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Talk about a dish to cozy up with on a cold day! This Instant Pot Lamb Stew hits all the right notes— it’s hearty, has layers of rich flavor, and makes incredible leftovers.
It’s no secret that I absolutely love the flavor of lamb meat. It has a distinctive taste that regular beef just doesn’t have and makes any dish immediately taste more elevated and unique, in my opinion. This Instant Pot Lamb Stew has such a beautiful combination of ingredients that make it rich and comforting: red wine, a little tomato, lots of herbs, some veggies, and of course the star of the show— the lamb.
I love to use my Instant Pot for this recipe because it’s the fastest way to make a tender stew with layers of flavor. In fact, this the whole dish comes together in just about an hour. I know some people are loyal to a slow cooker, though, and love the ‘set it and forget it’ nature; if you scroll to the bottom of the recipe, you’ll see instructions for how to make this stew in a slow cooker too. It obviously takes longer, but it’s just as easy and delicious!
ingredients:
- Lamb Stew Meat
- Kosher Salt
- Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- Arrowroot Flour
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Carrots
- Celery
- Yellow Onion
- Garlic Cloves
- Chili Flakes
- Tomato Paste
- Dry Red Wine
- Fresh Thyme
- Russet Potatoes
- Bay Leaf
- Beef Broth
- Fresh Rosemary
step-by-step:
step one: prep the lamb
Pat the cubed lamb meat dry with a paper towel and place in a large bowl with the salt, pepper, and 1 tablespoon arrowroot flour. Toss until evenly coated.
step two: sear the lamb
Turn the Instant Pot on the sauté function and add the oil. Working in batches as needed, sear the lamb meat until golden brown on all sides, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer the browned meat to a separate plate and cook the remaining meat.
step three: sauté the veggies
Add the garlic, celery, carrots, onions, and chili flakes (if using) to the Instant Pot. Stir and sauté the veggies until softened, scraping any of the brown bits from the pot, about 3 minutes.
step four: add the tomato paste and wine
Add the tomato paste and stir to coat the veggies. Add the red wine and cook, scraping up the brown bits from bottom of the pot, about 2 minutes.
step five: stir in the remaining ingredients
Add the potatoes, seared lamb (plus any of its juices), 1 cup beef broth, thyme, rosemary, and bay leaf. Stir to combine.
step six: cook the stew
Securely fasten the lid on top of the Instant Pot. Hit the ‘cancel’ button, then select the ‘meat/stew’ function and set the time to 40 minutes.
step seven: vent to release the steam
When the cook time has completed, hit the ‘cancel’ button and manually release the pressure by carefully turning the valve to ‘venting.’ Let vent until all the steam has released, then carefully remove the lid.
step eight: make a slurry
Turn the Instant Pot back to the ‘sauté’ function. Meanwhile, in a small bowl ,combine the remaining 1 tablespoon of arrowroot flour with the remaining 1/4 cup of beef broth. Whisk until the arrowroot has dissolved in the liquid.
step nine: finish the stew and serve
With the sauté function on, slowly pour the slurry into the Instant Pot, stirring, until the mixture has thickened, about 2 minutes. Divide into bowls, serve, and enjoy!
recipe faqs:
Lamb shoulder or leg meat works great, but if you can’t find it, you can sub in beef instead. Look for beef stew meat or boneless chuck roast (just be sure to cut it into small cubes).
Let the stew cool completely, then transfer it to some airtight containers, leaving a bit of room since it’ll expand when frozen. Store in the freezer for up to three months. When you’re ready to eat, let it thaw in the fridge for 24 hours and slowly reheat in a pot on the stovetop until it’s warmed through!
You can add more beef broth in place of the red wine plus 1 tablespoon of vinegar (I like balsamic vinegar or apple cider vinegar) for a little bit of acidity.
You can use tapioca flour or regular all-purpose flour as a substitute.
If you are a stew person, you have to make this fabulous Instant Pot Lamb Stew. Leave a comment below once you’ve tried it and let me know what you think!
want more cozy stew recipes? try these!
Lemon Chicken and Chickpea Stew
Red Wine Braised Short Ribs with Parsnip-Potato Mash
Instant Pot Lamb Stew
Ingredients
- 1 pound lamb stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons arrowroot flour, divided
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup sliced carrots (from about 2 large carrots)
- 1/2 cup diced celery (from about 1 celery stalk)
- 3/4 cup finely diced yellow onion (from about 1/2 medium onion)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon chili flakes (optional)
- 1 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 cup dry red wine
- 2 cups russet potato, peeled and chopped into 1-inch cubes
- 1¼ cups beef broth, divided
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (from 4 to 5 sprigs)
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly chopped rosemary leaves (from about 1 sprig)
- 1 bay leaf
Instructions
- Pat the cubed lamb meat dry with a paper towel and place in a large bowl with the salt, pepper, and 1 tablespoon arrowroot flour. Toss until evenly coated.
- Turn the Instant Pot on the sauté function and add the oil. Working in batches as needed, sear the lamb meat until golden brown on all sides, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer the browned meat to a separate plate and cook the remaining meat.
- Add the garlic, celery, carrots, onions, and chili flakes (if using) to the Instant Pot. Stir and sauté the veggies until softened, scraping up the brown bits from bottom of the pot, about 3 minutes.
- Add the tomato paste and stir to coat the veggies. Add the red wine and cook, scraping brown bits from bottom of the pot, about 2 minutes.
- Add the potatoes, seared lamb (plus any of its juices), 1 cup beef broth, thyme, rosemary, and bay leaf. Stir to combine.
- Securely fasten the lid on top of the Instant Pot. Hit the 'cancel' button, then select the 'meat/stew' function and set the time to 40 minutes.
- When the cook time has completed, hit the 'cancel' button and manually release the pressure by carefully turning the valve to 'venting.' Let vent until all the steam has released, then carefully remove the lid.
- Turn the Instant Pot back to the 'sauté' function. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the remaining 1 tablespoon of arrowroot flour with the remaining 1/4 cup of beef broth. Whisk until the arrowroot has dissolved in the liquid.
- With the sauté function on, slowly pour the slurry into the Instant Pot, stirring, until the mixture has thickened, about 2 minutes. Divide into bowls, serve, and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is my go-to beef stew for a cold night. Very easy to put together on a weeknight. I also find it to be a great dinner to take to a friend for a pick me up. Just take a nice loaf a bread and they are go to go!
Would this be ok to make ahead of time and freeze?
Yes! would work very well to freeze!
Very tasty. I made some alterations to the recipe.
First I sautéed some florets of cauliflower until slightly browned, removed this.
Next I sautéed some bacon before adding the lamb, cooked until browned then removed it.
I then added the vedge and the stock. Instead of red wine I used Guinness Porter, lamb returned and one pot turned to high and cooked for about 10 minutes.
When this was finished I added a thickener and returned the cauliflower to the stew. I turned back to sauté for a few minutes to finish cooking the cauliflower.
The idea of this is to keep the cauliflower with a bit of a crunch while all the other vedge is cooked.
Very tasty.
Absolutely delicious! Cut the lamb into smaller pieces though as I like it super tender, but this was a simple and extremely tasty meal to whack in the instant pot.
So glad you loved it!
I love this recipe!! I want to make a double batch and my Dutch oven pot is a better size, I’m assuming this could be done one the stovetop? How hot and long would you cook it for? Thank you!!
Hi Danielle!
Im sure it would be great stovetop! I would get it so that it’s lightly simmering (so medium-low/low heat) covered until very tender, I would think 1 1/2 hours or so!
Made it proportionately larger in my 8 qt instant pot tonight for dinner and it was so delicious! I used a dry cabernet merlot and substituted fennel rather than celery as my daughter is unable to eat celery. A perfect harmony of flavours, this will be requested again for sure!
For the larger serving, did you have to increase the cooking time and the liquid amount?
Making this tonight, sounds delish! Looks the crockpot instructions left off the rosemary. I just added it in with everything else! Is that correct?
not enough fluids, needs a lot more broth…
Made tonight with beef and it was so delicious!!!! Warning to let it cool significantly after cooking it in the IP! Can’t wait to make it again.
Awesome. Added parsnips, no need to chop the rosemary and thyme – just threw in the whole sprig. Used small potatoes and did not peel. Very good stew. I doubled it and it fit in a 6 qt instant pot.
Yum! We loved the flavor of this stew. I left out the potatoes, doubled the carrots and then served it with mashed potatoes with parsley. We had tried lamb stew this way in Sun Valley, Idaho and this was almost as good!