Crunchy tortilla chips are loaded with tender chicken, drenched in a spicy buffalo ranch sauce and smothered in cheese for the ultimate game day snack. These Buffalo Chicken Nachos are easy to whip up and are sure to please your hungry crowd!
BUFFALO CHICKEN NACHOS RECIPE
Hey all! Sam back from The Culinary Compass to bring you these awesome Buffalo Chicken Nachos! I’m always a fan when football season comes around because I love to make fun appetizers for game day. This just combines two of my favorite appetizers into probably one of my new favorites!
Buffalo chicken dip is my all-time favorite for game day. In college, my friends and I would love to make big batches of it when we were studying. If we had thought to put it on nachos, it probably would’ve been made at least once a week. The melty cheese on top and the addictive heat from the buffalo sauce just make you want to eat it again and again! I mean just look at that cheese pull you guys. How can you not want that?!
HOW TO MAKE BUFFALO CHICKEN NACHOS
- Start by preheating your oven to 400 degrees. You will need a large, rimmed baking sheet, and you can cover that with foil if you like to save time with clean up.
- Heat a large saute over medium heat and add some olive oil. Once the oil is heated, add some chicken to the pan and season it with salt and pepper. Cook it until it’s no longer pink, then remove it from the pan and shred it. If you have some pre-cooked chicken on hand, use that instead. See my tips below!
- Stir the shredded chicken together with buffalo sauce and ranch dressing and let it simmer for a couple of minute to marry the flavors.
- Spread some tortilla chips evenly out onto the baking sheet and spread the chicken mixture on top. Add shredded cheese and bake until the cheese is melted.
- Garnish with sliced green onions and blue cheese crumbles.
TIPS FOR MAKING BUFFALO CHICKEN NACHOS
- The sauce definitely has a kick, even if it is toned down by the ranch dressing that it’s mixed with. If you’re serving to kids or don’t love the heat too much yourself, only use about 1/4 cup buffalo sauce and add in some cream cheese! Just don’t forget to melt it down when you combine everything for the sauce so it’s evenly incorporated.
- I don’t know about you, but I’m a big ranch dressing fan. I usually pick it over blue cheese when I order wings so that’s what I chose to add to the buffalo sauce. You get the flavors of the ranch as well as the buffalo so it’s like you’re taking a bite of a wing. If you like blue cheese more, add that instead, or add some crumbles on top. That’s what I love about these nachos – they are so easy to customize!
- To save time, consider using a rotisserie chicken! It’ll only take a few minutes to shred some of the chicken and you’ll be done preparing the nachos before the oven is finished preheating. Or, if you want to always have some pre-cooked chicken on hand, use my Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken Recipe or Instant Pot Shredded Chicken. Freeze portions and you’ll always have shredded chicken ready to go!
Looking for other great recipes for game day? Try these:
- Baked Southwestern Egg Rolls
- Roasted Jalapeño Popper Bites
- Creamy Three Cheese Bruschetta
- Loaded Chicken Nachos Recipe
- Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Nachos
And for more of that delicious Buffalo flavor you love:
- Buffalo Ranch Chicken French Bread Pizza
- Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Wings
- Buffalo Chicken Taquitos
- Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Dip
- Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Sliders
Buffalo Chicken Nachos
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb chicken breast
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup buffalo sauce
- 1/2 cup ranch dressing
- 1 bag Corn tortilla chips 10-15 ounces
- 1 cup shredded colby jack cheese
- 2-3 green onions sliced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil (optional)
- In a large saute pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add in chicken, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook until no longer pink, about 10-12 minutes. Remove from pan and shred chicken.
- Add shredded chicken back into saute pan and stir in buffalo sauce and ranch dressing. Let simmer for 1-2 minutes.
- On a baking sheet, add a layer of the corn tortilla chips. Top evenly with the shredded chicken and shredded cheese. Bake for 5-7 minutes, until cheese is melted through.
- Top with green onions and serve warm!
For all dips go HERE, for all appetizers go HERE and for the recipe index, go HERE.
If I want to add cheese sauce to it when would I add it or or would it take away the buffalo ranch flavor ?
I would try adding some buffalo sauce to the cheese sauce. That way it would compliment the other flavors rather then drown them out.
Delicious! I needed to stop myself from eating the whole pan and telling my husband to not eat more of his share because this is that good. A couple of things I did differently was to saute onions in the pan whole I baked the chicken breasts, and then mix everythjng together. Love that you can modify to different spice levels. This is a keeper and “healthier” option than fried chicken wings. Highly recommend!
Thank you Jina! Wow! Thank you for the awesome feedback.
This is our 3rd time making this. Big hit at my house. I have a large family with healthy appetites so I use 2 rotisserie chickens. Easy weeknight dinner that everyone LOVES!!!!
That’s awesome Erica! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave some positive feedback.
If you use cream cheese, do you still need to use ranch?
You don’t have to use Ranch if you don’t like it.
Making these for the second time tonight. My daughter and I just love them. Excellent flavor without being too overly hot. thank you for sharing your recipe.
You’re so welcome Cece! thank you so much for stopping by and sharing your positive feedback!!
Just made this for dinner tonight! So yummy. My hubby thought the sauce was way too spicy so next time I’ll just use 1/4 c of buffalo sauce.
Making these for the 3rd time tonight for our football get together, so I figured it was time to comment on how much we love this recipe! ☺️ HUGE hit in our house, especially with our teenager who loves anything buffalo. So easy and turns out perfect every time! Thanks for the great recipe!
Nice! thank you so much for stopping by and sharing your honest feedback Kelly.
Is there something that I can substitute ranch dressing, my husband doesn’t like it?
The Ranch is something that “cools” the buffalo sauce. You could leave it out and just top the nachos with sour cream. Or clue cheese dressing makes a good swap.
You know last time I checked a recipe includes measurements. Adding “some” chicken and cooking until it’s not pink anymore is something a kindergartner could write. Actually that’s offensive to kindergarteners because even they would understand you need measurements for a recipe.
Hey Madison, if you scroll down you’ll see the actual printable recipe. I’m assuming you just read the instructions within the post. Maybe take the time to do your research and make sure you’ve read it correctly before leaving an incredibly rude and nasty comment that is completely wrong. That’s something even my kindergartner knows how to do.
Well said Kristin… I tried your recipe last weekend loved it so much I’m making it again this weekend. Thank you so very much for sharing
Chill out Karen, I bet you are real fun at parties. As stated above, and just like every recipe on Pinterest, you have to scroll down to get the whole recipe
Madison, you are the definition of an idiot. My daughter, who is 4, is intelligent enough to know that you read the ENTIRETY of a post before remarking on it. This young woman gave a fantastic recipe and because you either aren’t competent enough to read thoroughly or new to the internet you disrespect her after offering a completely free recipe. Please accept this virtual Idiocy Award on behalf of us all. You take the cake the rude, snide idiot.
This looks insanely, incredibly good. Yummy!
Than you Maggie,
Thanks for stopping by!
This recipe is a big hit at my house. We loved it! I only used 1/4 cup buffalo sauce so it wouldn’t be so hot & it was perfect.
Love to hear that, thank you!
Tried these on the weekend and absolutely LOVED them! We added fresh jalapeno and some queso – excellent results. Still thinking about them today.
Nice Recipe