Buffalo wings are a tasty treat, but sometimes you want something meatier. This Grilled Buffalo Chicken is just the thing! Full of flavor and easy to prep, you’ll have a great dish to throw on the grill.
It’s getting time to fire up the barbie! Yesterday’s temps hit the 80s here in San Diego, which means the last thing I want to do is stand by a hot stove cooking dinner. Instead, I’ve been heading out to the grill.
One of my kids’ favorite treats is the hot and spicy Buffalo wing. However, those can be hit or miss — all fat and bone, little meat. To satisfy our cravings for something a little meatier, I’ve created Grilled Buffalo Chicken. All the flavors of the hot wings with the convenience and substance of a grilled chicken breast.
This is the perfect recipe to work into this year’s grilling repertoire. It comes together quickly – in less than 30 minutes! — and tastes great. The chicken is delicious as the main protein, tossed onto salads, or folded into sandwiches and wraps.
Cook extra to freeze and you’ll have easy eating all spring and summer long!
Why is it called buffalo chicken?
Buffalo chicken is actually called that because it originated in Buffalo, NY. Buffalo chicken, specifically wings, were first served at Anchor Bar.
What do you need to make grilled buffalo chicken?
What makes this buffalo chicken recipe so good is that it’s first coated in a hot pepper sauce and butter, and then spices are sprinkled on top.
Here are the ingredients you need to round up from the pantry:
- Chicken breasts -Now keep in mind that your average boneless chicken breast half is HUGE. No way does one person need a half breast. (Note: a “whole chicken breast” is the pair.) To stretch my boneless, skinless chicken breast purchases, I fillet the half breasts, cutting them horizontally through the center. This makes a perfect sized portion and allows us to stretch our chicken purchases a little more.
- Hot pepper sauce
- Melted butter -Note: if you’re making this Whole 30 be sure to use ghee instead of butter.
- Garlic powder
- Smoked paprika
- Sea salt
- Cayenne pepper
How to make grilled buffalo chicken
Making this grilled buffalo chicken couldn’t be easier. It can be done in two easy steps, before throwing it on the grill.
- Place the chicken breast fillets in a medium bowl. Drizzle the hot pepper sauce and butter over the tenders. Toss to coat.
- In a small bowl, combine the garlic powder, paprika, sea salt, and cayenne pepper. Sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons of this mixture over the chicken tenders, tossing to coat. Allow flavors to blend for 15 minutes before cooking on a hot grill.
Tips for grilling chicken
- You can grill your chicken outdoors on a grill or indoors on a grill pan.
- The time it takes to grill your chicken will depend on the thickness of your chicken.
- Grill it over medium high heat, so it doesn’t dry out. Once you get the grill marks, you can move the chicken to a part of the grill where the heat is lower so the chicken continues to cook and it doesn’t dry out.
What goes with buffalo chicken?
You could, of course, serve this over a salad, like this Buffalo Chicken Salad
How I make this a good cheap eat:
- Meal plan around what’s on sale. Don’t decide to make this when chicken is $5/pound and you have none in the freezer. Next time you see chicken on sale, add this to your meal plan!
- Do a price comparison. I know that ALDI is the best place for me to buy chicken when there isn’t a great sale elsewhere. It’s normally $1.89/lb! I keep track of prices so that I know who has the best deal where.
- Buy spices in bulk. I regularly buy large containers of the spices I use most frequently, like pepper, salt, garlic powder, paprika, onion powder, and dill. I fill small containers to store in my spice cupboard and then store the excess herbs and spices in the freezer to extend their shelf life. It’s much cheaper to buy large amounts of spice this way. If you’re not sure you can use a large quantity, split it with a friend or Give Spice Mixes as Gifts.
- Stock up on ingredients when they are on sale. Buy extra chicken as well as spice ingredients and stash them away in your pantry so you can make this dish whenever you want.
Tools you might need to make this recipe easy:
This is a pretty straight-forward dish. You don’t need any fancy equipment. However, having some good basic kitchen tools can really make your time in the kitchen more enjoyable. Over time, I’ve honed my collection so that they are perfect for my needs. Here are the tools that I like to use in this recipe.
- plastic cutting boards – I have blue boards for veggies and white boards for meat.
- Ergo Chef chef’s knife – I’ve had my set for several years and they work well for trimming chicken.
- small dish or Mason jar with a lid – These are great for storing spice mixes.
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, filleted
- 1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce
- 2 tablespoons melted butter or ghee cooled
- 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Place the chicken breast fillets in a medium bowl. Drizzle the hot pepper sauce and butter over the tenders. Toss to coat.
- In a small bowl, combine the garlic powder, paprika, sea salt, and cayenne pepper. Sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons of this mixture over the chicken tenders, tossing to coat. Allow flavors to blend for 15 minutes before cooking on a hot grill.
- You can grill your chicken outdoors on a grill or indoors on a grill pan.
- The time it takes to grill your chicken will depend on the thickness of your chicken.
- Grill it over medium high heat, so it doesn't dry out. Once you get the grill marks, you can move the chicken to a part of the grill where the heat is lower so the chicken continues to cook and it doesn't dry out.
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These look so good! I’m definitely having my husband add these to the grill list. A funny side note: You mentioned hot temps necessitate using your grill. We live in Iowa and as long as there isn’t snow covering the grill, it’s grilling weather.
We grill year round as well, I just cook inside less often when it’s hot. 🙂