A few years ago, we visited with our friends Gregg and Donna up in Lynchburg, Virginia. Donna served up this awesome Buffalo Chicken Dip and shared the recipe with me. I’ve made it for every “Big Game” menu since. (Lock your doors because Sportscaster Jim Szoke is a HUGE fan of this stuff!) So thank you Donna for sharing the recipe with me!
Remember, you can adjust the amount of hot sauce to suit your taste. Believe it or not, I actually use the full amount.
Buffalo Chicken Dip
1 8oz block of cream cheese
½ cup bleu cheese dressing (ranch can be substituted)
1 cup (or more) of finely chopped cooked chicken
¼ - ½ cup Frank’s Red Hot Sauce (what’s your heat tolerance?)
1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese (or favorite white cheese)
salt & pepper to taste
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese (for topping)
Heat the block of cream cheese and bleu cheese dressing in microwave for about one minute or, until the mixture is easy to stir. Add in the chicken, hot sauce, white cheese and salt/pepper. Blend together ingredients. (It’ll look more like pimento cheese quite honestly.)
Transfer the mixture to a casserole dish. I like to use a larger dish (or spilt into two smaller dishes) and have a thinner spread of the dip. Top with the grated cheddar cheese and place in oven. Bake at 350 degrees until the cheddar topping is bubbling and beginning to brown, about 20 minutes.
Remove from oven and serve immediately. Be sure to use chips that are more sturdy for this dip. The regular tortilla chip isn’t manly enough for this dip. Or, if you’re like me, I like to burn the cheese topping until it’s good and brown. For that, we like to use the thicker Fritos Scoops! Corn Chips. If you want to pretend that celery sticks will make this more healthy, then, by all means, knock yourself out.
The taste is an awesome tangy, ooey, gooey, cheesey goodness. The cheese and dressing really subdue the bite of the hot sauce into a kind of creamy tanginess. It’s quite addictive, so watch out!!