Buffalo Chicken Bites

Some of my greatest memories include my dad, my sister, and my brother in law all enjoying hot wings at a sports bar with an ice-cold pint of beer. It seemed to be our weekly ritual. There is nothing like the laid back feel of a sports bar and indulging in scrumptious, and not so good for you, food. Since my dad did not have any sons, my sister and I did a good job filling in. We love sports and beer!

Just last week I was thinking about those fun times and it started a craving for hot buffalo sauce. I must admit that I do not enjoy getting all messy and eating hot wings anymore so I had to think of another way to get my buffalo fix! I went to the store and bought my favorite hot sauce, Frank’s Red Hot. Now what should I do with it? My sister is a vegetarian and she sometimes makes the traditional buffalo sauce and dips her French fries in it. That sounded good but I needed a meal to curb this craving. I know… I will make buffalo chicken bites!

During the week I generally make several chicken dishes. I always use boneless, skinless chicken breast and dice it up. I do not really care for a large, dry piece of chicken so I tend to cut it up and use it this way pretty often. I make kung pao chicken, grilled chicken bites, chicken fajitas, and chicken parmesan on the regular. So, that is what lead me to making some sort of a little spicy chicken bite.

What I always liked about hot wings was that they always had a little crunch to them. I thought I could recreate this with a quick dredge in flour. I used about ½ of a cup of flower, and quarter teaspoons of paprika, salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. This is a little reminiscent of a fried chicken dredge. After I diced the chicken in 1 inch cubes, I dredged it in the flour. It is already starting to look good!

I put my largest skillet on the stove over medium high heat. I figured I could always turn it down but I wanted them to get the nice browned crunch at the bottom. Once the pan is heated up, add about 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Using tongs, I put the chicken pieces in one by one.

After about 4-5 minutes, I flipped the pieces over and cooked for an additional 4-5 minutes until browned and cooked through evenly. Now time to make some spicy sauce. I always remember my mom making hot wings at home and she would use so much butter because that is what the recipe called for. I know that this is what makes the buffalo sauce so yummy but I wanted to try to limit the butter if I could. I melted 2 tablespoons of butter in the microwave for about 15 seconds. Once the butter is melted, I added 1/4 of a cup of Frank’s Red Hot and stirred until incorporated. You could probably even limit the butter even further if you needed to 1- 1 and a half tablespoons.

Only one step left and I would have my nostalgic treat!! I turned the skillet down to low and poured the sauce over the chicken. Simply toss in the sauce until the chicken bites are completely covered. Serve with ranch, or bleu cheese if you are one of “those people”, and a few pieces of celery. So good!! You could also make this a meal if you serve with a side of fries or a side salad. Enjoy!!

Buffalo Chicken Bites

1-2 Chicken breasts, boneless, skinless diced into 1 inch pieces

½ cup Flour

¼ tsp Paprika

¼ tsp Garlic powder

¼ tsp Onion Powder

¼ tsp Salt

¼ tsp Pepper

2 Tbsp Butter, diced

¼ cup Frank’s Red Hot

Heat large skillet over medium high heat. Mix flour and seasonings in a shallow bowl. Dredge chicken pieces in flour. Add about 2 tablespoons of flour in pre-heated skillet. Add chicken. Cook for about 4-5 minutes. Flip chicken pieces and cook on the other side for another 4-5 minutes until browned and cooked through. Place butter in small, microwaveable bowl. Heat about 15 seconds or until melted. Add Frank’s Red hot and stir until mixed. Turn skillet down to low. Add hot sauce mixture to pan and toss chicken pieces until completely covered in sauce. Serve with ranch, bleu cheese, and celery.

#recipe #football #dinner #appetizer