Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Wings
Mention the Instant Pot and I bet you think about things like slow cooker dishes or making homemade soup. And that would be right because it is great for these things. But there are loads of other types of recipes you can make with your Instant Pot. To give you some ideas, here’s one for Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Wings.
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Benefits of the Instant Pot
If you don’t own an Instant Pot but are considering one, let me give you my reasoning for buying one – about three years ago now. We had a pressure cooker, a slow cooker, a stock pot for soup and a steamer. Our house wasn’t very big, and all of these appliances were taking up a lot of room.
Then someone told me about the 7-in-1 Instant Pot. I like gadgets and I wanted to know more so I did some reading. And realised that this gadget would mean I could give away all four of those items and use the Instant Pot for all of these jobs and more. It is quick, easy to use, reliable and space saving – what wasn’t to like?
Recipe tips
This recipe uses fresh or thawed chicken wings, but you can also make it using frozen ones. You will just need to add 3-4 minutes to the active cooking time to make sure the chicken is still thoroughly cooked. If in doubt, get that temperature probe out!
Can you trim your own chicken wings?
It also uses already trimmed wings but if you aren’t squeamish around raw meat (like I am) then you can also save some money by trimming them yourself. See below for an idea of where to cut each whole wing – they are easier to trim after they’ve been cooked, and you can always freeze the tips for later. Or you could use it to make chicken stock for a roast dinner.
What can you substitute for Frank’s Hot Sauce?
The original recipe for Buffalo chicken in any form uses Frank’s Hot Sauce and this is available in many places. But if you can’t get it, you can use cayenne pepper powder or red pepper flakes and tomato sauce to make your own.
Or you could make from scratch by combining 1/3 cup vinegar with 3 tbsp water, 2 tbsp cayenne pepper and 1 tbsp salt. Then you can adjust the flavour to suit how hot you like it.
Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Wings
Easy chicken wings in the Instant Pot complete with a tangy Buffalo sauce
Ingredients
- 4-4½ lbs. chicken wings 1 tsp garlic powder, divided Salt and black pepper, to taste 1 cup water Sliced celery, for serving
Instructions
- Sprinkle the wings with garlic powder and season. Place the metal trivet inside the Instant Pot and add one cup of water. Arrange the wings on it before putting the lid in place. Adjust the vent to sealing and the setting to manual for 8 minutes.
- While the wings cook, add the hot sauce, melted butter and rest of the garlic powder to a small glass bowl and mix to combine.
- When the cooking time has finished, allow for a natural release for 10 minutes then quick release the rest of the steam. Carefully remove the lid and put the wings into a large glass bowl. Leave to cool enough to handle.
- Put the wings onto a wire rack over a rimmed baking sheet then pour one third of the sauce on to coat. Cover with aluminium foil and put on the top shelf of the oven or a broiler for 3-4 minutes until crisp and coloured. Turn and repeat.
- Remove from the oven and toss the wings with half of the remaining sauce. Serve with the rest of the sauce for dipping.
