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This easy Buffalo Chicken Dip recipe is classic Midwestern fare, and it can be yours in minutes with just 5 ingredients. Serve with plenty of fresh celery sticks, crackers, and chips.
What’s better than chicken wings? This dip right here. It’s easier to make, has all the right flavors, and requires very little in the way of cooking and cleanup.
Hot melty cheese, buffalo sauce, cool blue cheese or ranch dressing, cream cheese, and chunks of tender chicken ready and waiting to be dipped into. I always serve this spicy, tangy dip piping hot with a pile of Chicken in a Biskit crackers, chilled celery ribs, and carrot sticks.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Chicken: I make this easy dip with canned chunk chicken which I always keep in the pantry. Every 10-ounce can of chicken equals 2 small chicken breasts, so you would need 4 small chicken breasts (or 2 large ones), cooked and then shredded with two forks. See my how-to on poaching chicken, which is fast and super simple. You can also use leftover rotisserie chicken.
- Hot sauce: Frank’s RedHot Original works best for me, but you may prefer another kind, and that’s okay.
- Salad dressing: For real, authentic, traditional Buffalo Chicken Dip, this recipe MUST be made with blue cheese dressing, not ranch. However, if you don’t like blue cheese dressing, as I don’t, you can use ranch. Just don’t tell anyone from Buffalo, NY.
Step-by-step instructions
- In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, combine chicken and hot sauce. Cook until heated through, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Stir in cream cheese, salad dressing, and shredded cheese. Continue to stir until hot and bubbly, about 5 minutes.
- Transfer to a slow cooker to keep warm.
- Garnish with chives or blue cheese crumbles and serve with celery sticks, chicken crackers, and tortilla chips.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This recipe makes about 6 cups of dip, enough for 12 servings, ½ cup each.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Slow cooker: Combine all ingredients in your slow cooker and stir until combined. Cover and heat on LOW 3 to 4 hours or HIGH 1 to 2 hours. Serve warm right from the crockpot with celery sticks and crackers.
- Oven-baked: Start with softened cream cheese. In a large bowl, stir together all dip ingredients. Spread evenly in a 1 1/2-quart or larger baking dish or cast iron skillet. Bake in a 350-degree oven until hot and bubbly, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Recipe FAQs
Hot, cheesy buffalo dip is delicious with crisp, fresh celery or carrot sticks, crunchy tortilla chips, and crackers (chicken-flavored crackers are my go-to here).
Cauliflower Buffalo Dip
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Buffalo Chicken Dip
Equipment
- Slow cooker (I love my trusty Crock Pot)
Ingredients
- 2 (10 ounce) cans chunk chicken drained and shredded (see note 1)
- 1 (5 ounce) bottle hot pepper sauce (see note 2)
- 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
- 1 cup ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing (see note 3)
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- fresh chives sliced, or blue cheese crumbles, for garnish
- 1 stalk celery trimmed and cut into 4-inch pieces, for serving
- 1 (8 ounce) box chicken crackers and tortilla chips, for serving
Instructions
Stove top method:
- In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, combine chicken and hot sauce. Cook until heated through, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Stir in cream cheese, salad dressing, and shredded cheese. Continue to stir until hot and bubbly, about 5 minutes.
- Transfer to a slow cooker to keep warm. Garnish with chives or blue cheese crumbles and serve with celery sticks, chicken crackers, and tortilla chips.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Chicken: I make this easy dip with canned chunk chicken which I always keep in the pantry. Every 10-ounce can of chicken equals 2 small chicken breasts, so you would need 4 small chicken breasts (or 2 large ones), cooked and then shredded with two forks. See my how-to on poaching chicken, which is fast and super simple. You can also use leftover rotisserie chicken.
- Hot sauce: Frank’s RedHot Original works best for me, but you may prefer another kind, and that’s okay.
- Salad dressing: For real, authentic, traditional Buffalo Chicken Dip, this recipe MUST be made with blue cheese dressing, not ranch. However, if you don’t like blue cheese dressing, as I don’t, you can use ranch. Just don’t tell anyone from Buffalo, NY.
- Yield: This recipe makes about 6 cups of dip, enough for 12 servings, ½ cup each.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
Fabulous & super simple! Perfect food for Game Day!!!
Glad you loved it, Marla! Take care! – Meggan
I’ve made this exact recipe twice now and my family absolutely loves it. I’m not an executive chef but I am a certified chef and I definitely look forward to seeing more recipes from Culinary Hill. This is one of my favorite websites to go on just to see what I can make next :)
Thank you so much Amanda, so glad you loved it and the site! – Meggan
Went to a birthday party and it was a hit!i kept asking my daughter in law for the recipe and she has sent it. Thank you Jessica. I’m going to write this one down so if I lose my phone I will have it!Everyone could not get enough. I really don’t do hot and was skeptical at first but I tried it and it was perfect!she also put in one of those crockpot liners and then she just transferred it to a big bowl. She kept in liner. No dirty dishes!!!
At the end of the day it’s all about the buffalo and the chicken for me. I don’t care if you use blue cheese or ranch to get there – just as long as that chicken and buffalo are swimming in something spicy. Happy, Happy, Happy.
Rotisserie chicken definitely. 2 pkgs of cream cheese is way too much. I had to get another chicken to put in it. I’ll cut to 1 pkg next time. Used 1/2 the amount called for of blue cheese dsg and added chunks of bleu cheese when served and a bowl of bleu cheese chunks by the crock pot when serving. Also jalapenos on the side. Some wanted a little more spice.
Sorry about the cream cheese situation. For me and the people I know, we want it like that. But I can see if you don’t have cream cheese figuratively running through your veins, you might not. 😆 Thanks. -Meggan