Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken

It wasn't until I was about 20 that I first tried buffalo chicken. Turns out, it's not bad. My husband on the other hand seems to have been born to eat the stuff. I know he didn't grow up eating it, so I'm not sure where the love affair was first ignited, but I would bet it includes such nouns as: "college," "beer," "late-night," and "half-price."

Now that we've gone dairy-free, buffalo chicken has become a restaurant staple because it's rarely smothered in cheese like every other item on the menu. I'm sure it's made with butter or has buttermilk in the breading, but it doesn't seem to affect my husband, so we go with it. And he's happy. However, we're not about to go out to eat every night, so I wanted to try a buffalo-at-home recipe. Added bonus: I have control over the ingredients!

I think my husband's love of buffalo chicken is almost equal to my love of crock pots. Seriously: 1) Add ingredients; 2) Turn on; 3) Work for 12 hrs; 4) Come home; and 5) Like that mom in the old Rice Krispie Treat commercials who flicks flour in her face before exiting the kitchen, bask in the glory of an adoring family who thinks you put hours of work into a hard-cooked meal.

This crock pot buffalo chicken makes a lot, so for Day 1 we decided to make sandwiches. I say "Day 1" because it's now Day 3 and we're still working our way through it. And if my husband is still eating something (for lunch and dinner) after 3 days, you can bet it's good. 

Of course, I didn't take any photos of the chicken in the crock pot, but you can probably picture it: crock pot, 3 lbs of frozen chicken, one onion, and one bottle of hot sauce (and flour to flick in your face to create the illusion of exhaustion).

This recipe produces a moist, flavorful, not too spicy (although that depends on the sauce you use) chicken that shreds just by stirring at the end of the day. We then took the shredded chicken, two pieces of rye, a piece of lactose-free cheddar, and a little cooking spray and grilled up some delicious sandwiches in the pan.

I'm sure we'll figure out other things to make with pulled buffalo chicken.

Ingredients (adapted from My Kitchen Apron)

3 lbs frozen chicken

One bottle buffalo sauce (I used Franks buffalo sauce)

One large onion, chopped

Directions

I made this as a make-ahead freezer meal, but you could make this with fresh chicken (just reduce cooking time) or with pre-frozen chicken from the grocery store.

1. Put chicken, hot sauce, and onion in the crock pot.
2. Cook on low for 7-8 hrs or on high for 4-5 hrs.
3. Shred the chicken. At this point, the chicken was so tender I just stirred it up with a fork and it shredded.
4. Turn to high and cook another hour or so to allow the chicken to absorb more of the sauce.

To make sandwiches

1. Spray frying pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Over medium heat, put some chicken on two pieces of rye bread, add piece of lactose-free cheese.
3. Cook until cheese is melted and bread is toasted. Flip once or twice.

For make-ahead, freezer meal

1. Add chicken, hot sauce, and onion to 1-gallon freezer bag. 
2. Take out of freezer, remove from bag, and put in crock pot - no defrosting necessary. 
3. Cook as described above.

If you're not dairy-free, you could serve these with some blue cheese dressing for dippin'.  Enjoy!