These Instant Pot lamb shanks are braised in a rich and deeply flavored red wine until they’re fall off the bone tender! They take a fraction of the cooking time compared to oven braised lamb shanks, and are much easier to make in the Instant Pot.
Looking to recreate your favorite braised lamb shanks that you find on the menu at fancy fine dining restaurants? I will walk you through the steps, with all the details that you need to know to make killer lamb shanks in the Instant Pot!
Whether you’re making these lamb shanks for a special occasion, or you’re making this on a Sunday. This will be a meal that your whole family will love!
This recipe is very similar to my Instant Pot short ribs recipe, tender meat, braised in red wine, a ton of flavor, and served over creamy mashed potatoes with an incredible sauce. I mean, you get the point! 😁
The Ingredients
For the marinade, you will need olive oil, tomato paste, paprika, Italian seasoning, coriander or cumin seeds, salt, and pepper.
Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
For the lamb shanks, you will need:
- Lamb shanks – trimmed of excess fat, frenched or not.
- Onion, garlic, celery, and carrot – what will make your sauce taste fantastic!
- Mild chiles – optional.
- Dry red wine – choose an inexpensive good quality wine (more about this below)
- Cinnamon stick, rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, and chicken broth.
- To thicken the gravy, you will need cornstarch mixed with water.
How to Make Instant Pot Lamb Shanks
First, you need to make the marinade.
- In a large bowl, whisk all of the marinade ingredients together to get a paste-like-marinade.
- Add the shanks to the bowl, and coat them in the marinade. Make sure that the shanks are well coated. Marinate for at least 15 minutes.
- On the Instant Pot press on SAUTE twice to choose the MEDIUM setting, and heat olive oil. The screen will show the HOT message. Add the marinated lamb shanks holding from the bone and meat side down to sear. Then start moving them around until browned from all sides. If you feel like your pot is overcrowded, work in batches with more oil. Don’t skip searing the meat when cooking things like stews, as the best flavor develops as you brown the meat.
- Transfer the shanks to a plate, tent with foil to keep warm and set aside.
- Saute the onion, carrot, and celery, chili if using, and garlic until softened for 5-7 minutes while stirring regularly. Add red wine and let it cook down for a bit (on SAUTE mode).
- Put the shanks back in the pot. Add a cinnamon stick, the fresh herbs, and the bay leaves.
- Add the leftover marinade if anything is left in the bowl, followed by the chicken broth. Make sure that you add the stock to the side so that it doesn’t wash away the seasonings from the meat.
- Secure the lid and set the vent to SEALING. Select the PRESSURE COOK/MANUAL setting and set the cooking time for 60 minutes at high pressure. The Instant Pot will take around 10-15 minutes to come to pressure and start cooking. When the cooking program ends, allow the steam to release naturally.
- Carefully open the lid, and transfer the shanks onto a plate; tent to keep warm.
How to Thicken the Gravy
- Using a mesh strainer, strain the sauce into a bowl pressing to extract all sauces and flavors out of the veggies, then put it back in the pot. Press on SAUTE, when it starts simmering add the cornstarch slurry. Whisk until the gravy is rich, silky and glossy. Taste, and add salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve lamb shanks over mashed potatoes with plenty of sauce. Garnish with chopped fresh herbs.
What Kind of Wine to Use?
- Choose an inexpensive but good quality dry red wine like chianti, cabaret sauvignon, merlot, or shiraz. Pinot wine isn’t suitable for this kind of cooking.
- Non-alcoholic sub: You can substitute the wine with more broth, but I recommend using beef broth instead to give you a richer taste and substitute for the wine.
- 99% of the alcohol will evaporate while cooking, so you won’t taste the alcohol.
How to Serve Instant Pot Lamb Shanks
My favorite way is to serve them over super creamy Instant Pot mashed potatoes, and plenty of gravy. You can also serve them over cauliflower mash, or with the veggies that they were cooked with.
Make sure to save this recipe. This Instant Pot Lamb Shank recipe is the best! If you try it, don’t forget to rate and review the recipe. Enjoy!
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Instant Pot Lamb Shanks
Recipe Video
Equipment
Ingredients
For the marinade
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon cumin or coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon salt and pepper
For the lamb shanks
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 lamb shanks trimmed of excess fat
- 1 large onions diced
- 2 carrots diced
- 2 ribs celery diced
- 2 mild chilis optional – diced
- 2 large cloves garlic roughly chopped
- 1 cup dry red wine inexpensive
- 1 stalk cinnamon
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 cups chicken broth
To thicken the gravy
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
Make the marinade
- In a large bowl, whisk all of the marinade ingredients together to get a paste-like-marinade. Add the shanks to the bowl, and coat them in the marinade. Make sure that the shanks are well coated.
To cook the shanks
- On the Instant Pot press on SAUTE twice to choose the MEDIUM setting, and heat olive oil. The screen will show the HOT message. Add the marinated lamb shanks holding from the bone and meat side down to sear. Then start moving them around until browned from all sides. If you feel like your pot is overcrowded, work in batches with more oil.
- Transfer the shanks to a plate, tent with foil to keep warm and set aside.
- Saute the onion, carrot, and celery, chili if using, and garlic until softened for 5-7 minutes while stirring regularly. Add red wine and let it cook down for a bit (on SAUTE mode).
- Put the shanks back in the pot. Add a cinnamon stick, the fresh herbs, and the bay leaves.
- Add the leftover marinade if anything is left in the bowl, followed by the chicken broth. Make sure that you add the stock to the side so that it doesn't wash away the seasonings from the meat.
- Secure the lid and set the vent to SEALING. Select the PRESSURE COOK/MANUAL setting and set the cooking time for 60 minutes at high pressure. The Instant Pot will take around 10-15 minutes to come to pressure and start cooking. When the cooking program ends, allow the steam to release naturally.
- Carefully remove the lid, and transfer the shanks onto a plate; tent to keep warm.
To thicken the gravy
- Using a mesh strainer, strain the sauce into a bowl pressing to extract all sauces and flavors out of the veggies, then put it back in the pot. Press on SAUTE, when it starts simmering add the cornstarch slurry. Whisk until the gravy is rich, silky, and glossy. Taste, and add salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve lamb shanks over mashed potatoes with plenty of sauce. Garnish with chopped fresh herbs.
Notes:
- Choose an inexpensive dry red wine like chianti, cabaret sauvignon, merlot, or shiraz. Pinot wine isn’t suitable for this kind of cooking.
- Non alcoholic sub: You can substitute the wine with more broth, but I recommend using beef broth instead to give you a richer taste and substitute for the wine.
- If you would like to use the vegetables, you can blend them with the sauce until smooth. The gravy won’t be super smooth or glossy, but it will still taste great.
- When prepping the veggies, don’t worry too much about finely chopping them into a fine dice. A rough chop works fine.
- Use cornstarch to thicken the sauce and get a translucent gravy, or flour for opaque one.
- Don’t skip searing the meat, as the best flavor develops when searing the meat first.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
Sean Henry says
Wonderful recipe! I followed it quite closely, but in the new upgrade from my old Instant Pot – The 8 qt. Zavor Lux. It turned out beautifully! The exotic blended flavors of cumin seeds and cinnamon really sets this dish apart from the rest. The only thing I did differently was not to strain the sauce and add a cornstarch slurry, but to quickly puree the soft vegetables into the sauce right in the pot with my immersion blender (after picking out the bay leaves and herb twigs, of course!), This recipe creates a lot of sauce, and I can use the leftover sauce in other recipes.
Colleen says
Fantastic! Delicious and so easy. Family loved it and I will make it again. The sauce was silky and flavourful.
Carol A Gentle says
Never made lamb shanks but was not disappointed using this recipe. It was flavorful and fell of the bone. Would make it again.
Aisha Aseron says
Can a de-alcoholized red wine be used? Because the taste of wine does remain the same, would that alter the taste of it?
Diana says
Yes, that should work!
Wande says
Made this today. First time making lamb shanks. I did marinate them overnight first with salt, garlic powder and coriander seeds. I didn’t have any cinnamon sticks or rosemary so I just used thyme and bay leaves. Turned out amazing! I had 4 very large shanks so I added 10mins to the cooking time and I ran out of time to allow it to release pressure itself so I released the vent. Still super moist and yummy.