Grilled Lamb Chops with Harissa Yogurt Sauce
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 25
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 1x
- Category: lamb, grilled, dinner recipe
- Method: grilled
- Cuisine: North African, Moroccan
Description
Harissa Grilled Lamb Chops with Harissa Yogurt and summer veggies- a simple easy meal, perfect for summer entertaining!
Ingredients
- 2–3 lbs lamb chops, lamb loin chops or sirloin steaks. ( see notes)
- Grillable veggies – your choice of Zucchini, summer squash, bell pepper, onion, eggplant, mushrooms, etc.
- spray olive oil ( or use regular)
- 15–20 fresh Mint leaves
Harissa Spice Rub:
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon coriander
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon granulated garlic
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon dried mint
- 1 teaspoon whole caraway seeds (optional)
Harissa Yogurt Sauce:
- 3/4 cup plain, full-fat Greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup tahini paste
- 1–2 tablespoons harissa paste (store-bought or homemade Harissa paste) more to taste
- 2 garlic cloves, grated or finely minced
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika – optional
Serve with Grilled Veggies and your choice of grain, quinoa, basmati rice or couscous.
Garnish: a few torn fresh mint leaves and/or Italian parsley leaves
Instructions
- Preheat the Grill to med-high.
- Prep Lamb. Cut lamb chops into single chops or portions. ( Use a sharp chef’s knife and slice in between the bones.) Cut off any excess fat. Pat dry.
- Make Harissa Spice Rub. Mix spices and salt together in a shallow bowl ( big enough to fit the chops) and set aside.
- Dip both sides of each lamb chop, as well as fatty edge, into the Harissa rub, tap the excess off and place on a sheet pan. Or feel free to just sprinkle generously.
- Make the harissa yogurt Sauce. Mix the yogurt with tahini paste, garlic, salt, optional smoked paprika and the harissa paste, starting conservatively, adding more harissa paste to taste. Each Harissa paste has different levels of heat. This would also be good without the harissa paste. 🙂
- Grill: If grilling veggies, lightly toss with olive oil, salt and pepper, and grill these first. Cover, set aside until serving. Grill the lamb chops. Spray the grill with olive oil spray. Place the chops down and grill 3 minutes (covered) or until good grill marks appear. (Don’t fiddle with them too much). Spray the top of lamb chops with spray olive oil, and turn them over. Turn the heat down to medium and grill another 3 minutes. Then, place the fatty edge of the lamb chop on the grill, so they are sitting upright, on their side, leaning them up against each other. ( See picture). Cover, and cook another 2 minutes or so, to melt off that fatty layer. (These are delicious served medium-rare, but feel free to cook through on lower heat if that is your preference. ) Remove from grill, cover with foil until ready to serve.
- To serve, cut the grilled veggies into bite-size pieces, and place them on a platter. Top with the grilled lamb chops. Garnish with fresh mint leaves. Serve the Harissa yogurt sauce on the side or spoon a little on each chop, or spread it out on a plate with everything layered on top.
Notes
Leftovers will keep up to 4 days in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
Serve with a cooked grain like quinoa, basmati rice or even couscous. I used Israeli couscous in the photos
If serving with a cooked grain, make sure to season it. ( Olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon zest, and fresh parsley is nice.) You could serve it on the same platter, underneath the veggies and lamb, or serve it on the side.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3 chops
- Calories: 486
- Sugar: 5 g
- Sodium: 797.6 mg
- Fat: 18.8 g
- Saturated Fat: 8.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 10.7 g
- Fiber: 2.8 g
- Protein: 70.2 g
- Cholesterol: 178.6 mg
Made these in the summer for a small dinner party and they were a huge hit! Amazing flavor! My 2.5 year old loved them as well.
Great to hear Allen!
The worst tasted recepie ever tried.
Oh dear! What do you think was not right about it?
My first time cooking lamb and oh my taste buds!! So delish! My picky teenagers even liked it! I followed recipe exactly; wouldn’t change a thing! I complimented the dish with grilled pita bread/hummus and quinoa. So amazing, thank you!
Delicious! Don’t skip the harissa yogurt – adds a little extra punch! I made Sylvia’s homemade harissa paste and will never buy it in the stores again – so simple!! I believe the rub would taste good on grilled beef as well. Made it for a family party for my father in law’s birthday – he loves lamb and he devoured the lamb chops! Whole family loved it.
Thanks so much Teresa! Glad you enjoyed it!!
Delicious! Don’t skip the harissa yogurt – adds a little extra punch! I made Sylvia’s homemade harissa paste and will never buy it in the stores again – so simple!! I believe the rub would taste good on grilled beef as well.
This is a house favorite. Such different flavors from the same ol’ same ol’…. Another big hit from FAH – Thank you!
YAY! happy you liked it!
Made these for a dinner party last weekend and everyone loved them. So flavorful and really quite easy.