If you want medium-rare lamb, this is not the recipe for you. We're going completely in the other direction - lamb cooked so long that it is fall-off-the-bone tender.
(To paraphrase Terry Pratchett, we're so far from medium-rare lamb we're approaching it from the other side.)
Traditionally, this recipe is pitched as "Lamb so tender you can eat it with a spoon." Now, that's a little bit of hyperbole - a spoon? Not really. But if you're a fan of tender braises and pot roasts, you'll love this leg of lamb.
Would you like to save this recipe?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Now, for a pressure cooker recipe, this one takes a while. A 4 pound lamb roast is a big piece of meat, and it takes about 90 minutes at high pressure for the lamb to cook all the way through, plus a natural pressure release. And, it's not the weight so much as the thickness. The heat has to penetrate into the center of that blocky piece of lamb.
"90 minutes!" I can hear you saying. "That's not fast!" Well, it is if you're starting with traditional French recipe that roasts for 7 hours in the oven. If you're curious, I tried out different timings: at 60 minutes, it was still tough most of the way through, and at 75 minutes, it was almost tender enough, but it was not quite done in the center of the roast, near the bone. 90 minutes was perfect - tender all the way through.
(Looking for a quicker lamb recipe? Check out pressure cooker lamb shanks - the smaller pieces of lamb cook in about half the time. Or, for a different style of braised meat, try my Instant Pot Boneless Short Ribs.)
Recipe: Pressure Cooker 7 Hour Leg of Lamb (in 90 minutes)
Inspired by: Ambassade D'Auvergne's seven-hour leg of lamb, Patricia Wells, Bistro Cooking
Equipment
- 6 quart or larger pressure cooker (I love my Instant Pot electric PC)
- Fat separator
Pressure Cooker 7 Hour Leg of Lamb (in 90 minutes)
- Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 8-12 1x
Description
Pressure Cooker 7 Hour Leg of Lamb (in 90 minutes) - the classic French recipe, sped up with the help of a pressure cooker.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4-pound bone in leg of lamb roast (the sirloin half if possible)
- 1 tablespoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt or 1 ½ teaspoons table salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 1 large onion, sliced thin
- ½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1 cup dry white wine (dry Riesling)
- 1 cup chicken stock (or water)
- 6 cloves garlic, crushed
- 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 6 sprigs fresh thyme
- Minced parsley to garnish
Instructions
- Brown the lamb: Heat the tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat ("sauté" mode on an electric PC) until shimmering, about 3 minutes. Sprinkle the lamb roast all over with 1 tablespoon kosher salt and the fresh ground black pepper. Sear the lamb roast, about 4 minutes a side, then move it to a bowl.
- Sauté the onion and simmer the wine: Add the onion to the pot, sprinkle with ½ teaspoon of salt, and sauté until just starting to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the white wine and bring to a simmer, scraping any browned bits of lamb and onion from the bottom of the pot, about 2 minutes.
- Add everything to the pot: Pour in the chicken stock, then stir in the garlic, rosemary, and thyme sprigs. Add the lamb and any lamb juices in the bowl
- Pressure cook the lamb: Lock the pressure cooker lid and bring the pressure cooker up to high pressure. Cook on high pressure for 90 minutes in an electric PC, 75 minutes in a stovetop PC. Let the pressure come down with a natural pressure release, about 20 minutes.
- Serve: Carefully lift the lamb roast out of the cooker and transfer to a platter (I use a slotted spatula and a pair of kitchen tongs). Strain the liquid in the pot into a fat separator and let it settle for 10 minutes. Slice the lamb roast, pour some of the defatted liquid over the slices, and serve, passing the rest of the defatted liquid as a sauce. (Or serve the lamb family style, with the sauce straight out of the pot. Just pour it over the roast after you discard the herb sprigs).
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Category: Sunday Dinner
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: French
Would you like to save this recipe?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
What do you think?
Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
Related Posts
Have a boneless leg of lamb? Try my Instant Pot Boneless Leg of Lamb recipe. For other lamb recipes, check out my Pressure Cooker Lamb Shanks and Pressure Cooker Irish Lamb Stew. For other recipes that take hours of stewing and speed them up with pressure, try my Pressure Cooker Beef Pot Roast, Instant Pot Oxtail : Easy Braise, or Instant Pot Goat Curry (Indian Style).
Here is my Pressure Cooker Recipes Index for all my Pressure Cooker and Instant Pot recipes.
Enjoyed this post? Want to help out DadCooksDinner? Subscribe to DadCooksDinner via eMail or RSS reader, recommend DadCooksDinner to your friends, and buy something from Amazon.com through the links on this site. Thank you.
Charita says
Very tasty! I will probably leave it in about 1 hour and 45 minutes next time.
C says
I made this with a frozen leg of lamb. (Not thawed, went directly from freezer to pot.) I covered the meat with water, and set my instant pot for 120 minutes. The meat was tender and yummy!
Christina says
Oh my goooooodness!!! That was the most tender leg of lamb ever! My husband said that was the best meal in the IP so far! I did a 1.5lb boneless leg of lamb on high pressure for 60’ with natural release (took about 30’ to release). I kept the total liquids at 2c like your recipe (except used homemade chicken bone broth in place of the wine). It was absolutely delicious! Thanks for the great, easy to follow recipe! 👌🤤
Bonnie Ecker says
I had a 7 # lamb roast and wasn't sure how long to cook it in a pressure cooker, but I went with the 75 minutes for a stovetop cooker for a 4 # lamb roast. It was just about right, but probably could have gone the 90 minutes. There were parts that shredded beautifully and parts that we had to chew. I purposely had the butcher leave the fat on the outside for crackling, but now I'm thinking that would be for a pork roast instead, and it would have needed to be cooked in an oven to stay crisp. Thank you for the starting recipe as it worked well for last minute cooking.
Teodora says
Very pleased with the outcome, thank you for sharing your recipe ! Can wait for my mother in law to pop round so I can show off ! 😆
Rafaela says
Amazing!
Jessica Hatcher says
Wow! I really love making lamb for Easter and this was by far the best recipe I've tried. So tender. I used all chicken stock as I didn't have any wine. I went easy on the herbs as well due to picky eaters. Even the pickiest of the bunch ate it!
Jessica says
Made this for Easter dinner. I had planned to cook the lamb in the crock pot but ran out of time. Wanting to save oven space, I decided to look for a pressure cooker recipe. Loved this. Used 3.5 boneless lamb piece. Fell apart when taken out. Thanks for the Easter saving recipe.
Marco says
Would this work making it a day ahead, like many braised dishes?
So the flavors come together?
Mike Vrobel says
Yes, absolutely!
Nancy says
Just made this for dinner, it cooks perfectly and is delicious! I've been making your recipes for the last few months and they all are a hit. Thank you for sharing them with us.
Mike Vrobel says
You're welcome!
Manu says
The recipe is absolutely spot on, I applied it to my 1.7kg leg of lamb, came out exactly as described by you, "fall off the bone" - "melt in mouth" style. The only thing I substituted was the Riesling and that only because I had none in the house. The leftovers will make a lovely shepherds pie today.
Ted Barbeau says
Thank you for sharing this wonderful PC recipe. We use our Presto very often and it’s great to try something different. For the wine we used a 1/2 c of dry sherry and added more chicken stock to make up for for the liquid measure. Outside of that the only “extra” was a teaspoon of curry and the flavor profile was tremendous.
Freeo says
The best I have had, and my first attempt in my new PC.
Thanks for the recipe.....cheers
Pat Gerard says
I would like to try this recipe with a half leg of lamb ( 2.72 lbs) > Is 90 minutes still ok or will it be overcooked? How long should i cook it for in my instant pot please?
Mike Vrobel says
"It depends."
It mainly depends on how thick your roast is. My guess is it will take 60 to 75 minutes. You want to cook way past well done, into "fall apart tender", so overcooking is probably not a worry. Cook it for 60 minutes, then check it - if it is not tender near the bone, where you can easily insert a fork, cook it for another 15 minutes.
Lindsey says
Your recipe sounds amazing and I'm trying it today ? just wondering if I can use red wine instead of white ?
Mike Vrobel says
Sure!
Yus says
Made this with my wife as our first pressure cooked meal and we absolutely loved it. Only diffrent is I deboned the lamb as it didn’t fit in the port but turned out well. Thank you for sharing it.
Note: we added patato in the pot and that part didn’t turn out well.
Tia Acosta says
If this helps, we always add the potato or carrots about 10 minutes until the lamb is done and they come out perfectly. The lamb is also super tender. I use my pressure cooker all the time.