Slow Cooker Greek Lamb Shanks

These slow cooker Greek lamb shanks are cooked with Greek spices and tomatoes until meltingly soft and tender, then pasta is added to create a rich comforting lamb dish that only requires one pot, and is less than AUS$5.00 / £2.75 per serve!

Shredding the cooked lamb and stirring it back through the tomato sauce that is flavoured with the lamb cooking juices, and then sprinkling feta over the top means you can enjoy lamb but on a budget – 2 lamb shanks serves 4 people. Like adding beans and veggies to my Mexican beef mince I find that serving less meat but padding it out with cheaper ingredients is a way to still enjoy meat with rising food costs. (For more ways to help cut costs see my tips on reducing food bills.)

Jump to:

• Why we love this recipe
• Ingredients notes and substitutions
• How to make these slow cooker lamb shanks
• FAQ
• My recipe tips
• Budget
• Add a tin of cooked chickpeas
• Serving Ideas
• Storage
• Variations
• More easy lamb recipes
• Slow Cooker Greek Lamb Shanks

Why we love this recipe

• Lamb shanks are a cheaper way to enjoy lamb on a budget, and this recipe combines the slow cooked lamb shanks with Greek seasonings and herbs to add Greek flavour throughout the tender lamb.
• Slow cooking is a budget friendly way of cooking, and lamb shanks in the slow cooker are a perfect way to cook them as the long slow cooking makes the lamb meltingly tender and it just falls off the bone.
• Adding pasta to the slow cooker near the end of cooking means you can have a fill meal but with no extra washing up or use of electricity. Plus the pasta absorbs all the delicious rich flavours from the lamb, making it a flavour packed dish.

Ingredients notes and substitutions

• Lamb shanks – this cheaper cut of lamb is a tough bit of meat that requires long, slow cooking, making it perfect for cooking in the slow cooker.
• Onion – brown onion or red onion.
• Tinned / canned tomatoes – I often use chopped tomatoes when making recipes like this and my one pot pasta as there are no large lumps of tomato which can put younger eaters off. You can use tinned plum tomatoes and leave them whole or chop up with a spoon before adding to the slow cooker.
• Dried oregano – Greek dried oregano if you have it, or normal dried oregano if not.
• Fresh rosemary – if you don’t have fresh rosemary use 1 teaspoon of dried rosemary instead.
• Pasta – orzo pasta or, as I have found that incredibly hard to buy in Australia, risoni. Not Greek – sorry! but it is still delicious.
• Water – you can also use stock, which will give a richer flavour, but watch the salt levels in the dish, especially if you are using bought stock as it can easily make the dish far too salty.
• Feta cheese – this is for sprinkling over at the end. If you don’t have or like feta cheese, I have also used bocconcini / mozzarella and it was very tasty (not at all Greek though!)

How to make these slow cooker lamb shanks

Please scroll down to recipe card at the end of the post for full, detailed recipe.

1. Chop the onion and place in the bottom of the slow cooker pan.
2. Mix a crushed clove of garlic with oil, dried oregano, salt and black pepper.
3. Gently rub the seasoned oregano oil all over the lamb shanks.
4. Using a sharp knife, make incisions all over the lamb shanks.
5. Thinly slice the other clove of garlic and take the leaves off the rosemary (if using dried rosemary see tip in ‘My Recipe Tips’ below). Place a piece of garlic and push inside an incision and then a piece of rosemary into another incision.
6. Place the lamb into a large frying pan and cook until golden brown. If you notice the lamb or garlic and rosemary beginning to catch, reduce the heat slightly.
7. Once golden all over, remove from the pan and place in the slow cooker over the onion. Scrape any bits of garlic and rosemary that are in the frying pan into the slow cooker.
8. Tip the tomatoes, water or stock into the slow cooker, add the bay leaf and place the lid on.
9. Cook on a low heat for 7 ¼ hours.
10. Sprinkle the orzo or pasta over the lamb, stirring gently to make sure all the pieces of pasta are in the sauce. Place the lid back on and leave to cook for 35-45 minutes until the pasta is tender.
11. Remove the lamb shanks to a plate or chopping board and seperate the meat from the fat and bones.
12. Tip the meat back into the pasta and stir to combine, taste to check seasoning adding a little more black pepper if needed, then sprinkle over feta and serve.

FAQ

My recipe tips

• Brown the lamb shank to a golden brown before you add it to the slow cooker. This golden layer adds a tonne of flavour to the finished dish.
• If using dried rosemary rather than fresh rosemary, add it to the oil with the dried oregano.
• When you add the pasta, make sure that all the pieces of pasta are submerged in the sauce to allow them to cook properly.
• To use up the rest of the feta cheese: make this Turkish yogurt sauce (which also goes well with lamb), sprinkle over a carrot salad or I love sprinkling a little feta over roast pumpkin soup.

Budget

Serving Ideas

Slow cooker Greek lamb is a meal in itself, however if you want an extra side then here are some salads / vegetables

• This simple Greek salad or green beans with almonds and feta – you can leave out the feta from the lamb if you prefer.
• A simple cucumber and tomato salad, or this cucumber salad.
• A crunchy mayo free cabbage slaw.
• Tzatziki (like in the picture below) or cucumber yogurt dip – I find these a great way of adding an extra veggie to the dish in a kid friendly way 😉

Storage

• I think this dish is best enjoyed fresh as the pasta does absorb the liquid on sitting. However if you have leftovers or want to make it ahead, you can store this Greek lamb in the fridge, covered, for up to 3 days. Add extra liquid when reheating.
• If batch cooking – store without the feta cheese and sprinkle over the lamb once reheated.
• Likewise with freezing this dish, I don’t recommend you freeze it, but if you have to then freeze without the feta and add more water when reheating.

Variations

• Dairy free lamb shanks – leave out the feta and add a little more salt, or sprinkle over a few olives and capers for a salty kick.
• Lemon – Add the zest of ½ lemon when you add the bay leaf and squeeze over the lemon juice before serving.
• Fresh herbs – If you have fresh herbs such as oregano or thyme, I love to sprinkle them over the top of the lamb with the feta as I do in this Greek baked beans dish.

More easy lamb recipes