Simple & Delicious, Middle Eastern Lamb Stew with chickpeas and fragrant spices- a fast flavorful wholesome meal, that can be made in an Instant Pot!
The ego loves being “offended”. ~Eckart Tolle
Here’s a recipe for Instant Pot Middle Eastern Lamb Stew with chickpeas and fragrant spices that will warm you to your bones. It takes 15 minutes of hands-on time before finishing off in an Instant Pot using the pressure cooker setting.
This can also be made on stovetop, then finished in the oven, but know it will take twice as long. Whichever way you choose to go, the flavors will satisfy. Serve the stew over basmati rice, everyday quinoa, or if going grain-free, try cauliflower rice.
How to Make Middle Eastern Lamb Stew!
Here I’ve used stew meat- cut from lamb shoulder. I’ve opted for local, sustainably-raised American lamb, which seems more meaty and sweeter in flavor than imported lamb. It’s also fresher, having traveled far fewer miles to get here.
Here I’ve used stew meat- cut from lamb shoulder. Lamb leg would also work. I’ve opted for local, sustainably-raised American lamb, which seems meatier and sweeter in flavor than imported lamb. It’s also fresher, having traveled far fewer miles to get here.
This week I’ve partnered with The American Lamb Board who is offering great prizes this month in celebration of Friendsgiving! If you are a fan of lamb, you won’t want to miss out on this, so make sure to enter!
If Middle Eastern Spices are not your thing, this simple Irish Lamb Stew would work great in the Instant Pot too!
If using an Instant Pot, brown the onion and lamb using the sauté setting. Once the rest of the ingredients are in, set the pressure cooker on high for 50 minutes. The lamb will turn out perfectly tender and infused with the most delicious Middle Eastern Spices.
If cooking this Middle Eastern Lamb Stew on the stovetop, sear in a dutch oven, add the rest of the ingredients, then place in a 325F oven for 1¾- 2 hours.
Serve alongside quinoa, basmati rice or even roasted cauliflower or cauliflower rice.
Instant Pot Lamb Stew infused with Middle Eastern Spices….a fast and easy weeknight dinner that requires only 15 minutes of hands-on time before letting the Instant Pot work its magic.
For more Instant-Pot recipes, be sure to check out my favorite Ethnic Instant Pot Recipes from around the Globe!
If you try this recipe, be sure to let us know by leaving a comment, rating, and tagging a picture #feastingathome on Instagram.
Cheers, friends!
PrintInstant Pot Middle Eastern Lamb stew
Instant Pot Middle Eastern Lamb Stew with chickpeas and fragrant spices- a simple flavorful wholesome meal. Serve over quinoa, basmati rice or cauliflower “rice”. | www.feastingathome.com
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Main
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, butter or ghee
- 1 ½ –1 ¾ pounds lamb stew meat ( shoulder, leg or shank) cut onto 1 ½ inch cubes
- 1 onion, diced
- 4–6 garlic cloves, rough chopped
- 1 teaspoon of each: salt, pepper, cumin, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon, and cumin seeds ( seeds are optional, add another teaspoon ground cumin if no seeds)
- ½ teaspoon chili flakes ( Aleppo Chili flakes are nice) and more for garnish
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
- 2 tablespoons honey or brown sugar
- 1 1/4 cups chicken stock or broth
- 1 x 15 ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- ¼ cup raisins or dried apricots (chopped), or even dried currants
Serve with cooked quinoa, couscous or basmati rice & garnish with fresh Italian parsley or cilantro leaves and extra chili flakes.
Instructions
Turn the Instant Pot on and set it to the Sauté function. Heat the butter or oil and saute the onions for 3-4 minutes until fragrant. Add the lamb, garlic, salt and all the spices and saute for 5 more minutes until fragrant. Add the vinegar, tomato paste, honey, stock, chickpeas and raisins and stir until combined.
Cover and set the Instant Pot (or pressure cooker) to pressure cook setting for 50 minutes on normal/high. Naturally release.
Let the pressure release and give a stir. The lamb will be tender and break apart easily. If you prefer it less juicy, return to saute function and cook off some of the liquid. ( Note that it will thicken a bit as it sits)
Serve over quinoa, rice or cous cous with some fresh cilantro or parsley.
The leftovers taste even better the next day as the flavors have more time to meld.
Notes
Alternatively you can cook this on the stove top in a oven proof dutch oven. Pre heat the oven to 325. Brown the onions in the ghee or butter then add the garlic, lamb, salt and spices, cooking for 5 -6 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients – all except the raisins, and bring to a simmer. Cover and place in the oven and bake 2 hours, adding the raisins about an hour or 1 ½ hours into the baking time.
After two hours the lamb will be very tender. If you like a little more browning, give a quick broil to the pot uncovered.
LAMB: This recipe is designed for “tougher” cuts of lamb- shoulder, leg, etc., that need longer cooking times to tenderize. Please don’t waste already tender lamb chops or lamb loin on this recipe. You can also use beef stew meat or even goat.
Keywords: Lamb Stew, instant pot lamb stew, instant pot lamb recipes, middle eastern lamb stew, moroccan lamb stew, instant pot recipes lamb
Oh my goodness this was a win. It was easy to make. My husband loves it so much that he ate everything on his plate and dished up more for him. Which it doesn’t do. He told me that this is his favorite meal and I would love to each it every single day lol 😂😂😂😂. Thank you so much for this recipe.
Hahaha! 😂 the true test! Glad it worked for you both!
This was a big hit! I busted my husband “drinking” the leftover juices out of the instapot! I was concerned about the 50 minute cook time so I reduced to 35 minutes and it was perfect! I used home-grown lamb stew that is processed locally, so maybe we just grow tender sheep. We’re cooking with a limited pantry at the moment, I made a pretty big tweak to your recipe. I didn’t have any dried fruit, so I substituted a can of peaches and their syrup and left out the honey. We’re going to try this again as written when we have the ingredients, but the doctored version is going in the recipe file too!
★★★★★
Perfect- thanks for sharing Christine!
I’ve been looking forward to trying this recipe but only realized tonight that all I have is lamb leg meat! How long would you recommend cooking it for with this recipe?
If you want to use it, cut it into 1-2 inch chunks. It should work fine!
Thank you!! Still 50 minutes?
Yes!
I’ve looked all over and nobody sells lamb shoulder around here. Only thing I can find is leg of lamb, would that work for this recipe?
★★★★
yes! leg is fine! or Lamb “stew meat”.
Why does the lamb take 50 minutes? I have never done that long in instant pot on pressure cook high? Are you using pressure cook high setting or the stew or slow cook function?
Great question Mary. Because this cut of lamb (lamb shoulder, shank, stew meat) is very tough and needs to get tenderized through long cooking. This would take 2-3 hours on the stove. If using lamb chops, or lamb loin, this is totally different story, these are very tender cuts and cook very quickly. You would not want to use lamb chops or loin in this recipe (it is kind of a waste). This stew is designed intentionally for tougher cuts. Does that make sense? Yes, cook on high pressure- not slow cooker.
Thank you, will try tonight
It came out great! Thank you. Definitely needed the 50 minutes if using stew meat which normally takes hours to braise in oven in a Dutch oven , or a slow stew on stovetop). I added mushrooms, baby carrots, zucchini (but that got mushy) and a little more spice (a tsp of my Lebanese 7 spice mix and a tsp or Ras El Hanout as we like our food very spiced up) plus did 1 1/2 vs 1 1/4 broth because my partner likes extra sauce/broth. Overall, this is a super recipe! (and I am a trained chef, they never would have allowed an Instant pot in French Culinary School, had to do the old fashioned braising way, but hey I’m retired so I do what saves me time and gives me same flavor.!)
Would love to send photo but comments don’t seem to allow me to attach a photo .
★★★★
Glad it worked for you Mary.
I made tonight – I doubled the recipe except for the chick peas and the liquid. After 15 minutes I released the pressure and that was due to the comment the meat would be falling apart. I wanted to have some chunks. There was a lot of liquid in bottom so as recommended I did put on sauté but then I added corn starch. The flavoring was OK. It was OK overall but not something I would make again. I am not sure why it got such excellent reviews but I guess everyone’s taste is different.
Jane, I think shorting the pressure cooking time was the problem here. It really needs the full time. Also I’m wondering if the recipe multiplier was accurate? Sometimes it malfunctions. Sorry it didn’t work out for you.
Excellent, need to press the meat/stew button first
Absolutely divine. One of the best recipes I have ever had.
this effortless and so delicious! loved the recipe thanks. i didn’t have chickpeas so i used some butter beans and fresh green beans and still came out perfect.
★★★★★
Perfect Candice!
The flavor was fantastic! I love this recipe. Do you think any veggies would be well suited in it?
★★★★★
Any root veggies!
If I wanted to substitute the chick peas for potatoes, would I have to change anything? Also for the vinegar, can I use distilled white vinegar?
I would lessen the vinegar a little if using white. Your potatoes will get mushy. You could roast or cook separately then add.
I’m making it now and it smells divine!! How long does the natural pressure release take? I’m clocking about 20 min and it hasn’t gone down yet. I can’t wait to open it!
Usually 25?