Slow Cooker Chicken with Buffalo Celery Sauce
What pairs best with buffalo sauce? Celery and blue cheese, of course. My Slow Cooker Chicken with Buffalo Celery Sauce brings this classic trio together, along with a drizzle of homemade blue cheese dressing to cool the heat.
Just a few simple ingredients in the crock pot, pair it with your favorite side dish, and an easy dinner’s done!
Table of contents
Slow cooker buffalo chicken recipe ingredients
- Celery
- Butter
- Buffalo hot sauce
- Chicken breast
- Blue cheese
- Blue cheese dressing
Cooking Raw Chicken in a Slow Cooker with Sauce
You can put raw chicken straight into a slow cooker with sauce. In fact, that’s one of the easiest slow cooker methods. The chicken cooks gently in the sauce, staying moist while soaking up the flavor.
Just make sure to:
- Cook on low for 3–4 hours or on high for 2–3 hours, until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165°F (74°C). The exact time will vary depending on the thickness of your chicken pieces and whether they’re bone-in. Remember, time is just a guide—temperature is the most important factor for food safety. More on this in the recipe.
- Avoid lifting the lid too often—this slows down cooking.
- If the sauce is too thin at the end, remove the lid for the last 20–30 minutes or thicken it with a cornstarch slurry.
Best chicken for slow cooker buffalo chicken
This comes down to personal preference. Just note that boneless chicken breasts cook much faster than bone-in pieces or chicken thighs. I prefer thinner, skinless chicken breasts since they cook more quickly.
More buffalo chicken recipes
Good old American buffalo sauce—with its milder, less spicy flavor compared to other hot sauces—is most famously served with Buffalo wings. It’s also a favorite drizzled over pizza or stirred into buffalo chicken dip. In the slow cooker, it doubles as the easiest cooking sauce, marinating the chicken as it cooks and infusing it with that distinct tangy flavor and just the right amount of heat.
If you’re a fan of buffalo sauce, you know what I’m talking about. I love using it as a marinade for my Rosemary Chicken Skewers, mixing it into and topping Buffalo Burgers with Celery Slaw, and—what inspired this recipe—my Warm Buffalo Chicken Salad. All pictured above.
Serving slow cooker buffalo chicken
My Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing Recipe is a classic pairing—it’s creamy, tangy, tastes amazing, plus, it mellows the heat of the buffalo sauce. Not a blue cheese fan? Ranch dressing works just as well. Sometimes I even mix the two together for an irresistible dip.
Shredded buffalo chicken
I often let the chicken cook a little longer in the slow cooker until it you can easily pull apart with a fork. You can shred chicken right in the sauce. It’s delicious tucked into quesadillas or rolled up in taquitos. You can also pile it onto sandwiches, stuff it into baked potatoes, spoon it over nachos, wrap it in lettuce cups, or serve it in tacos with a crunchy slaw on top.
Leftover buffalo chicken
Storage of leftovers should be placed in a well sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. To reheat, you can warm slowly in the slow cooker. Pour over leftover celery buffalo sauce, or in a pan over medium heat. Microwave could make the chicken tough.
Give your leftovers new life by turning them into sandwiches topped with caramelized onions on a toasted bun, sliders for game day, shredded over rice bowls, wrapped in a flour tortilla, or for a low-carb option, tucked into crisp lettuce wraps.
Try the leftovers in sandwiches topped with Caramelized Onions on a toasted bun, sliders, rice bowls, wrapped in a flour tortilla, or for a low-carb option, lettuce wraps.
If you’ve made my Slow Cooker Chicken with Buffalo Celery Sauce, please leave a star rating in the recipe card. You can also leave a comment or ask a question below.
Slow Cooker Chicken with Buffalo Celery Sauce
Video
Ingredients
- 2 cups (240 grams) celery, chopped
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 cups buffalo sauce
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- Blue cheese crumbles
- Blue cheese dressing
Instructions
- To a large frying pan/skillet add the butter over medium-low heat. When the butter is melted (do not allow the butter to brown) add the celery. Cook, stirring often for about 5 minutes to slightly soften the celery. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Turn your slow cooker to low (low cooks the chicken more slowly and makes it more tender), add the buffalo sauce and celery. Add the chicken mix in the sauce just so they are slightly submerged (you only need a little sauce covering them).
- Cooking time will vary depending on the thickness of your chicken breasts. Thinner pieces may take 2–3 hours on low, while thicker ones need closer to 3–4 hours. If using bone-in chicken, plan on about 4 hours on low or 2 hours on high. To be safe, always check with a meat thermometer—the thickest part of the chicken should reach at least 165°F (74°C). I prefer cooking on low for tender, juicy results, but remember: it’s not about the clock, it’s about the temperature.
- While the chicken cooks, make the blue cheese dressing.
- When the chicken is done taste for salt. I do not add any personally since the blue cheese is salty, but you can add it to your taste. Serve topped with the buffalo celery sauce, a sprinkle of blue cheese crumbles and the dressing to cool the palate.