Instant Pot Lamb Shanks
Lamb shanks browned and cooked under pressure with red wine, garlic, rosemary and tomato until the meat slides off the bone.
Photograph credit: lamb shank by stu_spivack · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Flickr · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
The Method for Instant Pot Lamb Shanks
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Season the shanks with the salt and pepper. Set the Instant Pot to sauté and brown the shanks in the oil for 4 minutes per side. Remove them.
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Cook the onion and carrots for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and tomato purée and stir for 1 minute.
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Pour in the wine, scrape the base and reduce for 4 minutes. Add the stock, rosemary and bay leaves.
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Return the shanks and seal. Cook on high pressure for 60 minutes. Release naturally for 15 minutes.
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Lift out the shanks. Skim the fat, then reduce the sauce on sauté for 10 minutes. Spoon over the shanks.
Things to Watch For
- Brown the shanks well: this builds the flavour.
- Skim the fat before reducing the sauce.
- The meat is ready when it falls from the bone at a touch.
If You're Missing Something
- An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
Good to Know About Instant Pot Lamb Shanks
This is what to make in the first cold week, when the oven feels like a treat but you do not have four hours to give it. Lamb shanks are among the toughest cuts on the animal, which is exactly why they turn so rich and sticky once they have been braised.
Brown the shanks all over on the sauté setting, a few minutes on each side, until a dark crust forms. The browning is where the roasted flavour comes from, and the fat that runs out is the base for the vegetables. Use two shanks per pair of people, or one each if they are large.
Stand the shanks upright around the edge of the pot if they do not fit flat. The bone should be pointing upwards so the meat stays in the liquid and the marrow keeps the sauce rich.
After 60 minutes under pressure the meat comes away at the touch of a spoon. Lift out the shanks, skim the fat from the surface of the sauce, and simmer it on sauté until it thickens enough to coat the spoon. Serve over mashed potatoes or soft polenta.
What to Serve It With
Mashed potatoes · Creamy polenta · Green beans · Roast carrots
Leftovers
Keeps for 4 days in the fridge in the sauce, or 3 months in the freezer.
What's in a Serving
Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: weights that include bone are counted as if all of it were eaten, so the figures run high. The calories include 5 g of alcohol a serving, which is not part of the protein, carbohydrate or fat. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked.
First published ; last changed .
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