These are the most amazing Instant Pot chicken legs! If you love easy pressure cooker dinners but looking for something your kids will love too chicken legs are simple to make in just 10 minutes. This fall off the bone tender Instant Pot drumstick recipe will be your go to meal for sure!
I actually have two easy pressure cooker chicken drumsticks recipes here for you today. This one you see here can be made as spicy as you like, or mild as well (we do mild). With that wonderful enchilada flavor you love, but instead of on a tortilla it is smothered on top your favorite part of the chicken! If you’ve never made any type of Instant Pot chicken legs they are so easy and a healthy meal too! Three ingredients is all you need, and if you like a little crisp on the outside you just pop them under your broiler for a few minutes and they are perfection I tell you! Definitely one of our favorite easy Instant Pot recipes.
- This is all you need!
You can even skip the onion if you’d rather but even if you don’t eat them they add a wonderful flavor.
I have two Instant Pot chicken legs sauce options below you can try, we liked both and just rotate between the two.
- Method 1 – using enchilada sauce
- Recipe 2 – using barbecue sauce
Both of them have the ability to be as mild or as spicy as you want and I will show you how to crisp up the chicken skin (or outside if there’s no skin) once your Instant Pot chicken legs are cooked.
When you have a family it is sometimes hard to make a healthy meal that everyone loves, but drumsticks are a favorite among most kids and many times they are really inexpensive at the store.
I say if I can feed my family of five for under $15 it is a win, and this pressure cooker chicken dinner is one of those…..I share my others in this post with lots of cheap Instant Pot recipes.
Like I said, there are many heat levels for this dish.
- You can find mild, medium, and spicy enchilada sauce at the store and for us mild is enough heat with tons of flavor!
In the pressure cooker no matter what sauce you add with your meat really permeates inside and creates some amazing flavors as well as making it extremely tender and fall off the bone in this case.
We generally don’t eat chicken skin but still like a bit of browning on the top so 3-4 minutes on the broiler setting of my oven makes them perfect, as you can see here.
Here’s what you need to make Instant Pot chicken legs
- Chicken legs – 8 medium sized drumsticks fit well in my 6 qt. IP
- 28 oz. enchilada sauce – any brand and heat level (or recipe link below requires barbecue sauce + 3/4 c. water, recipe link for barbecue chicken legs below recipe card)
- 1 onion
If you’re looking for another healthy pressure cooker chicken drumsticks recipe I wrote one for Healthline that has a delicious barbecue flavor and takes less than 30 minutes to prepare!
- They’re fall off the bone delicious with a sweet barbecue flavor that kids love and the perfect meal year round!
Here’s a peek of the barbecue pressure cooker chicken legs in my pot.
Looking for more easy Instant Pot chicken recipes we have a bunch!
- Instant Pot chicken and dumplings recipe
- Pressure cooker chicken and rice
- Easy Instant Pot butter chicken
Here’s the recipe for Instant Pot chicken legs with enchilada sauce
- If you want to use barbecue sauce then substitute with 1 jar +3/4 c. water instead on that step
Instant Pot Chicken Legs
Ingredients
- 8 chicken legs medium size legs
- 1 can enchilada sauce we prefer medium, 28 oz. can
- 1/2 onion
Instructions
- Spray the inside of your Instant Pot with non stick spray and pour half your can of enchilada sauce inside.
- Put 4 legs down staggering them so they aren't overlapping.
- Make a second row of drumsticks trying not to overlap them.
- Cut onion into large pieces and put on top of chicken.
- Pour remainder of enchilada sauce over everything and put lid on your pressure cooker, close steam valve too. (or dump a bottle of barbecue sauce + 3/4 c. water instead)
- Set to pressure high for 10 minutes.
- Allow to naturally release pressure for 5-10 minutes. 10 is ideal if you have time to do that but will make them fall off the bone so if you want them a bit more in tact then do 5 minutes.
- Serve....or if you want to crisp the outside a bit put them on a baking sheet and under your broiler on high for 3-4 minutes until they brown on the top, pour some more sauce on top when serving, and then enjoy!
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Have you ever tried it with green enchilada sauce?
No but that would be good too.
These turned out soupy. The sauce is so thin. Is there a trick I should know?
If you used enchilada sauce it isn’t intended to be thick, if you make the bbq sauce version it will be thicker. You could remove the legs, set to saute and whisk in a bit of cornstarch and allow to bubble to thicken a bit if you wish.
They look so flavorful and delicious! I love the finishing with the chives, too! So interesting to combine the enchilada sauce with them – awesome!
Can you use thighs instead of drumsticks?????
You don’t need any “thin” liquid in the pot to make this? Won’t it show “burn” without it?
Enchilada sauce is not thick so it works just as is, when I use bbq sauce I add 1/2-3/4 c. water as well.