Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken Dip
Five-ingredient Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Dip has the mouthwatering perfection of chicken wings without the work! Just chicken, cream cheese, cheddar, ranch, and buffalo sauce in the crock pot for a game day win!
I love hosting for big games. Sundays and football are my best days of the week. I’ve made this recipe for years and years now, and someone always asks for the recipe, it’s that good! Not just me. Check out this comment from a reader.
What Readers Are Saying
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My go to recipe for years now. Always a request when there’s a get together. – KL
Buffalo Chicken Wings in a Dip
This dip is served hot and creamy. You can put it out with tortilla chips or even celery and carrot sticks. It has just a bit of heat, but if you want to tone it down, I would get a mild buffalo sauce.
Ingredients and Substitutions
This dip is supposed to be easy AND delicious. To keep it that way, here are some ideas to be able to use what you already have.
Chicken
Cook your own chicken fresh, use leftovers, or a convenient rotisserie chicken. Feel free to use white or dark meat in this recipe. Keep it simple, and use what you have.
Cream Cheese
Use real cream cheese, not the low-fat option, for the best flavor and texture.
Cheddar Cheese
Start with a block of cheddar cheese and shred it yourself. Pre-shredded cheese has anti-caking agents to prevent it from clumping, but these can also stop you from getting the best melt.
Buffalo Sauce or Wing Sauce
Buffalo Sauce and hot sauce are not the same thing. Buffalo sauce is a mixture of butter and hot sauce. It starts with a hot sauce made from cayenne pepper and white vinegar. This gives it that spicy, tangy flavor we love. If you only have hot sauce on hand, no worries. You can mix the two together.
- Mild – 1 part hot sauce to 2 parts melted butter
- Medium (this is the more common heat level)- 1 part hot sauce to 1 part melted butter
- Hot – 2 parts hot sauce to 1 part melted butter
If you’re worried about the spice level, use a mild buffalo sauce. Once it’s cooked and you’ve tasted it, you can always add more hot sauce.
How to Make Buffalo Chicken Dip in a Crock Pot
Add the ingredients into the crockpot with 1 cup of the cheddar cheese. The rest will go on at the end. Give these a good mix, but don’t worry about getting everything perfectly mixed. You’re going to stir every 30 minutes. As it heats up, it will mix more easily.
If you can’t stir it every 30 minutes, no worries! Try to give it a good mix after the first 30, and then again about halfway through cooking, and again at the end, before you add the cheese topping
Once everything is fully melted, and you see no more chunks of cream cheese or cheddar cheese when you stir, the dip is ready, but you’re not done yet. Sprinkle the remaining cheddar cheese on top and put the lid of the crock pot back. As soon as this layer of cheese is ready, you’re ready to serve.
Tips for Success
- Let the cream cheese come to room temperature if you can. This will make mixing at the beginning of cooking much easier.
- To keep this dip perfect for your whole party, serve it up in the slow cooker set to warm. This makes sure that cheese stays perfectly creamy.
- This is a THICK dip. You need to serve it up with some dippers that can stand up to it. My favorites are tortilla chips, celery, and carrots.
Troubleshooting Buffalo Chicken Dip
This usually means that it needs more time to melt all the ingredients, so that they can blend more evenly. Keep cooking until it is completely smooth when you stir. If it’s still thin, add in more chicken or cheese and let it melt.
This can happen if you cook it on the high setting. If you have the time, cook on low. Also, make sure that you’re using cheddar cheese that you’ve shredded yourself.
How to Store Leftovers & Reheat
You can keep this stored in an airtight container for 3-5 days in the fridge, or you can freeze it for up to 3 months. Just be aware that freezing it can affect the texture. If you do, allow it to thaw overnight in the fridge and then reheat slowly. You may think about reheating in the crockpot if you can. Make sure to stir it to get it back to its creamy texture.
How to Use Your Leftovers
This chicken dip recipe is so versatile. You can use the leftovers for so many meals throughout the week.
- We love to use it to make our buffalo chicken dip sliders.
- Place a scoop of chilled leftover dip on lettuce, then drizzle with ranch dressing or blue cheese crumbles for a tasty buffalo chicken lettuce wrap.
- Spread it over a tortilla, add extra shredded cheese, and make a buffalo chicken quesadilla…this is my boys’ favorite!
What to Serve With This Dip
- Air Fryer Chicken Wings are a juicy, tender wing option to serve alongside Buffalo dip.
- This Beer Bread recipe makes an awesome alternative to chips and is so good!
- Don’t forget the Blue Cheese dressing for your carrots and celery! It’s the classic side to buffalo chicken in any form!
*This post was originally posted on 04/27/2019.
Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Dip Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 cups cooked chicken breast shredded
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- ¾ cup buffalo sauce*
- 1 cup ranch dressing
- 1 ½ cups cheddar cheese shredded
- Green onions thinly sliced, for garnish
- Carrot sticks for serving
- Celery sticks for serving
- Tortilla chips for serving
Instructions
- Combine 4 cups cooked chicken breast, 8 ounces cream cheese, 3/4 cup buffalo sauce* , 1 cup ranch dressing, and 1 cups cheddar cheese in the Crock Pot and stir together.
- Place lid on and cook on LOW heat for 3-4 hours or HIGH heat for 1-2 hours. Stirring every 30 minutes. The dip is ready when the cheese is fully melted, and you no longer see chunks of cream cheese.
- Sprinkle the remaining ½ cups cheddar cheese over the top and place the lid back on, letting the dip continue to cook until the cheese on top is melted.
- Top with Green onions and serve with Tortilla chips, Carrot sticks, Celery sticks, or crackers for dipping.
Whole family loved it!!!☆♡
For convenience: can use drained, canned shredded chicken. Has anyone ever frozen leftovers? If so, how was consistency?
So easy to make and it came out absolutely delicious!
Ever tried freezing this? I kinda measured with my heart and have more than I realized lol. It’s delicious but it’s only me eating it and there’s a lot!
My go to recipe for years now. Always a request when there’s a get together.
Such a good recipe!!
Hello,
If I double this recipe will it fit in my 7 quart crock pot.
Thank you!
I had plenty of room in my 8 qt for a double batch 😊
So excited to make this recipe! About how many chicken breasts do you think yields 4 cups of cooked chicken?
Thanks!
Hello Emily! You will probably need 3-4 breasts but it just depends on how big they are. Enjoy!
This is a great party/crowd pleaser! I had it at a friend’s birthday party and have since made it for my own gatherings! Delicious
Made it as written and it was delicious and definitely a crowd pleaser!
What size crock pot did you use for the Buffalo Chicken Dip
These meatballs are delicious! I just made them for the second time. I bought a 4pack of ground turkey at Costco and adjusted the recipe to use it all. I used a cookie dough scoop to make the balls and they were done in no time. They are a nice change and super handy to pull out of the freezer.
I added 13g Sodium Citrate and it kept the cheese from separating
When using the ranch dressing packet do you still add milk or just use the ingredients dry?
Can I make this in the instant pot
I have used frozen chicken breasts several times and cooked them and shredded them and this recipe turns out beautifully every time.
Do you think I could double this recipe in the crockpot? How full is your 5qt usually?
Thanks!
Made this tonight and it’s fabulous! Boyfriend loves it as well. Just curious about what the serving size is; maybe I’m just oblivious but I can’t find it anywhere.
this serves 16, so I am not sure the oz of one serving is but 1/16 of the full recipe world be one serving
I made it using this recipe multiple times and turned out awesome each time! Question now is I have a bag of frozen chicken breasts. If I cook them before I throw it in the crockpot, would it still turn out the same?