This Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken recipe was one of the top things I was looking forward to making once I figured out the formula for my Homemade Ranch Seasoning. The slow-cooked chicken is tender, spicy, tangy, and rich all at the same time and there are a hundred different ways you can use it! Sandwiches, dips, salads, pizza, and more. I’ve got a full list of how to use this insanely easy and delish shredded buffalo chicken below, so don’t miss it! I’m sure this is something you’ll want to make over and over again throughout football season and the holidays.
What is Buffalo Sauce?
If you’re unfamiliar with this American classic, Buffalo Sauce is basically a combination of hot sauce (traditionally Frank’s Red Hot Sauce) and butter, which creates a super tangy, spicy, and slightly rich sauce that is used to coat fried chicken, among other things. For this slow cooker buffalo chicken, we’ve gone one step further and added ranch seasoning mix, which is a super tasty combination of buttermilk powder, herbs, and spices. The ranch seasoning adds a huge burst of flavor to the sauce and makes it even a little bit more creamy. It’s just to die for!
What Kind of Hot Sauce to Use
As mentioned above, buffalo sauce is usually made with Frank’s Red Hot Sauce, but you can use any similar vinegar-based cayenne flavored hot sauce for this recipe. I used the ALDI version of Frank’s and it was great!
Can I Substitute the Ranch Mix?
The ranch seasoning mix really brings a lot of flavor to this sauce, so I would avoid skipping it if possible. If you don’t have the ingredients to make your own ranch seasoning mix you can definitely use one packet of store-bought ranch seasoning in place of the ingredients listed below. Or, if you want to use your own herbs and spices but just don’t have the buttermilk powder, that will still taste really good, just slightly less rich.
How to Use Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken
Okay, here’s the fun part. How do you use this delicious shredded buffalo chicken? SO MANY WAYS. Here are some ideas:
- As a buffalo chicken sandwich or wrap: bun or tortilla, coleslaw, pickles, ranch dressing
- On nachos: on tortilla chips with lettuce, shredded carrot, and a drizzle of ranch dressing
- Make a buffalo chicken dip: stir cream cheese into the shredded chicken until melted for a super creamy dip
- In a quesadilla: fill a tortilla with the chicken and shredded Monterey jack cheese, then toast in a skillet
- On a salad: pile the chicken onto crisp iceberg, top with chopped celery, shredded carrots, and blue cheese dressing
- Pizza: add it to a pizza with a white sauce and top with a little mozzarella and maybe a drizzle of ranch after baking
My mouth is totally watering just typing all of that out! This stuff is seriously so good.
Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken
Servings 8 ½ cup eachIngredients
Ranch Seasoning*
- 2 Tbsp buttermilk powder ($0.15)
- 1/2 tsp dried parsley ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp dried dill ($0.03)
- 1/4 tsp onion powder ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp lemon pepper ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp sugar ($0.01)
- 1/8 tsp salt ($0.01)
- 1/8 tsp freshly cracked black pepper ($0.01)
Buffalo Chicken
- 12 oz. hot sauce ($2.19)
- 2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts ($9.53)
- 4 Tbsp butter ($0.40)
Instructions
- Combine the ranch seasoning (buttermilk powder, parsley, dill, onion powder, garlic powder, lemon pepper, sugar, salt, and pepper) and hot sauce in a bowl.
- Place the chicken breasts in the bottom of a 3 quart or larger slow cooker. Cut the butter into chunks and place the butter on top of the chicken. Pour the hot sauce mixture over the chicken and butter.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low heat for four hours. After four hours, use two forks to shred the chicken (if it's not tender enough to shred yet, let it cook a little longer).
- Serve the shredded chicken and sauce on sandwiches, in quesadillas, on top of nachos or salads, or as a dip for crackers and chips.
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Equipment
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!You might also like our Buffalo Chicken Pasta recipe!
How to Make Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken – Step by Step Photos
Combine the ingredients for the ranch seasoning (2 Tbsp buttermilk powder, ½ tsp dried parsley, ¼ tsp dried dill, ¼ tsp onion powder, ⅛ tsp garlic powder, ¼ tsp lemon pepper, ⅛ tsp sugar, ⅛ tsp salt, ⅛ tsp pepper) with one 12 oz. bottle of vinegar-based hot sauce.
Place about 2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast in the bottom of a slow cooker. Cut 4 Tbsp butter into chunks and place them on top of the chicken.
Pour the hot sauce mixture over the chicken and butter in the slow cooker.
Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook the chicken on low heat for four hours.
After four hours the chicken should be tender and easily shreddable using two forks (if it’s not, let it cook another 30 minutes).
Fully shred the chicken, then enjoy!
Made this with a ranch packet and had no issues. Was great paired with Hawaiin Rolls for mini sliders.
This looks so great, but I’m not in America so ranch dressing powder or buttermilk powder are not available here. Could I put normal ranch dressing in or would that make it too runny?
Unfortunately, I haven’t tried that, so I’m not sure how it would turn out. I think a better option would be to just add the herbs and spices from the ranch seasoning and skip the powdered buttermilk. You’ll still be adding a lot of flavor that way. :)
This would be a great recipe for camping! Can be dolled up so many ways. Great idea
Looks delicious! I can’t find buttermilk powder though – could I just add sour cream at the end?
I’ve never tried that, so I’m not sure how sour cream would taste. :)
I have a 8.75 oz McCormick “3 in 1 Ranch Seasoning” container since I literally could not find buttermilk powder anywhere locally (I live somewhat rural). Do you have any idea how many tsp/tbsp of this mix one would use in place of the homemade mix? It looks like the packets may be something like 2 TBSP. Just curious if you think this would translate to this dish. Thanks.
Yep! You can use 3 Tbsp of the store-bought ranch seasoning. :)
I made this last night with soy curls that I rehydrated in no chickn broth. I quartered the recipe for the 2 of us and cooked on high for 2 hours in my small crockpot. It was amazing served on buns with oven fries and roasted broccoli.
Thank you for sharing that vegetarian option! I know that will be helpful to a lot of people. :)
Love this recipe. I drain some of the sauce and add ricotta at the end to thicken it. Makes a great dip and filling for stuffed shells baked with a melted mozzarella topping.
Beth, I’ve been making your recipes since 2014 and they never fail me! This was a WINNER. So many ideas and meals to make with it. Bowls, dips, quesadillas, pizza, salad etc. I will be making more ASAP! Thanks for all your hard work that goes into the recipes.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! …And everything else since 2014! :)
YUM. I’ll be making this again for sure. I used a store-bought ranch mix for convenience. We had the chicken on sandwich rolls with coleslaw the first night, then I had leftovers on salad several times and didn’t even need any dressing. The sauce is that good. Looking forward to trying this in tacos, etc.
We really loved this recipe. I did use a package of ranch mix with Frank’s & butter. It is simple & so satisfying! Served on potato rolls with cole slaw & blue cheese.
Thank you so much for this recipe! So easy to throw together, and you can turn it into so many different things!
I used a bottle of Frank’s Buffalo sauce because that’s what my partner came home with. I still put some butter in with the chicken, but not as much as the recipe called for. I also used two packs of ranch seasoning mix because I was worried about the spice level.
It was still too spicy for my family, so I ended up mixing some cream cheese into the finished recipe after it had cooled and rolled it all up in medium flour tortillas and made baked taquitos!
It was a huge hit, super easy, and I would definitely make this again!!
Worked great in a pressure cooker! I used 1 cup hot sauce plus the butter and chicken, 13 min, natural release, added the ranch mix to the sauce while I was pulling the chicken. I added a dollop of sour cream to up the ranch-iness. Super easy and tasty!
This makes A LOT. I love the baked potato idea in the comments. Here is how I used it:
– Buffalo chicken pizza (use ranch as the sauce, add shredded chicken, top with mozzarella)
– Buffalo chicken bowls (rice base, avocado, tomato, black beans, and corn)
– Buffalo chicken sandwiches (Beth’s picture at the bottom of the recipe, with coleslaw!)
Would using the Frank’s RedHot Buffalo Wings sauce work?
Do you think there’s any adjustments that would need to be made if using it?
The wing sauce is already combined with butter (or a butter equivalent) and perhaps other ingredients, so it would change the recipe some. I would need to test it to see what adjustments are needed.
Hi Amanda! Did you end up making it with buffalo sauce? I asked my partner to pick up some Frank’s Red Hot and he came home with the Buffalo sauce, so I’m probably going to use that instead. Can you please share your experience?
Your content is very useful keep it up, this content has taught me a lot, thanks