This Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken is super easy to make with buffalo wing sauce and blue cheese – serve it with carrot sticks and celery!
Ingredients and substitutions
- Chicken breasts – you can swap it out for frozen chicken but you’ll need to add on some cooking time.
- Buffalo wing sauce – use your favourite store-bought version or make your own homemade version.
- Melted butter – the butter will help cut the sauce but you can use a butter-free substitute of your choice or leave it out altogether.
- Salt – to taste.
- Blue cheese crumbles – cheddar cheese would also be good if you’re not a fan of blue cheese.
- Carrots, celery and cucumber – serve with any veggies you like.
- Salad dressing – use any salad dressing of your choice.
How to make buffalo chicken in the Instant Pot
Step 1: Prep your ingredients.
Step 2: Add water and a trivet to the Instant Pot.
Step 3: Place the chicken on top.
Step 4: Cook on high pressure.
Press the pressure cook button and select the high setting, then set to cook for 8 minutes. Instant Pot will take about 5-10 minutes to preheat then the 8 minutes to pressure cook. Note: to double recipe, add 5 more minutes cook time.
Step 5: Shred the chicken.
Let the pressure naturally release once chicken has finished cooking (should take 15-20 min), then open lid when safe to do so. Remove chicken and shred with a fork and knife.
Step 6: Toss the chicken in the sauce.
Drain water from the pot and then toss chicken with buffalo sauce, melted butter and salt. Serve with veggies and dip and enjoy!
What to serve with buffalo chicken
There are tons of things you can serve with your Instant Pot buffalo chicken! These great pairings let the Buffalo taste shine and enhance the creamy sauce:
- Fresh veggies like carrots, celery and bell peppers
- Tortilla chips
- Crackers
- Baguettes
- French fries
- Pretzels
Frequently Asked Questions
Buffalo chicken was named after a family restaurant called The Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York that first served delicious buffalo wings back in 1964.
This buffalo chicken Instant Pot recipe is definitely a bit spicy since the sauce is typically made with Frank’s Red Hot sauce. The butter will help cut the sauce a bit but you can try and find a milder sauce option if you don’t like a lot of heat.
One advantage of this Instant Pot buffalo chicken is that you can cook the chicken from frozen. Unlike a crockpot that takes a long time to heat, the Instant Pot increases the temperature very quickly. The meat does not sit at a dangerous temperature or allow bacteria to grow in the Instant Pot. If you are using frozen chicken breasts, you will need to increase the cooking time. It will take 11-14 minutes with a natural release depending on the size of the breasts.
There are tons of things you can make with this buffalo chicken instapot recipe! You can use it on a sandwich, as topping for a pizza, in a wrap, loaded on French fries or potato skin, mixed with pasta, stuffed in an eggroll or wonton, and wrapped in crescent rolls.
Storing and reheating
This buffalo chicken Instant Pot recipe will last in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. That means that you can make this in advance or divide it into individual portions or use it for meal prep.
To reheat individual servings, put it in the microwave for 45 seconds to 1 minute. Stir and continue to heat it if needed.
If you make the entire dish in advance, you can reheat the buffalo chicken on the stove top or in the oven. Add a little more sauce or water if it starts to dry out.
Freezing this recipe
You can freeze this Instant Pot buffalo chicken for about 3 months. Thaw the chicken in the refrigerator overnight before reheating it for 1-2 minutes in the microwave. You can also reheat it from frozen for 5-6 minutes – make sure to sprinkle some water over top before reheating and stir halfway through.
More Instant Pot chicken recipes
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- The trivet that comes with your Instant Pot.
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on turning this chicken into weekly lunches.
- I get all my free-range chicken from Butcher Box, conveniently delivered to me frozen.
- Get a meat thermometer to make sure your chicken is cooked through.
- Freeze this recipe in glass microwave-safe bowls up to 3 months.
Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1 lb chicken breasts
- 1 cup buffalo wing sauce
- 2 tbsp melted butter
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles
- Carrots, celery and cucumber to serve
- Salad dressing to serve
Instructions
- Add water and trivet to Instant Pot and place chicken breasts on top. Press the pressure cook button and select the high setting, then set to cook for 8 minutes. Instant Pot will take about 5-10 minutes to preheat then the 8 minutes to pressure cook. Note: to double recipe, add 5 more minutes cook time.
- Let the pressure naturally release once chicken has finished cooking (should take 15-20 min), then open lid when safe to do so.
- Remove chicken and shred with a fork and knife. Drain water from the pot and then toss chicken with buffalo sauce, melted butter and salt. Serve with veggies and dip and enjoy!
