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.
5 from 6 reviews
