How To Make Instant Pot Chicken Wings (Fast and Easy)
Satisfy your craving for delicious Chicken Wings in a fraction of the time with this easy Instant Pot recipe. Perfect for busy weeknights or game day snacking!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
This chicken wing recipe starts with fresh or frozen chicken wings and has a short ingredient list. Plus, if you want you can make the wings in advance and finish at dinnertime.
With this Instant Pot Chicken Wings recipe, we wanted the wings to be easy to make and use a few ingredients that we generally have on hand.
These wings turned out delicious and perfectly tender.
The recipe is flexible: make a simple overnight marinade or cook the wings directly from frozen! Do what works best for you!
Looking for to make wings from scratch? Try our Homemade Chicken Wings recipe, which features a yummy homemade teriyaki sauce.
Why Use An Instant Pot for Chicken Wings?
An Instant Pot is the perfect tool to use to cook chicken wings! Because there’s lots of flavorful sauces and liquids inside the pot, it makes sure your wings are cooked through without drying out.
In addition, our recipe allows you to make your wings ahead of time by cooking in advance in your Instant Pot, then finishing them with a quick blast of heat when it’s almost dinner time.
So you can pressure cook them at home, get everything cleaned up, and then take them to your tail gate and finish them on a grill, in an oven, or with your air fryer.
✅ This easy recipe will work in any brand of electric pressure cooker, including the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, Cosori, or Power Pressure Cooker XL.
Using Frozen vs. Thawed Chicken Wings
I wrote this recipe so you can thaw the wings and marinate them OR you can just start cooking straight from frozen, depending on how much time you have.
You can absolutely make this recipe starting with frozen wings! Before cooking, make sure all of the wings are separated and not frozen together in a large clump (which would affect the cook time). Then, simply add the marinade ingredients to the pot and cook as directed.
You can cook these wings thawed or frozen with NO change to the total cook time. (We tested it both ways.)
NOTE: When using frozen wings, it will take much longer to come to pressure—plan at least 20 minutes before your pot reaches pressure.
Frequently Asked Questions about Instant Pot Chicken Wings
You absolutely do NOT have to do the marinade. Marinating allows the flavors to penetrate more deeply into the meat.
If you’re cooking the wings directly from frozen, I recommend just popping all the ingredients in the pot and allowing it to work its magic.
In our original tests, we used to brown the thawed wings before we pressure cooked them. However, over time, we found skipping the browning didn’t change the flavor too drastically, and we loved the time savings of cooking straight from frozen.
If you wish to brown the wings first, make sure your wings are thawed. Select Saute to preheat the pressure cooking pot. When hot, add 2 tablespoons of canola oil. Use tongs to remove the wings from the marinade and saute on both sides until browned. Then add the marinade liquid directly to the cooking pot and proceed with the recipe.
The wings are fully ready to eat after pressure cooking—they just look prettier and have more of a crispness to them if you finish them with a quick blast of heat.
You can use a broiler, air fryer, or grill—something that will quickly caramelize the sauce so it’s thick and sticky.
We prefer the texture and flavor of the wings when finished this way, but do what works best for you!
If you have any leftovers, you’ll need to store them in an airtight container and finish them within 3 to 4 days. I like to reheat my wings in my air fryer to regain a little of their crispy exterior.
Or, to save on time, I’ll just remove the meat from the bones before I store them. I’ll use them to dress up a salad when I store them this way.
Serving Suggestions for Chicken Wings
These chicken wings are pretty simple, and when I serve them I generally keep the sides pretty simple too.
I’ll often serve them with sliced veggies like carrot sticks, celery sticks, raw broccoli, and olives.
Along with whatever fruit is in season—this week we did them with watermelon, cherries, and grapes.
If you’re looking for game-day food, chicken wings also go great with crunchy fried sides like french fries, appetizers, or tater tots made in the air fryer.
💡 Want more in-depth information about making this recipe? You can now find it below the recipe card.
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Easy Instant Pot Chicken Wings
Ingredients
- 2 to 3 pounds chicken wings drum and wings separated, frozen or thawed
- 4 tablespoons sesame oil
- 1 cup low-sodium teriyaki sauce plus more for basting if desired
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- Nonstick cooking spray
- Toasted sesame seeds, crushed red pepper flakes, sliced green onions, optional, for garnish
Instructions
- Combine the sesame oil, teriyaki sauce, lemon juice, and sugar.
- Optional marinade: In a large bowl or ziplock bag, add the chicken wings and the teriyaki mixture. Make sure the marinade is evenly distributed around the chicken and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to overnight.
- Add 1/4 cup water to the pressure cooking pot. Add the chicken wings and the marinade to the cooking pot. Make sure the wings are distributed in an even layer.
- Lock the lid in place. Select High Pressure and 7 minutes cook time. When the cook time ends, allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes, then finish with a quick pressure release. When the valve drops, carefully remove the lid.
- Verify the wings are done with an instant read thermometer; they should have an internal temperature of at least 165°F.
- While the wings are cooking, preheat the broiler to 400°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.
- Use tongs to place the cooked wings on the prepared rack. Baste with additional teriyaki sauce if desired. Place the wings under the broiler for 3 to 5 minutes, until they start to brown. Remove the tray from the oven, flip the wings, and return to the broiler for another 3 to 5 minutes. Watch them closely so they don’t burn!
- Serve immediately, garnished with toasted sesame seeds, crushed red pepper flakes, or green onions.
Notes
Nutrition
❤️ A long-time Pressure Cooking Today reader, Nicholas, originally sent me this recipe for Teriyaki Chicken Wings. We’ve modified it over the years and wanted to update it with its own standalone post and photos.
INGREDIENTS YOU NEED
These chicken wings have just five ingredients, plus whatever garnishes you choose:
- Chicken wings: Make sure the wings you are using are split at the joints and trimmed.
- Sesame oil: These wings get a lot of flavor from the sesame oil, and they will not taste the same if you substitute a different oil. We like this sesame oil by Kadoya.
- Teriyaki sauce: We prefer a lower sodium teriyaki sauce, so I have more control over the salt content in the finished dish.
- Lemon juice: I prefer fresh squeezed. I like to freeze lemon juice in an ice cube tray in 1 tablespoon portions when I have recipes that need a small amount.
- Sugar: Just a little bit of sweetness adds a lot to this recipe. You can substitute honey if you like, just use a heaping tablespoon since honey is sweeter than sugar.
- Garnishes: We used sesame seeds, crushed red pepper flakes, and green onions. However, you can use your favorite garnish here or none at all.
Step by Step Instructions for Making Chicken Wings in the Instant Pot
This recipe takes your favorite teriyaki sauce, adds a few more ingredients, and turns your wings into something special. Let us walk you through the process:
Prepare Your Chicken Wings
This recipe is not written for whole wings. So if you’re using wings from the meat counter, you may need to separate them yourself. We walk you through how to split chicken wings in our Homemade Teriyaki Wings recipe.
If you’re using frozen chicken wings, just make sure the bag you purchase has the drumette and the wingette separated. The packaging at our grocery store calls them “first and second chicken wing sections.”
Marinate the Chicken Wings (Optional)
If you’ve planned ahead and are preparing the night before, combine the marinade ingredients and place them in a heavy-duty freezer bag with the chicken wings. Place this bag in the refrigerator to thaw until you’re ready to cook.
Tip: I like to place my ziplock on a rimmed quarter baking sheet or small pyrex pan to ensure that no leaks happen in my fridge.
Pressure Cook the Wings
When you’re ready to start cooking, add the wings (marinated or frozen) and the marinade liquid to the pressure cooking pot. (Don’t forget to add the 1/4 cup of water to help your pressure cooker reach pressure.) Select your cook settings: High Pressure and 7-minute cook time.
Make sure your lid is locked into the sealing position. It will take about 10 minutes for the wings to come to pressure if they’ve been thawed, and at least twice as long if you’re cooking the wings straight from frozen.
Once the cook time ends, wait 10 minutes, then use a quick release. Check that the wings are at least 165°F.
If you’re making them ahead of time, allow them to cool before placing them in an air-tight storage container with a little bit of the cooking liquid.
Finish the Chicken Wings
When you’re ready to finish the wings, preheat your broiler. We like to let air circulate under the wings, so we use a wire cooling rack set over a rimmed foil-lined baking sheet. Just make sure to spray the rack really well so the wings don’t stick.
Place wings on the rack and baste with extra teriyaki sauce if you’d like. Broil on each side for 3 to 5 minutes until they start to brown.
Remember—when they start to brown, they’ll brown really quickly. Keep a close eye on them so they don’t burn.
Serve immediately, garnished with toasted sesame seeds, crushed red pepper flakes, green onions, and your other favorite toppings.
MORE Recipes for Instant Pot Chicken
We love making chicken in the Instant Pot! Here are a few more ideas for easy game-day favorites:
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