Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken is a little spicy mixed with herbs and seasonings to make the best buffalo chicken sandwiches! Grab your Instant Pot or Electric Pressure cookier and some chicken, fresh or frozen, cook it up in a tangy buffalo sauce, shred, and mix with ranch seasoning and cream cheese for the most flavorful buffalo chicken!!
I can’t even type or read “buffalo” without my mouth watering. I love the vinegar tang of buffalo sauce as well as the subtle heat tingle that lingers on your lips! And if you are reading this post, then I am guessing you feel the same. You would also love this Buffalo Chicken Burger!
Jump to:
- Why Youโll Love This Shredded Buffalo Chicken
- Instant Pot Shredded Buffalo Chicken Ingredients
- How to Make Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken
- Storing and Freezing
- How to Use Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken
- More Buffalo Style Recipes
- Did you make this recipe?
- Easy Instant Pot Shredded Buffalo Chicken
- Leave a comment and rate this recipe!
Why You’ll Love This Shredded Buffalo Chicken
Forgot to thaw the chicken for dinner? No problem, this recipe works with fresh or frozen chicken!
Makes amazing leftovers. Pile it into sandwiches, wraps, salads, baked potatoes, or spooned on top of mac and cheese or tortilla chips. Make it once and spin it into multiple meals without anyone realizing it's leftovers.
Super easy! We all need some easy kitchen wins at dinner time and this one nails it!
Perfect flavor and texture balance. This recipe doesn’t just call for hot sauce and chicken, the flavors are totally balanced with a packet of ranch seasoning, cream cheese, and celery and onions for crunch and flavor.
Instant Pot Shredded Buffalo Chicken Ingredients
Chicken – For this recipe you can use boneless skinless chicken breasts, or a mix of breasts and boneless skinless chicken thighs. You also have the option to use fresh or frozen chicken, read more about that below.
Frank’s Red Hot Sauce – Frank's Red Hot is the classic choice for buffalo flavor and is easy to find at most grocery stores. If you have a different buffalo style hot sauce you love, feel free to use it just keep in mind heat levels can vary by brand.
Dry Ranch Packet – A dry ranch seasoning packet adds instant flavor with zero extra effort. We have tested a lot of different brands and find that Hidden Valley has the very best flavor.
Cream Cheese – The cream cheese not only adds amazing flavor balance to your Buffalo Chicken, it thickens the sauce perfectly so it clings to the chicken.
Celery and Green Onions – These two add a crunch and bite of flavor complexity to the Buffalo Chicken.
Use Fresh or Frozen Chicken
How often do you forget to thaw the chicken to make dinner?? Totally guilty over hereโ๐ผ!
That is one reason I love recipes for the Instant Pot- you can use your frozen chicken, and with just a little extra time it comes out just as great as fresh chicken. You can use fresh or frozen chicken in this buffalo chicken recipe. Both instructions are below in the recipe card.
How to Make Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken
- Grab 2 lbs. of either fresh or frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts. Place them in your Instant Pot (if you are using frozen make sure the breasts are not in one big block, they will not cook through that way. You may need to run a little warm water over them to separate).
- Spray a little non-stick spray on the bottom of the pot, add the chicken and then pour 1 cup of Frank’s Red Hot Original Sauce over the chicken.
- Cooking Times are as follows:
Fresh: if you are using fresh chicken set the Instant Pot to cook on pressure mode, on high, for 10 minutes
Frozen: if you are using frozen chicken set the Instant Pot to cook on pressure mode, on high, for 15 minutes.
- After the cooking time is through, do a quick release of pressure by turning the pressure valve to “vent”.
- Remove the chicken from the pot, leaving the liquid behind. Shred the chicken using two forks. (Kitchen Tip- I like to shred my chicken on a rimmed sheet pan, that way any liquid on or in the chicken won’t run all over your countertops) Set the chicken aside, and make the buffalo sauce.
- Back at the Instant Pot, set it to sautรฉ mode. Whisk in the ranch dressing powder mix packet, and the cream cheese until it is completely incorporated. You can turn the sautรฉ mode off.
- Add the shredded chicken, celery, and green onions to the sauce. Give it a stir to coat the chicken with the sauce completely.
Make Ahead
This buffalo chicken can absolutely be made ahead. You can make it up to 4 days in advance and store in the fridge.ย The buffalo chicken is great warm, cold, or at room temp.ย
Storing and Freezing
Fridge: Let the shredded buffalo chicken cool slightly, then transfer it to an airtight container. Store it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. The sauce actually helps keep the chicken moist, so it reheats really well for leftovers.
Freezer: Shredded buffalo chicken freezes beautifully. Once cooled, portion it into freezer safe containers or freezer bags. Flattening bags before freezing makes them easy to stack and helps them thaw faster. Freeze for up to 3 months for best flavor and texture.
Thaw overnight in the fridge or use the microwave's defrost setting for quicker meals. Reheat gently on the stovetop or in the microwave, stirring occasionally so the sauce stays creamy and evenly heated. If needed, add a little broth to loosen things back up.
How to Use Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken
The very best way to use this Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken is heaped in a bun for buffalo chicken sandwiches. Toast some buns, top with the buffalo chicken mixture, add some blue cheese crumbles and ranch over top. This would also be amazing with this blue cheese and celery slaw over top!
You could also use this chicken for:
- buffalo chicken wraps
- buffalo chicken served over rice (or cauliflower rice)
- spicy chicken tacos
- buffalo chicken dip- just mix ยฝ the chicken in an extra 4 oz. cream cheese and some Monterey jack cheese, pop it in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
More Buffalo Style Recipes
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Did you make this recipe?
I would love to hear your review, especially if you have tips and tricks to add! Pop down to the comment section and connect with me
Easy Instant Pot Shredded Buffalo Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts - fresh or frozen
- 1 cup Frank's Red Hot Original Sauce
- 1 oz packet Ranch dressing mix (powder)
- 1 cup celery - diced
- โ cup green onions - chopped, white and light green parts
- 4 oz cream cheese - room temp.
- non stick spray
Serving
- toasted buns
- blue cheese crumbles, ranch dressing, blue cheese dressing
- lettuce, extra chopped green onions
Instructions
- Spray a little non stick spray in the bottom of the Instant Pot.non stick spray
- Place the *fresh or frozen* chicken breasts in the Instant Pot, in one layer. If your chicken breasts are really thick, I recommend cutting them in half so they cook properly. Pour in the buffalo sauce.2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, 1 cup Frank's Red Hot Original Sauce
- COOK TIME *for fresh chicken – set the IP to pressure cook, normal heat – high pressure, for 10 minutes.COOK TIME *for frozen chicken – set the IP to pressure cook, normal heat – high pressure, for 15 minutes. Make sure the frozen chicken breasts are separated and not in one big block.
- After the cooking time is up, do a quick release of pressure. Remove the chicken breasts from the pot, leaving the sauce behind. Shred the chicken breasts with two forks, and set aside.
- With the pot on sautรฉ mode, whisk the powder ranch dressing mix packet into the buffalo sauce and the cream cheese until it is completely melted and incorporated.1 oz packet Ranch dressing mix (powder), 4 oz cream cheese
- Add the shredded chicken, celery and onions to the sauce mixture and stir to coat the chicken completely.1 cup celery, โ cup green onions
- The mixture will thicken as it sits.
Serving
- Excellent served as buffalo chicken sandwiches on toasted buns, topped with blue cheese crumbles and extra ranch!Would also be great topped with Blue Cheese & Celery Slaw!
- Can also be used as:buffalo chicken wrapsbuffalo chicken served over rice (or cauliflower rice)spicy chicken tacosย buffalo chicken dip- just mix ยฝ the chicken in an extra 4 oz. cream cheese and some Monterey jack cheese, pop it in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
Katherine says
This was great. I added a can of white beans some cilantro and a bit of sour cream. Yum !
JS says
Our chicken was still completely frozen on the inside, so Iโd suggest a different cooking time.
Susie says
Hmmm, I’m surprised and I’m so sorry that happened! 15 minutes pressure cook is plenty of time for chicken breasts to cook from frozen. Were they frozen together in one block? You definitely want to make sure they are separated as noted in the recipe.
Jim says
Is the chicken on the trivet of not? Thank you
Susie says
Just in the pot, not on the trivet.
Emily Bruno says
Yum! Love that the sauce makes this so easy, no measuring!
Roslia santamaria says
This looks super tasty!! I canโt wait to give it a try! Itโs all delicious ingredients ๐
Susie says
Thank you! Report back when you make it. If you share pics on social media, tag me (facebook @momsdinnerblog and on Instagram @momsdinnerinsta), would love to see what you make.
Tawnie Kroll says
I made these for my fiance and he loved it! Thanks for another great recipe!