Tuesday Treat: Buffalo Chicken Dip

One of my cousins made this dip for our family Christmas party on Sunday and it was incredible. Seriously, I think I ate more of this dip than I did of real food. Holy crow it was great. Sorry I don't have any pictures but I'm sure there are some on Google if you look it up. It is super easy to make and serves a whole freaking lot. This is a great addition to an appetizer spread, tailgate parties, and BYO covered dish festivities.





Ingredients:
2 large boneless skinless chicken breast
2 packages cream cheese
1 cup ranch dressing
1 cup Frank's Red Hot
1 cup shredded cheese
1 bag of your favorite dipping chips/crackers

Directions:

1. Boil the chicken breasts until completely cooked, about 15-20 minutes.
2. Remove from heat and shred the chicken with a fork.
3. In an oven-safe bowl, mix the shredded chicken, cream cheese, ranch dressing, hot sauce, and 1/2 of the cheese until well blended.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the dip is heated all the way through and the cheese is melted.
5. Remove from the oven and spread the remaining 1/2 cup of shredded cheese over the top.
6. Serve with your favorite dipping chips/crackers.

Ideas:

• Allow the cream cheese to soften before trying to mix it with the rest of the ingredients.
• Any kind of hot sauce will work. Just amend the amount based on the heat of the sauce and your preferences.
• Cheddar or Colby-Jack seems to be the best cheese to use.
• You can lower the calorie content of this recipe by substituting reduced-fat cream cheese and using less and/or reduced-fat shredded cheese.
• The Frito's Scoops go amazing with this, although tortilla chips, butter crackers, and pretzels were also used.
• Instead of shredding chicken by hand, you can buy the canned shredded chicken instead. I'm not sure how much comes in a can but I wager you need about 10-12 ounces of the stuff to substitute.

I love spicy food and this definitely had a bit of a kick. The cream cheese and ranch do a great job of cutting out a lot of the bite for those that dislike spice though. It was definitely one of the most popular items on the table. It was completely gone by the time we actually started dinner. Super easy to make too! I would say the only difficult part of the entire recipe would be shredding the chicken, though there is a fix for that under the ideas section anyways. Enjoy!