Greek Instant Pot Leg of Lamb
Instant Pot leg of lamb, slow roasted flavor and fork tender lamb in half the time. This Greek-style lamb has all the flavors you'd expect ~ garlic, lemon, oregano, rosemary and thyme, braised in the Instant Pot with wine and stock. Serve with some Greek potatoes and pan juices, no thick gravy here.
Roast lamb is kind of intimidating, at least I think so. My dad, the great cook that he was, made it occasionally, and while it usually was very good, sometimes I found it a little too, well, "muttony". My parents also took us out to eat all the time, all over Chicago. You know where the lamb was always great? Greek Town. Always tender and garlicky and lemony. The Greeks know how to do lamb, that's for sure.
After making my corned beef in the pressure cooker this year, and loving it, I decided to try a boneless leg of lamb for Easter. And with a Greek flavor profile that could compete with my favorite Greek restaurants and Greek friend's home cooking (her pastitsio is to die for!). I think I found it with this recipe.
First off, this is not pink slices of lamb roast, this is unabashedly well-done ~ fall apart tender, juicy and flavorful, not at all tough and dry. Think pot roast, served with pan juices, not gravy. It's lovely this way.
Let's talk boneless leg of lamb for a second. I use about a 4 to 4½ pound roast that comes in a mesh-string bag to hold it's shape together because, well, the bone was removed. I remove the mesh to brown the roast really well and I find you can just reshape it for the Instant Pot, no worries here. Like I said, this is more of a fork tender pot roast, not carved slices of lamb.
STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS
- Season the lamb with paprika, garlic, salt and pepper. Cut slits all over and insert slivers of garlic.
- Heat some olive oil on sauté setting and brown the lamb roast all over.
- Remove the lamb, toss in some onion and garlic and cook to soften.
- Deglaze the pot with some white wine.
- Add some more liquid, chicken stock.
- We're getting there. Turn off the sauté setting and add some more stuff. Lemon juice, fresh thyme and rosemary sprigs, fresh oregano, more dried oregano and bay leaves.
- Return the lamb to the pot, seal and cook under high pressure for 90 minutes.
Remove the lamb to a cutting board. Strain the cooking liquid and skim off quite a bit of the fat. You now have the flavorful juices to spoon over the succulent, tender lamb. I like to serve with Greek potatoes that I roasted in olive oil, lemon, oregano and some chicken stock in the oven until golden brown. Click here to see how to make Greek potatoes like I did.
This Greek Instant Pot Leg of Lamb is such a treat, perfect for the Easter holiday. And leftovers make a wicked gyros sandwich the next day, just sayin' Enjoy ~ Kelly🍴🐦
- I have also made mustard and herb leg of lamb the Julia Child way, delicious!! It is the other way I was talking about with lamb, pink and sliced, a medium rare roast.
- Leftover lamb... try Leftover Lamb Flatbreads!
- This is the advice and method I followed for making Greek potatoes.
This time I made some gyros sandwiches with the leftover lamb. It is easy to slice after refrigeration. I just heated up some of the rendered fat and browned several slices in it, along with some of the pot juices. Pile the browned lamb on warm pita with onions, tomato if you have it, and some tzatziki sauce.
You can use store bought for sure, but here's an authentic and easy recipe for homemade tzatziki that I used. I also popped some leftover potato in the sandwich for good measure, never saw that in Chicago but it's a thing in some places!
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Greek Instant Pot Leg of Lamb
Ingredients
- 4 - 4½ pound boneless leg of lamb, string mesh removed
- Several cloves of garlic, peeled, cut into slivers
- Olive oil
- Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 onion, peeled and quartered
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1¼ cup chicken stock, preferably homemade
- ½ cup lemon juice from 2 to 3 lemons
- 7-10 sprigs thyme
- 3 sprigs rosemary
- 1 sprig oregano
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
- With a sharp paring knife, pierce lamb and make a hole, slip in a sliver of garlic. Repeat and insert as many slivers of garlic as you can, evenly distributed all over the roast.
- Drizzle the lamb with a little olive oil, season all over with the garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the insert on the sauté setting until hot. Add lamb and brown well on both sides, 4 to 5 minutes per side.
- Remove lamb to plate. Add onion and cook until starting to soften. Add a couple whole cloves of peeled, smashed garlic and cook until fragrant. Add wine and deglaze pan, stirring up any brown bits and reducing by about half.
- Turn off sauté setting and add remaining ingredients; chicken stock, lemon juice and herbs. Give a quick stir to combine and place lamb roast back in pot, seam side down. The liquid should come up the sides but not completely submerge the roast, about 2¼ to 2¾ cups, add more stock or water, if needed.
- Seal electric pressure cooker and cook on high for 90 minutes. Let pressure release naturally for 20 minutes, then release any remaining pressure manually. Remove lamb to cutting board, rest 10 minutes. Strain pot juices and skim any excess fat, taste for salt and pepper. Shred/cut lamb into slices/pieces and arrange on platter. Surround with roasted potatoes and spoon defatted cooking liquid all over lamb and potatoes. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
*Inspired by Kalofagas, RecipeTin Eats and Dad Cooks Dinner.
Can I cook the veggies with it or will they fall apart?
You dear lady are the best I`ve seen. My Greek mother would agree.
One ingredient missing in your bechamel sauce for the pastitsio...
Nutmeg!
Nutmeg is a classic addition!
It worked for me!
I used Newcastle Beer instead on white wine and had adjust, by using the meat setting in my InstaPot Duo.
The whole family loved it! It’s so easy and incredible good.
Thanks for letting me know, glad you all liked it!
Love it easy but delicious just love it
Thank you for the receipt
Lamb was too well done. If I do it again I will cook for 75 minutes in my instant pot Duo. Also the gravy required a slurry of 1/4 water and two tablespoons cornstarch.
Those potato’s were fabulous!!
I'm new to Instapot and will be trying this recipe today!
Just a quick, curious question: have you ever tried cooking the potatoes in with the lamb in the pot? Just asking.
Hi Natalie, no I haven’t but that would be so good. I probably would cook the lamb first, and then the potatoes after in the cooking liquid since they really don’t take very long.
What can I use to deglaze instead of alcohol?
You can use chicken stock instead of wine.
I made this today. My second recipe in my duo Plus instantpot. Unfortunately the meat was very dry. Weight was 975g. I cooked it on high for 1 hr 15m. Natural release. Did I overcook it?
I'm not sure, maybe. I cook a roast twice as big for 90 minutes. The meats should be well done and fall apart easily but not be dry or tough. Maybe 50 to 60 minutes is enough for a smaller boneless roast.
We really loved this recipe! Me and my husband both had seconds and he told me several times after dinner that everything had great flavor was really delicious, I did make the roasted potatoes like you suggested and they were heavenly! Only minor adjustment done was less cooking time since my roast was 3.5 lbs I did 80 mins.
I have a boneless 2.33 lb half leg of lamb. What adjustments to the cooking time would you recommend?
Maybe try 75 minutes, that's what I would do.
If I were to try it with a frozen leg of lamb, how long should I pressure cook it?
Thanks!
I really don’t know and wouldn’t recommend frozen for this recipe, it would be difficult to insert garlic slivers, season and brown and would most likely cook unevenly because it’s braised. And the time would be significantly longer. I would suggest thawing the lamb first.
The flavours here are wonderful. I had a 3 lb leg of lamb so I adjusted the time downward accordingly (reduced by 20 min). Unfortunately, parts of my roast were tough - is that a result of overcooking? undercooking? Would love to make this again, just need to nail down this aspect!
I think undercooking is the reason for the toughness, it's supposed to be fall apart tender, try the stated time and I think you'll be good.
@Kelly, I would lay out the lamb and with a sharp knife even out the lamb so it lies flat then roll it, tie it, it should cook evenly.
How long for 1.5 pounds of lamb?
Try 40 - 45 minutes and see how that goes. I would think that would be long enough for a small lamb roast.
@Kelly, my lamb is butterflied boneless, and just over 2 pounds do you think 60 mins?
I'd guess 50 to 60 minutes for about two pounds.
Leg of Lamb made easy for Easter.
How would you alter the cooking time if the leg had a bone in?
If it's around the same weight, I'd cook the same amount of time. If much larger, you might need to add 10-20 minutes to the cooking time.
Very helpful recipe, especially since I have had trouble finding recipes online for lamb that is well done. I didn't copy the seasoning, but the cooking time was helpful. One of my first Instant Pot attempts, and I'm happy with it.
Good to hear, glad it helped.