Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken
48 CommentsUpdated Nov 11, 2025
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Skip the wings and make a big batch of shredded Crockpot Buffalo chicken — perfect for sandwiches, wraps, or sliders. Perfect for parties, tailgates, or any time you’re craving bold, saucy flavor.
Featured Comment
So delicious, my family loves this recipe, even the kids love it! I have mine in lettuce cups with a few blue cheese crumbles. The others are theirs in a bowl and added a variety of toppings like cheddar cheese, ranch dressing, and my daughter added cream cheese and mixed it up like a dip and ate it with a few tortilla chips. Very versatile and a hit!
– Christina
This Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken is a staple in our house, and I’ve got the perfect version for you. You cook the chicken in the spicy sauce and simply shred it to serve when you get home. It has plenty of heat, but adding cool ranch dressing will mellow it out.
Key Ingredients
Chicken – Boneless chicken breasts shred up best for this dip.
Ranch Dressing Mix – Use either the salad dressing or dip packet — both work the same. This is not liquid ranch dressing.
Frank’s Red Hot Sauce -Look for the original sauce, not the premade Buffalo wing sauce, since we’re adding butter and seasonings ourselves. It’s about a medium heat level — around a 7 out of 10.
Butter – I use an entire stick of salted butter in this recipe. Why? Adding butter softens the spiciness of the hot sauce; this is what restaurants do when they make buffalo wings.
How to Make Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken
- Add all the main ingredients to the crock.
- Cook low and slow until the chicken shreds easily. Shred and serve!
Variations
- Creamy: If you want creamy buffalo chicken, add one eight-ounce package of cream cheese at the beginning of the cooking time. The buffalo chicken is great as a dip if you add cream cheese.
- Different Cut: Any cut of chicken, such as boneless thighs, bone-in thighs, drumsticks, or breasts, can be used. Turkey can be used as well!
- Dairy Free: To make dairy free, use dairy-free butter and serve with dairy-free ranch dressing.
How to serve buffalo chicken:
- Classic: Serve this buffalo chicken on hamburger buns or slider rolls with a side of chips or crunchy carrot and celery sticks. Adding coleslaw to the sandwich gives it an extra layer of texture and flavor.
- Looking for a heartier option? Spoon it over baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, or even baked sweet potatoes for a delicious twist.
- Full Meal: Serve it over steamed white rice or toss it with cooked pasta.
- Low Carb: Enjoy it on its own with celery sticks and ranch, or pile it onto lettuce wraps or a low-carb tortilla.
How to Make into a Freezer Meal
You can make buffalo chicken into a meal-prep freezer meal! Before cooking, place the entire recipe in a freezer bag. Freeze for up to three months. When ready to cook, thaw and follow the recipe as written.
Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Recipe
How to Video
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 12 oz. Frank's Red Hot original sauce, (look for the original sauce, not the one labeled wings)
- 1 oz. ranch dressing packet, dip mix works too!
- 1/2 cup salted butter, (1 stick)
For Serving:
- hamburger buns (or slider buns), toasted
- ranch or blue cheese dressing
Instructions
- Add the chicken breasts to the slow cooker.
- Sprinkle over the ranch dressing (or dip) mix.
- Pour over the Frank's Red Hot Sauce.
- Add the cube of butter on top.
- Place the lid of the slow cooker. Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours or on high for 4 hours.
- When the cooking time is up, take two forks and shred the chicken.
- Serve over buns and top with ranch or blue cheese dressing.
Sarah’s Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
More Buffalo Recipes Recipes
We love using Frank’s Red Hot Sauce in the crockpot for recipes like Buffalo 15 Bean Soup, Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Pasta, and our game day favorite Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Dip.
If you’re craving more heat, try my Slow Cooker Buffalo Wings, Hot Chicken, or Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwiches.
We made this but used low fat kefir instead of buttermilk powder. I put it on last night and slow cooked it for 8 hours- it was absolutely delicious!
I haven’t used the recipe yet but, but I plan to soon.
QUESTION:
Do I have to add Ranch Dressing to it? Does the Ranch play a critical role in the Buffalo Chicken flavoring?
Thank you.
~ Jeremy ~
Yes, it’s pretty good component. And helps liquidfy the recipe.
i am a bit of a spicy food weenie, so i use equal parts red hot or buffalo wing sauce and already made ranch dressing. that cools it down enuf so u dont need butter. i put about 3 tablespoons butter in anyway.
(i always sear the chicken first on high heat in a frying pan for a few minutes on each side before putting it in the slow cooker. adds a nice flavor)
Nice sandwich for a group of young men!!!
This was delicious, myself husband devoured it! thank you!
Hi,
My question is if I half half of a roasted chicken can I use that instead of raw chicken? Just trying to get two meals out of one chicken lol and if I can how long should I put it in the crockpot and still same recipe you think?
You would only need an hour and a half on high most likely.
How well does it freeze after you cook it?
Buffalo chicken freezes and thaws well.
Excellent! Very easy to make, no prep work. I doubled all the ingredients, except for the Franks sauce, used ~1.5 12oz bottles, still very juicy. Served mine on a leaf of lettuce with shredded carrots & bleu cheese crumbles. Served my husband’s on a toasted brioche roll w/ shredded cheese on top. Both were excellent. Will place in our regular rotation. Looking forward to left overs tomorrow, know they’ll be even better!
Can I use the wing sauce for this? I got the wrong one
I’m sure it will still be good!
So delicious, my family loves this recipe, even the kids love it! I have mine in lettuce cups with a few blue cheese crumbles. The others are theirs in a bowl and added a variety of toppings like cheddar cheese, ranch dressing, and my daughter added cream cheese and mixed it up like a dip and ate it with a few tortilla chips. Very versatile and a hit!
Someone mentioned the recipe being too salty. You could always use unsalted butter to help a little.