Macheesmo

Guys, I was really hesitant to share my March Madness bracket with you all on Friday. I figured I was probably jinxing myself by doing that, but I’m not a terribly superstitious person so I did it anyway.

Well, it was about 24 hours from me publicly posting my bracket to the bottom falling out of it. I’m not going to say that I was yelling at my TV, but I was mumbling under my breath at my TV.

Luckily, cheese dips help with the pain of defeat. I really wish I could send a big skillet of this cheesy buffalo chicken dip to all the losers from the weekend.

Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Dip

by Nick

Serves:

Serves 4-6

Prep Time:

15 mins

Total Time:

1 hr

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This cheesy buffalo chicken dip is studded with jalapenos, loaded with two kinds of cheese, and baked in a cast iron skillet. It’s your new favorite dip.

Ingredients

1 pound chicken, cubed or shredded

2 tablespoons neutral oil

1 jalapeno, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 cup milk (2% or whole)

1/2 cup buffalo sauce

8 ounces Monterey jack cheese

4 ounces cheddar cheese

Salt and pepper

Chives, garnish

Tortilla chips, for serving

Instructions

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cube chicken, grate cheese, and mince jalapenos and garlic.

2) In a 12-inch oven-safe skillet, add a drizzle of oil and chicken over medium. Season chicken with salt and pepper and cook until the chicken is cooked through, 6-8 minutes. Then remove chicken and chop finer or shred.

3) Return chopped chicken to skillet with jalapeno and garlic. Cook for a minute or two. If skillet is really dry, add a drizzle of extra oil.

4) Add flour and stir into the mixture, then stir in milk in a slow stream. When milk is stirred in, add buffalo sauce and stir to combine. Cook the mixture over medium heat until hot and it is the consistency of a gravy.

5) Add grated monterey jack cheese and stir to melt. Then add cheddar on top. Season the dip with salt and pepper.

6) Bake dip until bubbly and slightly browned around the edges, 18-20 minutes. If you want it more browned, you can broil the dip for a minute at the end, but make sure your skillet is broiler-safe.

7) Remove dip from oven and garnish with chives and a drizzle of extra buffalo sauce. Serve while warm with tortilla chips.

Skillet Dip!

There are a lot of buffalo chicken dips out there, but I’m a big fan of this one because it’s a single pan situation. You just cook everything together in a sturdy, oven-safe skillet and then pop it in the oven. I prefer a cast iron skillet just because the edges of the dip get a little crispy which is the best part.

I’m getting ahead of myself though. Let’s start with the chicken. Honestly, you could use leftover chicken if you want or shred about a pound of rotisserie chicken. If you’re starting from scratch, then chop up about a pound and add it to your skillet over medium heat with a drizzle of neutral oil. Season it with salt and pepper.

When the chicken is cooked through (6-8 minutes), remove it from the skillet and chop it up finer so it folds into the dip easier.

Then you’ll want these things.

Obviously, there is lots of flavor in the buffalo sauce, but I wanted some extra heat and garlic flavor so I just added that in.

Once you’ve chopped your chicken finer, add it back to the skillet with the garlic and jalapenos.

Making the Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Dip

A lot of buffalo chicken dips use cream cheese as a base and that version is fine and dandy, but this version ends up being more of a queso type dip, which is equally awesome.

Once your chicken is cooked and the veggies are softened, add a little flour to the skillet and stir it into the ingredients. Then slowly stir in the milk.

When the milk is added and starting to thicken, add the buffalo sauce. It’ll be a river of flavor.

Stir that together and keep it heating over medium heat.

Now it’s time for cheese.

I wanted a really melty cheese for the base so I went with Monterey jack. Piles of it.

Stir that in and once it’s melted, add some cheddar on top which will form a sort of cheddar cheese lid on the dip.

Alternative option? Blue cheese.

Stick this whole skillet in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes until it’s bubbly hot and the edges are starting to brown. If you have a broiler-safe skillet, you can even broil it for a minute at the end to really promote some browning on the dip.

The appropriate serving method is the tortilla chip.

There are more sports right around the corner, but do I really need to give you an excuse to make this?!

Don’t Have a Cast Iron Skillet?

 

More Cheese Love!

 

Pepperoni Pizza Dip

One Pot Cheeseburger Pasta

Baked Queso Dip