Buffalo Chicken Pizza with Ranch Dressing Base, Roasted Chicken, Hot Buffalo Sauce Swirl, Crumbled Bleu Cheese & Bacon, and Crispy Chicken Skin Cracklin's

We have really been on a pizza kick recently. And I really am not that big into pizza. I don't know why, but it's never technically been a meal that I would ever crave. But, I do know one thing, I love me some buffalo chicken pizza. And every buffalo chicken pizza up until this point was good, but this pizza I made finally did it justice. My pizza has all the traditional fixin's... ranch, bleu cheese, chicken, and buffalo sauce. However, I did decide to kick it up a notch by adding some crispy chicken skin cracklin's. I mean, what's better than some crispy chicken skin. It's like chicken bacon to me. And even though I have always loved buffalo chicken pizza, it was always missing something fried & crispy to resemble a real chicken wing. Well, my friends, these cracklin's are the answer. Sooooo amazingly good. Don't forget to garnish the pizza with some crumbled bacon and most importantly, fresh chives, which I think provide a nice herb-y component to this otherwise-decadent pizza. Obviously, you could leave off some of these ingredients to make it slightly easier to make, but trust me, don't. Just don't. We loved this pizza and it really perfectly resembles a basket o' buffalo wings at your favorite bar!! Enjoy :)

Over-the-Top Buffalo Chicken Pizza with all the Fixin's

Can you see the crispy chicken skin cracklin's? They are those gorgeous golden-brown nuggets!

A Must: Garnishing with Fresh Minced Chives

For the Roasted Chicken Breasts:

2 Chicken Breasts, Skin On & Bone In (reserve the chicken skin)

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper, To Taste

For the Crispy Chicken Skin Cracklin’s:

Reserved Chicken Skins, Partially Cooked & Dried

Vegetable Oil, For Frying

For the Buffalo Chicken Pizza:

Homemade Pizza Dough

Roasted Chicken, Cut into Cubes

Homemade Ranch Dressing

2C Sharp Yellow Cheddar Cheese, Shredded

1C Mozzarella, Shredded

Crumbled Bleu Cheese

Hot Buffalo Sauce, For Drizzling

Bacon Lardons, Cooked until Crispy

Crispy Chicken Skin Cracklin’s, Roughly Chopped

Fresh Chives, For Garnishing

Directions:

1. For the Roasted Chicken Breasts: Wash and dry the chickens breasts and toss them in the olive oil and salt & pepper. Roast the chicken breasts in a pan in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Once they have cooled, remove the skin and press the skins between paper towels to dry them and remove excess moisture. Set these aside until you are ready to cook them.  Roughly cut the roasted chicken into cubes, and then set it aside.
2. For the Crispy Chicken Skin Cracklin’s: Heat some vegetable oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add in the pressed, dried chicken skins and cook until they are golden brown and crispy, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels. Roughly chop the cracklin’s and set them aside.
3. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees and roll out half of the pizza dough as thinly as possible and place onto a large baking sheet (the other half can be used for another pizza).
4. Making the Pizza: Spread the homemade ranch dressing generously across the dough. Scatter the yellow cheddar on top of the ranch, and then sprinkle the top with the roasted chicken pieces. Lay the mozzarella on top of the chicken. Continue to layer on the crumbled bleu cheese and bacon lardons. Bake the pizza for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbly. Remove from the oven and immediately garnish the pizza with a buffalo sauce drizzle, chicken cracklin’s, and fresh chives. Cut into squares or slices and serve immediately.

Buffalo Bleu Cheese Fritters

Buffalo wings are the quintessential football food. And now, there are a million ways you can turn that classic finger food into many other dishes. Some of my favorite variations are Buffalo Chicken Chips, Buffalo Chicken Mac n' Cheese, World Famous Buffalo Chicken Dip, and Buffalo Chicken Bombs. I knew that for the Super Bowl, I had to have that buffalo flavor in some way. I finally decided that I wanted to take the idea of mozzarella sticks and fuse it with buffalo wings. All I did was roll creamy bleu cheese into small balls, bread them in panko, and fry them until the outside was golden brown & crispy and the center was ooey gooey. Once you fry them up, quickly and gently toss them in your favorite buffalo sauce until completely coated. I personally would serve these fritters on top of a carrot-celery slaw with a side of homemade ranch for dipping. I think this recipe would also be great with goat cheese!! Enjoy :)

Buffalo Bleu Cheese Fritters

For the Buffalo Bleu Cheese Fritters:

8oz Bleu Cheese, Rolled into Balls & Frozen

½C AP Flour

1 Egg, Beaten

¼C Buttermilk

1C Panko Breadcrumbs

Oil, For Frying

Salt, For Sprinkling

Buffalo Wing Sauce, For Coating

Homemade Ranch Dressing, For Dipping

Directions:

1. Roll your favorite bleu cheese into golf ball sized balls until nicely compacted. Place them onto a plate and freeze the cheese for roughly an hour. This will help keep the cheese from melting when you deep-fry them.
2. Preheat your oil in a deep fryer to 350 degrees.
3. Breading the Bleu Cheese: Set up a battering station. I use 3 pie tins. For the first station, I mix the flour. For the second station, I whisk together the eggs and milk. For the third station, use the Panko breadcrumbs. Now, place the balls of chilled bleu cheese into the flour mixture, then into the egg wash, and finally the panko (making sure they are completely covered). Put them on a tin foil-lined baking sheet with a cooling rack on top, and then put the pan into the refrigerator and let the balls rest for about 15-30 minutes.
4. Fry the bleu cheese balls, in small batches, in the hot oil for roughly 1-2 minutes each or until they are golden brown & crispy (make sure not to cook them too long because then the cheese will leak out). Drain the bleu cheese fritters onto a paper towel lined plate to drain the excess oil and sprinkle with salt. Once they have cooled slightly, toss the fritters gently in your favorite buffalo sauce until completely coated.
5. Serve the Buffalo Bleu Cheese Fritters on a bed of carrot-celery slaw with homemade ranch dressing for dipping. 

Buffalo Chicken Chips

I think that Buffalo Chicken Wings are the most popular game day snacks. And now you can turn this classic into just about anything. I love making My World Famous Buffalo Chicken Dip. It's just the best ever. So instead of whipping up that recipe, I decided to put my twist on nachos & bleu cheese chips that are also popular bar snacks. I used a huge bag of Cape Cod Potato Chips, instead of tortilla chips, and topped them with a thick layer of shredded buffalo wing cheese (you can also substitute sharp cheddar cheese), buffalo chicken, hot buffalo sauce, crumbled blue cheese, crispy bacon, ranch dressing drizzle, and fresh chopped chives. You can make these chips as spicy as you want, and we like it spicy so theres always a little extra hot sauce on the side. This appetizer is super easy too because you just layer the chips in a baking dish and throw it in the oven when you're ready to eat! Enjoy :)

Buffalo Chicken Chips

For the Chips:

1 Large Bag of Cape Cod Original Potato Chips

2C Buffalo Wing Cheese, Shredded (or you can substitute sharp cheddar cheese)

1C Blue Cheese, Crumbled

1 Warm Rotisserie Chicken, Shredded

1C Buffalo Wing Sauce

8 Slices of Bacon, Cut into Cubes & Fried until Crispy

Ranch Dressing, For Drizzling

Fresh Chopped Chives, For Garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and spray a baking dish with Pam. Spread the cape cod chips into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the shredded buffalo wing cheese on top of the chips. In a small mixing bowl, mix together the shredded chicken and buffalo sauce until combined, and then layer the buffalo chicken on top of the cheese. Sprinkle the blue cheese and crispy bacon on top of the chicken in an even layer.
2. Bake the chips in the oven for 20-30 minutes until the cheese is melted and the chips are hot & crispy. Broil in the oven for a few minutes to get the cheese golden brown and bubbly. Remove from the oven and drizzle more buffalo sauce and ranch on top of the chips. Garnish with fresh chopped chives.
3. Serve immediately with hot sauce & ranch dressing on the side for dipping!

Marinated Chicken & Steak Kabobs with Buffalo Chicken Mac

Whenever my friends and I have a party, birthday, or tailgate to cook for, we always cook burgers and hot dogs. Mainly because they are really easy to make, and pretty much everyone likes them, and if you don't, I'm pretty sure you're not an American. Anyway, we were trying to think of something different to make for Sam's birthday dinner, and we decided on chicken & steak kabobs that we would marinate then string them on to skewers with red, orange, yellow, and green peppers & red onions. They were so yummy, and we had enough to feed a freakin' army (so definitely half this recipe for a smaller party, we had 8 people, but we could've fed 12). With our kabobs, Sam requested my Cajun Bacon Mac (which is her favorite & she always wants that, so no surprise there), but I was determined to make something new & different. Another favorite of Sam's is my Buffalo Chicken Dip, so I decided I would make Buffalo Chicken Mac as a side. I loved this mac n' cheese. The cheese sauce was made with this Buffalo Wing Cheese that I found at Fresh Market, as well as cheddar cheese, velveeta, and lots of buffalo sauce. We mixed the macaroni into the cheese sauce and layered it (almost like lasagna) with the creamy ranch rotisserie chicken layers. It's so cheesy & gooey, while being spicy & creamy, it's just so yummy. I want it again... now. So below is a picture of our entire birthday celebration meal for Sam. We also grilled some corn with cajun seasoning as another side. Enjoy all of this yumminess :)

Making the Kabobs

Marinated Kabobs with Buffalo Chicken Mac & Grilled Cajun Corn

For the Marinade:

½C Soy Sauce

½C Balsamic Vinegar

½C Worcestershire

¼C Brown Sugar 

4T Garlic, Chopped

4T Olive Oil

1t Fresh Rosemary, Chopped

1t Garlic Salt

1T Montreal Steak Seasoning

Salt & Pepper, To Taste  

For the Kabobs:

Wooden Skewers, Soaked in Water for 10-15 minutes

4 Ribeye Steaks, Cubed

4 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, Cubed

2 Red Peppers, Cut into Squares

2 Orange Peppers, Cut into Squares

2 Yellow Peppers, Cut into Squares

2 Green Peppers, Cut into Squares

4 Red Onions, Cut into Squares

For the Buffalo Chicken Mac:

1lb Pasta

4T Butter

¼C Flour

2t Dry Mustard

2 ½C Half & Half

½C Buffalo Sauce

1 ½C Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Shredded

½lb Velveeta, Cubed

2 ½C + 1C Buffalo Wing Cheese, Shredded

1C + ½C Ranch Dressing

8oz Cream Cheese, Softened

3C Shredded Rotisserie Chicken

1C Panko

Salt & Pepper, To Taste

Directions:

1. To Marinate the Chicken & Steak: whisk all of the ingredients in a bowl until well combined. Meanwhile, separate the cubed chicken and steak into two different gallon plastic bags and pour half of the marinade over each protein. Place the bags into the refrigerator and marinate over night (preferably longer), and make sure to squeeze the bag and move the chicken and steak around so that it is equally distributed.

2. To make the Kabobs: remove the marinated chicken and steak from the refrigerator and start stringing on the different colored peppers and onion between the pieces of meat, leaving some space at the bottom, for easier turning on the grill. Let the kabobs sit at room temperature for an hour, so that the proteins will achieve better grill marks. Grill the kabobs for 2-3 minutes on each side (or longer depending on how you like your steak cooked, but make sure the chicken feels firm), making sure the peppers & onions are charred nicely. Take the kabobs off the grill and let them rest for 5-10 minutes before eating. 

3. To Make the Buffalo Chicken Mac: preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and spray a 9x13-baking dish with Pam, then set aside. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, then add the pasta and cook it according to the directions on the box. Strain the pasta and set aside. 

4. To Make the Creamy Ranch Chicken: in a medium-mixing bowl, mix together the ranch dressing and softened cream cheese, then fold in the shredded rotisserie chicken until completely covered, then set aside.

5. To Make the Buffalo Cheese Sauce: melt 2T of butter in a saucepan over medium high heat, then whisk in the flour and dry mustard. Slowly whisk in the half & half, then whisk in the buffalo sauce, whisking until the mixture becomes thick, about 2 minutes. Next, whisk in 1 ½C sharp cheddar cheese, ½lb Velveeta cubes, and 1 ½C buffalo wing cheese until smooth. Add salt & pepper to taste. Pour the prepared cheese sauce over the cooked pasta, and mix until the pasta is completely covered in the cheese sauce. 

6. To Layer the Mac n' Cheese: pour half of the macaroni into the prepared pan, then layer the creamy ranch chicken on top of the pasta, then top with the remaining macaroni. Finish the dish by topping it with the remaining ½C of Shredded Buffalo Wing Cheese and Panko breadcrumbs. Melt the other 2T of butter and drizzle over the Panko. 

7. Bake the dish for 30 minutes until the cheese is starting to bubble & melt. Serve immediately.