Buffalo Wings Recipe: Easy and Delicious
Game day made easy! This tender-crisp Buffalo Wings recipe starts with with jarred sauce & blue cheese dip—cooked up quick in your Instant Pot for a flavorful, make-ahead–friendly appetizer.
Why you’ll love this recipe
Get ready for game day with these easy Buffalo Chicken Wings. This shortcut recipe helps you upgrade jarred buffalo sauce and blue cheese dip to get tender-crisp wings with maximum flavor.
Wings are the perfect game-day appetizer (even if they are a little messy to eat…)
For this recipe, we wanted to keep it easy, so we focused on getting cool ranch flavors in the wings, pressure cooking for tenderness, then finishing with a blast of heat to make the perfect crispy texture your guests will love!
Other Game-Day apps: For another wing idea, try our Easy Chicken Teriyaki Wings (or our from-scratch version). Your guests will love our frozen appetizers in the air fryer, which keeps small batches of apps hot and ready for your guests. Or, you’ll love our family-favorite Homemade Loaded Queso Dip.
What is the best method for cooking chicken wings?
We love a two-part cooking method for chicken wings, since it gives us more consistent results than baked or fried wings.
First, we cook the wings in the Instant Pot, which locks in moisture and flavor, so your wings fully cook without drying out.
Then, after cooking, we cover the wings with buffalo sauce and finish under high heat, so the buttery buffalo sauce caramelizes and crispy. (You can finish them in the air fryer, under the broiler, or on the BBQ.)
Bonus: Plus, this way you can pressure cook your wings at home, then finish right before serving. Perfect for less-stress on game day!
Ingredient Notes
Buffalo sauce. The buffalo sauce you choose makes a big difference in the finished flavor, so use your favorite. Our family prefers the mild side, so we tested this with the Frank’s RedHot Sauce Buffalo flavor with the yellow packaging. (They also have a Hot Buffalo flavor in black packaging, if you like the heat.)
Blue cheese sauce. Again, make sure to choose a brand you like. Our family preferred the Litehouse brand in our testing, which has a very mild blue cheese flavor.
Looking for homemade? My friend Tiffany from FoodieCrush has the best blue cheese dressing recipe.
Ranch dressing seasoning. I hate wasting the packets, so I opt for a larger ranch seasoning container I can measure out.
Should I cook wings from fresh or frozen?
As written, our recipe calls for fresh or thawed wings. If you want to cook from frozen, just add another minute or two to the cook time. (Note that cooking from frozen will also increase the time it takes to come to pressure by another 10 to 15 minutes.)
Why broil the Buffalo Wings after cooking?
While the wings are good to eat straight out of the Instant Pot, it’s worth the extra time under high heat to get crispy wings.
Since you know the chicken has cooked through, you don’t have to worry about burning the wings—pull them as soon as they start to brown.
I generally prefer to use my oven’s broiler, since I can broil the batch all at once. However, if you’d rather, you can use your air fryer. Just make sure to not crowd the air fryer basket when you’re cooking.
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Easy Buffalo Chicken Wings
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon ranch dressing seasoning
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 pounds chicken wings (flats and drumettes) split at the joints, remove wing tip if desired
- 3/4 cup Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Sauce divided
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon butter melted over low heat (we used our microwave at 30% power)
- Blue cheese dressing and dip we used Litehouse, for serving
Instructions
To Cook the Wings
- In a small bowl, combine the ranch seasoning, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle the seasoning mixture over the chicken wings.
- Add the water to the bottom of the pressure cooking pot, then place the chicken wings inside in an even layer. Next, pour 1/4 cup buffalo sauce on top of the chicken wings and DO NOT STIR.
- Lock the lid in place. Select High Pressure and set the cook time for 6 minutes.
- While the wings are cooking, in a large bowl whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup buffalo sauce with the honey until combined.
- When the cook time ends, allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes, then finish with a quick pressure release.
- Give the honey-buffalo sauce a good stir, then add the melted butter and stir until completely mixed together. Use a slotted spoon to remove the wings from the cooking pot and add them to the bowl. Gently stir to coat the wings with the sauce.
To Finish in an Oven
- Preheat the broiler to 450°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place a wire rack on the prepared sheet and spray the rack generously with nonstick cooking spray.
- With tongs, place the coated wings on the prepared rack. Place the wings under the broiler for 3 to 5 minutes until they start to brown. Remove the pan from the oven and turn the wings over. If desired, coat the wings with additional BBQ sauce. Broil the second side for another 3 to 5 minutes until the wings start to brown. Watch them closely so that they don’t burn. Serve immediately with a side of blue cheese dip if desired.
To Finish with an Air Fryer
- Remove the cooking pot and rinse well to ensure no residue is stuck. Return the cooking pot to the pressure cooker housing. Unplug the pressure cooker.
- Place the wings on the air frying rack. If desired, use a basting brush to spread additional honey-buffalo sauce the wings. Place the rack in the cooking pot.
- Set the air fryer lid security on top of your pressure cooker. Select the Air Fry setting. Set the temperature to 400°F and a 6 minute cook time. If desired, turn the wings halfway through the cooking time.
- When the cook time ends, carefully remove the air fryer lid and place it on the cooling pad. Use tongs to remove the wings and serve immediately with a side of blue cheese dip if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
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Great recipe. And I think it will work with BBQ sauce too. Thank you!!!
Agreed! Enjoy!