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This simple Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Chili is perfect for game day, family dinners, and all the nights in between. Made with tomatoes, spices, hot sauce, poblano peppers, and shredded chicken. It’s spicy, creamy, and so delicious. Top each bowl of chili with plenty of cheddar cheese, fresh cilantro, and avocado. We love to add tortilla chips on the side. Delicious!
We have a new favorite chili recipe! This has been a winter for experimenting with chili. In the last few months, I’ve shared a queso chicken chili and a beef chili and we’ve been loving them both!
We’ve had a snowy start to the year, and temperatures have been COLD. I’ve been really leaning into the coziness of the season with more crockpot recipes or braised dishes. They’re always so easy and turn out delicious!
But now that the Super Bowl is around the corner, I’ve shifted my focus to dishes with the big game in mind. It’s so fun!!
A buffalo chicken chili sounds different, but you have to trust me; this is one of our favorite recipes right now.
Traditionally, buffalo chicken requires you to bread your chicken tenders, bake or fry the chicken, and then toss it up in sauce. Delicious, of course, but sometimes this is more work than we want, especially during the week.
But buffalo chili? It’s easy! Simply mix all the ingredients together and slow-cook. You can use the crockpot or make the chili on the stove. Easy enough for everyone!
These are the details
Step 1: mix the chili base ingredients
For this chili, you’ll need chicken breasts or thighs (I like a mix), hot sauce (we love Franks), then a mix of seasonings, garlic powder, smoked paprika, and chipotle chili powder.
For produce, you’ll need a can of fired roasted diced tomatoes, an onion, a couple of poblano peppers, jalapeños, and celery.
I like to use bone broth in place of regular broth for added protein. Then add a few tablespoons of butter.
Step 2: cook the chili
For the crockpot, mix everything listed in step 1, then cover and slow-cook either on low or high.
For the stove, mix all the ingredients and simmer for 15 minutes until the chicken is cooked and shreds easily.
Completely no fuss.
Step 3: finish the chili
Once the chili has finished cooking, shred the chicken. It should be falling apart.
Now mix in plain Greek yogurt and melted cream cheese. I love to use yogurt as a higher protein option! The yogurt helps to cut down and tame the heat of the chili. Mix until the chili is a little creamy.
Finish it with cilantro.
Step 4: the toppings
The best part of any chili recipe? The toppings, of course!!
My must-haves for this chili are plain Greek yogurt, cheddar cheese, extra cilantro, and green onions. Oh, and I like to add an extra spoonful of buffalo sauce! So yummy!
Instead of crackers or bread, tortilla chips are the way to go here! I bake my own with corn tortillas and olive oil. I use the chips to scoop the chili. It’s so delicious and a great recipe for the Super Bowl, too!
As with most chili recipes, the leftovers are even better. The more time the chili has to sit, the more flavor it develops!
I served this to my family last week and everyone certainly enjoyed it!!
My only tip is to make sure to adjust the recipe heat to your liking by using more or less hot sauce!
Looking for other dinners with a little kick? Here are a few ideas:
Crockpot Spicy Queso Beef Chili
Healthy Slow Cooker Turkey and White Bean Chili
Healthy Slow Cooker Chipotle Bean Chili
One Skillet Saucy Chicken Tortilla Enchilada Rice Bake
Healthy Chipotle Chicken Sweet Potato Skins
Slow Cooker Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Soup with Salty Lime Chips
Crockpot Chipotle Queso Chicken Chili
Lastly, if you make this Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Chili be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. If you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Chili
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 289 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs
- 1/2 cup hot sauce
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder, use to your taste
- 1 can (28 ounce) fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 2 poblano peppers, seeded and chopped
- 1 jalapeño pepper, chopped, and seeded if desired
- 3/4 cup chopped celery
- 2-4 cups bone or chicken broth
- 4 tablespoons salted butter
- salt and black pepper
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt or cream cheese, melted
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- avocado, cheddar cheese, and Greek yogurt, for serving
Instructions
crockpot
- 1. In the bowl of your crockpot, combine the onion, chicken, hot sauce, garlic powder, paprika, chipotle chili powder, diced tomatoes, poblano peppers, jalapeños and celery. Stir in 2 cups broth. Add the butter slices. Season with salt and pepper.2. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or high for 3-4 hours.3. Shred the chicken using two forks. Stir in the cream cheese/yogurt, and cilantro.4. Ladle the chili into bowls. Top, as desired with Greek yogurt, cheese, avocado, cilantro, and green onions. We add extra buffalo sauce and tortilla chips too! Eat and enjoy!
Stove
- 1. In a large Dutch oven, combine the onion, chicken, hot sauce, garlic powder, paprika, chipotle chili powder, diced tomatoes, poblano peppers, jalapeños and celery. Stir in 2 cups broth. Add the butter slices. Season with salt and pepper.2. Set over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook on low for 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.3. Shred the chicken using two forks. Stir in the cream cheese/yogurt, and cilantro. Simmer over low heat, adding broth as needed until ready to serve4. Ladle the chili into bowls. Top as desired with Greek yogurt, cheese, avocado, cilantro, and green onions. We add extra buffalo sauce and tortilla chips too! Eat and enjoy!
This was amazing and simple. A lot of chopping, but all worth it. Such great flavors and a keeper! Thank you, Tieghan!
Hi Sandi,
Happy Sunday!! Thanks for your comment and making this recipe, love to hear it was a hit! xT
Hey, Tieghan –
Just added in my cream cheese and yogurt (extra creaminess!)
Have a big Super Bowl party tomorrow, so letting this sit overnight.
Tasted and smells SO GOOD!
Thank you!
Hi David,
Thanks so much for making this recipe!! I hope everyone loves it today! xT
Yum! This is so good and as so many others have said – I’m glad we have leftovers! I ended up using ground chicken only because in my brain chili = ground meat though I know that’s not always the case with chicken chili but it sounded good. I just browned the meat with the veggies before I added in the broth and all the rest and it turned out amazing! It’s definitely spicy which is great for us since we love spicy and it has so many great flavors. I make traditional chili all the time but this has a completely different flavor and look forward to making it again, maybe doing the shredded chicken.
Hey Rita,
Wonderful!! I appreciate you trying this recipe and sharing your feedback! So glad it was enjoyed:) xT
I am a HUGE fan of your white chicken chili recipe and my family requests that I make it very often! I love buffalo chicken so was so excited to try this! Very similar to the white chicken chili recipe with the addition of buffalo sauce and tomatoes. I personally love that it has “soupiness” to it. So delicious! Will be eating leftovers all week and plan to make it for my family on Super Bowl Sunday! May throw in some of your beer bread with it 🙂
Hey Nora,
Thanks for making the white chicken chili so often:) So glad to hear your family enjoyed this one as well! Beer bread is great to go with this:) xT
Making this today for the SB! Realized there are no beans in this chili! Gonna throw in a can of cannellini or black beans for some added bulk.
Perfect!! I hope you love this recipe! xx
I made this chili tonight, but I altered the recipe a bit. I cut the hot sauce to 1/3 cup, omitted the jalapeño pepper, added a can of black beans, and 1 cup of frozen street corn. It was just the right heat for us. I might add more cream cheese to the remaining portion for tomorrow’s dinner.
Thank you for a new twist on chili! 😊
Hey Laura,
Perfect!! Thanks for giving the chili a try and sharing what worked well for you, so glad it was a hit! xT
I made the Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Chili for dinner tonight! It was so good and liked the heat! I will definitely be making this one again. Served with pan grilled sourdough….thanks for a great recipe Tieghan!
Hi Sue,
Happy Monday!! Thanks a lot for trying this recipe out and your feedback! Love to hear it turned out well! xT
SO good!!! 3 generations enjoyed and excited to have leftovers! Easy to make too- bonus!
Hey Sophia,
Happy Monday!! Thanks a lot for trying this recipe out and your feedback! Love to hear it turned out well! xT
Wonderful flavor! Perfect for a cold, snowy day. This will be great on a baked potato.
Hey Linda,
Awesome!! Thanks for trying this chili:) I am so glad it turned out well for you! Love the idea of putting it over a baked potato! xT
Hi, my Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Chili has been cooked on low for 6 hours and shredded.Smells amazing but has the consistency of soup and not chili. added the yogurt and cream cheese but still is soupy. I was thinking of taking some of the liquid and using it to make Spanish rice and serving the chili over that. Only used the two cup go broth so not sure why it is so soup like. Any ideas would be helpful. thanks.
Ellyn- I frequently make a wonderful turkey (or chicken) tortilla soup recipe from Cafe Sucre Farine that includes six diced corn tortillas that dissolve into the soup and make a much thicker broth. I just added four to my pot that is cooking now because I, too, would prefer it to be less soupy. If that is not enough, I will add the additional two. Hope this helps.
Hi Ellyn,
Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try!! Chicken chili is never as thick as a classic chili, it’s really not meant to be:) But serving over rice sounds like a great idea! xT
Superb. Made it tonight. Missed the timeline to put in crockpot so made on the stovetop. Safely halfed the pepper amounts for our whimp level. It was perfect. Put a base of refried beans in the tortilla dip chips with this soup on top as we ate them. It was more soup but we were okay with that. So excited to have plenty leftovers. Highly recommend this recipe.
Hi JoJo,
Happy Sunday!! Thanks a lot for trying this recipe and your comment, love to hear that it turned out well for you! xT
do you use franks hot sauce or buffalo sauce?
Hi Kristen,
For this recipe, I used Frank’s:) Please let me know if you have any other questions, I hope you love this recipe! xT
Made this tonight and we did enjoy after some adjusting. I personally added 1-sweet potato, a sm. can of corn and potato flakes to thicken to our liking. I used Cholula instead of Frank’s and the only fire roasted tomatoes at my store were with green chillies added. I roasted the Poblanos and tasted a small piece…very hot! Decided NOT TO add the poblano and jalapeño which was a good call. Even added 1T. brown sugar to cut the heat a bit.
Turned out fantastic! Hope to duplicate again using the same ingredients…lol
Might try with Frank’s for more of a Buffalo taste, but we did enjoy the Cholula though this time.
Served with cheese chrisps which was a nice added texture!
Hope you find this helpful!
Hey there,
Thanks so much for sharing your feedback! Love to hear that this dish turned out well for you and I appreciate you making it:) xT
Greetings from the UK and thank you for yet another fabulous recipe 👏👏👏 we don’t have fire roasted Canned tomatoes here in the UK. I personally have never seen them… what do you suggest Passatta or regular canned chopped tomatoes with maybe added smoked paprika?!?! Sadly, I have never tasted fire roasted tomatoes so I don’t really know what flavour bomb I’m searching for!! my smoked paprika substitution suggestion may well be not what you would recommend.
Thanks.
I would use the cans of chopped tomato in place of the fire roasted and not adjust the seasoning.
Hi Nina,
Thanks so much!! You could use a can of regular diced tomatoes, that will work well for you:) If you wanted to make your own you could roast tomatoes in the oven and then dice them. I hope this helps! xT
Is it truly 15 minutes for the chili to cook on the stove top to be done?
Hi Anne,
Yes, that is correct:) Please let me know if you have any other questions! xx
Did I read the recipe right? Cook on stove for only 15 minutes? What about in the instaPot?
Hi Woody,
Yes, that is correct:) You could do the instant pot for 8 minutes on high pressure. Let me know if you give the recipe a try! xT
I hope to make this chili soon . I have all the ingredients on hand except for the poblano.
I will halve the recipe and possibly substitute sweet bell pepper or cannd Hatch chiliesfor the poblano. I’ve read through your recipe twice, but could not find “buffalo SAUCE” in the list of ingredients. I searched part of your recipe file and couldn’t find it there. I’ve made buffalo chicken dip using liquid ranch dressing, which has some of the same ingredients. Please help!
Buffalo sauce is just hot sauce plus butter. I think you can buy premixed “buffalo sauce” at the store if you prefer, or you can just mix hot sauce and butter together which is what she did here. Hope that helps!
Thanks Deb:)
Deb – Store bought sauce (most often times) is not made with REAL butter, it’s made with fake, nasty ingredients. Homemade is mush tastier and healthier!
Hi Barbara,
Thanks so much! I used Frank’s Red Hot Sauce for this recipe, which makes the buffalo sauce here in step 1:) You can use your favorite hot sauce. I hope this makes more sense:) Please let me know if you have any other questions! xT
Well, shoot! Mine is cooking now- I chose Frank’s Buffalo Sauce thinking that was the correct one since the recipe had the word buffalo in it…….and then also added in the butter. Oh, well. Is there anything I need to add to offset my error? Thanks
That will be totally fine:) I hope it’s delish!! Thanks for making the recipe!
If you were to add beans, which ones do you think would work best with this chili?
Hey Chris,
I would probably do a white bean:) Let me know how this recipe turns out for you, I hope you love it! xx
Chili with no beans?? That’s not chili. Adding beans to this recipe
Clearly you’ve never been to Texas. Chili can have beans or not.