with Chunky Avocado Blue Cheese Dressing
Buffalo Chicken Thighs. So yum. I don’t know why it took me this long to come up with this one because we are a Buffalo loving household and I always have a jar of Buffalo sauce in the fridge. This is my new go-to Buffalo recipe.
Self-Indulgent foodie Chatter…
Making Buffalo sauce is so ridiculously easy that you really have no excuse to not make your own. It literally takes five minutes, which is less time than it takes to get the plastic wrap seal off of a bottle of store bought buffalo sauce. You know that’s the truth. Why is it so hard?
Anyway, Buffalo foods… We eat buffalo cauliflower on the regular. And Buffalo wings? So good, but a bit fussy to make and definitely time consuming. Enter this recipe. Making buffalo chicken thighs in the oven is like making faster, easier, but just as satisfying wings. They take about 30 minutes to make and there’s no end to what you can do with them. We put this chicken in tacos, pile it on top of rice bowls, mix it into a crunchy salad and drizzle it with ranch… I’m open to more ideas if you’ve got ’em!
baked buffalo chicken thighs, the details…
Before we even start, I’ve made/eaten a lot of Buffalo chicken, so let’s quickly talk about my well-researched pro tips for getting baked chicken thighs crispy in the oven:
- Lay the chicken thighs out flat and bake them with the “rougher” side facing up. More craggy surface area = more opportunity for crispiness
- drizzle the thighs with some honey before baking which, fyi, tastes absolutely amazing and also help with caramelization
- finish the chicken off with a few minutes under the broiler under close supervision
Ok, now… there are two parts to this recipe: the chicken and the dressing. Dip? Sauce? I’m actually not even sure what to call it, but it is good and to make it all you have to do is add avocado, cheese, sour cream, white wine vinegar, sugar and S&P to a bowl and mash it up. I like to leave things a little chunky here, but make it as smooth as you like.
Next, to make the buffalo sauce you’ll combine the hot sauce, butter and garlic powder in a small saucepan and heat until the butter is completely melted. Then you’ll give it a good whisk to emulsify everything and you’re done.
The chicken thighs will get tossed with about half the sauce, placed on a baking sheet, drizzled with honey, sprinkled with salt and baked. Finish it off with a quick broil and you’re done.
An I know you’re wondering, so of course I’ll tell you that my favourite way to eat this chicken is with my hands, tearing apart the chicken thighs and dipping big, dripping, spicy chunks straight into the dressing. Feel free to follow my lead.
Ingredients, Substitutions, Tips, etc.
Hot Sauce – Frank’s this is not an ad, but Frank’s is so good and it seems to be the standard sauce for Buffalo anything so that’s what I use. Feel free to mix it up if you like.
Blue Cheese – If you really dislike blue cheese you can simply omit it from the dressing, just make sure you taste and adjust the salt before serving. Also, work on your blue cheese taste acquiring skills. Thank you.
Serving – I serve these chicken thighs on a platter, with a bowl of the dressing and celery sticks on the side. Pretty much how you would serve regular wings.
Looking for more interesting chicken recipes? Try these…
- Baked Panko Chicken with Sweet Chili Hot Honey
- Dragon Chicken with Sesame Rice
- Salt and Pepper Chicken
Recipe-ish…
Let me know what you think!
Buffalo Chicken Thighs with Chunky Avocado Blue Cheese Dressing
Ingredients
For the chicken:
- 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1/2 cup Frank’s hot sauce or similar
- 1/3 cup butter
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 Tbsp honey
For the dressing:
- 1 avocado
- 1/4 cup blue cheese crumbled
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1/4 tsp sugar
- S&P
Instructions
- To make the sauce, combine the butter, hot sauce and garlic powder in a small saucepan and heat over low-medium heat until the butter is melted. Whisk together until smooth.
- Toss the chicken thighs with about half of the sauce, reserving the rest.
- Lay the chicken pieces on a parchment lined baking sheet. Drizzle with the honey. Sprinkle with salt.
- Bake at 425 for about 20 minutes, then broil for 2-3 minutes.
- While the chicken bakes, make the dressing.
- Add all of the dressing ingredients to a bowl and mash together. Make as chunky or as smooth as you like.
- Remove the chicken from the oven, drizzle with more buffalo sauce and serve with the dressing.
Video
If you like this Buffalo Chicken Thighs Recipe, please go try my Recipe for Garlic Butter Chicken Wings. Another easy and super tasty chicken recipe.
