Easy, delicious and affordable, these Instant Pot barbecue chicken legs are perfect for a meal or for a party. They’re moist, tender and full of barbecue flavor that you’re gonna love!
Start with a good barbecue rub
Our Instant Pot barbecue chicken legs start with a good barbecue rub. This rub is simple to make is provides a nice, deep barbecue flavor in the pressure cooker. You probably have all the spices and ingredients for the rub in your kitchen already. The primary ingredient is brown sugar. For 6-8 chicken legs we use a half cup of brown sugar. We fill out the flavors with paprika, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder and black pepper. All the ingredients can be placed in a large ziploc bag and mixed together. Then we drop the chicken legs into the bad and shake it all around to coat all the legs with the rub.
Pressure cooking chicken legs
For the cooking process in the Instant Pot, we add a cup of water to the pot, place the trivet inside, then we place the chicken legs on the trivet, meat side down on the trivet, then they can lean against the side of the pot. With the lid secured and the vent on sealing, they get an 18 minute pressure cook and a 5 minute natural release.
Finish the chicken legs under the broiler
Once the chicken legs are done pressure cooking in the Instant Pot, we place them on a foil lined baking sheet, and slather them with our favorite barbecue sauce. Then they go under the broiler for about 5 minutes, or until the sauce is nice and caramelized. Now, the chicken legs will be done when they’re finished cooking in the Instant Pot, and this final step provides that final roasting that we can’t get from the Instant Pot. Though this final step isn’t absolutely necessary, I promise, the chicken legs will be much better off with it.
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Instant Pot Barbecue Chicken Legs
- Total Time: 23 mins
- Yield: 3-4 servings
Ingredients
- 6–8 chicken legs
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons paprika
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Rinse and pat dry chicken legs
- In a large ziploc bag, mix all the dry igredients, then add the chicken legs, 2 at a time and shake them in the mixture so they’re well coated. Continue until all chicken legs are coated with the rub.
- Add cup of water to Instant pot and place the trivet in pot. Add the chicken legs to the trivet with the large side down on the trivet and lean the ends against the side of the pot.
- Secure lid, set vent to “sealing” and pressure cook on high for 18 minutes, followed by a 5 minutes natural release, After the 5 minutes, go ahead and quick release the rest of the pressure.
- Set oven to broil setting and layout the chicken legs on a foil lined baking sheet. Brush the chicken legs with your favorite barbecue sauce. Broil for 5 minutes or until sauce is caramelized.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 18 mins
- Category: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: American
Celesti
Easy and very delicious. Used my air fryer attachment to complete the BBQ in lieu of my broiler. Thank you for the recipe.
★★★★★
Karla Dougherty
Great recipe you came up with. Thank you.
PG
If I’m cooking 20 chicken drumsticks, do I need to adjust the cooking time?
RecipeTeacher
Hi PG, if you can fit them in and they’re not all stacked up, the time should be the same. However, if they’re super crowded, you might want to consider two batches.
April Alt
Yes. I agree. So good and so easy. Family loved it!
John Korkoe
Holy crap! Had frozen legs to use up, and ran across this recipe! Best bbq chicken I have had in my life.. cheap, fast, easy… will be looking at your other recipes!!!
★★★★★
RecipeTeacher
Thanks, John!!
Becky
Delicious! Definitely a hit! Eight wasn’t enough! Do you recommend cooking only 8 at a time? If I cook more, do I add more time?
★★★★★
Debbie
That’s my question Becky. Can I cook 16-18 legs using same times or do I need to adjust?
Sondra Swierczynski
My husband said these are amazing!! He loves bbq chicken legs and wings. Definitely will make again!!
★★★★★
RecipeTeacher
He’s a man with good taste! Thanks for the feedback, Sondra!
Jennette
Used frozen drumsticks with less water and they turned out really well!
Melissa
Second day in a row I’ve used one of your recipes with delicious results! Super easy & quick. We all loved it.
★★★★★
RecipeTeacher
Thanks so much for the feedback, Melissa!
Patricia
Made this tonight, this is a keeper!
Thank you
★★★★★