Easy Buffalo Chicken Dip Recipe

Whether you're ringing in the New Year, hosting friends for a small gathering, or throwing a tailgating event for the Super Bowl, this easy buffalo chicken dip is a must-have on your menu. Buffalo chicken dip is always a hit with its delicious combination of shredded chicken, kickin' buffalo sauce, and a creamy cheese base. This recipe not only has a bit of extra punch, it's also super easy to make.

Many people are accustomed to throwing their ingredients in a CrockPot for their buffalo chicken dip. However, this recipe from developer and cook extraordinaire Laura Sampson of Little House Big Alaska is super simple and quick to fix. With a prep time of 15 minutes and a cooking time of 20 minutes, your crowd-pleasing dip will be ready in no time at all. Just preheat that oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and grab the handful of ingredients. This dip goes well scooped up on celery, crackers, toast, or nacho chips. Yum!

Many buffalo chicken dip recipes use ranch dressing, but Sampson's easy buffalo chicken dip recipe uses half a cup mayonnaise combined with 8 ounces of softened cream cheese combined with a mixer on low. Sampson said fat-free or fully loaded cream cheese could be used as a replacement. She also uses regular fat mayonnaise for the recipe, no particular brand.

Be sure to soften the cream cheese first, though, or it will be difficult to blend. You can do this by popping it into the microwave for 20 seconds or so if you forget to leave it out.

Pick your favorite hot wing sauce and add in two to four tablespoons to the mixture for your easy buffalo chicken dip. Add as much as you prefer as far as your heat tolerance goes. This is the perfect opportunity to sneak a bite before the guests arrive!

"I've always used Frank's Hot Wing Sauce, but when I was looking for it in the store, I spotted Sweet Baby Ray's Hot Wing Sauce, and it is fantastic," Sampson shared.

Hot sauce is fueled by chili peppers, which give it its range of spice and hotness.

Take one and a half cups of pre-cooked chopped chicken, and combine it with the sauce mixture. It's perfectly fine to cook the chicken yourself or buy a juicy rotisserie chicken at the store. Stir well so as to help spread the chicken throughout the easy buffalo chicken dip.

"This recipe is truly easy to make. And when you use leftover chicken, it's so much faster," Sampson said. "You can use any kind of chicken for this recipe. Rotisserie or baked seem to work really well. Rotisserie does have a great flavor, but since you're adding flavor with the sauce, even plain baked chicken can taste amazing."

Sprinkle in a quarter cup of blue cheese crumbles to your easy buffalo chicken dip. Stir it in to combine well, which will help further break up and disperse the chicken and the blue cheese crumbles throughout this amazing dip.

"The easiest blue cheese crumbles to use are the kind you buy pre-crumbled. Of course, buying blue cheese and crumbling it yourself works, too," she said.

Blue cheese typically is made from whole cow's milk but can come from goat's milk. It's your preference whichever you choose to use.

Pour the easy buffalo chicken dip mixture into a small oven-proof pan or skillet, such as a cast iron skillet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the dip is bubbly. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the remaining blue cheese crumbles across the top. This will give it a little extra kick in the end, Sampson noted.

If blue cheese flavor isn't for you, you can easily swap this cheese out with sharp cheddar or another flavorful cheese to infuse flavor in this recipe.

Let this easy buffalo chicken dip sit 5 to 10 minutes before serving with your preferred snack, such as celery, bread, crackers, or nacho chips. Or maybe even all four! It's fantastic no matter what it's eaten with. This dip has the right amount of kick along with a creamy base and cheesy texture. It'll be the hit of your next party, no doubt.

"I like to serve this dip with sliced veggies and bread or crackers. My kids make sandwiches out of it," Sampson said. "This is definitely a party dip."