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.
Jill Ramsay says
Thank you very much, I'd had a leg of lamb on half-price, couldn't resist but didn't have the energy to roast it. Followed your recipe mostly, replaced white wine with red and doubled the garlic, was a 5-pound leg so had to dismember it at the knuckle. Oh and didn't have thyme so did sage with the rosemary. It was delightful!
Mike Vrobel says
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Melanie says
Please tell me I can cook this from frozen. I want to make tomorrow for Easter and I haven’t thawed it. Don’t think it will thaw in 24hours. I never remember to thaw! It’s even our own grass fed heritage lamb that we raise. I am hoping grass fed will cook as tender. Dad, I choose your recipes when I find them because they are ALWAYS great! Any suggestions on cook time from frozen?
Mike Vrobel says
Sorry, but this will not work from frozen - a leg of lamb is too thick for the heat to penetrate.
Ronald says
There are only two ways to cook lamb, one is pink centered and this. I love this too. Delightfully soft and fall off the bone tender. Still can't believe the short time cooking.
Next time I try this I am going to try it with the spices from Disney's Moroccan restaurant in Epcot.
Great recipe Mike !
Mike Vrobel says
Thanks, glad you enjoy it!
Michelle says
Do you put lamb in the liquid or does it go on a rack?
Mike Vrobel says
No rack - right in the pot
Mayra says
Yes, yess yes and yes!!!!!!! 90 minutes is the perfect time. I did add more spices than the ones mentioned here for an extra burst of flavors and marinated my meat for two days in the fridge. I added about three tablespoons of bitter orange to the mix.
Alison says
i did a 3lb leg of lamb tonight and id 85 minuets on HP with slow release , the juices did the most amazing gravy too ..
this is the first time doing meat in a pressure cooker and i researched a lot of different ways of doing lamb and this seemed the best / easiest way and boy was i right.
thank you to Mike this still holds up with the modern IP..
Mike Vrobel says
Thanks!