This Healthy Buffalo Chicken Dip Recipe is a lighter version of everyone’s favorite game day appetizer, but you’d never know it was good for you! It’s packed with protein, buffalo wing flavor, and cheesy goodness in every delicious bite!
Confession: I had my husband draft my fantasy football team this year.
I know. I am so ashamed.
I mean, we weren’t having our usual ladies draft party for our league, Not Your Husband’s Fantasy, and when the time came to participate remotely or fall asleep watching a movie, I decided to choose the movie. 🤷♀️
It was at this point I realized I was in it for two things: 1. Hanging with the girls, and 2. The snacks.
But if we were having a draft party, I would totally have brought this Healthy Buffalo Chicken Dip or it’s vegetarian counterpart, Buffalo Cauliflower Dip, or perhaps even both because football season is a time to eat everything Buffalo.
I’ve shared versions of this dip in other very popular Buffalo Chicken Recipes on the site, namely my Heathy Buffalo Chicken Dip Stuffed Peppers [Instant Pot | Air Fryer | Oven] and my Healthy Buffalo Chicken Taquitos [Instant Pot | Air Fryer]. But never just the dip by itself…until now!
Why I love this dip
- This healthy buffalo chicken dip tastes just as good as traditional buffalo chicken dip, so your guests will never know the difference!
- It’s one of our favorite appetizers for a special occasion, holiday, game day or super bowl Sunday, but also works as a meal prep lunch or dinner.
- With most of the main ingredients being protein, it’s a great option for a filling snack, too.
Helpful Equipment
Buy Now →
Buy Now →
Buy Now →
Ingredients
For the chicken:
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken tenderloins or chicken breasts – You can sub already cooked chicken rotisserie chicken if you have it!
- Chicken broth – Low sodium is a great option if you are concerned about sodium intake
- Salt – Himalayan or sea salt are good options.
- Garlic powder – Gives a great flavor to the dip.
- Olive oil spray – Feel free to use avocado oil spray or whichever cooking oil spray you have on hand.
For the dip:
- Plain 2% or nonfat Greek yogurt (I love Fage brand) and Small curd cottage cheese (I love Friendship whipped brand) – This combination takes the place of full-fat cream cheese to give this dip it’s creamy texture, but with way more nutritional value.
- Blue cheese crumbles – If you hate blue cheese, you can easily sub this for mozzarella cheese, feta, or even more cheddar cheese.
- Sharp cheddar cheese – You can buy already shredded cheese in a pinch, but I love to shred my own from a block of cheese. It’s more budget friendly and also makes for a creamier dip.
- Green onions – For garnish, so they’re optional, but pretty.
- Hot sauce – You want hot sauce, not buffalo sauce, for this. I use Frank’s red hot sauce, but other brands, including store brands, also work great.
For dipping:
- We love dipping gluten free tortilla chips and crackers, celery sticks, carrot sticks, mini bell peppers, and really any dip-able veggie!
How to Make Healthy Buffalo Chicken Dip
The first thing you need to do is cook up some shredded chicken breast. I use my Instant Pot to pressure cook and shred my chicken right in the pot. My go-to cooktime for chicken tenderloins and chicken breasts is 15 minutes of cooktime, with a 10 minute natural pressure release.
I love doing this in advance, too, because then this recipe comes together even quicker. If you don’t have an Instant Pot, you can prep your chicken in the oven, on the grill, in the crock pot, or even use rotisserie chicken. Whatever you want!
Tip: Use your hand mixer to shred your chicken super quickly! I like my chicken extra shredded for dips!
Next, in a medium bowl or right in a medium sized baking dish, mix the greek yogurt, cottage cheese, hot sauce, and cheeses together. Then, combine chicken with the creamy ingredients and mix well.
For the finishing touch – top with some extra cheese and get it all sorts of melty and warm in the oven! You can even broil it for a minute or two at the end!
Recipe FAQs
There is always the great blue cheese debate whenever I post a recipe like this!! But, have no fear, you can swap it with additional cheddar, goat cheese, feta, Monterey jack, pepper jack or even mozzarella in it’s place and you are all good! Basically, anything cheesy goes!
Guys, I promise you will NOT taste the cottage cheese – it just makes this dip nice and creamy without the cream cheese. This is a little trick I learned from my friend Stephanie from the Foodie and the Fix back when she posted this healthy spinach artichoke dip! If you really wanted a sub, I would use ricotta in place of the cottage cheese!
This healthy Buffalo Chicken Recipe is so good, I could literally eat it with a spoon…BUT I also love it with:
Homemade or store bought tortilla chips or crackers
Carrots and celery
Bell peppers or mini bell peppers
On top of cucumber slices
Pretzel thins
Yes! Such a good shortcut!
Meal Prep + Storage
To prep ahead: This is a great meal prep appetizer, snack, or main because you can prep the chicken or the whole dip ahead of time and store in an air tight container for 2-3 days before enjoying.
To Store: Store this delicious dip in an air tight container for up to 3 days.
To Freeze: Some of my readers have successfully frozen servings of this dip, which I think is an awesome idea! I would use my Souper Cubes to freeze it in smaller portion sizes, but any freezer safe container will work.
To Reheat: This dip heats up wonderfully in a 350 oven or in the microwave for a few minutes.
More Healthy Appetizers for your Super Bowl Party
Mini Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Pepper Nachos
Enchilada Beef Dip | Stove Top | Instant Pot
Copycat Philly Crab Fries with Cheese Sauce
Healthy Instant Pot Airfryer Chicken Taquitos
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating & a review in the comments section! We love hearing from you!
Healthy Buffalo Chicken Dip
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless skinless breast tenderloins or about 2 cups of shredded cooked chicken breast
- 1 cup chicken broth or water
- Salt
- black pepper
- garlic powder
- Olive oil spray
- ⅔ cup 2% plain Greek yogurt I love Fage brand
- ⅓ cup small curd cottage cheese I love Friendship whipped brand, drained of excess water (I use a small mesh strainer)
- 1/3 cup hot sauce
- 1/3 cup blue cheese
- 1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese can double if desired – just increase the blue
- Garnish – green onion
Instructions
For the Chicken
- If your chicken is raw, prep this first. Sprinkle chicken with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Then follow your preferred cooking method below.
- Instant Pot – add 1 cup of broth or water and your raw chicken breast. Pressure cook for 15 minutes (20 if using frozen chicken) and do a full natural release. Drain well and shred using two forks or your hand mixer.
- Oven- Cook chicken breast at 350°F for 30 minutes. Let cool and dice.
- Stovetop – Cover chicken with broth or water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Then remove from heat and cover for 20 minutes. Drain and shred using two forks or your hand mixer.
- Crockpot – Add chicken broth or water and chicken to the pot. Cook for 4 hours on high, then drain and shred using two forks or your hand mixer.
For the Dip
Oven:
- Preheat oven to 450° F.
- Mix Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, hot sauce, blue cheese, and 2 Tbsp of cheddar cheese in an oven safe bowl or dish, then fold in chicken. Top dip with the remaining cheddar cheese.
- Place the bowl or dish in the oven and allow the cheese to brown and bubble before removing, broiling at the end, if desired.
- Garnish with green onion and enjoy with veggie dippers, crackers, pretzels, or tortilla chips!
CrispLid or Ninja Foodi:
- Mix Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, hot sauce, blue cheese, and 2 Tbsp of cheddar cheese in an IP safe bowl or dish, then fold in chicken. Top dip with the remaining cheddar cheese.
- If you used your IP to make chicken, wipe out the inner liner of the Instant Pot or Ninja Foodi and place the bowl in the IP with the Crisp Lid cover and bake at 450°F. Allow cheese to brown and bubble before removing, about 5-7 minutes.
- Garnish with green onion and enjoy with veggie dippers, crackers, pretzels, or tortilla chips!
Crock Pot:
- Mix Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, hot sauce, blue cheese, and 2 Tbsp of cheddar cheese in a bowl (or right in your crock pot if you want), then fold in chicken.
- Add the mixture to your slow cooker and top dip with the remaining cheddar cheese. Let it get hot and melty for 2 hours on high.
- Reduce to warm if you are going to serve directly from your crock.
- Garnish with green onion and enjoy with veggie dippers, crackers, pretzels, or tortilla chips!
Niki says
Can I used canned chicken in this instead?
Nancylynn says
Yes!
Shannon says
Why do you need to use hot sauce and not buffalo sauce for this recipe?
Nancylynn says
Hi! Good question- buffalo sauce tends to have ingredients that are not Fix approved, but hot sauce is. If you are not following the 21 Day Fix, you are welcome to use buffalo sauce!🙂
Robin says
Hi Nancylynn! My family of 7 loves so many of your healthy recipes, but sadly I just can’t get my kids on board with the buffalo chicken flavors 🙁 As such, I usually only get a chance to make this recipe for game day or as a special treat for myself to enjoy all week when my hubby is traveling. This has been a crazy week and so I was trying to come up with a quick “pop my portion in the microwave” meal, so I used this dip as the base for a casserole and, MY WORD, it was so good! I added 2 C. cooked quinoa, 2 C. roasted chopped broccoli, and 1 C. each of finely grated carrots and diced bell pepper, mixed them together, and baked as directed. I loved this dip before with peppers and celery sticks, but now I’ll be using it to make this casserole again. Thanks so much for the inspiration.
Nancylynn says
Oh wow, great idea! Thank you so much for sharing, and glad you loved it!
BK says
Hi NL! I made this recipe two times using rotisserie chicken & the wet ingredients as described. The recipe came out a little wet. Any idea what might be causing it and ways to reduce it? The flavor is very good and I appreciate the nutritional value being “affordable” to eat when on a calorie budget! Thank you for sharing this recipe. It made it possible for me to indulge on a favorite dish without guilt.
Nancylynn says
Hi! I am glad you like the recipe! I think if it is watery, it may be the brand of yogurt and cottage cheese that you are using. I love how thick Fage Greek Yogurt is, and my favorite brand of cottage cheese is Friendship. You could also “strain” both the yogurt and the cottage cheese a little before mixing – that will also help!
Melissa says
I love all your buffalo chicken recipes. If we aren’t a fan of bleu cheese, is there an alternative you would recommend or should we just leave it out? Thanks!
Rhonda says
This was delicious as a dip and as the taquitos!
Nancylynn says
YAY! Thank you for the feedback!