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:
I made this today with ground turkey breast. Used 2 cups broth, eyeballed the Texas Pete’s wing sauce, used cannelini beans, sauteed some mirepoix veg (carrot celery and onion) with the turkey and used fresh cilantro after stirring the cream cheese. Hubby and I thank you for a delicious 28th anniversary dinner in cold Indiana 🙂
Awesome! Happy Anniversary!
Thanks for the recipe! Mine isn’t done yet, but it’s turning out awesome! I used some leftover Kahlua Turkey and turkey stock instead. The only other thing I did different was to start with a reux (4oz butter/4oz flour) and it’s giving it a nice consistency. Also I’m not bothering with the crock pot since my turkey is already cooked. I can’t wait for dinner. 🙂
I made this for a chili cook off at work today and it was a HUGE hit. So huge that I ran out before the contest was over… I was still able to secure second place, but would have had 1st had the chili not been so popular! AWESOME, easy recipe.
Just as a suggestion to those saying the chili is too “soupy”, I used 3 cups of broth instead of 4. MUCH more of a chili consistency. Thank you for such a fun and Pinterest perfect recipe! I cannot wait to make this again. 🙂
Also, I used chicken breast, boiled then, and then shredded them myself. Seasoned with just a little bit of salt.
Woohoo! Great job!! Thank you so much 🙂
Super tasty!! I followed the recipe kinda. I didn’t have ground chicken, so I used boneless chicken thighs chopped fine. It was a bit soupy, so I thickened it with Masa and added another can of beans. The tomatoes were to chunky for my taste so I pulsed them quick in the blender. I used 1/3 less fat cream cheese and only added 1/2 the amt called for. It’s a keeper!!
NOTE: I cooked it on top of the stove this time.
I made this for the Super Bowl, and this is REALLY GOOD! The secret to the cream cheese melting is to leave it out to come to room temperature before adding to the mix, and it will melt right in.
I made a few changes in the ingredients to up the veggie contents: subbed real garlic, a small onion diced, and celery for the garlic powder, onion powder, and celery salt. I used 1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce, added two cans of beans drained and rinsed (cannellini and great northern) and no additional salt at all (salt is in the wing sauce). Lastly, I used fired roasted Rotel tomatoes with green chiles and non-fat cream cheese. The non-fat cream cheese melted right in after I left it on the counter for a while to come to room temperature…no problems at all.
This was a GREAT chili…..different but really good. I served it with the blue cheese crumbles, and had both Fritos and tortillas chips to crumble in the soup. My husband said this is a keeper. He didn’t think he was going to like it, but he had 2 bowls. Very good recipe!!!
Hooray!
I am eating the leftovers today, and I think they are better than the day I made the soup. I just got a text from hubby, and he just asked me how hard would it be to TRIPLE this recipe…LOL 🙂
Apparently he took this for lunch today too, and he wants me to make more to add to our big freezer’s ‘grab and go’ section. (I bulk make soups, stews, one pot meals, and casseroles on the weekend, and we portion them into individual servings. We then put them in the freezer on one shelf that is our “grab lunch and get to work without any hassle” shelf.)
He has even offered to go to the store today and buy 3 packs of the ground chicken for the recipe! Hubby is GOING TO THE STORE without me asking him….that’s the best compliment I can give this soup!!!
That is so cool! Thanks so much for letting me know 🙂
Loved this! Even my 18-month old ate it. I replaced the celery salt and onion powder with fresh diced celery and onion, and also diced up a carrot as well for some extra veggies. Was definitely more of a soup consistency than a chili to me, but that is a non-issue in my opinion. I may try do 2 or 3 cups of broth next time and I think adding uncooked chicken breasts and shredding them once cooked would be equally delicious and even easier.
That’s great! Yes, decrease the liquid and it will make it more of a chili consistency. Using the chicken breasts will also be delicious and thicken it up a bit (and make the prep even easier!). Glad your little one loved it too! 🙂
I am definitely trying this for dinner tonight…I am thinking about adding diced red potatoes and doubling the recipe.
Hi Jean!! Potatoes will certainly add some heartiness to this chili and doubling will certainly help you feed a crowd 🙂 Let me know how it turns out!!
I recently made this, and it was very good. I used very small pieces of chicken instead of the ground chicken. I did everything else as written (I used the high crock pot setting for 4 hours). The chicken sort of dissolved, making the texture of the chicken strange. Do you think it would help to use bigger pieces? Or, maybe not browning the small pieces of chicken and putting them in raw would help? Thanks for any tips!
Hi Brita! What I would if you want to use regular chicken (boneless skinless breasts I’m assuming?) is to leave them in whole pieces. Just toss them in and then when everything is done cooking you can shred them up! Makes prep work easier and the chicken will hold up to slow cooking all day.
Thanks for the quick response! So, just to clarify, if I’m using regular chicken, I would put **uncooked** whole pieces of boneless skinless breasts in the crock pot? Would you recommend cooking on low for 8 hours or high for 4 in this case?
yep! Uncooked. Then either high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours should be fine!
Hi! I just made this again yesterday. I used two whole raw chicken breasts this time. After 4 hours on high, I shredded the chicken. It turned out perfectly!
Awesome!
I cannot wait to try this, my son likes chili but he doesn’t like the beans I put in mine (light red kidney beans), so I am going to try this for him. My son bought me a crock pot that you can take the crock out and use on the stove, to brown your meat or whatever and I also have one that has a paddle that attaches to the lid and after your soups or stews cook for like 2 hrs. it will start stirring every thirty min.. So I can’t wait to try it on this chili. Thanks so much and keep the recipes coming for us. 🙂
oh nice! The one that stirs would be so perfect for this chili! Let me know once you make it!!
Yummy! I used chicken breasts instead of ground chicken, no need to pre-cook. Just put them in the bottom of the crock under every thing else. After 9 hours on low, it was super tender and easy to shred.
As others have commented, it is more of a soup as written. I used less chicken broth (about 3 cups I think), and next time will probably thicken it up with another can of beans, pureed, or my secret ingredient in lots of soups and stews: pureed cauliflower! It a great way to add some extra veggies in!
Pureed cauliflower… love it!!! Great idea!