Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Chili
Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Chili is delicious, simple and award winning! This is the go-to when you are tired of boring chili recipes!
You guys might tell me I’ve been living under a rock, and honestly that might not be far from the truth. But did you know that on Friday nights there is like a marathon of Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives on the Food Network? I go to turn on the TV and my six year old gears up for one of her favorite cartoons and I have to crush her dreams. I can’t take even one more episode of kid TV. Despite this somehow, at some point during the evening, the whole family ends up curled up in front of the TV drooling over all the amazing (and sometimes weird!) food and trying to figure out if it would be at all possible to plan a trip to whatever location Guy Fieri is featuring. Yep. We know how to party. Now I’m going to share with you something that you should have while you are watching your marathon TV session…. Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Chili. Yum! A great meal to come home to on a Friday night after a busy week. Easy to make! Easy to love this spicy, creamy goodness!
Heartier than a soup but different than a traditional chili this would be fun to serve up at a party, to take along to a tailgate, or to take to a potluck. Ground chicken instead of beef and white beans instead of chili beans make the base of this chili.
Lots of flavor from chicken broth, ranch dressing mix and fire-roasted tomatoes and some heat from the buffalo sauce are balanced out with some sweet corn and cream cheese. Top it all of with some cilantro for some super fresh flavor. And I can’t forget the blue cheese crumbles on the top! I leave them out of the soup since not everyone is a fan but I can guarantee you I have my bowl topped of with some!
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So park yourself on the couch with a big ‘ol bowl and watch endless episodes of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives until you are convinced you should open your own funky restaurant so you can be featured on the show too. Or wait…is that just me? Yeah, I’m weird like that :). But at least it helps me dream up recipes like Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Chili!
This recipe was originally published on April 7, 2014 and has been updated to reflect fresh photos and updates to the recipe based on reader feedback and re-testing.
Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Chili
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 15 oz canned white navy beans drained and rinsed
- 14.5 oz can fire roasted tomatoes drained
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce start with 1/4 cup and add more at end if needed
- 1 package ranch dressing mix
- 1 cup frozen corn kernels
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dried cilantro
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 8 oz cream cheese
- Blue cheese crumbles optional
Instructions
- Brown ground chicken until fully cooked, place in crock (or brown ahead of time and store in fridge until ready to assemble)
- Add remaining ingredients except for cream cheese and blue cheese and give it all a stir to combine
- Add block of cream cheese on the top and cover
- Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8
- Stir to incorporate cream cheese and add additional wing sauce as desired
- Top individual bowls with blue cheese crumbles if desired
Nutrition
Can’t get enough buffalo chicken?
Slow Cooker Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Pasta
Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Tater Tot Casserole
Original photos:
Hands down best Pinterest recipe find to date, and I’ve tried lots! This was phenom!! I left the cream cheese on top barely melted the entire 8 hours, then mixed at the end and it was only clumpy/grainy for a few minutes. Keep stirring people. This is SOOO delicious, thanks!!
You are too sweet! Love hearing this and so glad you loved it!
Tried this tonight. I had the same grainy cream cheese issue and it was very watery so I put it in a pot on the stove to simmer for an hour. It worked perfectly to thicken the soup and incorporate the cream cheese. We also finely chopped celery to top the chili.
I made this this past weekend and had similar issues that others have spoken of. The cream cheese never fully blended, making it look curdled/grainy, and it was overall very liquidy. I am thinking next time I will cut down on the chicken broth, or thicken the chili with cornstarch. And I am thinking of skipping the cream cheese block altogether.
This sounds yummy….ground chicken? You can buy that like you would ground beef or sausage? I’ve never noticed. Just wondered if I could use cubed chicken breasts and get the safe effect?
Yep! I’m able to find the ground chicken along with the rest of the chicken in the meat market section at most of the grocery stores I shop at. If you can’t find it then I think diced chicken breast is a good alternative! Let me know which way you end up making it!! 🙂
I made this tonight with a reduced fat cream cheese. I had the same issues as others with it not breaking down totally but I used a whisk to break it up more and it turned out fine….just a suggestion if anyone is having issues….just whisk it in the pot for a few minutes and it blends in…also added a little cornstarch to thicken bc my tomatoes had a bit more juice than expected and it was slightly runny
Same here! My 1/3 less fat cream cheese dissolved just fine with a few whisks. It’s delicious!
Good to hear!!
What a great combination—buffalo chicken and chili! I just wanted to let you know I have a website (Simply Creative Recipes) where I showcase recipes I find and I am linking to this post if you don’t mind. Please feel free to submit any recipes to the site if you wish. You have some amazing recipes.
What size Slow Cooker is this recipie for?
I usually make this in my 5 quart slow cooker.
Thank you. I will give that a try.
Made the soup and it’s delicious. The only problem I had was the cream cheese makes the soup look grainy. Can you tell me what I may have done wrong. Thank you!
I’m glad you liked it! Hmmmmm, did you use full fat cream cheese? I know when I’ve used reduced fat versions this can happen. Or possibly if the soup was extra hot at the time the cream cheese was added. You could always reduce the heat to low and leave the lid off for a few minutes before cutting up the cream cheese and adding it. Then stir well as it melts. Hopefully that will keep it from happening again. Let me know!!
Yeah, I got the “Grainy” look too, the cream cheese wasn’t melted all the way even though it had been sitting atop during the whole cooking cycle.
TBH, when spooned out into a bowl it looks like something rather unpleasant. :c
hmmm… well the only things I know of that cause that are using a lower fat cream cheese or if the soup is super hot when you go to stir it up. Some slow cookers get a lot hotter so sometimes you have to let it cool just a tad before stirring. I usually stir it up pretty good to make sure it all melts evenly and gets incorporated. If none of those things were the issue then I’m stumped. Maybe someone else has an idea? I will check around.
I’ve made other soup recipes where a block of cream cheese sat on top all day and when I first start to stir it in at the end of the cooking period it looks a little grainy but it then stirs in completely and smoothly. I’m not sure what’s causing the graininess. (And I can’t wait to make this one.)
I agree I’ve had them start out that way from time to time but nothing some extra stirring doesn’t fix. Let me know how it turns out!!!
I tired this for the first time and loved it. I needed a new chili recipe for our annual church chili cook-off, and wanted something related to buffalo chicken wings. I was worried about the cream cheese making the chili look grainy so I cooked everything but the cream cheese in the crock pot and before I took it to church I added the cream cheese to a approximately two cups of the chili (I had doubled the recipe and used about five cups of chix broth) and placed in a bowl and mixed in the cream cheese using an immersion blender and then stirred it into the chile for a very creamy texture to the chili. I am happy to say it one first place. Thank you o much for sharing this recipe.
Hooray!!
Ok so did you double everything but the chicken broth then just used 5 cups chicken broth?
Did you add the cream cheese to hot chili or warm, I want to try but don’t want it to look grainy for company:)
I have this problem too. the cream cheese does not melt very pretty. The directions say to put the cream cheese on top…not to add it later. ?!?! Maybe if I just melt the cream cheese on the stove top and add it?
It does take a lot of stirring. Another option is to use whipped cream cheese, which will melt a little more quickly and smoothly will less work. 🙂
You mentioned fire roasted tomatoes but I don’t see them on the ingredient list.
Yikes!! Thanks! All fixed 🙂
Made this for the “big game” today. Really tasty, but on the runny side for me. More of a soup than a chili. I will definitely make it again, but with less stock. Thanks!
I used a whole onion, chopped, whole celery plant, chopped and saluted both, made my own ranch mix (just googled the spices), hot chili sauce and some molasses and honey rather than the buffalo sauce, no salt, no celery salt. Added red lentils – about 1/2 cup to thicken the liquid – and only about 3 cups broth. A lot chunkier and less runny.
REALLY like the stew!
I used ground turkey, btw. Didn’t have ground chicken where I shopped. Going to use pulled/shredded chicken next batch.
Or ground bison for Buffalo Buffalo chili 🙂
Wow, this looks like a mighty fine bowl of chili! Thanks for sharing at Simple Supper Tuesday.
It’s summer time in NC and this is for dinner!! It’s that good. We have made it probably 5 times and it’s a favorite by far. I use chicken breasts and shred them and only half a block of cream cheese. It’s soooo yummy!!
Hooray! I say any time is a good time for chili! 🙂
I was wondering if this could be made with rotisserie chicken meat.
Yes, but I’m not sure exactly what adjustments I would make. The slow cooker is mainly to get the chicken cooked all day, so if you still wanted to use slow cooker I’d think you’d just do it long enough to heat up the chicken and then add the pasta.
It is essential to use the correct amount of cream cheese. This chili comes out more like a chowder or cheese soup, than a brothy chili. Then just whisk the cheese until creamy smooth. I usually double everything to fill the crock pot. It’s delicious!
did you put in raw chicken at bottom and then cook?
Hi Amy! I’m not Lindsay so hopefully she will chime in here with what she did to modify the recipe, but in general, yes! I have other similar recipes and you can simply add the raw chicken to cook all day and then shred once fully cooked! Makes it so easy!
Do you use the same amount of chicken broth even if you’re using half of the cream cheese? Also did you cook and shred your chicken before hand? I think I want to use shredded chicken as well!