
When I saw this recipe on Noble Pigs blog last year before the Super Bowl, I knew that at some point I would have to try to make it. For some reason the recipe stayed in my mind over the past year, periodically popping up at various times with "I should make that Buffalo Wing dip from Noble Pig". It wasn't until last weekend, when I realized that I had some chicken breasts defrosting in the fridge and that the Super Bowl was coming up that I pulled out the recipe to give it a try.
Holy. Crap. Best Stuff Ever. Addicting. And before you say "Well, we don't eat dips in our house" forget the whole dip thing. Put this over rice. Make a sandwich out of it. Put some in a warm tortilla, add some sour cream and sliced avocado and maybe even some jalapenos. Killer stuff. Did I mention addicting? And yes, it makes a great dip, whether you use bread, crackers or veggies.
Now, before you think it's a lot of hot sauce, the cream cheese really kills a lot of the heat. It's spicy but it wasn't that "oh lord my mouth is on fire" kinda heat (might also have something to do with the wing sauce I used). I used ranch dressing so don't be put off of the recipe if you aren't a bleu cheese fan.
This stuff is seriously good. Who cares if it's not low calorie. Who cares if I can sit there and take spoonfuls of this dip and eat it all by itself. Make this. Trust the Noble Pig. Good stuff. And there are a ton of variations out there (one from The Bitten Word here), that call for slightly different ingredients or make smaller batches. But you won't want to make smaller batches. Make the big batch, take half to your Super Bowl party and then use half for meals for yourself. Trust us.
BUFFALO CHICKEN DIP24 ounces cooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts, shredded
6 ounces bottled Franks Red Hot Sauce
6 ounces prepared Buffalo Wing Sauce
1 1/2 cups finely chopped celery
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 8-oz packages Philadelphia Cream Cheese, room temperature
12 ounces ranch dressing
8 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
If poaching your own chicken breasts - Place chicken breasts in a saute pan large enough to hold them in one layer. Add 1-2 cups water or chicken broth to pan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and cook for 9-14 minutes until chicken is no longer pink. Remove chicken from broth. Cool slightly and shred well. You do not want large chunks. (The alternative is to use cooked chicken from either cans or a rotisserie chicken).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix shredded chicken with hot sauce and buffalo wing sauce and set aside. (Noble Pig says you can do this a day ahead of time. I'm thinking this would make the sauce really sink into the chicken for even more flavor).
Heat olive oil in a small pan over medium heat. Add celery and saute just until tender. Take pan off heat. Add chicken mixture and combine. (I just added the sauteed celery to the bowl I had the chicken mixture in).
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. When cream cheese is creamy, add ranch dressing and stir to combine. Add chicken-celery mixture and mix thoroughly.
Place mixture in a large casserole dish (12 x 9). Bake uncovered for 20 minutes. Add cheddar cheese and stir to combine. Bake for another 20 minutes or until heated through.
Note: Check out Noble Pigs recipe for her version. I made some changes in mine.
Note: I had about 18 ounces of cooked chicken after poaching. Her recipe asks for 4 chicken breasts or about 25 ounces of canned chicken so I think my version had less chicken than hers. I poached them in plain water.
Note: Original version asked for 12 ounces of Franks Red Hot sauce. Nobles version used 6 ounces of the Franks Hot Sauce and 6 ounces of Franks Wing Sauce. The only size of Franks Hot Sauce I found was the 5 ounce. And there was no Franks Wing Sauce. So I used 5-ounces of the Hot Sauce and 7-ounces of the most interesting Buffalo Wing Sauce the store had (Louisiana Gem Sauce).
Note: Nobles version used neufchatel cream cheese. I normally use nothing but Philly Cream cheese (full fat) when I make stuff so that's what I used in this.
Note: To make this true "Buffalo Wing" most recipes ask for bleu cheese dressing. When I order wings I always ask for Ranch instead of the usually served bleu (sorry, but I really don't like bleu cheese). I ended up using Hidden Valley bottled Buttermilk Ranch dressing. It was a big bottle so I just kinda eyeballed 12-ounces worth. I'm sure if you are a bleu cheese fan Noble Pigs recommendation of using a good quality bottled bleu would work just fine.
Note: Though this is probably best right out of the oven we've been "reheating" for various dishes and it comes out fine. It might separate a bit more than the first bake but I didn't see a big taste difference.
Did I mention how much I loved this? I think Mr. L and I went through an entire loaf of good crusty French bread when I made this "dip" for dinner. That was it. Dip and the bread. We had to stop ourselves from downing the whole thing. My mom loved her's over rice. My assistant got out tortilla chips to eat hers. The tortilla wraps? Yummy. I'm thinking this could be stuffed in pasta shells. And yes, I found myself just taking a spoonful and eating the dip all by itself.
Please note: I am not responsible for any weight gain or hip widening that might result in your hoarding the entire batch to eat yourself.