Instant Pot Honey Barbecue Chicken—tender chicken pieces covered in a honey sweetened barbecue sauce with a slight kick. An easy Instant Pot recipe!
Related: SLOW COOKER honey barbecue chicken recipe
Instant Pot Honey Barbecue Chicken
What a tasty, easy way to make chicken! The chicken gets almost fall off the bone tender in just 15 minutes with the Instant Pot. I used a package of chicken legs but I’m thinking that this would be a great way to make chicken wings too! Chicken wings would only need a 4 minute pressure cook time. If you’re not a fan of bone-in chicken try this recipe with boneless skinless chicken thighs instead. Use the 15 minute pressure cook time (add 3 minutes for frozen).
The sauce is a little bit sweet and a little bit spicy. I like to use Sweet Baby Ray’s Barbecue Sauce as the base and then add in a little honey, dijon, worcestershire and tabasco. If you’re nervous about the kick then cut the tabasco and the pepper in half. You can always add more later!
I served the chicken with mashed potatoes and a green salad with my favorite Olive Garden dressing on top. It was a solid meal that didn’t take much effort at all! Try this Instant Pot honey barbecue chicken soon!
More Instant Pot Chicken Recipes…
Instant Pot Orange Chicken–perfect with jasmine rice and a side of broccoli!
Instant Pot Greek Chicken and Potatoes–lemon chicken and potatoes and lots of herbs!
Instant Pot Chicken Adobo–this one gets eaten way too fast!
Instant Pot Honey Barbecue Chicken
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes (plus 5-10 NPR)
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Description
Tender chicken pieces covered in a honey sweetened barbecue sauce.
Ingredients
- 4 – 4 1/2 pounds (about 16 legs) of bone-in chicken legs (or you can use thighs)
- 1 cup barbecue sauce (I use Sweet Baby Ray’s)
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 tsp tabasco sauce
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch
Instructions
- Pour 1 cup of water into the bottom of your Instant Pot. Place a trivet into the pot.
- Place the chicken legs (I removed the skin) in layers on top of the trivet.
- In a medium bowl stir together the bbq sauce, honey, salt, pepper, dijon, worcestershire and tabasco sauce until smooth. Pour the sauce over the chicken.
- Cover the pot and secure the lid. Make sure the valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 15 minutes (high pressure). When the time is up let the pressure release naturally for 5-10 minutes and then move the valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Use tongs to place the chicken legs on a platter. Then remove the trivet. Turn the Instant Pot to the saute setting. In a small bowl stir together 2 Tbsp of cornstarch with 3 Tbsp of water, until smooth. Then pour the mixture into the Instant Pot. The cornstarch mixture will thicken up the sauce quickly. When the sauce is thick turn off the pot. Spoon the sauce over the chicken. Eat and enjoy!
Notes
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. For the 8 quart pot, add 1.5 cups of water to bottom of pot instead of 1 cup. For the 3 quart pot halve the recipe, but still use 1 cup of water in the bottom of the pot.
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American
Want more tried and true Instant Pot recipes?
Receive FREE daily Instant Pot recipes and tips in your email box. Sign up by filling out the gray form below. Other ways to follow: join the 365 Days of Instant Pot Recipes Facebook group and subscribe to my YouTube channel where I share Instant Pot stuff with you weekly.
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
The photo shows drumsticks, not legs. Is there a different cooking time for just drumsticks?
Hi Jaime, it will be the same time as listed
If I use boneless chicken tenders and boneless thighs how long should I cook it?
tenders would be 4 minutes and thighs would be 10 with 10 minute natural pressure release
Can this recipe be doubled and if so will the cooking time change?
Yes it can and I would keep the same time: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/how-to-double-instant-pot-recipes/
Would
It work to also include potatoes in this as PIP for baked potatos? I’d so would I need to make time adjustments? I’m new to all
Of this so any guidance you have would be appreciated.
If they are fairly small potatoes they would cook at the same rate. If they are large they won’t cook through. I would cover them with foil and place them in the pot with the chicken.
Wondering if chicken legs and wings could be cooked together in the IP without the sauce or if the wings would get too overcooked. I would like to finish the chicken by using your garlic Parmesan recipe on some pieces and BBQ on the rest. Thanx
you could try that. I’d put the chicken legs on the bottom and the wings on top. That will probably work!
Could this be made in a crockpot if so how would you go about that. Thanks
yes here is the slow cooker version: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/slow-cooker-honey-barbecue-chicken/
I used 1 frozen bone-in breast and 6 frozen bone-in thighs. It was perfectly cooked at 18 minutes. Served it with garlic mashed potatoes and coleslaw.
★★★★★
Thanks for your review!
Made this last night exactly as written except that I use Arrowroot instead of cornstarch. Absolutely delish. Chicken was moist and falling off the bone. I don’t know why a previous reviewer had trouble with the sauce being thin. I used 3 tablespoons of the liquid in the pot (instead of extra water) with the 2 tablespoons of Arrowroot to make the slurry and it was perfect.
Everything I have tried on your site has been wonderful. Really enjoy your recipes
★★★★★
Glad it worked great for you Pippa!
I’m not sure if I did something wrong or not. The chicken turned out great. It was falling off the bone, tender and juicy. However, the sauce was very watery. It tasted great until I put it on the chicken in the IP and it mixed with the cup of water in the bottom. I then thickened it with the cornstarch and it just had very little flavor because of the water. We ended up just putting bbq sauce straight from the jar on the chicken. Did I do something wrong?
Thank you!
Shoot! I’m not sure why but perhaps you could double sauce next time so when you mix with water it will be more potent?
Thank you! I’ll definitely try that next time! I’ve made numerous recipes of yours that are absolutely amazing! I’ve recommended your website to so many people since I’ve discovered you two months ago. Mostly people who are new to the IP and are just as clueless as I first was. You and IP have made dinner so much easier and delicious. I work a lot of hours and have always struggled with cooking dinner on weeknights and mostly coming up with ideas for recipes. So I was surprised when this happened and of course thought I must’ve done something wrong. I’m still not entirely convinced that I didn’t do something wrong. I’ll try again and let you know. Thank you for your prompt response!
Could I use a mixture of frozen chicken legs and bone-in thighs? If so how long should I cook them? Thanks, recipe sounds scrumptious!!
Sure Mary! I would use the time listed on the recipe. Put the thighs in first, closer to the heating element and it should be fine.
Can u use boneless breast? How long would you cook? Frozen or thaw ed?
I would cook them for 12 minutes (or 15 minutes for frozen).
Can you use boneless thighs? We prefer them to bone in
Yes for sure! I would add 2 extra minutes for bone in thighs.
Isn’t there any liquid (water) added to this? Recipe sounds great. But wondering. All I see is the BBQ sauce. Thank you
In the instructions I write to add 1 cup of water into the bottom of the pot under the trivet. So yes there’s liquid but it’s not listed as an “ingredient.” 🙂
Could this be done with chicken wings? If so would the cook time change?
Yes! Use a 4 minute cooking time for chicken wings!