Tender, fall of the bones lamb shanks braised in an exciting new gravy is going to be your new family favorite meal! and made in fraction of the time with the smart pot.
This smart pot braised lamb shanks with cherry citrus sauce recipe takes just few ingredients and minimal effort. Because the smart pot will do all the work. And will give the deepest delicious flavor like they have been cooking for hours! But she will be doing that in less than an hour! How cool is that?
What make this recipe special?
Other than the smart pot method of preparing those shanks. This recipe is also special for many other reasons. If you google for lamb shanks recipe now 99% of the recipes you will find are with wine and plain tomato sauce.
But I wanted to make this recipe luxurious and fancy yet without any alcohol and also with easy ingredients that you can find at any home.
I created the ultimate combination of flavors. the lambs will cook in a fruity citrusy braising liquid. this will create an incredible sauce that we will drizzle over the shanks and enjoy with every bite.
The perfect ingredients combinations that I am talking about is:
Apple cider vinegar, I used a cinnamon flavored one that added a lot more also to the recipe
Cherries, yes don’t be surprised. you will be amazed how well the cherry goes with lamb meat.
And a bright trio of citrus: lime, lemon and oranges
I like to serve those shanks middle-eastern style with some vermicelli rice aside. You can serve them also with mashed potato or some potato wedges also.
So, let’s dig in and prepare this fancy recipe in the simplest and quickest way ever!
Check out the video below to see how easy to prepare are those lamb shanks
If you like this recipe you surely must check my other meat with cherry recipe: sweet and sour cherry kebab and cherry kebab party bites.
Cherry and citrus-Braised lamb shanks (smart pot recipe)
Equipment
- pressure cooker or instant pot
- smart pot
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 4 lamb shanks
- Salt and pepper to season the lamb
- 1 carrot finely chopped
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 2 leeks cut in half and finely chopped
- 1 celery stick finely chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh rosemary finely chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tsp sweet pepper all spices
- 2 cups apple cider vinegar I used a flavored one check notes for detail
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1 lime juice and zest
- 1 lemon juice and zest
- 1 orange juice and zest
- 1 cup fresh or frozen cherries stemmed and pitted (if frozen check notes)
Instructions
Step 01: sear the shanks
- Season the shanks on both sides with salt and pepper. Set you smart pot to sauté/high program. Add oil. Working in batches sear your shanks from all sides (10 min in total). Set aside.
Step 02: prepare braising sauce
- In the same pot, add some oil to stir the veggies. Add your carrots, onions, celery and leek. sauté for 2min. than add your cherries and stir for 5 minutes. Add rosemary, bay leaf, garlic and tomato paste with ½ tsp salt and the sweet pepper (all spices) and mix quickly. Add the apple cider vinegar, broth and the juice and zest of the lime and lemon (orange not now). Mix all together and bring to boil.
Step 03: cook the lamb shanks
- After the sauce start to boil, return the lamb shanks t the pot. Close the lid and set to high pressure cooking for 30 minutes and let it naturally release the pressure for 15 minutes before releasing manually all the remain pressure and opening the pot lid.
Step 04: prepare the gravy
- After the shanks are cooked, lay in a serving plate. and leave the liquid in the pot. set the pot again to sauté/medium program and let the liquid simmer for 10 minutes till it thicken a little. Add the orange zest and juice and mix.
Step 05: serve and enjoy!
- Drizzle the orange sauce on the shanks and serve warm with some vermicelli rice aside. Enjoy!
Notes
- Apple cider vinegar: I used instead of normal apple cider vinegar a flavored combination that went amazingly good in this recipe. It is the “organic larder rise&shine apple and cinnamon vinegar drink” try it out the cinnamon flavor added so much to the recipe and this drink have less acidity from the normal apple cider vinegar which gave it a closer taste to wine that we usually cook shanks in.
- Cherry: you can use frozen or fresh cherry, whatever you have on hand or can find. In this recipe I used the frozen ones and turned out amazing. I normally use vachna cherry or wachna cherry. it is a type of cherry that have a sweet and sour taste, it is normally Turkish or Serbian cherry that you can find in the frozen section. But you can use any kind of cherries you can find.
- Serving and storing: you can serve this dish with any side of your choice I like to serve it with some Lebanese vermicelli rice and you can also serve with some mashed potato puree. This recipe will stay fresh in the fridge for up to 4 days.