Bacon Buffalo Chicken Dip with Simple Garlic Crostini

In the spirit of complete and total honesty, I have a confession to make. After I finished taking a few pictures of this buffalo chicken dip appetizer, I sat on the floor for a solid fifteen minutes shoveling bread-fulls into my mouth while it was still so hot my tongue nearly melted off. Not my finest moment for sure, but–seriously–it tasted that good. I’ve been plowing through the leftovers over the day or so since I made this recipe, munching on bagel chips because I’m too lazy to remake the garlic crostini. The next time we have friends over, I will definitely be making this!

Speaking of getting together, it’s been an incredibly busy week here in Northern VA. The good kind of busy, I promise! A group of us met up this past Saturday and learned how to make authentic tamales from my friend’s mother. It was such a fun experience, and I’m really hoping to do a write up on the whole fiasco soon. I spent so long trying to take a time-lapse video of the squad trying and failing to spread the masa on corn husks that I only ended up with a few pictures of the process itself, but the fact that I now have sixty pictures of our slightly out-of-focus confused faces more than makes up for it. Probably.

Tonight, too, I’m getting together with the same group to celebrate another friend’s birthday with pizza, games, and a slow-cooker-kept-warm batch of my chicken fra diavolo alfredo pasta. He’s a huge fan of pasta, so I thought it might be fun to bring an extra treat to the evening. I’ll be making a few tweaks to my original recipe, too. For example, instead of 2 cups of parmesan cheese, I plan to split it 30/30/30 with Gruyere and Asiago. But! That’s an experiment I’ll write more about in another post. On to the bacon buffalo chicken dip that I know you’re here for!

Like the last recipe I posted, this is actually my second attempt at making a delicious buffalo chicken dip. The first iteration was a somewhat-classic (if there even is such a thing) slow-cooker version that I made for the Super Smash Brothers Ultimate release day party we held last year. It was a huge hit, but tasted more than a little bland to me. I like my food rich and spicy! This version ticks all of those boxes. It’s smoky, salty, spicy, creamy, and oh so delicious. And as soon as I finish typing this up, I plan on eating all of the remaining leftovers for lunch.

This recipe makes 8-10 servings.

Bacon Buffalo Chicken Dip

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken thighs/2 lbs shredded rotisserie chicken
• 8oz cream cheese
• 6-7 slices thick-cut bacon
• 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, yellow
• 1 cup extra sharp cheddar cheese, white
• 1 cup buffalo wing sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray’s)
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 tsp dill weed
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp minced onion
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp parsley
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Shred cheese as needed, combine, and set aside.
3. If using raw chicken, poach chicken thighs in a large pot of salted boiling water for 20 minutes, or until completely cooked through. Alternatively, add chicken to an Instant pot with 2 cups water and pressure cook for 15 minutes. Shred with two forks and set aside.
4. In a nonstick skillet, add bacon slices and fry on medium-high heat for 5-7 minutes or until browned and crispy, flipping every so often to ensure both sides have cooked evenly.
5. Remove bacon from pan and set aside to cool. When handle-able, roughly chop into 1/2 inch pieces. Set aside.
6. In a large pot, add cream cheese, Greek yogurt, wing sauce, dill weed, onion powder, minced onion, parsley, black pepper, and salt. Heat on medium/medium-high until cream cheese has melted and the sauce has become almost entirely liquid, stirring occasionally, about 5-7 minutes.
7. Reduce heat to low and add shredded chicken, chopped bacon, and 3/4 of the shredded cheese mixture, stirring until everything is completely coated with the sauce and the added cheese has melted.
8. Transfer dip to a roasting dish and top with the remaining 1/4 of the shredded cheese. Bake at 375F for 15 minutes, then broil on high for an additional 3-5 minutes, or until the layer of cheese on top has browned lightly. Remove and top with chopped green onions; serve with garlic crostini.

Simple Garlic Crostini

Ingredients:

• 1 soft baguette
• 2 tbsp garlic powder
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Slice baguette into 1/2 inch thick rounds, taking care to keep the sizes relatively even.
3. Spread rounds on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp garlic powder onto the bread, flip each piece, and repeat with the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp garlic powder.
4. Bake for 15 minutes, flipping each piece halfway through.

This recipe–both the dip and crostini–keeps well in the fridge for several days. The dip reheats marvelously in the microwave when covered with a bit of plastic wrap, and, as I mention earlier, I have been eating the leftovers for most of the week since making this dish. So good!