Easy Instant Pot BBQ Chicken Drumsticks

This Easy Instant Pot BBQ Chicken Drumsticks turned out amazing!  We love fried chicken legs, so I was looking for a way to get the same amazing flavor only healthier.  We started with pressure cooking them in our Instant Pot first and they were good, but they didn’t have the crispy crunchy skin that fried chicken does.  I had been eyeing either this Mealthy Crisplid, Instant Pot Air Fryer Lid or this Instant Pot Duo Crisp + Air Fryer for a while.  Since we use our 8 qt Instant Pot now 2 – 3 times a week and get a fair amount of wear and tear to it I decided to get the Instant Pot Duo Crisp + Air Fryer since it comes with a whole new pot, pressure cooker lid, air fryer lid, trivet, and air fryer basket.  I am very pleased with my purchase!  These BBQ chicken drumsticks were loaded with flavor and had the crispy skin that is similar to frying them.  They were so delicious!!!!  So excited to try other things in my new Instant Pot Duo Crisp + Air Fryer!

You can get the same results from this recipe by using your regular Instant Pot and the Broiler function on your stove if you don’t have an air fryer lid also.

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Please Note – The printable Easy Instant Pot Chicken Drumsticks recipe is at the bottom of the post.

 

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Side Note—We always use a digital cooking thermometer like this.  If you have any question about what temperature something should be cooked at or reheated at you can check out FoodSafety.gov.

 

 

How long to cook chicken legs (drumsticks) in an Instant Pot?

We used the Instant Pot cook time guide that came with our Instant Pot.  It did not have a time for just drumsticks but it does have a time for a whole chicken.  We used this since we were cooking chicken with a bone.  We pressure cook our chicken drumsticks on high pressure and at 8 minutes per pound of chicken.  We had three pounds of chicken legs or drumsticks, so we pressure cooked them for 24 minutes.

 

 

 

How to make the Instant Pot Chicken Drumsticks crispy?

I was very excited to use my new Instant Pot Duo Crisp + Air Fryer to make my chicken drumsticks crispy.  I was a little hesitant that I might be overcooking them by pressure cooking plus air frying them.  They turned out amazing!!! The meat was so full of flavor from the pressure cooking and the skin was perfectly crispy!  They were moist and not at all dried out.

After we pressure cooked them for 28 minutes, I did a quick release and then sprayed them a little with some avacodo oil spray.  This helps make the skin get crispy with the air frying and it is healthier for you.  You can either put them under your broiler in the oven for a few minutes or use the Instant pot air fryer lid if you have one.  We put our air fryer lid on top at 400 degrees and air fried them for 5 minutes.  Then took the air fryer lid off and spun them around and sprayed the other sides with the avocado oil spray.  We put the air fryer lid back on at 400 degrees and air fried them for another 10 minutes.  We wanted the outsides of them to be extra crispy.  We could have air fried the second side for only 5 minutes instead of 10 and they would have been good also.

 

Ingredients – Easy Instant Pot BBQ Chicken Drumsticks

• Mccormick BBQ Seasoning
• Tony Chachere’s (or your seasoning of choice)
• Cajun Tradition Red Rub (optional)
• Avocado Oil Spray
• 3 lbs Chicken Drumsticks
• 1 cup of Water

Instructions – Easy Instant Pot BBQ Chicken Drumsticks

#1.  First, add your 1 cup of water and your rack or trivet into your Instant Pot.

#2.  Next, generously rub your Tony Chachere’s Seasoning (or seasoning of choice) and McCormick BBQ Seasoning all over your chicken drumsticks.  We get our chicken already seasoned with Cajun Tradition Red Rub seasoning from our grocer.   We seasoned ours with Cajun Tradition Red Rub, Tony Chachere’s, and McCormick BBQ Seasoning.  You can just use your seasoning of choice plus the McCormick BBQ Seasoning and it would be just as good.

 

#3.  Then place your drumsticks standing up in your Instant Pot.

#4.  Close the lid and turn the steam release valve to the “sealing” position.

#5.  Then press the “Pressure Cook” button.  Next, press the “Pressure Level” button until you have selected “High Pressure”.

#6.  Turn the timer on for 24 minutes if you have 3 lbs. of Chicken Drumsticks.  Once the pressure builds up, the timer will start counting down.

#7.  Then, once the timer has completed do a quick release of pressure.   **Warning – The steam is very hot, use a towel to turn the release valve so it does not burn you.

#8.  Next lightly spray one side of your drumsticks with the avocado oil spray.

#9.  Now you can either place your drumsticks on a pan under the broiler in your oven on high for a few minutes to make the skin crisp or, you can use your Instant Pot air fryer lid.  If you have an air fryer lid proceed to step #10.   For those who are using the broiler on their oven for this step place your chicken drumsticks on a pan.  Spray them with avacodo oil on one side and place your rack close to the top.  Broil for 5 minutes then flip them and spray the other side with avacodo oil.  Broil that side for another 5-10 minutes depending on how crispy you like them.

#10.  Spray your chicken drumsticks with your cooking spray.  We used avocado cooking spray for this recipe.  You want a cooking spray that is safe for high heat cooking to use with your Instant Pot Air Fryer.

#11.  Place your Instant Pot Air Fryer lid on top of your Instant Pot turn heat to 400 degrees for 5 minutes.

#12.  Once the 5-minute timer is done open your air fryer lid and place it on the air fryer lid protective pad.   Turn your chicken drumsticks over so that you can spray the other side with your cooking spray.

#13.  Close the Instant Pot Air Fryer lid again and set it to 400 degrees for 10 minutes.  We like our chicken crispy.  You could do this last round for 5 minutes instead, but we like our skin to be very crispy.

#14.  That’s it!  You can now serve you Easy Instant Pot BBQ Chicken Drumsticks.  Enjoy!

Final Thoughts

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