Buffalo Chicken Dip tastes just like buffalo wings dipped in ranch dressing with just five ingredients. No mess and all the flavors you love!
Dips are one of the best things about the upcoming holiday season and along with Ultimate Spinach Artichoke Dip and Queso Dip, this dip rounds out our top three because it takes Buffalo Wings (America’s favorite appetizer) and makes it portable and party friendly.
Buffalo Chicken Dip is a delicious appetizer you can serve at just about any event. The dip is best served hot, with a lot of cheddar cheese and cream cheese you’ll want to be sure it stays melted for your guests. Even if you do let it get to room temperature, you can use some of the dip in sandwiches too (usually bits without chicken).
You can be as homemade or pre-made with this recipe as you’d like.
Pre-made: Canned chicken chunks or rotisserie chicken meat + bottled ranch dressing + bottled buffalo sauce + cream cheese + cheddar cheese until hot, melted and bubbly.
Home-made: Fresh cooked Chicken Breasts + homemade ranch dressing + the recipe below for buffalo wing sauce + cream cheese + cheddar cheese until melty, delicious and homemade.
This scrumptious dip features shredded chicken, cream cheese, hot sauce, ranch dressing, and cheddar cheese, creating a mouth-watering blend of flavors and textures. Traditionally served with tortilla chips, celery sticks, or crusty bread, this versatile appetizer can be customized to your guests’ tastes. Originating from the iconic buffalo wing recipe in Buffalo, New York, this dip captures the essence of buffalo wings in an easy-to-make dish.
For another delicious party or game day dish, try the Garlic Parmesan Cheese Ball, an appetizer that’s sure to impress your guests.
How to Make Buffalo Chicken Dip
Preparing Buffalo Chicken Dip at home is a breeze, with just a few simple ingredients and minimal cook time. You can make this dish in the oven or a slow cooker, ensuring that it fits your schedule and kitchen setup. Check it out!
- Preparation: Preheat your oven to 350°F (or prepare your slow cooker). In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine shredded chicken, cream cheese, hot sauce, ranch dressing, and half of the cheddar cheese.
- Baking: Transfer the mixture to an oven-safe dish, and spread it out evenly. Sprinkle the remaining cheddar cheese on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly (or cook in a slow cooker on low for 2-3 hours).
- Serving: Top with green onion as a garnish and serve the dip hot with your choice of dippers. Enjoy!
More Great Chicken Appetizers
Frequently Asked Questions
It may sound complicated but with some chicken breast (many people use a rotisserie chicken or even canned chunks of chicken) you can have this dish baking away in the oven in five minutes. The hardest part is having no-sauce leftover cooked chicken.
Buffalo Chicken dip is a mixture of chicken breast meat, cheddar cheese, cream cheese, buffalo wing sauce, and ranch dressing that is baked together to recreate the flavors of buffalo wings being dipped in ranch dressing. Top it with green onions for a pop of color!
To make this in the slow cooker simply add all the ingredients together and mix well before cooking on low for 2 hours before serving. Keep it on warm or low heat during your event to ensure the dip stays warm throughout.
Traditionally celery sticks, carrot sticks, tortilla chips, crackers, or toasted baguette slices are served with Buffalo Chicken Dip. Serving this dip is the easiest and most popular recipe on your upcoming holiday appetizer table. Just be sure you set it on the table alongside ingredients for dipping that are single bites to prevent people from dipping back into the dip with a bitten piece of food.
If you want to serve individual dips at parties, take recyclable clear plastic cups in 2 or 4 ounces and add the dip halfway up the cup. Then top the cup with the dipping items so each person has a self-contained amount of dip they can eat as they please. It also helps with scooping to have the higher walls of the cups.
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Key Ingredients in Buffalo Chicken Dip
The simple ingredients in Buffalo Chicken Dip are easy to find at your local grocery store, making this dish a convenient choice for any occasion!
- Shredded Chicken: You can use any cooked, shredded chicken, such as rotisserie chicken or boneless, skinless chicken breasts. If you only have chicken wings, then it would be best to make them as regular Buffalo Wings.
- Cheese: Cream cheese provides a rich, creamy base for the dip. We are using one block cream cheese. Make sure to use room-temperature cream cheese and your favorite shredded cheddar cheese.
- Buffalo Wing Sauce: The creamy spiciness of this pepper-flavored sauce is an American classic everyone loves! Click the link to see our homemade recipe!
- Ranch Dressing: The creamy and garlicky flavors of ranch really makes it amazing! You can get a bottle from the store, or make your own by following this recipe for Homemade Ranch Dressing.
Substitutions for Buffalo Chicken Dip
- Ranch Dressing: You can substitute ranch dressing with blue cheese dressing for a different flavor profile.
- Shredded Chicken: For a vegetarian option, substitute shredded chicken with cooked and crumbled tempeh or jackfruit.
- Cheese: You can also use other shredded cheese like mozzarella cheese in your recipe!
Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken Dip
For those who prefer a different cooking method, Buffalo Chicken Dip can also be prepared in a slow cooker. Check it out!
- Mixing: In a medium-sized mixing bowl or the slow cooker bowl directly, combine all the ingredients, and only half of the cheddar cheese. Mix thoroughly to make sure it combines well.
- Slow Cooking: Transfer the mixture to a slow cooker or crock pot, and spread it out evenly. Sprinkle the remaining cheddar cheese on top. Cook on low for 2-3 hours.
- Serving: As mentioned before, serve the dip hot with your choice of dippers, such as tortilla chips, celery sticks, or crusty bread.
Can Buffalo Chicken Dip be Made Ahead of Time?
Yes, Buffalo Chicken Dip can be prepared ahead of time. Simply assemble the dip and store it in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 24 hours before baking or slow cooking. To serve, heat the dip in a baking dish in the oven at 375°F for 25-30 minutes, or in the slow cooker or crock pot on low for 2-3 hours.
Variations on Buffalo Chicken Dip
Customize your Buffalo Chicken Dip with these tasty variations to suit your preferences or dietary needs. Football season is waiting!
- BBQ Chicken Dip: Substitute BBQ sauce for hot sauce and add green onions for a different flavor twist.
- Vegetarian Buffalo Chickpea Dip: Replace shredded chicken with jackfruit for a vegetarian alternative.
- Garlic Powder: Sometimes the missing ingredient is an extra tablespoon of garlic powder to really turn up the flavor.
How to Make Buffalo Wing Sauce
You can’t go wrong either way. If you’d like to make your own Buffalo wing sauce it is easy enough to make and even more flavorful than the bottled variety. Combine the ingredients in a small saucepan and whisk them together until combined and bubbling.
- 2/3 cup Frank’s Red Hot hot pepper sauce
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 ½ tablespoons white vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
More Yummy Buffalo Sauce Recipes
How to Store Buffalo Chicken Dip
- Serve: Don’t leave buffalo wing dip in the baking dish at room temperature for more than 2 hours. If you need to serve for longer than two hours try Slow Cooker Buffalo Wing Dip – you can leave it on low while serving!
- Store: Once the soup has cooled, you can store it in the fridge. Kept in an airtight container it will stay good for 3-4 days.
- Freeze: Freezing it after baking causes it to be a bit grittier after reheating. If you were to prepare the dish ahead of time, only go so far as to mix the ingredients together without baking and add them to a large ziplock bag with the air completely pushed out of the bag before sealing. Thaw in the fridge overnight or submerged in cold water for 2 hours before adding it to a baking pan and cooking as directed in the recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds chicken breast , cooked and chopped
- 16 ounces cream cheese , room temperature
- 1 cup ranch dressing
- 3/4 cup buffalo wing sauce
- 1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese , shredded
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Mix everything except ½ cup of the cheddar cheese into a large bowl until well combined.
- Pour the mixture into a 9×9 pan and cover with remaining cheese.
- Baking for 25-30 minutes until bubbly and cheese is melted.
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Nutrition
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This is delicious. My boyfriend can’t stop eating it. I made it just like your recipe. I ate mine with “Scoops”. He spread his on Texas Toast.
Sounds great. Thank you Glenda for the 5 stars!
Honestly the best… I use this recipe all the time…. it’s my go to… so delicious and super quick and easy. When I have leftover chicken this is what I make..
thanks for the recipe! Love it!
Thanks, Adrianne.
Delicious!!!! Eating this amazing dip as we speak (or should I say “as I type”?). I think I might do half cream cheese/half blue cheese next time, just to try it out. The only bad thing about this dip is the torture of waiting for it! Hehehe just kidding, there is nothing wrong with this great appetizer (But the pain of waiting is real).
The struggle of patience it real, I totally get it! So glad you powered through the wait and enjoyed it.
This is my go to recipe for the dip to have with chips! Its sooo yummy, I’m obsessed.
Yay! So glad you love it.
Do u have to put blue cheese in the buffalo chicken dip
I didn’t use blue cheese for this dip. I hope you enjoy it!
Turn out great!!!!!
Fantastic! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
Subbed 8oz of Velveeta for half the cream cheese. Delicious!!
So glad you enjoyed it!
How can I make this into a sloppy joe ground chicken recipe using the ingredients listed? Should I cut the ranch, cheddar cheese and cream cheese in half?
I would use my Chicken Bacon Ranch Sloppy Joe recipe and add the wing sauce. Enjoy!
This looks so amazing! I just made something similar in my instant pot and it was a hit!
Thanks Allyson!
One of my all time favorite recipes!!!
I hope you enjoy it!
I love a good buffalo chicken recipe. This appetizer looks amazing!
A perfect summer dish! Looks delicious!
Thanks Krissy!