Instant Pot Chicken Wings are tender, juicy, and crisp up in the oven at the end. It’s easy and ready in 40 (mostly hands-off) minutes.
These Instant Pot buffalo chicken wings are fantastic for when you don’t want to turn on the oven or need a quick, hands-off cooking method. These delicious wings are ready to eat in about 40 minutes.
Bonus – they come out super tender and juicy and practically fall off the bone! They’re perfect for game day snacking or as part of pizza night.
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
Ingredients
The ingredient list for this Instant Pot recipe is pretty simple. Other than the chicken wings, all you need is some seasoning, sauce, and if you’d like, a dipping sauce.
I often just use salt and pepper to season the wings initially, but you can bring extra flavor with a dry rub. Our chicken wing dry rub recipe uses salt, chili powder, smoked paprika, and garlic powder. (You can skip the baking powder because you won’t get the crispy benefits of it while it’s pressure cooking. We’ll broil them at the end to crisp them up a bit.)
I like to toss them in Homemade Buffalo Sauce after cooking, but you could also use BBQ sauce.
What Kind Of Chicken Wings?
When it comes to what kind of wings to use to make chicken wings in the Instant Pot, you have a lot of options.
First, decide if you want to use whole wings or cut wings. You can either buy the wings already cut or buy whole wings and cut them yourself, using this handy guide on how to cut chicken wings.
You can also use either fresh wings or frozen wings. Fresh wings cook a little faster, but I love keeping a bag of frozen wings around so I can whip up a batch any time a craving strikes.
If you’re using a 6-quart Instant Pot, you’ll be able to make about 2 dozen cut wings or 1 dozen whole wings at a time.
How To Make Instant Pot Wings
Once you decide what kind of wings you’ll be using, season them with salt and pepper or your preferred spices. Then pop them into your Instant Pot with a little water and cook them on high pressure.
Once they’re done cooking, let the pressure naturally release for ten minutes then manually release the pressure. Use a pair of tongs to remove the wings very carefully. They’ll be very tender and some may fall right off the bone, so you’ll want to be gentle with this step.
The skin will be rubbery straight out of the Instant Pot because of the wet cooking method of the pressure cooker, so you’ll need to pop them under the broiler for a few minutes to crisp them up. After a few minutes, they’ll be browned and bubbling and perfectly crisp.
Finally, toss the wings in your favorite buffalo wing sauce. Serve with your favorite Ranch Dressing or Blue Cheese, maybe with some carrots and celery sticks too.
More Chicken Wing Recipes
Can’t get enough of our great chicken wings? Try one of these favorite recipes next.
Instant Pot Chicken Wings Recipe
Instant Pot Chicken Wings are tender and juicy. One of the best things about making them is that you don’t need to watch them while they cook. Just start your Instant Pot and walk away.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 3–4 servings 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups water
- 12 chicken wing pieces
- Salt
- Pepper
- 1/4 cup buffalo sauce
- Ranch or Blue Cheese Dressing, for serving
Instructions
- Pour the water into the bottom of your Instant Pot insert, then add a trivet with handles.
- Season the wings with salt and pepper.
- Loosely stack the wings on top of the trivet.
- Put the lid on the Instant Pot and turn the valve to Seal. Cook on high pressure for 6 minutes (for fresh wings) or 12 minutes (for frozen wings).
- When the cook time is up let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes before doing a quick release. Use this time to preheat the oven to broil.
- Use a pair of kitchen tongs to carefully transfer the wings to a baking sheet.
- Broil on high for 4-5 minutes to crisp the skin.
- Toss in wing sauce.
- Serve with ranch dressing or blue cheese dip.
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