Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken

No better way to follow up Tuesday’s homemade buffalo sauce than with this instant pot buffalo chicken. AKA, my new favorite way to make chicken. My love for buffalo chicken runs deep and I try to have it whenever the chance arises. While this is usually in a form of boneless wings, chicken tenders, and burgers, I figured there has to be an easier way to have it.

Enter instant pot buffalo chicken. A super simple recipe ever that yields copious amounts of straight-up buffalo chicken you can use for whatever you like. The chicken is juicy and tender from cooking it in the pressure cooker, has a good kick to it without being too spicy, and has the perfect amount of chicken to sauce ratio.

And it only takes about 25 minutes from start to finish, with the Instant Pot doing most of the work for you. Serve it up on Sunday in sandwiches while watching football with a group of people or make it at the beginning of the week for meal prep. Either way, you won’t be disappointed.

The bonus is that it makes a lot so you are more than likely to have leftovers. Having leftover protein is a lifesaver during the week when you want to stay on track but on short on time. Throw it with some veggies and carbs and you have an easy and complete meal without too much effort!

Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken

Making buffalo chicken could not be easier than this. Two ingredients, plus some salt and pepper, and 25 minutes to make. It will become your new favorite bulk protein to make to have on hand throughout the week for easy and healthy meals. Here is what you need:

• boneless and skinless chicken breast –  I love ButcherBox
• buffalo sauce – I like to use homemade because it’s so good and so easy to make, but you can use whatever kind you like
• salt and pepper

If you need to make the buffalo sauce, make that first. Once that is done, add about 1/4 cup buffalo sauce to the bottom of your Instant Pot. Make sure it is spread out evenly on the bottom of the pan. You want enough so the pressure cooker comes up to pressure and evenly cooks the chicken. Add chicken breasts and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Close the Instant Pot lid, make sure the vent is set to seal, and set to poultry on high pressure for 13 minutes. Once done, manually release pressure, open the lid and set on saute mode, and shred the chicken with two forks.

This helps reduce the liquid so the chicken isn’t too wet. The pan will be very hot, so just be careful shredding. If it’s too hot, you can shred in one of the other ways listed below. Once the chicken is shredded and the sauce reduces by about 1/2 (there should be about 1/3-1/2 cup of so left), add the remaining buffalo sauce and combine.

That is literally it. I told you it couldn’t get any easier!

How to shred cooked chicken

There are quite a few ways to shred cooked chicken. This instant pot buffalo chicken requires just using two forks in the pot as the sauce reduces, I figured I would share a few more ways as well.

1. with 2 forks – probably the easiest way for me, but it does take a little elbow grease. Just simply leave it in the pot or move to a bowl and use 2 forks to pull apart the chicken
2. in your stand mixer – this way is the newest to me as I just got my stand mixer, but it’s awesome. Put your cooked chicken in the bowl and use the paddle attachment at low speed to shred the chicken. The only downfall is that it dirties another bowl.
3. with a hand mixer – I have only done this once or twice, but it works well if you don’t have a stand mixer. Add the chicken to a large bowl and shred with the hand mixer on low.

Can I make buffalo chicken in a slow cooker?

If you don’t have an Instant Pot, you can make buffalo chicken in your crockpot. Follow the exact directions to cook it by putting a little buffalo sauce on the bottom of the pot with the chicken on top. Place on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours.

When the chicken is done cooking, remove it from the pot and shred it. The chicken will give off a decent amount of excess liquid and since we aren’t cooking it off, you can just pour some into the shredded chicken and mix to combine. Then just pour in the remaining buffalo sauce and mix it all up!

How to use Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken

The reason I love this recipe so much is the chicken is so versatile. Obviously, it has the buffalo flavor, but you can use it for so much! Here are a few ways:

• as is – honestly, I love this as is with some veggies and carbs for a complete meal.
• stuffed in a potato – cook up some white or sweet potatoes, cut them in half, and stuff the shredded buffalo chicken in them. A drizzle of ranch or blue cheese dressing would be delicious.
• in tacos – add in some lettuce, tomatoes, and onions or a quick slaw.
• on the go salad – toss it with some greens and your favorite veggies for an easy on-the-go meal or for meal prep.
• in a sandwich – with your favorite sandwich additions
• quesadillas – need I say more?!
• enchiladas – would be great with some more buffalo sauce and cheese on top!
• literally EVERYTHING!

More Instant Pot Recipes

• instant pot eggplant parmesan
• 2 ingredient instant pot BBQ chicken
• how to make shredded chicken
• 6 instant pot rice recipes
• instant pot BBQ chicken meatballs

If you love quick and easy healthy recipes, check out our free 30-Minute Meals Recipe Book!