Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken is an easy crockpot recipe and a perfect make-ahead meal for busy weeknights. You can make it hearty by serving the shredded buffalo chicken stuffed in a baked sweet potato or regular potato, or keep it light and serve it on top of a bed of greens or tucked in a lettuce wrap. However you serve it, this recipe is absolutely delicious and is healthy, wholesome and whole30-friendly!
Let the slow cooker (or instant pot) do the work!
Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken is a recipe you’ll want to add to your weeknight dinner menu! The mix of heat from the Buffalo sauce with the coolness from the ranch creates a combination that can’t be beaten. It gets better because this classic game day recipe uses simple and clean ingredients that are dairy-free, gluten-free, paleo, Whole30 compliant, AND it’s quick to prepare.
In just 15 minutes, you can make the homemade buffalo sauce, throw the ingredients in a slow cooker, and whip up the homemade ranch. If you opt to use a pre-made buffalo sauce and ranch dressing (which is certainly an option!) then it will take just a matter of minutes to prepare this recipe. It really can’t get easier!
Ingredients you’ll need for this Whole30 Buffalo Chicken
- Chicken breast or thighs – we like to use 1 lb. of each. We love ButcherBox for its quality meat options.
- Hot pepper sauce – such as Whole30 compatible Frank’s Red Hot, but you also can use Sriracha (not Whole30 compatible).
- Ghee, coconut oil or butter – If you’re following Whole30, use ghee or coconut oil. Otherwise, butter works great.
- Coconut aminos – a great alternative to soy sauce. Made with real food ingredients and much less sodium. If you use soy sauce, use half of the amount the recipe calls for.
- Garlic powder
- Cayenne – this is optional. If you’re looking for more heat, add a dash or two.
- Baked sweet potatoes – If you’ll be serving as stuffed sweet potato “boats”. We recommend medium sweet potatoes (about 7 oz. each uncooked). You can find our baked sweet potato recipe here.
- Ranch dressing – Homemade or store-bought
Looking for ease and convenience? This recipe also works great with Primal Kitchen Buffalo Sauce and Primal Kitchen Ranch dressing.
For 10% off of all Primal Kitchen products use code: REALFOODRDS
How to make Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken
- Place chicken in a slow cooker set on low.
- In a small saucepan on medium-high heat, combine the hot sauce, coconut oil or ghee, coconut aminos, garlic powder, and optional cayenne. Stir together and heat until ghee is melted.
- Pour sauce into the slow cooker.
- Cook for 4-6 hours on low or until chicken is tender.
- Remove chicken from slow cooker and shred with two forks. Return shredded chicken to slow cooker and toss with sauce.
- Turn slow cooker to warm (or remain on low) until ready to serve.
- Serve chicken in baked sweet potatoes and drizzle with buffalo sauce and ranch, if desired.
Confused about poultry labeling? Check this post out to learn all about how to choose the best chicken in the grocery store.
Can Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken be made in the Instant Pot?
Sure can! We love this recipe in the Instant Pot for quick weeknight dinners, or when we’re making this recipe as part of larger meal preps. Simply add your ingredients, lock the lid, and spend the cooking time whipping up a side or prepping another dish!
To make Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken:
- Place chicken in a single layer in your Instant Pot.
- In a small saucepan on medium-high heat, combine the hot sauce, ghee, coconut aminos, garlic powder, and optional cayenne. Stir together and heat until ghee is melted. Alternatively, use a pre-made buffalo sauce.
- Pour sauce into the Instant Pot, covering the chicken.
- Lock the lid into place and make sure the valve is set to seal.
- Set the Instant Pot for 10 minutes on high pressure.
- When the time is up, quick release the pressure before unlocking the lid and shredding.
How to serve the Shredded Buffalo Chicken
We like to serve Shredded Buffalo Chicken stuffed in a sweet potato and drizzled with ranch with a side of roasted broccoli. It makes for one satisfying and mouth-watering meal. It can also be served in a regular baked potato depending on your preferences!
If you’d like something a little lighter, we recommend serving it in a lettuce leaf or on a bed of greens and of course with a drizzle of ranch.
How to Freeze Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken
This is a great recipe to double and then freeze half for a future meal. We’re all about tucking food away in the freezer. It’s a strategy we use to set ourselves up for dinner success in the future during busy weeknights.
Prepare the Healthy Buffalo Chicken as described, and then shred. Allow the shredded buffalo chicken to completely cool, and then transfer it to a glass airtight container. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
You can also portion the Whole30 buffalo chicken out into individual servings. This way you can easily pull out exactly the amount you need when it is time to serve!
How to reheat Crockpot Buffalo Chicken from frozen
There are a few ways you can reheat this recipe from frozen. For all 3 methods, start by setting the storage container in warm water, until it thaws just enough to remove the frozen buffalo chicken block from the container it was stored in.
To reheat on the stove: Transfer the shredded buffalo chicken block to a pan. Heat it over medium heat, breaking it apart as it thaws. It’s ready to serve when it’s hot.
To reheat in a slow cooker: Transfer the shredded buffalo chicken block to a Crockpot. Reheat on “high” for a few hours until it’s hot.
To reheat in the instant pot: Transfer the shredded buffalo chicken block to an Instant Pot. Using the sauté setting, break the chicken apart as it thaws. This should take about 5 minutes. Then place the lid on the Instant Pot and switch the valve to sealing. Select the steam function and set the time for 5 minutes. Once the time is up, release the pressure and check to see if it’s heated through. If not you can either add more time or use the sauté function again to finish heating through.
How to bake a sweet potato (perfect for stuffing with buffalo chicken!)
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Wash potatoes and pat dry. Rub with ghee, coconut oil or butter and sprinkle with sea salt.
- Place on a baking sheet and bake 45-60 minutes or until fork-tender. Baking time will depend on the size of the potato.
- Remove from the oven and serve or cool and store in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Other healthy buffalo chicken recipes to try
- Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Spaghetti Squash
- Creamy Buffalo Chicken Casserole
- Buffalo Chicken Egg Muffins
- Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
Video: how to make slow cooker buffalo chicken
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Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken
A hearty and healthy, whole30-friendly, slow cooker buffalo chicken that’s shredded and stuffed inside of a perfectly baked or grill sweet potato. A recipe for all you buffalo chicken fans.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. boneless chicken breast or thighs (recommend 1 lb. of each)
- 1 cup hot pepper sauce (such as Whole30-compatible Frank’s Red Hot or Sriracha-not Whole30-compatible)
- ⅓ cup ghee, coconut oil or butter (butter is not Whole30-compatible)
- 3 tablespoons coconut aminos
- 1 ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon cayenne (optional – adds more heat)
- 8 small baked sweet potatoes (about 7 oz. each uncooked)
- Ranch dressing (homemade or store-bought)
Instructions
- Place chicken in a slow cooker set on low.
- In a small saucepan on medium-high heat, combine the hot sauce, ghee, coconut aminos, garlic powder, and optional cayenne. Stir together and heat until ghee is melted.
- Pour the sauce into the slow cooker.
- Cook for 4-6 hours on low or until chicken is tender.
- Remove chicken from slow cooker and shred with two forks. Return shredded chicken to slow cooker and toss with sauce.
- Turn slow cooker to warm (or remain on low) until ready to serve.
- Serve chicken in baked sweet potatoes and drizzle with buffalo sauce and ranch, if desired.
Instant pot directions:
- Follow the instructions as written (placing the chicken in an Instant Pot instead of the slow cooker) through steps 3.
- Set the Instant Pot for 10 minutes on high pressure.
- When time is up, quick release the pressure before unlocking the lid and shredding.
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Notes
Feel free to substitute a pre-made buffalo sauce such as Primal Kitchen in place of the hot pepper sauce, ghee, coconut aminos, garlic powder and cayenne.
Buffalo Chicken only (no sweet potato or ranch dressing): 221 Calories, 13 g Fat, 435 mg Sodium, 3 g Carbohydrate, 3 g Fiber, 22 g Protein.
Nutrition Information
- Serving Size: 1/8 of recipe + 1 small sweet potato
- Calories: 320
- Fat: 13 g
- Sodium: 500 mg
- Carbohydrate: 25 g
- (Fiber: 3 g
- Sugar: 9 g)
- Protein: 24 g
Dietary
Photo Credit: The photos in this blog post were taken by Jess of Plays Well with Butter.
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Am I totally blind and missing the amount of sriracha for the recipe? I see it in the instructions but not in the ingredient list
Hey Amy!
You’re not blind – we changed the sriracha to Frank’s Red Hot sauce in the ingredients but forgot to change it in the directions. You can certainly use sriracha if you’re not doing a Whole30 – both work great (but only the Franks is Whole30-legal).
Sorry for the confusion!
NomNom Paleo has a AWESOME sriracha recipe. I’d never had sriracha before, and now I have a freezer full of Whole30 compliant sriracha made from my own garden-grown red jalapeños (they are too hard to find in the stores IMHO). I’ll never be without it again!
Great tip, Maggie – thanks for sharing! I love that you have a freezer full – it’s so good!
Holy moly, these are good! I used all chicken breast (it’s what I had on hand), butter instead of ghee, and a little apple cider vinegar rather than coconut aminos. Topped with scallions and a little ranch and it was really indulgent yet still relatively healthy. Perfect football food. 🙂
Awwwwwwwwsome!!!
Great substitutions – thanks so much for sharing. Glad it was a hit at your house too.
You asked a question about using the crock pot year round. I do, there are a lot of recipes that are so easy in the crock pot, do a whole chicken and then make bone broth from the left overs is one of my favorites, then I put the broth in quart jars and freeze it.
Put food in forget about it and have a great meal at the end of the day, what’s not to love about using the crock pot?
I also use mine year round – it’s such a time saver to roast a whole chicken and then make the broth right afterwards. Though, admittedly, I use my slow cooker less often now that I have an Instant Pot. This reduces the time it takes to make a chicken from 4-5 hours to just 40 minutes and only 2 hours for broth – and it uses far less energy to do so.
How do u cook the chicken in the instant pot? I just bought one and haven’t used it yet.
Hi Lauren,
Great question! I cook a pound of boneless, skinless chicken breasts on high pressure for 6-8 minutes then do a quick pressure release. For bone-in breasts or thighs you’d need to increase the cooking time to 10-15 minutes.
To make this recipe in the Instant Pot you’d want to combine all of the ingredients then use the ‘Poultry’ setting which is preprogrammed to cook for 15 minutes at high pressure then allow 10-15 minutes for pressure to naturally release. Release any residual steam, remove the lid then shred the chicken right in the pot! If the sauce seems too watery, press the ‘Saute’ button to cook off some of the excess moisture.
Hope that helps!
If I double the recipe (= 2 lbs boneless/skinless chicken thigh), do you recommend I add more time to the Instant Pot, or still use the Poultry setting as is? Thanks!!
Looks great! Do they reheat well?
Hi Julie!
Thanks! They do reheat well. If you’re taking them for lunch you’ll want to pack the Ranch dressing separately so you can drizzle it over the potatoes after they’ve been heated.
This recipe is a Whole30 favorite of mine! Instead of making my own ranch, I use Tessemae’s Whole30 approved ranch. It’s so easy to make and super delicious. My husband even likes it which is a huge compliment. This will be added to my recipe rotation for sure.
Hey Alexandra,
We’re so happy to hear that a) the hubby liked it and b) that you’re adding it to your regular rotation – now THAT’S a huge compliment!
Using Tessamae’s Ranch is a great idea for saving time – Primal Kitchen also has a Ranch dressing that’s also Whole30-approved and uses avocado oil rather than sunflower oil.
Thanks again for sharing your recipe success!!