Best Chicken Wings Ever, from your Instant Pot to your oven or grill & onto your table in under an hour!
Keep scrolling for my Easy Buffalo Hot Wing Sauce (Reduced Sodium)!
This post was originally posted in July 2020 as Best Chicken Wings Ever. Updated with reformatted recipes in 2023.
Quick post for you today! I posted these wings in an Instant Pot group on Facebook and want to share it with everyone here too.

If you have never had Instant Pot chicken wings, head to your butcher shop and get some wings! I cook about two pounds at a time in my 6 quart Instant Pot. We get them with drummies, wings, and tips all attached when we can!

Sure, you can bake or fry them, but they are so juicy and tender in the Instant Pot.

AND you get a bonus! After you cook the wings, you have almost two cups of delicious seasoned chicken broth to use in another recipe, or freeze for later!

These wings are a little sticky, browned, delicious and much healthier than fried wings. With just a few minutes in the oven, broiler, grill, or air fryer you get the perfect amount of char!

Instant Pot/Pressure Cooker Wings (Scroll to the bottom for Reduced Sodium Hot Sauce!)
Pressure Cooker Chicken Wings
Equipment
- Instant Pot or other brand of pressure cooker
- egg racks optional
- non-stick aluminum foil optional
- 2 cup container optional – to freeze chicken broth
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp McCormick Grill Mates Chicken Seasoning Optional – salt, pepper or other chicken seasoning.McCormick Montreal Chicken Seasoning.
- 1 tsp paprika Optional
- 1 garlic clove Optional – crushed
- 1 cup water
- 2 lbs chicken wings *Thawed. I like the full wing, drummy, wing and tip included. Ask your butcher!
- spray oil
Instructions
- Add 1 cup of water and smashed peeled garlic clove to the bottom of the instant pot and set the trivet on the bottom.
- Sprinkle seasoning over the wings.
- Spray the trivet with oil and place as many wings as you can in a single layer onto the trivet.
- Add a rack, like these egg racks, spray it with oil and layer with seasoned wings. *If you don't have stacking racks, use non-stick foil, spray both sides with oil and poke some holes in it.
- Depending on the size of your Instant Pot, you should be able to fit all the wings on the racks without much overlap. If not, spray some oil on the wings to keep them from sticking together. *Make sure not to go above the max-fill line!
- Place the lid on the Instant Pot and set for 6 minutes on high-pressure.
- While the wings are cooking, line a sheet pan with non-stick foil. For naked wings add a quick spray of oil to help with browning.
- Preheat your oven or grill to high heat, about 450℉. Or prepare your air fryer.
- When the timer beeps, allow the Instant Pot ten minutes to depressurize before manually releasing the steam.
- Use tongs to gently remove the wings from the Instant Pot and spread them out on the prepared baking sheet. TIP: Save the chicken broth from the Instant Pot, strain off the grease and mash the garlic clove into the broth and use for soups, other recipes!
- Refer to my reduced sodium Easy Hot Wing Sauce Recipe and baste with hot sauce.
- Grill or bake your wings, checking every couple of minutes, for about five minutes until browned both sides. Flip and baste with more hot sauce, if using. They should be pull-apart tender!You can also brown them in batches in your air fryer, at about 350-375℉.
Notes
Nutrition
*Remember, when the wings are done in the IP, save the broth in the bottom of the IP, strain it, and use it to make rice or quinoa, whatever or freeze it. You’ll be amazed at how flavorful it is!
If you love Instant Pot cooking, try my Instant Pot Spinach and Meatballs, Fancy Egg Salad, or Chickpea Soup!
Easy Hot Wing Sauce

Easy Buffalo Hot Wing Sauce (reduced sodium)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter Melted
- 3 tbsp Frank's RedHot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce
- 1 tbsp Sriracha More for hotter sauce
- ½ tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp honey
Optional
- ⅛ tsp Lawry's coarse ground garlic powder with parsley Optional
- ⅛ tsp cayenne pepper Or more for extra HOT sauce!
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Either baste or toss the wings in a large bowl with the sauce.For a less spicy sauce add more butter and honey, or use less sriracha.
Notes
Nutrition

Can you cook frozen wings in the Instant Pot?
(I have used this method with a frozen chunk of wings. The wings in the middle of the chunk required some extra time in the IP after I removed the outer layer(s) of wings, just be careful with the raw chicken. They are easier from thawed. But possible from frozen, though I don’t recommend it.)
I haven’t tried ribs in the IP yet but if they come out half as good as IP wings, I’m definitely going to!
I hope you try these wings! If you love these Best Chicken Wings Ever made in your Instant Pot, you may love my Instant Pot Spinach and Meatballs!
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These look amazing. I absolutely love wings! I’ve never tried them in the InstantPot, but this post makes me want to give this method a go!
Definitely give it a go! I never liked how long you had to cook them or fry them so that they weren’t chewy. The Instant Pot recipe version is so much better. And you get chicken stock/broth to use later. I also think a lot of the fat drips off too. I like them fall of the bone tender and this definitely does it!
Sounds perfect! I was so thankful that we had the InstantPot back when our oven unexpectedly broke on us. We could still make practically anything, apparently even wings!