Buffalo Chicken Wings - Instant Pot / Oven

If you're hosting a game-day party, you need three things- good beer, a great TV, and the best Buffalo Chicken Wings! I got you covered for wings! Spice-rubbed and cooked in an Instant Pot or oven, then coated in a buttery hot sauce, these crisply delicious wings will be ready for you in under 30 minutes!

Jump to:

• What are Buffalo Chicken Wings
• Buffalo Wings Recipe: Oven vs. Instant Pot
• How to Make Chicken Wings
• How to make Chicken Wings in an Air Fryer
• Serving Suggestion for Chicken Wings
• Recipe Tips for Buffalo Chicken Wings
• More Game Day Recipes from my Kitchen
• 📖 Recipe

What are Buffalo Chicken Wings

Buffalo Chicken Wings get their name from their place of origin. They were invented in 1964 at Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York by a sports bar owner Teressa Bellissimo.   Since then, they are often called Buffalo Wings or Hot Wings.

Chicken wings are prepared by cutting the wing in three parts-  drumette,  flat wing, and flapper.  The flapper is discarded and the drumette and flats are used for this dish. You can cut the wings yourself, or, buy them pre-cut from your local supermarket, from the meat or frozen section.

Buffalo Wings Recipe: Oven vs. Instant Pot

One weekend, my kids and hubby challenged me to a Chicken Wings cook-off.  They made baked chicken wings in the oven, like we have been making forever.   And, I made this chicken wings recipe in the Instant Pot electric pressure cooker.

We used the same spice rub and same coating sauce for both sets. So here are both chicken wings recipes and our family's comparison for both using three metrics- texture, ease of cooking and time.

End result of both style of wings looked so similar. Take a look at the images on this page- Can you tell which ones came out of the oven or the Instant Pot?  Exactly!

How to Make Chicken Wings

Prep

• Pat dry chicken wings. Mix spice rub in a ziplock for easy cleanup. Add the wings to the bag, seal it and toss well to coat the wings with the rub.

Oven Method

• Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place the wings, skin side up. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 425F for 30 minutes. Remove from oven.
• Coat wings with hot sauce on both sides and broil them in the oven, 1-2 minutes on each side, depending on your oven.

Instant Pot Method

• Put 1 cup water in the inner pot of the Instant pot. Place steamer basket in and layer the wings in it. Close lid. Vent set to Sealing position.
• Cook on Manual/Pressure Cook for 5 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes before opening (NPR 5). 

• Coat wings with hot sauce and place them on a lined baking sheet. Broil them in the oven for 5-6 minutes, flipping them half way through (3 minutes or so on each side).

TEXTURE Comparison:

Instant Pot: The wings were super moist after cooking. We ate a few without any sauce and they were delicious.

Pressure cooking the wings with the rub infused them with the flavors really well.  We coated them with sauce and broiled them to get that crisp texture.

It took longer than usual to crisp up the skin though. It took around 6-8 minutes in the broiler to get the crisp texture and it wasn't as crispy as the one from the oven.

Oven: The baked chicken wings was cooked perfectly and the wings had a nice crunch after the first round of baking. We sauced them and broiled them for 1 minute on each side and the result was 'perfect' crisp chicken wings.

Winner: In the end, my family preferred the extra-crispness of the oven baked chicken wings over the Instant Pot.

EASE OF COOKING: 

Instant Pot: Cooking wings was super easy in the Instant Pot.

Simply rub them and dump them in the steamer basket and set a timer.  The result was so moist that we could have skipped the broiling process and simply dipped them in sauce if they didn't have the skin on.

But, if you're like us and like the skin real crispy, then you would have to finish them off in the oven.  But that's an easy step.

Oven: My kids made the oven recipe entirely by themselves, so it's fair to say, that it was easy as well. They spice rubbed the wings and and baked them in the oven. The result was crisp and cooked well.

If you're short on time, or, serving a huge crowd, you can skip the broiling step and serve them with the hot sauce on the side.  It'll still be wicked good.

Winner: In terms of ease of cooking, I would say it's a tie, since both methods were equally easy enough for us.

The only advantage in the oven method was that in the end, we just had one baking sheet to wash.  Whereas, in the Instant Pot method, we had the inner pot and steamer basket in addition to the baking sheet.

TIME Comparison: 

Instant Pot: The Instant Pot took around 20 minutes to cook the wings- 10 minutes to build pressure + 5 minutes of cooking time + 5 minutes of NPR time.

But then, it took around 6-8 minutes (3-4 minutes on each side) to broil them for crispness. So, it took around 26-28 minutes.

Oven: We baked the wings for 30 minutes at 425F, so including the time for the oven to pre-heat, I would say it took around 37 minutes, depending on your oven.

But then, you could do your spice rub prep while the oven is pre-heating. Then, we broiled them for 1 minute on each side. Overall, this method took around 40 minutes. 

Winner: The Instant Pot method saved us around 15 minutes of total cooking time.

This comparison is purely based on my family's preference, but I hope that this helps you understand the difference in results.

How to make Chicken Wings in an Air Fryer

To make Chicken Wings in the Air Fryer, pat them dry and spice rub them as per directions. Place them in the air fryer basket, keeping a little distance between each.

Cook at 380F for 12 mins, flip the wings and cook another 12 mins. Increase the temperature to 400F and cook another 5 mins to crisp up the skin. Toss them in sauce and serve!

Serving Suggestion for Chicken Wings

Served hot, along with celery and carrot sticks with either ranch or blue cheese dressing for dipping.

Recipe Tips for Buffalo Chicken Wings

• Perfect Texture: Pat dry the wings using kitchen towels before you spice rub them. This results in an extra crispy texture.
• Using Chicken Drumsticks for this Buffalo Wings Recipe: You can also use chicken drumsticks with this chicken wings recipe, but increase the pressure cooking time to 12 minutes instead of the 5.
• Customize the heat level of your Chicken wings: You can increase the heat in this chicken hot wings recipe by adding some tabasco to Frank's hot sauce. You can also tone it down by reducing the hot sauce.
• To make Chicken Wings in the Air Fryer, spice rub them and place them in the air fryer basket, keeping a little distance between each. Cook at 380F for 12 mins, flip the wings and cook another 12 mins. Increase the temperature to 400F and cook another 5 mins to crisp up the skin. Toss them in sauce and serve!

More Game Day Recipes from my Kitchen

Here are some crowd pleasing recipes for game day parties that can be made ahead, and multiplied very easily:

• Crispy BBQ Ribs
• White Chicken Chili
• Black bean Chili
• Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread Muffins
• Black Bean Quesadillas
• Tandoori Chicken Sliders
• 3-Ingredient Salsa Chicken Tacos
• Game Day Chocolate Brownies
• Instant Pot Fudgy Brownies (box-mix)

📖 Recipe