Buffalo Chicken Bites: A Perfect Football Game Snack

Delicious Buffalo Chicken inside a pastry crust

Last weekend I had a conversation with my brother about my blog. He recommended that I post some delicious football game day snacks.  I wanted to create something that could be eaten hot or cold and it would not make a huge mess on the couch!  I know everyone in my family loves spicy buffalo wings with blue cheese so I worked on finding a way to make them an easy finger food.  For this recipe, I made everything from scratch.  However, there are several shortcuts if you want to save time.  First, feel free to use packaged pie crust (found in the refrigerator section at the grocery store).  Second, there are plenty of delicious Blue Cheese Dressings out there and you don't have to make your own.

The key to making really excellent pie crust is the butter.  You need to use all butter to make it, let it chill for at least a hour, and roll it out on a silicone mat sprinkled lightly with flour.  I used a small biscuit cutter to make the top and bottom crust.

Buffalo Chicken Tenders--Can be eaten just like this!

The chicken should be cut from boneless breasts into long strips.  Roll them in flour/cornstarch/chili powder, then dip in egg, then back into the flour. Let the chicken rest on a rack in the refrigerator for 20 minutes until the coating is very set.  Pan fry in about one inch of canola oil until golden brown.  Once all the chicken is cooked, coat very well with buffalo sauce.  Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces, assemble the chicken and blue cheese crumbles on one dough round then top with another.  Use a fork to seal the edge.  Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.  The crust should golden brown and you should see a bit of the cheese oozing out the edges.

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Boneless Buffalo Chicken Bites

yield: ~1 dozen prep time: ~45 minutes  cook time: ~25 minutes per batch  difficulty:  a bit complicated if you make everything from scratch...easy if you don't Oven temp: 350

Ingredients:

Flour Coating

1 Lb boneless chicken breasts

2 Cups flour

1/2 cup cornstarch

1 Tbs chili powder

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Egg mix

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 tsp hot sauce

a few drops water to loosen everything

salt and pepper to taste

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Buffalo Sauce:  1 Bottle Franks Red Hot Sauce combined with 2 Tbs butter and 1/4 cup white wine.  Bring to boil and cook until thickened

Instructions:

1.  Cut chicken into strips

2.  Roll in flour mixture, dip in egg mix, roll in flour again

3.  Set all chicken on a rack and chill for 20 minutes

4.  Heat canola oil in heavy, large skillet

5.  Fry in batches until golden brown

6.  Coat with hot sauce (reserve 1/3 for dipping)

7.  Cut into bite sized pieces

Assembly:

1.  Roll out pie crust and cut out 3" rounds of dough using cookie cutter or biscuit cutter

2.  Place several chunks of chicken in the center of a dough round 

3.  Add a generous amount of blue cheese crumbles 

4.  Add a few shakes of hot sauce if desired

5. Top with another dough round and seal edges with a fork.

6.  Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

7.  Serve with Blue Cheese dressing and more of the Buffalo Sauce for dipping