With only 3 ingredients and ready in under 30 minutes, this Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken is so flavorful and so versatile! Pile it high on a crusty roll, serve it on pizza, or add it to a taco for a spicy and simple weeknight dinner!
Like most Instant Pot chicken recipes, this is a dump and go recipe. Add all the ingredients to the Instant Pot, set it and forget it! Come back to it when you are ready to shred and serve! Pile this chicken high on a sourdough hamburger bun for dinner tonight!
I'm always looking for new ways to serve chicken. This easy recipe is a great change up to Taco Tuesday! Serve buffalo chicken tacos instead of traditional chicken tacos. This is a simple recipe with so much flavor!
And make sure you check out these other Instant Pot chicken recipes!
- Instant Pot Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Dip
- Chicken Fajitas in the Instant Pot
- Instant Pot Chicken Thighs
- Instant Pot Chicken Drumsticks
- Chicken Stew- In the Instant Pot!
Jump to:
- Why This Recipe Is Great!
- Ingredients For Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken
- Equipment You'll Need
- How To Make Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken
- How To Serve Shredded Buffalo Chicken
- Tips and Tricks
- How To Make Buffalo Chicken in the Slow Cooker
- Frequently Asked Questions About Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken
- Other Recipes To Try!
- 📖 Recipe
Why This Recipe Is Great!
- It's a dump and go recipe! No need to chop or use any fancy equipment. You'll add the ingredients to the Instant Pot and let the Instant Pot do it's thing!
- It's versatile! Add this buffalo chicken to pizza, tacos, sandwiches, or nachos!
- It's great for meal prep! Make a big batch of this shredded buffalo chicken recipe and use it throughout the week on salads or over brown rice! When the flavors combine, they are even better the next day!
Ingredients For Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken
- Boneless, skinless chicken breast. Depending on the size of the chicken in your grocery store, you'll need two breasts or one pound.
- Butter. Butter and hot sauce create a homemade buffalo sauce in this recipe.
- Hot sauce. Frank's Red Hot is classic in Buffalo style chicken. Use your favorite hot sauce.
Equipment You'll Need
- Instant Pot. I have a 6-quart Instant Pot that works well for this recipe.
- Stand mixer or hand mixer, to shred the chicken.
How To Make Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken
Set the Instant Pot to "saute". Add the butter to the Instant Pot and allow it to melt. Once the butter is melted, hit cancel on "saute" mode and place chicken breasts in the bottom of the pot. Top the chicken with the hot sauce.
Close the Instant Pot lid and set the cooking time to 22 minutes on high pressure. Make sure the knob is set to the sealing position on the lid of the Instant Pot.
After the cooking is complete, carefully quick release the remaining pressure.
Open the Instant Pot and shred the chicken to your liking. Place the shredded chicken back in the sauce and serve immediately.
Pro Tip! When releasing the pressure, be careful to avoid any spray that may come out of the steam release knob on top of the lid. If that happens, close the knob and slowly continue to release the pressure.
How To Serve Shredded Buffalo Chicken
- Add ranch! Buffalo sauce and ranch go perfectly together! Add one pack of ranch seasoning to the Instant Pot with the chicken.
- Serve them in lettuce wraps! For a low carb option, serve shredded buffalo chicken on a lettuce wrap topped with blue cheese dressing or blue cheese crumbles!
- Add buffalo chicken to pizza! I love buffalo chicken pizza and this is so easy to add to pizza!
- Make them sliders! To make Instant Pot buffalo chicken sliders, simply add the shredded chicken to your favorite slider buns.
- Make Loaded Buffalo Sweet Potatoes! For a healthy, loaded buffalo sweet potato, pile the chicken high on a cooked sweet potato and add blue cheese crumbles and green onions.
Tips and Tricks
- If you have a favorite buffalo wing sauce, feel free to use that. Simply add the sauce and the chicken to the Instant Pot. You can skip the butter because there is butter already in most buffalo sauces.
- I have found the easiest way to shred the cooked chicken is to transfer the chicken into a stand mixer and turn the mixer on medium speed. In a matter of minutes, you will have perfectly shredded chicken!
- If you don't have a stand mixer, use a hand mixer! Unplug the Instant Pot and use a hand mixer to shred the chicken.
- The Instant Pot will take 5-10 minutes to come up to pressure before it begins cooking.
How To Make Buffalo Chicken in the Slow Cooker
Add all the ingredients to the slow cooker. Mix to the hot sauce fully coats the chicken.
Place the lid of the slow cooker and cook for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low. Shred the chicken once it is fully cooked and place the chicken back in the sauce. Serve immediately.
Frequently Asked Questions About Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken
Yes! Use one pound of thighs instead of chicken breasts. The time would remain the same for both types of chicken.
Place leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. To reheat, place the chicken on a microwave save plate and microwave for 1-2 minutes or until heated through.
Yes! This chicken is very freezer friendly. Allow the chicken to cool and then place it in an airtight container or a Ziploc bag. Freeze the chicken for up to 3 months. To defrost, place the container in the refrigerator until it is defrosted and then reheat as you would like.
Yes! You do not have to defrost the chicken breasts for this recipe. If you are using frozen chicken breasts, increase the cook time to 26 minutes instead of 22 minutes.
Other Recipes To Try!
Did you love this Spicy Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Recipe? If you did, don't forget to tag me on social media on Instagram or Facebook and share this recipe on Pinterest! Thanks for sharing this journey with me and enjoy these delicious recipes!
📖 Recipe
Spicy Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoon Butter
- 1 cup Hot Sauce Frank's is classic
- 1 lb Chicken Breast Boneless, Skinless
Instructions
- Set the Instant Pot to "saute". Add the butter to the Instant Pot and allow it to melt.
- Once the butter is melted, hit cancel on "saute" mode and place chicken breasts in the bottom of the pot.
- Top the chicken with the hot sauce.
- Close the Instant Pot lid and set the cooking time to 22 minutes on high pressure. Make sure the knob is set to the sealing position on the lid of the Instant Pot.
- After the cooking is complete, carefully quick release the remaining pressure.
- Open the Instant Pot and shred the chicken to your liking. Place the shredded chicken back in the sauce and serve immediately.
Notes
- If you have a favorite buffalo wing sauce, feel free to use that. Simply add the sauce and the chicken to the Instant Pot. You can skip the butter because there is butter already in most buffalo sauces.
- I have found the easiest way to shred the cooked chicken is to transfer the chicken into a stand mixer and turn the mixer on medium speed. In a matter of minutes, you will have perfectly shredded chicken!
- If you don't have a stand mixer, use a hand mixer! Unplug the Instant Pot and use a hand mixer to shred the chicken.
Annie
This was a delicious alternative to less spicy instant pot meals. One thing that could be improved was that the "sauce" was too thin. Maybe next time I will cook it down a bit after the instant pot is done with pressure cooking.
lynnswayoflife
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Cooking down the sauce would be a great idea too!