I love me some buffalo chicken wings but was not in the mood for wings and I was not in the mood for frying chicken so I said maybe I can still have the buffalo flavored chicken with out frying and the messy clean up so that is when I said instead of using wings maybe just use chicken breast and pan sear it then put it into the oven. That is just what I did and boy am I glad I did it. This was the best darn buffalo chicken I ever made without even frying and cleaning up all that mess plus it is a healthy way of enjoying the taste of buffalo chicken without frying.
Buffalo Chicken
Buffalo chicken with toasted slivered almonds, cranberries, homemade blue cheese dressing topped with bacon bits.
Ingredients
for the buffalo chicken
- 2 chicken breast bone in
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp granulated garlic
- 1 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 2/4 cup hot sauce
- 2 tbsp butter (unsalted)
- 2 tbsp lemon vinagrette dressing (optional) or Italian dressing
for the Blue cheese dressing
- 3 oz blue cheese crumbles
- 3 tbsp buttermilk
- 3 tbsp sour cream
- 2 tsp mayonaise
- 2 tsp champagne vinegar or white vinegar, white wine vinegar
- 1/4 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp granulated garlic I used 3tsp
- 1 tsp black pepper I used 2tsp
romaine lettuce
- 2 bunch romaine lettuce chopped
- 6 strips bacon I used butcher bacon
- 1/3 cup slivered almonds toasted
- 4 tbsp cranberries (dry) or seedless red grapes
Recipe Notes
- Cook bacon in oven on 375 for about 20 minutes or until golden and crisp, I cook mine in a broiler pan that have a drip pan on the bottom. Once cooled chop bacon into 1/4 pieces put a side.
- Heat oven to 350 degrees and season the chicken with the first five ingredients, in the mean time heat a pan with the olive oil on medium heat once pan is hot add the chicken breast skin side down and pan sear it for about 3 minutes or until it is a light golden brown you are not cooking it just browning it a little. Once lightly brown turn skin side up and place into the oven for about 20 minutes.
- While chicken is in the oven heat a small pot on medium heat and add the hot sauce, butter and for some extra kick you can add two tablespoons of bottled Italian dressing, (I used a homemade lemon vinaigrette), add it with the hot sauce, butter and cook for about five minutes until it is heated through and the butter is melted then set aside.
- In a small bowl add the blue cheese, buttermilk and mashed together with a fork until it is well mixed and resemble cottage cheese then add the sour cream and the rest of the ingredients mix well, if it seems to be to thick add a little more vinegar to thin it out and store it in a mason jar or a bowl with a tight lid, refrigerate until ready to use.
- Once chicken is done brush the chicken with half of the sauce and put under the broiler on low with skin side up for about five minutes to brown after five minutes remove from oven and brush with the rest of the sauce and let cool. Once cooled separate the chicken from the bone and chop into bite size pieces/chunks which I prefer mine about 1/2 thick.
- In separate bowls add about 2 cups of lettuce add about 1/4 cup of chicken sprinkle some cranberries, almonds and the bacon bits and top with the blue cheese dressing and enjoy.