Buffalo Chicken Dip

I have a confession to make. I don’t like chicken wings.

I don’t even like “buffalo chicken” as a flavor for any other kind of dish.

Most of you are probably appalled with me… but I’ve mentioned before that I have this weird meat thing. That I really only eat chicken breast and when I do I have to trim it to death. It’s actually quite a ridiculous process. But anyways, you are probably wondering what I am doing making Buffalo Chicken Dip if I won’t eat it. Well, my brother came to visit this weekend and he loves it. I also know for a fact that a lot of other normal people out there that don’t have weird meat phobias really like this dip too. So, I thought I would take this opportunity to make this for him so I could post it for you!

Here’s the thing about this recipe that I discovered- there are a lot of recipes out there for buffalo chicken dip! AND they all have verrrry subtle differences to them. Some used blue cheese dressing others called for ranch. Most called for cheddar or monterey jack cheese, some asked for mozzarella. The majority used 1 block of cream cheese, but there are a few that use 2. That’s where you get into the whole dressing:hot sauce:cream cheese ratio variation. Some had 3/4 cup dressing to 1/2 cup hot sauce with 1 block cream cheese. Others had just 1/3 cup hot sauce to 1/2 cup dressing to 1 block cream cheese. Etc, etc, etc. You get the idea. So it was really hard for me to decide which combination would work best with which ingredients. So when I sat down to create it and write up the recipe I kept it pretty adaptable, listing a few options so you can choose for yourself.

Oh and then there is the whole can chunk chicken thing…. gross. Don’t do that. Just shred your own chicken. Here is a little trick if you hate shredding chicken like I do. If you throw the chicken into a slow cooker with a can of chicken broth and let it do its thing for about 6 hours, it’ll literally fall apart. Shredding is totally simplified and becomes effortless if you do that. It’s my favorite was to make shredded chicken. But! The point I am trying to make here is that I have another chicken option that I did not run into on my recipe search. It’s actually my brother’s preference when I make the dip so I guess I should credit him with the idea. He insists that I use crispy chicken in the dip. Meaning there is much more texture and crunch to the dip then with just strands of shredded chicken. All you have to do is buy a bag of frozen buffalo chicken strips or bites (or regular if you don’t want it to get too spicy), cook them up ’till crisp in the oven, and then chop them into nice small pieces.

And not to be repetitive or anything, but I also left how much chicken to add up to you in the recipe. Some people like their dip chunkier than others. I’m leaving the choice up to you. Who am I to say how you like to eat your dip. I won’t even eat it! So this is for all you brave chicken wing eating people out there- enjoy!