Easy Buffalo Chicken Dip (Oven or Slow Cooker)

Everyone has their favorite buffalo chicken dip, and while they all start with shredded chicken and hot sauce, the variations can differ between recipes. What makes this one different? I add chopped celery in the mix for a bit of crunch that really brings it home for us.

What’s more, mine has white cheddar instead of orange, and I use ranch dressing rather than blue cheese dressing. There’s a sprinkling of blue cheese crumbles on top for that traditional compliment to buffalo chicken.

This can serve a small group, or you can double it for a crowd. I’ve made it in a party-size slow cooker for easy hosting, but I love the baked version with cheese melted on top.

Ingredient Notes

Shredded Chicken. For best texture use poached chicken breast, or a rotisserie chicken and shred the breast pieces without any skin. Make sure the pieces are short and slim enough to mix in easily. As an alternative you could use premium quality canned chicken breast, and I’ve had to revert to this many times. But I do recommend freshly shredded for best taste and texture.

Hot Sauce. When it comes to buffalo chicken dip is there even an alternative to using Frank’s RedHot sauce? It’s the only one I highly recommend for this recipe.

Ranch dressing. You’ll need a bottle of ranch dressing and my preference is Hidden Valley, or Aldi has one under the brand Tuscan Garden which is just as good (if not better).

Cream Cheese. Use a block for best texture and let it come to room temperature for ease in mixing.

Dippers. Include tortilla chips, corn chips or scoops, flat pretzel crisps, and celery and carrot sticks.

How To Make It

See full instructions in the recipe card below.

• Oven method. Combine the dip ingredients together and pour into a baking dish. Heat in the over for about 30 minutes or until heated through.
• Slow Cooker method. Add the ingredients into a small crock pot and mix to combine. Place the lid on and heat on low for about an hour or until warm and creamy. You may need to stir halfway through if it looks like it needs it.

Helpful Tips

Serve buffalo chicken dip for an appetizer party along with saucy kielbasa bites and spinach and artichoke puff pastry pinwheels.

• While this is a hot dip it holds up well even as it cools. We continue to eat it at room temperature, but if you want to warm it up just pop it in the microwave until heated through.
• You can use traditional cheddar in this recipe, too. Make sure it’s Sharp or Extra Sharp, and whether you use white or orange, start with a block and shred it yourself for best results.
• We like the flavor of the hot sauce but don’t want it overly spicy. You can increase it to ½ cup if you want a little more heat.
• You can mix the dip up to a day ahead and heat it up when you’re ready to host, to make entertaining easy.
• If you don’t want to add the blue cheese crumbles on top, you can skip it.