This buffalo chicken dip, which is made with three types of cheese, shredded chicken, and buffalo sauce, is served in a hollowed-out Italian loaf, making it perfect for sharing with friends.
When you’re craving indulgence, look no further. This buffalo chicken dip captures the classic chicken wing flavor in the richest, cheesiest way possible. Shredded chicken (yes, you can use leftovers or rotisserie) is smothered with three kinds of cheese (yes, three!), hot sauce, and mayonnaise and tucked in a loaf of Italian bread. And, just like eating wings, it’s gratifyingly messy. Revel in it.–Angie Zoobkoff
☞ Contents
Buffalo Chicken Dip
Ingredients
- One (10- to 16-ounce) loaf Italian or French bread
- One (8-ounce) package cream cheese softened
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup store-bought or homemade hot sauce or less to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 4 ounces mozzarella cheese shredded
- 4 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese shredded
- 2 cups shredded rotisserie or roasted chicken
- 3 scallions thinly sliced
- Store-bought or homemade blue cheese dressing (optional)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (191°C) or a grill to medium heat.
- Slice off the top 1/4 of the loaf of bread. Scoop out the inside of the bread, leaving a shell about 1/2 inch (12 mm) thick. Keep the top of the bread. You’ll want to save the removed bread for making panzanella, bread crumbs to sprinkle atop mac and cheese, baked fish, or spaghetti, or for incorporating into any of several other inspired uses for old bread.
- Place the bottom half of the bread, cut side up, in the center of a large piece of foil.
- In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, mayonnaise, hot sauce, and pepper. Stir until the mixture is smooth and well blended. Stir in the mozzarella, Cheddar, and chicken.
☞TESTER TIP: If your palate runs a little averse to a lot of heat, start with just half the amount of hot sauce called for in the recipe and then take a nibble and add more if desired. (Yes, it’s safe to taste it before cooking since the chicken is already completely cooked.)
- Spoon the chicken mixture into the scooped out loaf of bread. Sprinkle with the scallions. Place the bread top on the chicken mixture.
☞TESTER TIP: If you’re relying on a smallish loaf of bread, you may have some buffalo chicken filling left over. You can bake any leftover filling in a ramekin or small baking dish (or, if you’re using the grill, in a pan shaped from a couple layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil) and serve as a dip with crackers or pita chips. Or dollop it on tortilla chips, top with more cheese, and bake until golden.
- Fold the foil over the loaf of bread and crimp the edges to make a flat package. Cook until the bread is crisp and the chicken deliciousness inside is warmed through, 25 to 30 minutes.
- Slice into portions and serve with the blue cheese dressing, if desired.
Show Nutrition
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We’d love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Recipe Testers’ Reviews
This sandwich combines the typical buffalo chicken flavors with a quick and easy prep. It’s a very rich dish and 2 pieces were more than plenty for a meal. It paired well with celery and carrot sticks on the side along with some chips.
I used a couple 10-ounce loaves of bread. (There was plenty of chicken mixture to fill both loaves.) I cut each loaf into 10 pieces so it made about 10 servings.
Frank’s hot sauce was used in the recipe as well as store-prepared rotisserie chicken and Meijer’s shredded sharp Cheddar cheese.
This was messy to cut and eat. The bread was crisp and the filling soft so when I cut it, using a serrated knife, the filling oozed out. It was suggested by one of my taste testers that it would be nice to try using crisp dinner rolls or Hawaiian rolls to make individual sandwiches—no cutting necessary.
Originally published June 12, 2020
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If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We'd love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Greg Crawford
As the intro says, this is a very rich recipe, but it’s also very flavorful and delicious. It nails the buffalo chicken flavor, and with the blue cheese dressing (I would encourage everyone to make the dressing included—it’s tops!), it would almost make you think you’re eating wings!
The recipe is super easy to pull together and the fact that you can dial up (or down) the heat level is a plus. I really liked the fact that I could use a rotisserie chicken.
The crunch comes from the bread. But calling it a sandwich is a stretch, even as I was able to cut it into slices, there was no eating it without a fork and knife. I can see how this recipe would work as an appetizer but you’d have to figure out how to serve it.
I was unable to find a 16-oz loaf of bread and had to settle for 10, so I had some of the buffalo chicken stuffing left over. A couple nights later we popped the stuffing on nachos, added a little more cheese on top, and baked it for 10 minutes for an easy and fun dinner. The nachos are really good with fresh guacamole, believe it or not.
We used Frank’s Hot Sauce and Cabot New York Extra Sharp Cheddar.