Do you love chicken wings? Crispy skin, melt in your mouth flavor, fall off the bone feel - you came to the right place, welcome! My husband and I have been making Friday night wings since 2001 so we're pretty professional at wing and sauce making when it comes to wings.
The traditional method we usually cook wings is in the oven, barbecue grill, or air fryer wings.
My task was How to make Instant Post wings crispy, with fall off the bone feel and melt in your mouth?
And by "fall of the bone" I don't mean for the meat to be so tender that it completely falls off the bone and you eat it with the fork. Because who wants to eat wings with the fork? Wings are designed to be eaten with suckin' fingers, they must be messy, saucy, and spicy.
The wing sauce is the key too! Below I'm sharing my chicken wings sauce recipe.
(PS: Please save this Pinterest-friendly photo below. If you're not making these wings right now, you will easily find them in your saves later.
So thanks to the Instant Pot Community very supportive Facebook Group I got many suggestions on how to make the wings crispy, I also found this great recipe and step-by-step Instant pot wing instructions. While author Lila is cooking her wings with Buffalo Ranch sauce, I will suggest my own recipe, which is hot, spicy, and sweet. I named it "Sticky & Swicy"
Ingredients
For the Instant Pot:
3-4lbs Chicken Wing Pieces ( I prefer "wingettes" because they are already cut and ready to put in the pan)
1 cup Water or Chicken Broth
Salt & Pepper to taste
For the Sauce:
¾ Cup Franks Hot Sauce (or you can use hot sauce of your choice)
½ Stick of butter (melted)
1TBS Molasses
1TBS Brown sugar
1TBS Raw Honey
1tsp Maple Syrup
1tsp Tabasco
1tsp ketchup
1tsp bbq sauce
1TBS flour (or corn starch) to thicken
Note: If you don't have all the above ingredients - Do not worry. Your wing sauce may not be as "rich", but try to get the basics - Hot sauce, honey, butter, flour.
Step by step instructions
- Click the "Saute" button and place wings inside your IP. Add salt & pepper to taste and sear them for 5 minutes on each side.
- Remove wings.
- Place a wire rack on the bottom of the Instant Pot.
- Place wings on top of the wire rack.
5. Add one cup water, or chicken broth, into the instant pot. (I like to use chicken broth because it gives the meat a more flavor-infused taste.)
6. Secure the lid, making sure the valve is SEALED. Press the Pressure Cook button (or MANUAL button depending on your IP), and cook for 7 minutes on high-pressure mode. (Note: If you have 3-4 pounds of wings in your Instant Pot, you can set the pressure cooking time to 9 minutes)
7. While the wings are cooking, in a small or medium saucepan mix together the following ingredients for the hot sauce. Begin by melting butter over low heat. Once the butter is melted, add flour to it, it helps the sauce thicken later on. Work out all the lumps. Then add the remaining ingredients. Cook the sauce over low heat until it caramelizes and is nicely blended into the thick sauce. It should take about 10 minutes.
8. When the pressure cooker timer dings, do a QUICK RELEASE.
9. Pre-heat broiler function in your oven. Or Air fryer.
10. Remove wings from the Instant Pot. If you feel that your chicken wings are still too wet, just dab them with a paper towel.
11. Place wings on a baking sheet and broil for 7-8 minutes on each side. If they are not crispy enough, broil 2-3 min more
12. Dip the wings into the hot sauce mixture. Make sure to fully coat each wing. Then arrange them neatly on the prepared plate. Serve and enjoy!
So this is the key to make Instant Pot Wings Crispy - use a trivet and do not sauce them while broiling. The wings will come out fantastic with a fall of the bone feel, melt in your mouth, and crispy!
See the no-fail video of Instant Pot wings in action.
Oh, don't forget to serve the wings with celery and Blue Cheese!
Disclosure: I’m not affiliated with Instant Pot and this is NOT a sponsored or paid post in any way. The Instant Pot Wings and Sauce is my own recipe and I only share what I love and what I cook in my kitchen. This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may get a small commission if you purchase the item thru my links, but will not affect your purchase price. This helps me to continue providing my readers with top-notch content
Please feel free to comment below with any questions, or experiences you had after using this recipe. I would love to hear from you.
You may also want to give these Air Fryer wings a try - the result is outstanding and crispy to perfection. Once you have bitten through the crispy skin, the juicy meat inside slides right off the bone in one bite!
How to make Instant Pot Wings Crispy, Melt in Your Mouth with fall-off-the bone
Ingredients
- For the Instant Pot:
- 3-4lbs Chicken Wing Pieces ( I prefer “wingettes” because they are already cut and ready to put in the pan)
- 1 Cup Water or Chicken Broth
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- For the Sauce:
- ¾ Cup Franks Hot Sauce
- ½ Stick of butter (melted)
- 1TBS Molasis
- 1TBS Brown sugar
- 1TBS Honey
- 1tsp Maple Syrup
- 1tsp Tabasco
- 1tsp ketchup
- 1tsp bbq sauce
- 1tsp flour (or corn starch) to thicken
- Note: If you don’t have all the above ingredients – no problem. They may be not as tasty, but try to get the basics – Hot sauce, honey, butter, flour.
Instructions
1. Click the "Saute" button and place wings inside your IP. Add salt & pepper to taste and sear them for 5 minutes on each side.
2. Remove wings.
3. Place a wire rack on the bottom of the Instant Pot.
4. Place wings on top of the wire rack.
5. Add one cup of water, or chicken broth, into the instant pot. (I like to use chicken broth because it gives the meat a more flavor-infused taste.)
6. Secure the lid, making sure the valve is SEALED. Press the Pressure Cook button (or MANUAL button depending on your IP), and cook for 7 minutes on high-pressure mode. (Note: If you have 3-4 pounds of wings in your Instant Pot, you can set the pressure cooking time to 9 minutes)
7. While the wings are cooking, in a small or medium saucepan mix together the following ingredients for the hot sauce. Begin by melting butter over low heat. Once the butter is melted, add flour to it, it helps the sauce thicken later on. Work out all the lumps. Then add the remaining ingredients. Cook the sauce over low heat until it caramelizes and is nicely blended into the thick sauce. It should take about 10 minutes.
8. When the pressure cooker timer dings, do a QUICK RELEASE.
9. Pre-heat broiler function in your oven. Or Air fryer.
10. Remove wings from the Instant Pot. If you feel that your chicken wings are still too wet, pat them dry with a paper towel.
11. Place wings on a baking sheet and broil for 7-8 minutes on each side. If they are not crispy enough, broil 2-3 min more
12. Dip the wings into the hot sauce mixture. Make sure to fully coat each wing. Then arrange them neatly on the prepared plate. Serve and enjoy!
Nellie
Should the wings be thawed first?
Irina
You can still place the frozen wings, but just try to be sure they are separated or else then tend to stick to each other when cooking
TT
Could these be grilled after rather than broiled?
Duhduh
Duh!
Don
Couldnt you just do them the whole time in the oven? Instead of getting instapot dirty?This is like cook a Turkey in the microwave. Put in microwave for a minute then put in preheated oven for 3 hours.
Imei
Hi Irina, I tried your recipe, and had to change most of the ingredients because of food allergies and intolerances. However, my process of cooking was similar enough that when I want to share this with others on my blog, I'd like to properly credit you for the basic recipe development. Please let me know if that is OK with you, and how you'd like to be credited. Thank you!
Jeanne
Hmm.. these definitely should be cooked a bit less, and more spice for us. They tasted great but we're overcooked and weren't enough "buffalo" for us.
Irina
Hi Jeanne. Make sure you do Quick release, not natural release or else they will cook longer. Or try to reduce the cooking time to 8 minutes. I thought my sauce is already very spicy 🙂 If you want more spice, I suggest to add a bit more buffalo sauce, more Tabasco sauce and some crushed red peppers. Also for the spice kick, I suggest you can use some habanero sauce or other pepper sauces, like mango pepper sauce or papaya pepper sauce for the best kick. But prepare to cry 🙂 Let me know what is your favorite sauce?
db
This recipe is awesome! Cooked to perfection. Just a little frustrated by the space limitations if the IP, any advice on bigger batches?
Sauce came out great even without all the ingredients.
Thanks!
Irina
What size pot do you have? Mine is 6 quarts. I figured the space is good for at least 3-4 pounds. Just pile them up on top of trivet. If you have more than one batch (Like I had for Superbowl party) then I used my Instant Pot twice to cook double batch. It is still good as the cooking time is only 9 minutes. While you're making your first batch and broiling it and working on your sauce, you will have the second batch already cooking. Thank you very much! I'm glad you liked the sauce!
Kristin
Your sauce was the best wings I ever had! Thank you for the recipe
Irina
Ooooh... Thank you so much... It made my day. I'm so glad your my fellow sauce lover!
Mindy
I used your technique for a batch of wings ( a little over 2 pounds) and they were great! I used a different recipe for a marinade and then a dipping sauce (a personal favorite) but followed your steps for IP time and broiler time. The wings came out perfectly cooked and CRISPY. The only thing I did not do was brown them before cooking as they had been marinated and would not have browned properly. Next time I WILL try your sauce. It looks great. Thanks for sharing!!!
Stacy
I'm in the process of making these now. I modified the sauce to use what I have, so here are my replacements -- replaced coconut nectar for the molasses, replaced brown sugar with just like sugar "brown sugar" (made from chicory root) and did mine with the cornstarch instead of flour. I will report back when we die down to eat!
Jon P.
Excellent recipe! Best, healthy, wings i've ever made. I used potato halves as my rack for the wings. The potatoes were cooked perfectly to use for potatoe salad by the time the wings were done. The chicken broth gave the potatoes extra flavor as well.
Irina
Thank you so much!! Glad you liked it?
Wow... what a genius brilliant idea!!???
So My understanding that you added broth to the bottom of the pot and you placed potato halves inside the broth, then wings on top.
Do you have a photo saved by the chance?
Still... what a fantastic idea to have perfect juicy potatoes with chicken flavor
S
Could you make the wings in the ip the day before and broil them the next day?
Irina
I have not done this, but I don't see why not
Sue Marie
If you're familiar with Amy + Jacky's (trusted) recipe site, they mention IP'ing a whole rotisserie chicken ahead and you can broil it before serving. I would think this would be the same.
MaryLou
I only count 31 mins cook time including 10 for slow release and broil time. I don't understant the 1 hour cook time!
Irina
Perhaps from very start to very finish, your wings will be fully ready and served in under an hour!
Shani
I have young kids that like a little spice, but not hot spice. So I substituted the hot sauce for sweet chili sauce and ketchup to make the 3/4c. And added a small handful of dark chocolate chunks at the very end like when I made molé. It was a hit!
I also broiled them for 3 min per side before putting in the pressure cooker to brown them because mine doesn't have a sauté setting. And only broiled them 2-3 min per side after they were done. They were done perfectly. Crispy and tender is a very accurate description.
Thanks for the ideas on how to cook them and a great recipe I could play with! Chicken wings are a favourite meal here, this recipe will be used again. And again.
Irina
HI Shani,
Wow!! Adding a small handful of dark chocolate chunks to the sauce is absolutely brilliant idea and a must try! Thank you for suggesting. I will definitely give it a try... I have never thought of this.
Since you have broiled them before and after IP - How many minutes did it take to pressure cook the wings and how many pounds did you use?
So your wings sauce came out on a little sweet side mixed with some spice?
Kudos to your young kids to love wings and spice!! My tween and teen also love wings, even spicy. We raised spicy loving devils...lol
Thank you for your wonderful suggestions...And Thanks for the comment!
Best regards,
Irina
Shani
Hi Irina,
I cooked about 2 kg of wings... so around the 4 pound mark. I have an 8 quart pressure cooker. I set the timer for 9 minutes still. We have a pretty high elevation (in central Alberta Canada), so most pressure cooker recipes require me to add a bit longer in time. with the pre/post broil I kept the time the same as in your recipe and they turned out perfect.
The flavour was sweet and had a good spicy taste without being "hot"...My kids call them spicy-sugar wings! I'm actually making them again for dinner right now. We'll see if I can recreate the perfection of the first batch!
Irina
Woohoo! Thanks for the wonderful news...
Your comment made my day.
So glad your family enjoying.
Send me your photos if ok....
I'm away from home now and will not be able to make wings until September...??
Best regards
Cliff
Better than ANY restaurant. Thanks SO much.
Irina
This is unbelievable! Made my day!
Yaya
Mine weren’t crispy at all?? What happened??
Irina
I don't know what happened on your end. Perhaps broil them 10 minutes on both sides to achieve your desired crispness. Good luck
Steve Vickerman
Made them for first time tonight. My visiting sister said they were the best wings she’s ever had! She is a very good cook. Loved the sauce, and all your cooking times were perfect. Out of all the pressure cooker wing recipes out there, I think this is the best. Thank you so much for sharing it.
Irina
Thank you so much for the honors! Also glad that you enjoyed the sauce
Sue Marie
This is the first recipe I've come across that has the wings broiled before saucing. I was skeptical that the sauce would stick as that seems to be the reason for the saucing at the end. I was pleasantly surprised that the sauce stayed on. Not only that, since the saucing was done afterwards, the grilling could be done longer and the result was the crispiest wings I've had from the Instant Pot. The only variations I made is that I don't like heat, so I omitted the hot sauce and tabasco sauce. I did sub with chili sauce like another reviewer did. Thanks for sharing!
Irina
Hi Sue,
So glad you liked the recipe and my method of saucing... I feel that broiling non sauced wings is the key to crispiness...
As for the sauce, you could have it ready and sauce the wings right before serving
Sue Marie
Thanks for the tip. I have some sauce left. I imagine it will freeze welll?
Irina
Yes, It freezes well, or refrigerates for up to 2 weeks... I love to use my leftovers to sauce the cauliflower when I make the cauliflower bites
Sue Marie
Thank you!
Anna
should we pile on top of wings to do more or should we just do them in batches?
Irina
No, you don't have to do them in batches... pile them up as much as can fit in your ip... same cooking time
Cindi Witt
Thank you for the info on making a bigger batch with same cooking time. Great recipe...THANKS!
John
Your recipe is definitely a keeper and the sauce is similar to mine thank you
Irina
So glad to hear this from the fellow wing lover and sauce maker. Enjoy!
William
I am just getting started with the Instapot and up to now a little less than excited. However, this wing recipe was great. I finished 1/2 of my batch with lemon pepper when broiling and both were great. As stated the wings were falling of the bone. Best wings I ave ever made. Thanks!
Irina
So glad to hear that from fellow wing lover !! Enjoy!!
Anjali
Can I make this without the trivet by chance? I cant seem to find one, and have placed an order. However I would like to use up my wings tonite.
Irina
Yes! As a matter of fact I cooked 4 pounds of frozen wings and piled them on trivet... when I opened the lid l, the pot had full of liquid to the top... the wings were perfect! I'd say they were very delicious... maybe perhaps they cooked in it's liquid.... add 1 cup of liquid to the bottom and place your wings... good luck
Jeff Browning
I used an 8 inch aluminium pie plate. Turned upside down and poked holes in the bottom
Irina
Great diy idea!
Jean
WOW! These were perfection!
Alison Inge
everything looks so good. I'm a starch mouth from day one. bread is my favorite-low carb bread has got to be healthier. I'm excited to try all of these recipes.
Thanks a million.
Abbi
Didn't love this recipe -- when saute-ing in the IP all of the skin of the wings stuck to the bottom when flipping. Also, it' a very time and labor intensive recipe.... could've been done much easier another way.... Guess I didn't realize what I was getting myself into. :/
Irina
Sorry to hear you didn't like it...
Paula
Terrible! What a waste of perfectly good wings!!
Irina
Sorry to hear that... yikes!
Chris
Made these (using a basic buffalo sauce) and they were awesome! Thank you!
Irina
????
Richard Ottley
Your recipe is amazing. I’m using a 3 qt instant pot as it’s just me but I love them. The only thing I don’t do is the sauce. I love the wings just crispy.
Irina
Yum! I love your idea... I also do the wings unsaucy sometimes Glad you enjoyed
Jon Loveless
Hi - Love the wings recipe! Thanks. Can they be crisped on a grill rather than indoors under a broiler?
Irina
Absolutely yes! Did you make them this weekend? How did come out??
d
Crappy
Susan
Stop sharing recipes if you can’t even be bothered to proof read your steps for errors and typos
Irina
Thank you for letting me know... would you please let me know what is the error or typo?
Josh Lemke
Wow! This was pretty much my first time cooking, and it was more successful than I could have imagined! My wife and I absolutely loved them! Thank you so much for this, I’ll definitely be making this again SOON
Irina
I'm so glad you loved it and they came out good from the first try!
Rik
This recipe is much more work than any other wings I’ve ever made. They are also no better than any other recipe. A huge waste of time.
Jeff Browning
Okay, trying them for the first time tonight. First thing I notice is that on the first step, Sauteing, all my wings stuck to the bottom of the pan. Then "sauteing" for 10 minutes (5 min on each side) cooked the wings through.
Now broiling, 7 minutes each side made them leather. Maybe my wings were smaller than yours.
Overall the recipe came out okay. Maybe if I used turkey wings they would have been better.
Irina
Hello...
Stuck to the bottom of ip is normal and always happens with wings...
You need to deglaze the bottom of your ip with hot water and wooden spatula.
Perhaps your wings were smaller? I usually get the large wings... do you have a picture?
In case wings are small then definitely no need to saute. Simply ip them then broil to desired crispness
Anthony
Are wings frozen, or thawed?
Irina
Wings were thawed, but recipe works for frozen the same... good luck
Sharon Norris
Looks amazing. Will try it this week. Thank you!
Chardel Gerlach
I’m having trouble with them sticking to the bottom of the IP while sauteing them? The skin peels off when I try to turn them over. Is this normal?
Irina
Hello, yes, this is normal. However to prevent from sticking to the bottom flip wings more often. And sauteing wings is optional too, if you plan to crisp them up in the broiler...
Lisaj
I'm definitely going to try these in my IP. But I'm one of those 'weird' people that don't like hot spicy. Do you have any recipes for making Garlic Parmesan or BBQ flavored wings?
Liz
Very helpful! I plan on doing the same for BBQ legs, and placing the rack In instant pot will definitely help! I didn’t think of finishing under the broiler either which will help crisp. Great stuff!
Yvette
I use this for my wings all the time!! such a tasty sauce and the wings are totally crispy. i saute my wings 1 lb at a time, and they are great! Fantastic recipe!
Irina
Thank you! So glad you enjoyed!
Colleen
OMG! These wings are the bomb! I have the hiccups from the heat and want more! Definitely try this recipe!
Irina
Yay! I love to hear that! So glad you enjoyed! Thanks for your feedback!
Sue
My son liked this sauce so much that he had me make an extra recipe of just the sauce doe his chicken tenders!
Irina
This is the great idea! You can even make the extra sauce and freeze it. or it is good in the refrigerator for up to a week
Gerald Grealish
Why the hell would you want blue cheese (or Ranch). If you need them than maybe you shouldn't be eating hot wings.
Daisy
I eat my wings with blue cheese.. In fact it adds flavor rather than having plain spicy wings. And the issue is? ?
Dave
I will eat my wings with blue cheese or ranch.
I will eat my wings with celery and carrots too.
I will eat them with a fox or in a box.
I will eat them in the rain or on a train.
I will eat them anyway I want.
I do so like hot chicken wings.
Thank you! Thank you! Dave I am.
Chase
Greta recipe but delete all the verbiage and get to the point!