Let's Cook! Superbowl Party

In honor of the recent Superbowl I present: my super easy buffalo chicken dip!

I don't know very much about football (American football for those of you not in the US) but I enjoy the halftime show and making fun food. I'm pretty sure I originally made this for a Superbowl party years ago but now I randomly make it all the time because it's so easy. Don't judge me here, I'm not a professional chef whatsoever. Most of these amounts I had to look up an estimate because I tend to eyeball it when I'm actually cooking.

I'm a mostly vegetarian eater but it's out of pickiness about texture and not loving the concept of raw meat. You'll see me making chicken breast here and there, it's the only meat I'll eat.

Onto the recipe: 5 ingredients. That's it!

• A couple of chicken breasts - 1 if they're gigantic or 2 if medium sized

• Hot sauce of choice (buffalo wing style sauce works best) - I'm a hot sauce connoisseur, but I don't like wasting my artisan hot sauce so I typically use a cheap store brand vinegar based sauce to cook and a nicer one to add to the finished dip.

• ~1/2 cup Cheese - I like part-skim mozzarella, personally. I use a small handful

• 1/2 cup Sour cream OR plain unflavored Greek yogurt (also called soured cream, or creme fraiche is basically the same)- The recipe already has a ton of protein but you could make it really crazy with Greek yogurt. This will also make it more tangy.

• 1/2 brick or ~4oz Cream cheese or Neufchatel cheese - I enjoy the Aldi neufchatel cheese. They're almost identical.

I put the chicken breasts whole in a slow cooker and cover with enough hot sauce plus a little water to cover them, and cook on medium until they're at least 165F on the inside and pull apart easily with a fork. Depending on the slow cooker device this takes 3-5 hours. You don't have to monitor it or do anything during that time which makes it very hands off. Cooking in a big pot on low heat for a few hours would also be an option.

Shred cooked chicken breast, 2 forks work pretty well for this.

Either drain most of the liquid from the chicken and add the reminder of the ingredients into the slow cooker pot, or make a separate bowl to microwave the other ingredients together until warm. Both will work. I like to add everything into one container because the heat from the chicken melts everything.

Finally, pick either the same hot sauce or a fancier one to actually flavor the dip. The chicken will be vaguely hot sauce flavored after cooking but the dip will be white and not spicy at all until you add more. I add until it's a bit red-orange in color and is the spice level I prefer. An easy to find sauce I like for this step is Frank's Red Hot Buffalo sauce.

Mix together until it looks smooth and melted. The spiciness level depends on how much hot sauce you add and what the heat level of that sauce is. If you don't like spicy, use a mild sauce.

Serve with a decently strong tortilla chip. This could be eaten as a meal if you wanted 🤣

  Folder for all February photos and videos in Dainty Daisy Part 1 - Links post from 2/27