Instant Pot Chicken Wings (Buffalo Wings Style). Tender, crispy buffalo wings from my pressure cooker and broiler, ready in about an hour, without all the mess of deep frying.
A Super Bowl party inspired this recipe. I wanted to make wings, but the weather was bad enough that I didn't use my Grilled Wings recipe. Occasionally, I oven-roast wings, which are good, but I thought they could be better. That's when I tried my trusty pressure cooker with the wings. It turns out I should have tried pressure-cooking wings sooner!
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Why Pressure Cook Chicken Wings (And Why They Also Need to Be Broiled)
Pressure cooking renders the fat in the chicken skin and cooks the wings through, giving me perfectly cooked wing meat, but the skin is soft. I want this Instant Pot chicken wings recipe to give me crisp wings; they need high heat to brown and crisp up. I move them to a sheet pan, slide them into my oven, and broil for a few minutes. The broiler will brown them and crisp them up.
Now, you can skip this step if you don't have time to run the wings under the broiler. The wings will still be good, just not very browned and crispy.
INGREDIENTS
4 pounds chicken wing pieces
1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt (2 teaspoons kosher salt)
1 cup water
Wing Sauce
1 stick of butter, melted (4 ounces)
½ cup Frank's Red Hot sauce (traditional for buffalo wings)
How to make Instant Pot Chicken Wings
Pressure cook the wings for 8 minutes with a quick pressure release
Sprinkle the chicken wing with the salt. Put a cooking rack in an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker, pour in 1 cup of water, and pile the wings on top of the rack. Lock the pressure cooker lid. Pressure cook on high pressure for 8 minutes in an Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker or 6 minutes in a stovetop PC. (Use Manual or Pressure Cook mode in an Instant Pot). Once the cooking time is done, quick release the pressure.
Make the wing sauce
While the wings are cooking, melt the butter in the microwave. (Timing depends on how powerful the microwave is; it takes about a minute in my 1000-watt microwave.) Pour the butter and the hot sauce into a large bowl and whisk until smooth. Set the bowl aside until it is time to sauce the wings.
Sauce the wings
Using tongs, move the wings to the bowl of hot sauce. Turn and toss until the wings are covered with sauce.
Broil the wings (optional)
Move the wings from the sauce to the baking sheet, letting any excess sauce drip back into the bowl. Lay the wings out in a single layer on the baking sheet. Set your broiler to high and broil the wings until the sauce is browning and bubbling, 5 to 15 minutes, depending on the broiler. (Keep a close eye on the wings; they go from brown to burned quickly under the broiler.)
Sauce again and serve
Return the wings from the baking sheet to the bowl and toss them again to coat with the remaining sauce. Pour the wings onto a platter and serve. Enjoy!
Substitutions
Change the heat level
Want hotter wings? Cut the butter in half and double the Franks Red Hot sauce.
Want hotter than that? Whisk ¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper into the sauce.
Different Sauce
Want a different wing sauce? Skip the homemade buffalo sauce and use your favorite sauce. (My kids love Teriyaki sauce on their wings - if you watch the time-lapse video, you'll see I toss half the wings in Teriyaki sauce.)
Or, check out my Instant Pot Lemon Pepper Wings
Whole Wings
If you can, buy sectioned wings, already cut into the drumette and wingette (aka wing flat) portions. If you are buying whole wings, buy about 4.5 pounds and cut them into wingette and drumette sections, discarding the wingtips.
What is buffalo sauce?
I learned years ago that authentic Buffalo wing sauce is nothing but Franks Red Hot sauce and melted butter. Franks just has that "wings" flavor. Back in my day (get off my lawn, you meddling kids!) I had to make it from scratch, but now you can buy decent wing sauce at the store. I still prefer the Franks brand wing sauce - it has that traditional "hot wing" flavor.) But since I always have hot sauce in my pantry and butter in the fridge, I can still whip up a batch of sauce when needed.
Tips and Tricks
- Layer the sauce: My favorite trick is two layers of sauce. After I pull the wings out of the pressure cooker, I toss the wings in the sauce. Then, I use tongs to move the wings to a rimmed baking sheet, leaving the extra wing sauce in the bowl. I brown the sauced wings under the broiler. Once they are golden brown and the sauce is thick and bubbling, I put them back in the bowl for another toss and a fresh coat of sauce. The wings are ready, with layers of sauce to give them extra flavor.
- Missing rack: Don't have the pressure cooker rack that came with your pot? Don't worry; the bottom layer of wings will be a little more cooked, but otherwise OK.
- No broiler: Don't trust your broiler? Use a ripping hot oven (450°F or higher) for about 15 minutes to brown the wings.
- Steamer basket? If you have a steamer basket, you can use it instead of your pressure cooker rack.
Equipment
- A 6-quart pressure cooker
- A rack that fits in your pressure cooker
- A large mixing bowl
- An oven with a broiler
- A rimmed baking sheet
Frozen Wings
Fresh or frozen chicken wings will work in an Instant Pot. Are you cooking Individually Frozen wings? The ones with a slight glaze of ice on them? Toss them straight into the cooker; the Instant Pot will melt the ice and thaw out the wings during the cooking. Increase the cooking time to 12 minutes at high pressure, and don't bother salting the wings until after cooking; the salt will bounce off the frozen wings. (For more details, see my Pressure Cooker Asian Zing Chicken Wings (From Frozen) recipe.)
What to serve with Chicken Wings
Chicken wings are traditionally served with celery sticks, and blue cheese or ranch dressing. And lots and lots of wet naps, the single-wrapped wet wipes for your hands. Extra napkins or a roll of paper towels at the table will also help with the mess.)
Recipe inspired by: Buffalicious Chicken Wings - HipPressureCooking.com
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Instant Pot Chicken Wings Recipe
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: About 4 dozen wings 1x
Description
Instant Pot Chicken Wings, Buffalo Style - a big batch of Buffalo chicken wings from the pressure cooker and the broiler.
Ingredients
- 4 pounds chicken wing pieces
- 1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt (or 2 teaspoons kosher salt)
- 1 cup water
Wing Sauce
- 1 stick of butter, melted (4 ounces)
- ½ cup Frank's Red Hot sauce (traditional for buffalo wings)
Instructions
- Pressure cook the wings for 8 minutes with a quick pressure release: Sprinkle the chicken wing with the salt. Put a cooking rack in an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker, pour in 1 cup of water, and pile the wings on top of the rack. Lock the pressure cooker lid. Pressure cook on high pressure for 8 minutes in an Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker or 6 minutes in a stovetop PC. (Use Manual or Pressure Cook mode in an Instant Pot). Once the cooking time is done, quick release the pressure.
- Make the wing sauce: While the wings are cooking, melt the butter in the microwave. (Timing depends on how powerful the microwave is; it takes about a minute in my 1000-watt microwave.) Pour the butter and the hot sauce into a large bowl and whisk until smooth. Set the bowl aside until it is time to sauce the wings.
- Sauce the wings: Using tongs, move the wings to the bowl of hot sauce. Turn and toss until the wings are covered with sauce.
- Broil the wings (optional): Move the wings from the sauce to the baking sheet, letting any excess sauce drip back into the bowl. Lay the wings out in a single layer on the baking sheet. Set your broiler to high and broil the wings until the sauce is browning and bubbling, 5 to 15 minutes, depending on the broiler. (Keep a close eye on the wings; they go from brown to burned quickly under the broiler.)
- Sauce again and serve: Return the wings from the baking sheet to the bowl and toss them again to coat with the remaining sauce. Pour the wings onto a platter and serve. Enjoy!
Notes
This recipe will fit in a 6 quart or larger pressure cooker. I love my 6 quart Instant Pot pressure cooker
Don’t have a rack? Don’t worry; the bottom layer of wings will be a little soggy, but otherwise OK.
Don't trust your broiler? Use a ripping hot oven (450°F or higher) for about 15 minutes to brown the wings.
I assume you are buying sectioned wings - already cut into the drumette and wingette portions. If you are buying whole wings, buy about 4.5 pounds, cut then into wingette and drumette sections and discard the wingtips.
Want hotter wings? Cut the butter in half and double the Franks Red Hot sauce.
Want hotter than that? Whisk a half-teaspoon of cayenne pepper into the sauce.
Want a different sauce? Sure, go for it. In the time lapse, I did about half the wings in Teriyaki sauce - one of my kids is wild for Teriyaki wings.
UPDATE 2017-01-27: I cut the cooking time back from 10 minutes at high pressure to 8 minutes. 10-minute wings were just a little too tender, and some would fall apart when I was tossing with the sauce. (If you like extra-tender wings, use the 10 minute timing - they're still good.)
Cooking Individually Frozen wings? Increase the cooking time to 12 minutes at high pressure. Details here: Pressure Cooker Zing Wings (From Frozen)
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Cook Time: 30 min
- Category: Appetizers
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: American
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What do you think?
Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
Related Posts
Pressure Cooker Asian Zing Chicken Wings (From Frozen)
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My other Instant Pot (Pressure Cooker) Recipes
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Jessica Zelna says
So my husband said there is no way we could make good chicken wings at home. I had a 3 lb bag of frozen wings.... threw them in the instant pot and I am not going to lie when they came out they were rubbery and did not look appetizing. However, I tossed them in three different sauces and broiled them and voila! The best fall off the bone chicken wings!!! Everyone in the house was amazed... including my husband 😀 thank you for the help on perfecting the at home chicken wing!
Wood says
My wife loves Buffalo Wold Wings and I made your recipe for her. She said your wings are AWESOME!
Germaine says
Just like what I would order in a restaurant. I crisp mine in the actifry after cooking in the instant pot.
Carol Roberts says
Thanks for this! I'm brand new to pressure cooking and can't wait to try this. I'm not a big fan of sauces on chicken, but I can still follow your pressure-cooker process and broiling to make plain ol' crispy chicken wings.
Germaine says
This was delicious! Cooked from frozen in those 10 minutes and the fat went to the bottom of the pot. The sauce was delicious. Broil at the end was the perfect finishing touch.
david z says
What's the time in the pressure cooker if doubling the recipe? Thanks.
Mike Vrobel says
Same cooking time. Cooking time is determined by the size of the wings, not the total number.
Monica Crumley says
These were so easy and the recipe was perfect! So delicious!
Diane McVey says
Love your recipes, and the fact you cook. My son also does the cooking for his wife and girls. I taught him well! LOL I enjoy your recipes, and send kudos to you!
Susan says
I made this tonight. Was a bit skeptical because I just didn’t think I would much like that sauce. Tasted a bit vinegary right out of the bottle. Well, was I wrong or what??? They were delicious and both my husband and I were amazed!! The only thing I did different was brush a little butter on the wings and threw in the oven for a few minutes before tossing in sauce. Probably not necessary but when should there ever be a limit on butter?! So very, very good!! Thanks!
Monique Schaefers says
1 stick of butter is usually 8 ounces.
My 13 year old son loves this recipe and is making them for himself.
Mike Vrobel says
Thanks!
And, a stick of butter *is* 4 ounces. It is also 8 tablespoons - that's probably what you were thinking of.
Trish says
Don't discard the wing tips! Freeze and use them the next time you make broth.
Jim Taylor says
I would recommend you try one of the air fryers. Then you don't need the broiler step. Only drawback is only about 12-16 wings can be done at per batch.
Eric Leidberg says
Actually, if you use margarine instead of butter
it has the real "wing sauce" taste.
This is the ONLY time I use margarine in my kitchen.
Seriously try it.
Mike Vrobel says
Thanks For the tip- I'll try it out! (My only problem is, like you, I don't buy margarine on a regular basis..)
BrianF says
Excellent food for thought! I'm gonna buy some wings and try this.
J Jolton says
I don't have a pressure cooker - is there a way this could be adapted for slow cooking?