Instant Pot Duo Crisp Chicken Wings
This recipe for Instant Pot Duo Crisp Chicken Wings is what now has me completely in love with my Duo Crisp. It is also a great recipe for Ninja Foodi chicken wings. Plus it is the perfect recipe if you have a Mealthy Crisp Lid for your Instant Pot. Read my Duo Crisp Review and see my Duo Crisp v. Ninja Foodi Comparison Chart for more.
Update: This recipe also works with the upgraded Instant Pot Pro Crisp and Air Fryer, which you can view here at Amazon: Instant Pot Pro Crisp. You can see user Instant Pot Pro Crisp reviews there too.
If you have made regular Instant Pot chicken wings before, you know that you have to put them under a broiler or in an air fryer if you want them really crispy. Well, now making Instant Pot crispy chicken wings is super easy! I pair these up with a classic “real deal” Buffalo wing sauce for some great Instant Pot Duo Crisp buffalo wings.
Don’t have a new Instant Pot Duo Crisp, Mealthy Crisp Lid, of Ninja Foodi? Well, no worries, you can still make buffalo chicken wings in the pressure cooker crispy. But it will require popping them under a broiler, or better yet, in an air fryer such as the Instant Vortex Plus or Instant Omni. See my Instant Vortex v. Instant Omni comparison chart and links to full reviews for more.
I give directions here for making Instant Pot chicken wings three ways: In the Duo Crisp or with the Mealthy, or by pressure cooking paired with the broiler or with the air fryer. This recipe is Keto and low carb!
Another way my family loves to make wings is to smoke them. Those come out fine as is, but we sometimes also get them extra crispy in the air fryer or in the Duo Crisp with the fryer function after smoking. If you want a good wing recipe for your smoker try these smoked chicken wings. You can then serve them with the sauce from the recipe here if you like a traditional buffalo sauce.
Instant Pot Duo Crisp Chicken Wings
You can make wonderfully crispy chicken wings in the Duo Crisp or a Ninja Foodi that are still nice and juicy, because you can first pressure cook and then air fry in the same pot. This post focuses on Instant Pot buffalo chicken wings, but you can serve these with any sauce that you like or even with no sauce.
Instant Pot Buffalo Wings
Buffalo wings have an interesting history. Regardless of differences of opinion about their origin, the original recipe is generally intended to be crispy! Basically, the the wings are deep-fried and then coated with a vinegar-based cayenne pepper hot sauce that is made with melted butter.
Unfortunately, you will often see Instant Pot buffalo chicken wing recipes that skip the crispy step and I find that, even in restaurants, many skip that step. So many times my bar wings are not crispy at all! But crispy is what makes them especially good!
Making Pressure Cooker Chicken Wings Crispy
Making these Instant Pot chicken wings crispy is super easy, especially if you have a Duo Crisp, Ninja Foodi, Mealthy Crisp Lid, or an air fryer.
Further, you can make frozen chicken wings in the Instant Pot Duo or Ninja Foodi. The recipe works from either frozen or thawed. You simply pressure cook a bit longer for frozen wings.
I started with a basic pack of party chicken wings. This will make 10-12 wings. You can double the amount of wings if you wish and still have plenty of sauce.
Put a cup of broth or water in the pot and put the wings into the air fry basket of the Duo Crisp or Ninja Foodi.
If using a standard Instant Pot, put them on the trivet or in a steamer basket. Then pressure cook on high pressure for 10 minutes if fresh and 12 if frozen.
I just dumped the frozen block of wings in. It is better if you can break them up a bit, but mine were frozen solid. If you have a frozen block and find them still not cooked through after pressure cooking, bring the pot back to pressure and given them about 2 more minutes.
After pressure cooking, quick release, drain the liquid, and spray or coat the wings with oil and add a bit of Seasoned Salt or salt and pepper to taste. I like to use a spray avocado oil that has no additives. Avocado oil is healthy and holds up well to high heat from the air fryer.
Then, air fry at 400 for up to 20 minutes until the wings reach the desired level of crispiness. In the Instant Pot Duo Crisp, or if using the Mealthy lid, stop every five minutes and toss the wings. You may have to re=spray them with oil to prevent sticking. If you skip tossing them or don’t use enough oil they will stick. You can also try spraying the basket to avoid sticking.
If using a separate air fryer, such as the Instant Omni, you can put the wings in the basket or on a rack and turn them. The rotating basket in the Instant Vortex Plus works great for this! With that, you don’t have to bother to turn the wings.
If using your oven, place the wings on baking sheet and broil until crispy. turning several times.
The oven does not always get them as nicely crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside the way an air fryer does though. But it still works!
When done, simply coat the wings with sauce and serve. Here they are before adding sauce. They taste great without sauce too!
Buffalo Wing Sauce
A lot of buffalo wing recipes will do a cheater version of the sauce in which they simply mix a hot sauce (usually Frank’s Red Hot) with melted butter. That will suffice, but it is not quite a match for the original recipe.
To get that extra tang and authentic flavor of a true Buffalo sauce, you should add vinegar, Worcestershire, garlic powder, and some cayenne pepper.
Buffalo Sauce Alternatives
Don’t want to use Buffalo Sauce? Try a different sauce such as the sauce from this soy garlic wings recipe. You can also try something like one of these instead:
- Nothing! Plain lightly seasoned crispy wings are still super tasty!
- BBQ sauce for Instant Pot BBQ wings
- Asian sweet chili sauce
- Teriyaki sauce
- Honey mustard
- Parmesan wings: coat the wings with Parmesan before air frying.
Serving Instant Pot Crispy Chicken Wings
Traditionally Buffalo wings are served with blue cheese dressing and celery or other vegetables. Often, ranch dressing is substituted for the blue cheese.
Buffalo wings or any crispy chicken wings make a great appetizer, especially for football game day, tailgating, or parties. Try serving them with a few other tasty bar-food type appetizers such as:
- Chicken nacho bites (from my Snack Rules site)
- Bacon chorizo dates (from my Snack Rules site, these are seriously amazing!)
- Potato skins
- Beer battered deep fried mushrooms
- Pretzel bites with olives and Parmesan
Instant Pot Duo Crisp Chicken Wings
Instant Pot Duo Crisp Chicken Wings are the best easy way to make crispy Instant Pot wings from frozen or thawed and can also be made in the Ninja Foodi, with a Mealthy Crisp Lid, or any pressure cooker and air fryer combination, such as using the Instant Vortex Plus or Omni, or even your oven. Great for Instant Pot buffalo wings!
Ingredients
- 12-24 party style chicken wings (frozen or thawed)
- 1 T Oil of choice (I use a spray avocado oil)
- 1 cup chicken broth (can substitute water)
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/2 cup Franks Red Hot Sauce
- 1/4 t Worcestershire sauce
- 1 T white vinegar
- 1/4 t cayenne pepper
- 1/8 t garlic powder
- Seasoned salt to taste
- Blue Cheese or Ranch dressing for dipping
- Celery for garnish
Instructions
- Pour broth or water into the Instant Pot
- Place the chicken wings into the air fryer basket and set the basket in the pot
- Pressure cook on high pressure for 10 minutes for thawed wings and 12 minutes for frozen
- While the wings are cooking, place the butter, Franks Red Hot Sauce, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder in a small saucepan
- Heat and whisk the ingredients over medium high heat until the butter melts and the mix starts to barely bubble at the edge of the pot
- Remove the sauce from heat and set aside
- Quick release the pressure
- Remove the air fryer basket and discard the liquid in the pot.
- Spray the air fryer basket with oil.
- Spray the wings with oil and toss. Spray and toss again to coat. Or toss the wings in 1 T oil to coat
- Season the wings with seasoned salt or salt and pepper to taste and toss to coat
- Using the air fryer lid, air fry for 10-20 minutes at 400, tossing the wings every three to five minutes. Respray and Toss often to prevent sticking. IMPORTANT! Failure to monitor and respray if needed can lead to the wings sticking.
- During the last five minutes reheat the sauce on low
- Remove the wings from the pot to a serving dish and coat with the sauce
- Serve with blue cheese or ranch dressing and celery
- Enjoy!
Notes
If using a Mealthy lid, you may need to toss the wings a bit more often.
If using an air fryer, place the wings in the basket or on a tray and turn or toss as needed for even cooking.
If crisping in the oven, place the wings on a tray under the broiler on high heat 450+ and turn as needed until browned.
IMPORTANT: Some readers report problems with the wings sticking. It is vital to spray the basket and the wings with oil and to monitor and toss the wings often to prevent this.
Recommended Products
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Instant Pot Duo Crisp -
Ninja OP401 Foodi 8-Quart Pressure, Steamer, Air Fryer All-in-One Multi-Cooker, Black/Gray -
Mealthy CrispLid for Pressure Cooker - Turns your Pressure Cooker into an Air Fryer - Air fry, Crisp or Broil fits 6 & 8 Q Pot Basket, Trivet, Silicone Mat, Tongs plus Instant access Free Recipe App
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 463Total Fat: 40gSaturated Fat: 16gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 21gCholesterol: 105mgSodium: 1647mgCarbohydrates: 10gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gProtein: 16g
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Looks wonderful! For my Duo Crisp last night and would love to make these tonight as my first try in it.
Thinking about adding the sauce before the last air-frying to get it cooked on a bit. Do you think that would work? Don’t like my wings too messy.
You could add the sauce toward the end of the air frying. I would say maybe the last 5-8 minutes or so just brush some on and give them all a toss. You might try cutting the sauce recipe in half for that if you don’t like them really messy. It makes quite a bit of sauce. If you try that, let us know how it goes!
Thanks.
You can pressure cook with the air fryer basket and the holder for it too?
Yes you can! I like that because it can used in much the same manner as a trivet.
Made wings in the duo crisp and they all stuck to the bottom of the air fryer basket. It was a disaster, and flipping them was not fun. Followed the recipe to a T. What do you think went wrong?
I sometimes get a little bit of sticking but nothing terrible. Perhaps oil type makes a difference? I usually use avocado oil. I also toss them around in the basket pretty regularly. You could try spraying the basket really well before air frying too and see if that helps.
Thanks! I’ll try spraying the basket next time. Figured non-stick meant that food wouldn’t stick, but I guess that’s not the case!
Yeah, that “non-stick” basket isn’t all that non-stick! I usually give it or the food a pretty good spray with anything that I cook.
The instructions are accurate and work well if followed I’ll add a few more tips though. 1. Dry the wings off and the IP before applying oil and doing fry mode. I find they stick less that way. 2. Don’t mess with stuck wings during frying intermissions. You’ll just make it worse. 3. Once frying is done take frying trivet out and let cool for a few min. Then dump wings and gently pry stuck wings with a non metal utensils. Most will come off clean. Perfect crispy wings. Thanks OP
Great tips! Thanks!
I was really excited to try this technique. Unfortunately the chicken fell off the bone after pressure cooking when I tossed them in oil.
Hmmm, I make these a lot and have never had that happen. I wonder if wing size has something to do with it? I do normally use pretty meaty wings.
Tried this recipe in the duo crisp and wings were blackened but not crispy at all. What are we missing? We seasoned with dry spices and pressure cooked. Then tossed in bbq sauce and air fried 15 min. Tasty but tasted and felt like baked chicken. Wet. Soft. No crisp. Help?
To get them crispy, coat the wings well with oil and air fry them before adding the sauce to them. If you add the sauce first that will just caramelize the sauce and not get the wings crispy. If you want caramelized sauce air fry again for just a minute or two after adding it.
No seasonings or sauce during cooking. This is classic even at the Buffalo Wing restaurants. Cook and fry them then toss in sauce in a large bowl. Trust me. That’s the issue and you’ll love them as I explained
Can you use this same technique if you want to fry, say chicken thighs?
Yes, but you might want to increase the pressure time buy a couple of minutes to make sure that they get fully cooked. Thighs might stick even more than wings, so use plenty of oil or make sure that the skin side stays up and not pressed against the basket.
Do not use this recipe. The wings stuck so hard to the pot they completely fell apart. They weren’t crispy – the skin was all stuck to the pot. All I had was a stuck of bones. Terrible recipe.
Hi! With this recipe it is important to toss the wings frequently during the air fry or they will stick. I usually respray them as well. The main post noted this, but it wasn’t as clear in the recipe so I updated things to make that clearer. You can also try spraying the basket. Mine always come out great as long as I monitor them closely and spray/toss them often during the air fry.
I’m going to be making these tonight but had a quick question, how many wings can I put on the instant pot to air fry? Can they sit on top of each other if I make sure to toss often? Thank you!
I often do a dozen in the Duo Crisp. They do end up on top of each other with that many, so yes, give the basket and the wings a good spray of oil and toss them often!
Just got the instant pot air fryer lid and eager for wings! Can you air fry in two layers or is the broiling layer just for broiling?
Hi! The lid works best for broiling and also works a lot like any basket style air fryer. You can air fry things like wings or fries in layers, but will need to check them often and toss/or stir them to get them evenly fried and to prevent sticking.
Thanks for this recipe! Yes, this is the real buffalo sauce! Wings came out great for me. I did have a little sticking at first, but I caught it right away and it was nothing a little more oil could not solve. After another spray and toss it was fine and I got crispy wings. People complaining about sticking might not be checking enough or not using oil?
That is my guess. I make these a lot and do not run into sticking problems as long as I monitor them closely, respray if needed, and toss every 3-5 minutes.
The recipe is not the problem I just made them and they are perfect!!!
Glad that you liked them!
Just used our instant pot Duo for the first time with this recipe Best Wings ever i have ever made fo shizzle!
Can I put chicken wings at the bottom layer and the top layer of the instant pot air fryer basket?
You could try it, but that would impede regularly tossing the wings during the air fry, which in turn could cause sticking. The bottom layer also would likely not crisp up as well because the top layer would be blocking the air flow.
Hi Carleen! Do you know how I could cook boneless, skinless chicken thighs with the duo crisp, just from the refrigerator as they are not frozen? I wanted to see if I could cook maybe like 6 at a time and get them crispy. So maybe pressure cook first, and then put the duo crisp lid on? I don’t cook with any oil though so I am wondering if that would work, what do you think? Thank you!
That would be the way to do it. With no oil you might get some sticking, but probably less so with skinless thighs. Just be sure to turn them often.
Great thank you!
I have the duo crisp 8qt how many wings can I do at once
I wondered, so I’m trying adding parchment under the wings to see if that helps with the sticking. If needed, I will still broil them a min or two to crisp up.. I’m sooo pumped to try these! Thanks for the recipe! I cannot wait to eat them!!
Hi! So, in theory parchment could work well. Obviously I have not tested that. If you try it, I suggest spraying the parchment with oil first, such as with a spray coconut oil. If you try it, let me know how it goes! I like the idea of it!
@Carleen, it works great! I have NOT oiled the parchment, or the wings, and I’ve had great success! I take the wings out to season them, and then I cut the parchment to fit the air fryer basket and put it in before I add the wings for the air fryer step. I still check them frequently, but they have never stuck!
Good to know! Thanks for the update!