Buffalo Chicken Dip
Buffalo chicken dip is the ultimate appetizer to serve for game day, for your super bowl party or special occasions. Move over sticky messy buffalo chicken wings (love them too btw) and make room for this tasty buffalo chicken dip. Made with juicy tender shredded chicken and creamy cheese buffalo sauce with a spicy kick. This easy and delicious Buffalo Chicken Dip is then baked until golden, bubbly, and perfect for dipping. Pair it with crunchy tortilla chips, celery, crackers or carrots for edible dippers. Creamy and extra cheesy, this Buffalo Chicken Dip Recipe easily qualifies as one of my all-time favorite party foods and I think you guys are going to love it too.
Why you are going to love this buffalo dip recipe:
- Super easy to prepare, cook, and eat.
- Very few ingredients required to make this from scratch version but I also included some very simple store bought substitutions
- Very addictive and such a crowd pleaser especially during football season
- Very portable and also scoopable - no wet naps needed
Ingredients in Buffalo Chicken Dip
- Chicken - I like to use baked, poached or rotisserie chicken in mine. This recipe doesn’t include the time it takes to cook the chicken so you can cook it any way you like and then shred it for this recipe. you can even use leftover chicken too. Some recipes call for using canned chicken - if that works better for you that is fine too - approx 2 cans will work here drained and shredded. If you prefer more protein in yours feel free to add up to 1 more cup of shredded chicken, you may have to adjust the wing sauce amount by a little
- Cream cheese - I use full fat but feel free to use low fat if you wish. Room temperature recommended
- Sour cream, Garlic & Fresh Herbs - many version of this dip use Ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing but I like to sort of add my own ranch flavours thus the combination of sour cream and garlic and fresh herbs. Sometimes I like to sauté a shallot or small onion in with the garlic too. If you prefer a shortcut method just substitute them for one of the dressings ranch or blue cheese and you can even use garlic powder too.
- Hot sauce - my favourites to use are either Frank’s Redhot or cholulua because they give you a classic buffalo chicken wing flavour - if you prefer a different brand feel free to use that instead. To make this dip a keto buffalo chicken dip all you have to do is make sure your buffalo hot sauce or wing sauce is keto.
- Green onions or Chives - adds loads of fresh flavour. I like to stir half of them into the dip and sprinkle the rest on top
- Shredded cheese - I like to use a combination of yellow cheddar and white cheddar but feel free to use one or the other or for more gooeyness feel free to substitute the white cheddar mozzarella cheese
- Blue Cheese - we love blue cheese in our house so I like to sprinkle some over the dip right before it goes in the oven and serve it with more after its baked. The is optional just like when you order buffalo chicken wings - you can take them with or without the blue cheese dip. What I will say is that if you decide to use the blue cheese dressing in the recipe I would reduce or eliminate the actual blue cheese in the recipe unless you are really a fan of blue cheese flavor otherwise it will be a bit overkill
Recipe tips for the best BCD buffalo chicken dip:
- What chicken should I use? Buffalo chicken dip can be made using shredded poached chicken, baked chicken either breast or thighs, rotisserie chicken, or even leftover chicken or turkey. Anything works. You could even use canned chicken (as a last resort). Save time and use pre-cooked chicken (you will need 2 cups) or cook your chicken ahead of time that. is what I like to do especially when I’m making this for company - it saves time the day of.
- If your cream cheese is fresh out of the refrigerator, (I sometimes forget to take it out of the fridge) transfer it to a microwave-safe bowl and warm in the microwave for 10-15 seconds to get it to room temperature
How to Make Buffalo Chicken Dip
Make this easy chicken buffalo dip by following these simple step-by-step instructions:
- Cook the chicken if needed and then shred - I like to use leftover chicken or rotisserie. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 375F
- Make your creamy buffalo ranch sauce - Start by sautéing garlic in butter in a medium size skillet. Add the shredded chicken and buffalo hot sauce to pan and simmer for a minute to reduce.
- Combine - add the cream cheese and stir until smooth and combined then off the heat stir in sour cream, cheddar cheese reserving some to top, half the green onions and the fresh herbs.
- Bake - top with remaining Cheddar cheese, blue cheese if using and green onions then transfer skillet to oven and bake until bubbling. ( or transfer to a greased baking dish and bake in there instead)
- Serve - serve topped with more blue cheese if you like and more chopped green onions and with your favourite things to dip into this dip - veggies, tortilla chips, crackers or kettle chips. For a low carbs snack stick to serving this dip with sliced veggies.
Can I prepare Buffalo Chicken Dip Ahead of Time?
Depending on how much time you have, you may either prepare just parts of this recipe ahead of time or the whole thing and store it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to bake and serve. You can cook the chicken ahead of time and have it shredded and ready to go making this dish even quicker to make (if you are not using store-bought rotisserie chicken or canned that is)
Storage & Freezing
- Leftovers taste great for approximately 2-3 days. Reheat in the microwave or in the oven set at 350 degrees F and tented with foil.
- To Freeze: Place in a freezer-safe container, remove any excess air and freeze up to three months. When ready to serve the frozen dip, simply remove it from the freezer, and let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
- To Reheat: you can microwave until hot, stirring every 30 seconds, or place it into an oven-safe baking dish, and reheat in the oven at 350°F for 10-15 minutes.
Can I Make This in a Slow Cooker or crock pot?
Easily prepare this recipe in your Crockpot. The only difference is that the Crockpot version will lack the brown and bubbly cheese top. You can combine all of the ingredients, cover and cook on low heat for 3-4 hours or on high heat 1 to 1 ½ hours, stirring occasionally until the dip is hot and bubbling then keep on the warm setting until ready to serve.
Is Buffalo Chicken Dip Spicy?
This chicken dip is spicy. Adjusting the spice level of the buffalo dip is simple – just increase or decrease the amount of hot sauce you added to the mixture. Taste and adjust as needed. if yo like extra heat get a buffalo sauce with extra heat. No matter how spicy or not spicy you make this easy buffalo chicken dip, it will still be fabulously tangy creamy and delicious.
Here are some more game day eats you will love:
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 cloves of garlic peeled and minced
- 2 cups cooked chicken shredded (approx 2 chicken breasts poached or roasted or even store bought rotisserie)
- ½ cup Frank’s Original Red Hot Sauce, plus more if you prefer
- 8 oz (250g) block cream cheese, softened
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon each chopped fresh dill and fresh parsley
- 2 tablespoons chopped green onions or chives divided
- ½ cup white cheddar cheese shredded
- 1½ cup yellow cheddar freshly shredded
- ¼ cup crumbled blue cheese plus more for serving
For serving:
- Celery sticks carrot sticks, tortilla chips, crusty bread pieces, potato chips, chopped green onions for sprinkling, cracked black pepper
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375°F
- In an 8-inch cast-iron skillet (or an ovenproof baking dish), melt the butter over medium-high heat. Sauté garlic until fragrant approx 30 seconds. Add the chicken and hot sauce and simmer until sauce has thickened and reduced a little just a couple of minutes.
- Reduce heat to low and stir in cream cheese; mix until combined. Take off heat, stir in sour cream and 1 ½ cups of yellow cheese, half the green onions, and the herbs. (if you are using a baking dish transfer mixture to greased baking dish at this point)
- Top with the white cheddar and sprinkle with crumbled blue cheese and remaining green onions.
- Transfer to oven and bake 10-15 min until bubbling and starting to get golden.
- Remove from oven and allow to sit a fit minutes before serving. Top with more crumbled blue cheese and chopped green onions and fresh herbs if you wish.
- Serve with chips and chopped fresh veggies.
Recipe Notes
Storage & Freezing
- Leftovers taste great for approximately 2-3 days. Reheat in the microwave or in the oven set at 350 degrees F and tented with foil.
- To Freeze: Place in a freezer-safe container, remove any excess air and freeze up to three months. When ready to serve the frozen dip, simply remove it from the freezer, and let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
- To Reheat: you can microwave until hot, stirring every 30 seconds, or place it into an oven-safe baking dish, and reheat in the oven at 350°F for 10-15 minutes.
