Instant Pot Make-Ahead BBQ Chicken Legs
Instant Pot BBQ Chicken Legs make a fast and delicious appetizer or light dinner for a crowd, flavored with spices and your favorite barbecue sauce.
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe: With only seven simple ingredients, you can make a satisfying family-friendly dinner. Best of all, you can pressure cook it in advance and warm and finish it on the grill at dinnertime.
Nothing says summer like sticky, sweet and just-spicy-enough BBQ chicken. However, no one likes to be stuck at the grill during a get-together—especially in the heat of the summer!
That’s why we decided to make sticky and spicy BBQ chicken legs in the Instant Pot! Cook them early inside, then take them out to the open flames to warm and finish them when you’re ready to eat. (And, of course, we have oven instructions for those of you who don’t have a grill.)
If you love Instant Pot chicken recipes, you’re going to want to make this quick chicken leg dish all the time. No matter when you make it, it will always remind you of summer!
How to Make Instant Pot BBQ Chicken Legs
This BBQ Chicken Legs recipe will work in any brand of electric pressure cooker, including the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, or Power Pressure Cooker XL.
This simple recipe calls for just seven simple ingredients. Garlic powder, chili powder, and red pepper flakes add a bit of heat to the legs before cooking. To finish off the dish, coat the cooked chicken in your favorite barbecue sauce to coat the chicken legs.
To get the sticky, caramelized coating on your chicken legs after pressure cooking, finish the legs on a grill. You can also do this in the oven under the broiler. If you use a broiler, be sure to keep a close eye on the chicken and turn the legs frequently to prevent burning.
Using Other Cuts of Chicken
You can use this recipe to cook other pieces of chicken, such as thighs or breasts.
For BBQ chicken thighs in the Instant Pot, cook for 9 minutes at high pressure and finish with a quick pressure release.
For chicken breasts, cook at high pressure for 6 minutes, then finish with a quick pressure release.
What to Serve with Chicken Legs
You can round out your smoky barbecued chicken legs with other summery side dishes like:
- Quick Instant Pot Potato Salad is a fast, creamy and crowd-pleasing BBQ side dish.
- Instant Pot Corn on the Cob is easier and better tasting than corn cooked on the stove!
- Instant Pot Corn Chowder is a delicious, summery soup that makes a great first course for outdoor entertaining.
- Caramelized Onion Mashed Potatoes from Barbara Bakes are topped with smoky, crunchy bacon.
More Instant Pot Chicken Recipes
Here are more of our favorite weeknight chicken dishes to make in a pressure cooker:
- Instant Pot Lemon Tarragon Chicken is a refreshing and light chicken breast recipe with fresh herby flavor.
- Salsa Lime Chicken is a savory and cheesy chicken breast recipe that gets plenty of flavor from jarred salsa.
- Instant Pot Honey-Sesame Chicken is a sticky and sweet stir-fry recipe made in the pressure cooker.
Do you LOVE this recipe?
Leave us a review below to tell us why!
Instant Pot BBQ Chicken Legs
Sticky, smoky, and spicy BBQ Chicken Legs in the Instant Pot is an easy summer recipe that you can make all year long.
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- Pinch red pepper flakes, optional
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 12 chicken legs
- 1 cup barbecue sauce
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the garlic powder, chili powder, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Add the chicken legs and toss to coat with tongs.
- Place a rack in the pressure cooking pot. Add 1 cup water and place the seasoned chicken legs on the rack, stacking them crosswise on top of each other.
- Lock the lid in place. Select High Pressure and 4 minutes cook time. When the cook time ends, turn off the pressure cooker. Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes and finish with a quick pressure release. When the valve drops, carefully remove the lid.
- If you intend to make them later in the day, Remove the chicken legs to a storage container and allow to cool. Refrigerate until needed.
- When you're ready to cook, place the chicken legs in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and coat generously with the barbecue sauce.
- Preheat a grill to medium heat. Place the chicken on the grill and cook for 3 to 5 minutes per side until the sauce is caramelized and sticky. Baste with more sauce as desired. (Alternatively, finish in a very hot oven or under the broiler for 5 to 7 minutes, watching carefully to prevent burning and turning the legs as necessary.)
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 517Total Fat: 23gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 328mgSodium: 684mgCarbohydrates: 10gFiber: 0gSugar: 8gProtein: 62g
Nutrition information is calculated by Nutritionix and may not always be accurate.
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I know we can use any BBQ sauce but I’d be interested in knowing which one or ones you use. Thanks.
Hi Sigrid – we usually buy the Sweet Baby Ray’s Original BBQ sauce.
I noticed on your versions using thighs or breasts there is no NPR time. Is it correct that’s it’s just QR after the timer is up?
Hi Carolann – you want to avoid overcooking chicken breasts, especially since you’ll be cooking them again with the BBQ sauce. If you wanted to use a NPR, you could shorten the cook time. Thighs like legs are dark meat and more forgiving, so you could add a NPR to the thighs cook time but cooking them too long may make it difficult to grill them without them falling apart. Of course, the size of the thighs and breasts makes a big difference in cook time. You may want to make a note of what time works best for you. Enjoy!
Just made these for tonight, cooking the chicken legs in the Instant Pot ahead of time worked great! Delicious, finger-licking good from the bbq! So glad to know to do this for this summer. Thank you so much.
How do you keep the legs with skin on from sticking to the bbq? It wasn’t too bad but just curious if there is a hint for that.
If I want to make thighs & legs together, I’m thinking I could give the thighs a headstart in the microwave. How long do you think or should I just chuck everything in the IP & cook for 9 minutes? TIA!
If I wanted to use half the chicken legs, do I need to decrease the amount of water?
Hi Sharron – you’ll use the same amount of water and the same cook time when using only half the legs. Enjoy!
Thanks! Can’t wait to try these.
Good morning!
very good Instant pot Pro review Barbara! Thank you ! I’m looking forward to trying the BBq chicken recipe, using thighs occasionally also, is your recommended time of 9 min. for boneless or bone-in thighs? Thank you! 🙂
Thanks Patricia! The timing is for boneless chicken thighs. I’d use 15 minutes for bone-in thighs. Enjoy!
Great!Thank you Barbara! 🙂