Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Dip – Rachel Cooks®

When you need a game day snack that’s a guaranteed winner, this crockpot Buffalo chicken dip has you covered! It’s creamy, cheesy, spicy, and loaded with shredded chicken, and since it’s made in the slow cooker, it’s super easy.

 

It’s that time of year when we’re always in need of easy appetizers that feed a crowd. Whether it’s a game day or a holiday, this crockpot Buffalo chicken dip will become your new go-to. It might even become your signature snack—the one everyone in your family or friend group asks you to bring to every party.

If you love my crockpot Buffalo chicken sandwiches, Instant Pot Buffalo chicken pasta, and air fryer Buffalo cauliflower bites, you’re going to flip for this dip!

Reasons to Love Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Dip

• Everything delicious in a single crockpot. Seriously, take a scroll through that ingredient list—the only delicious thing that’s missing is chocolate, but make some hot chocolate dip to serve alongside your Buffalo chicken dip and you can cover that base too.
• Ridiculously easy. Other than garnishing with blue cheese and green onions, this is a dump-and-go slow cooker recipe, which means all you need to do is layer the ingredients in your crockpot and your work is done.
• A total crowd-pleaser. There’s a reason Buffalo everything is so popular—it’s spicy without being too much. And then add that flavor to a creamy, cheesy dip with shredded chicken and you’ve just hit best appetizer ever status. This is one of those dips that will have everyone hovering around the snack table.

What you need

• Shredded Chicken Breast: Cook 2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts and then shred them. I like to use my Instant Pot shredded chicken.
• Cream Cheese: You’ll need the blocks of full-fat cream cheese—not the cream cheese that comes in a tub!
• Shredded Cheddar Cheese: If you have time, shred your own; it will melt smoother. If not, it’s no big deal—you can use the bagged shredded cheese from the store. Keep in mind it will change the final result slightly.
• Hot Sauce: Frank’s Red Hot sauce is the classic choice for Buffalo chicken. You can add more or less, depending on your tolerance for heat!
• Ranch Dressing: You can make your own ranch dressing if you’re feeling ambitious, but I usually just use bottled – this isn’t exactly a high class recipe.
• Sour Cream: Sour cream amps up the creaminess and adds some tangy flavor to the dip. I recommend full-fat sour cream for the richest results.
• Green Onions: You’ll need some for cooking with the dip and some for garnish.
• Garlic Powder and Onion Powder: These add some savory depth to the dip.
• Crumbled Blue Cheese: An optional topping. If you’re feeding some blue cheese fans and some blue cheese haters, you can set a bowl of crumbled blue cheese next to the slow cooker and let people add their own.

How to make it

Coat the inside of a crockpot with nonstick cooking spray for easy clean up.

Layer the ingredients into the crockpot in the following order: shredded chicken breast, cream cheese, shredded cheddar cheese, hot sauce, ranch dressing, sour cream, green onions, garlic powder, and onion powder. 

Cover the crockpot and cook on low for 3 hours or until heated through and melty. Stir to combine.

If needed, turn the crockpot to the Warm setting to keep the dip warm. Garnish with additional sliced green onions and crumbled blue cheese, if desired.

Tips for Success

• If it seems thin: This dip will thicken as it cools. If it seems too thin, you can turn off the slow cooker and it will thicken up a bit. Note, though, that the dip shouldn’t sit out longer than two hours if the slow cooker isn’t set to Keep Warm.
• If you end up with a grainy or curdled texture: A grainy texture may be from using store-bought shredded cheese, which has an anti-caking agent added to it that affects how it melts. If you have the time, I recommend shredded your own cheese for the smoothest crockpot Buffalo chicken dip! Another reason for a grainy texture is that the dip has curdled; this can happen if you cook it too long or at too high of a temperature.

What to Serve With Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Dip

Wondering what’s good with Buffalo chicken dip? Here are some serving suggestions:

• Celery sticks, baby carrots, or even raw cauliflower
• Tortilla chips—just make sure you buy a variety that’s sturdy enough to hold the dip!
• Baguette slices
• Cubes of beer bread or Dutch oven bread
• Ritz crackers
• Pita chips
• Crispy breadsticks

Make Ahead Ideas

You can assemble all of the ingredients in your crockpot insert up to a day ahead of time to get a head start on this recipe.

Storage & Reheating Suggestions

• Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up 3 to 4 days. 
• Reheat in the microwave for smaller portions; larger portions can be reheated in your slow cooker or in a covered baking dish in a 350ºF oven.
• Freeze crockpot Buffalo chicken dip in an airtight container or freezer bag for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then reheat according to the instructions above.

Leftover Love

Leftover crockpot Buffalo chicken dip is amazing on air fryer baked potatoes , or try tucking it into quesadillas. It’s also great stirred into cooked pasta. Thin with a little milk if necessary. We tested this recipe quite a few times to get it right, so we had a lot of leftovers. We almost always enjoyed them with pasta – it’s similar to our buffalo chicken pasta.

Testing Notes

Trying something new here – sharing a bit of our process! Here’s how we experimented with this dip to get it perfectly right for you:

• Test 1: Dip had a curdled appearance. We tested it with 3 cups of chicken but decided that we should retest with 4 cups, and cook it on Low for a shorter amount of time. It was during this test that we decided to stir in all the cheddar cheese right away (instead of using some as a topping) and garnish only with blue cheese and green onions. As a topping, the cheddar made dipping more difficult because it formed a kind of blanket over the dip.
• Test 2: Cooked on low with cream cheese on top of the chicken instead of at the bottom of the slow cooker. Didn’t have enough time to complete test and see what cooking time was on low. Didn’t use softened cream cheese – decided it wasn’t necessary. Cream cheese not melted after about 1.5 hours. Stirred well and turned to high for about 30 minutes to finish, didn’t curdle. Omitted salt, taste better.
• Test 3: Cooked low for 3 hours, melted but not curdled… success! Kept all changes that were made in test 1 and test 2.