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Enjoy the taste of buffalo chicken without the mess with these Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Meatballs . Oven-baking option included if you don’t own an Instant Pot!
It’s been 6 months since I purchased my very first Instant Pot, and it’s seriously been the best game changer in my kitchen. I didn’t think I would rely on it almost every day of the week, but it’s abilities are endless and amazing. If you’ve never heard of the Instant Pot before, it’s an electrical pressure cooker that also has a rice cooker, slow cooker, steamer, warmer, and sauté and browning function all in one. The new version, which I don’t have, also has a yogurt maker. It’s just wonderful.
As I got familiar and more comfortable with mine over the past several months, I’ve been thrilled at how I can cook rice in 10 minutes, bone broth that gels in under 2 hours, whole chicken in 20 minutes, and just transforming tough meat into fall-off-the-bone deliciousness in 30 minutes, which would’ve taken hours in the slow cooker.
As more and more people purchase this beautiful appliance, I have been receiving a ton of interest in how to cook with them every time I mention it. Because of this, I decided to start posting more Instant Pot recipes and uses. First up: buffalo chicken meatballs!
I think everyone loves buffalo sauce-flavored anything, right? At least that’s how C feels about it. He gets excited anytime he smells buffalo sauce scent drifting from the kitchen, or when he sees me making oven baked wings. It’s so popular at gatherings and sporting events, and it’s because of the spicy kick that’s so addicting and yummy for many people. I love these meatballs, because you get the same delicious flavors as wings but it’s less messy and you don’t have to deal with the bones.
Working with ground chicken can be sticky and difficult, so your raw meatballs may not look as round as you like. Don’t worry about it! Grease your hands well before shaping the meat, and even if they don’t look perfect, they’ll firm up and look delicious once they are cooked.
Don’t have an Instant Pot? These can easily be baked! Check out the recipe below to find out how to cook them in the oven.
What’s your favorite way to use your Instant Pot?
Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1.5 lb ground chicken
- 3/4 cup almond meal
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp ghee
- 6 tbsp hot sauce
- 4 tbsp ghee, or butter
- Chopped green onions, for garnish
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine chicken, almond meal, salt, minced garlic cloves, and green onions.
- Use your hands to combine everything together, but be careful not to overwork the meat.
- Grease your hands with ghee or coconut oil, then shape the meat into balls 1-2 inches wide.
- Set your Instant Pot to sauté setting and add 2 tbsp of ghee.
- ***Working in batches, gently place the chicken meatballs in the Instant Pot to brown them. Turn them every minute until all sides are brown.
- While the meatballs are browning, combine hot sauce and 4 tbsp of butter or ghee and heat them in the microwave or the stove top until the butter is completely melted. Use a spoon to stir. This is your buffalo sauce.
- Place all the browned meatballs in the Instant Pot, then pour the buffalo sauce evenly over the meatballs.
- Screw on the lid to the Instant Pot, make sure that the pressure valve is set to “sealing,” then set it to “Poultry.”
- Once the meatballs are finished cooking (about 15-20 minutes), the Instant Pot will beep. If you are eating right away, hit “Cancel” then release the pressure valve, making sure your hand is away from the opening where the steam escapes. If not, the Instant Pot will automatically switch to the “Warm” setting for the next 10 hours and the pressure will slowly lower on its own.
- Serve over rice, cauliflower rice, zoodles. or just eat on its own!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Even my super picky son loves this recipe…I had too much trouble with the meatballs sticking, so i just browned them in a non-stick pan. So much easier. I also add some blue cheese and ranch dipping sauce too.
Thanks so much! So glad you enjoyed it.
The amount of crap I have to scroll through to get the details is annoying as hell. Do you get maybe $2 for this?
Hi there, you are free to click on “Jump to recipe” on top of the page to avoid all the “crap” that you had to scroll through. I understand ads can be annoying, but please keep in mind that bloggers like me spend countless unpaid hours to provide free content for you. If you are still unhappy, there are literally millions of other recipe blogs you can follow on the internet. Thanks.
Not from you! You get the recipe for free. If a little scrolling is too much for you cry about it. Oh that’s right you already did.
New to Instant pot. Mine says you need 1 1/2 cups of liquid to build pressure. Doesn’t seem like the sauce will equal that. I have an 8qt pot. Any suggestions?
Have you tried it with the recipe as is? It should be fine as long as the sauce covers the bottom of the pot. If not, you’ll get a “burn” signal. If you are nervous, you can double up on the sauce.
Mine went to Burn. I’ll try double up sauce.
One of my absolute favorite ingredients / condiments is Buffalo Sauce, so this was an AMAZING addition to my keto diet! Thank you! I also had the problem of the meatballs sticking (probably my fault; I may have not waited for my ghee to get hot enough before adding the meatballs to the pot, AND I used 2 lbs of chicken; though I did adjust the other ingredient amounts accordingly). I just added a little more wing sauce (~1/3cup), a little chicken bone broth (1/4 cup), and a little bit of heavy cream (1-2 tbsp) to give the Instant Pot more liquid to work with because I didn’t want to get the “burn” error. After cooking, I just pulled the meatballs out and pan-reduced the leftover sauce for roughly 8 – 10 minutes and it made an awesome, delicious and slightly creamy buffalo sauce for the meatballs!
Thanks so much for this recipe! Even though I tweaked it a little because of my own situation, it ended up being wonderful! 🙂
-Ryan
So happy you enjoyed it! Glad your adjustments worked out. Thanks so much for your kind words. 🙂
Hello!
I, too, don’t have the “poultry” option on my instant pot.
Would I use the meat/stew option and then cook on high pressure? Or use the pressure cook option and then cook on high pressure? (New to the instant pot world!)
You can just do Manual on High for 15 minutes. Hope you enjoy!
If I’m
Using ground beef instead can I still use the poultry button
You can actually cook beef meatballs for shorter. 10 minutes on Manual should do it!
Substituted Chipotle Smoked sauce instead of regular hot sauce, served over spaghetti squash.
Love this recipe! So good!!
Such a great idea to use chipotle smoked sauce. And thanks so much! 🙂
Hi, my instant pot actually didn’t have poultry button. Do I set it high pressure to 15 minutes? Many thanks in advance!
Yes, that should work!
Awesome! Thanks so much. 🙂
Why not just use Frank’s Red Hot or Frank’s Buffalo Sauce?
You can if you want! I just don’t like to use it because I try to avoid xanthan gum and canola oil when I’m dining at home. And buffalo sauce is so easy to make yourself.
Don’t you need a cup of liquid when cooking with pressure?
As long the liquid covers the bottom of the pot you are fine, which the buffalo sauce does. Also, the chicken will also release some juice and fat while it cooks.
Not true. I got a burn warning and had to toss the whole thing out.
So sorry that happened! For over a year this post has been up, I’ve never heard of anyone getting the burn signal for this, so I’m not sure what went wrong. Also, the next time that does happen, you can just open the lip and add more sauce, instead tossing the whole thing out. It probably just needed a bit more liquid!
The meatballs stuck and I had the burn warning come up too. I just left the sticky goodness and while I was trying to figure out how to add liquid the burn warning went off. I’m guessing that the juices from the meatballs added liquid.