Best Buffalo Chicken Dip Ever!

April 16, 2021October 25, 2015 by Michel

Best Buffalo Chicken Dip Ever!

This delicious buffalo chicken dip is my top viewed recipe on my YouTube Channel at 160,704 views and climbing! It takes center stage every time! You may find yourself not straying too far in fear that it will be devoured. The layers start with room temperature cream cheese, chicken tenderloins sautéed in Franks Hot Sauce, a drizzling of homemade buffalo sauce, and finally a sprinkle of crumbled blue cheese, sharp cheddar and mozzarella. It bake’s in the oven until bubbly and served with tortilla chips. I also like to serve this appetizer with carrots, celery and cucumber slices on the side.

I have a secret for you! I’ve been using rotisserie chicken instead! It comes out just as good as sautéing the tenderloin and it saves time! Just toss the rotisserie chicken pieces with some of the butter whisked with the Frank’s Red sauce, and begin to layer. You can also bake chicken wings at 400° for 40 minutes and then toss with this butter-Frank’s Red Hot sauce and you’ll have amazing Buffalo wings!

The Buffalo chicken dip gives all the amazing flavors of that typical “buffalo wings and blue cheese” with out all the work! I am very particular about my blue cheese dressing so I highly recommend my easy homemade blue cheese dressing recipe!

This buffalo chicken dip recipe came from my friend Lisa who just recently made it for a party we were at and it didn’t last very long! I make this dish all year round not to mention how totally awesome it is for football season.

I think this buffalo chicken layered dip is a win win for you and your party. Everyone will be asking you for the recipe. I hope you enjoy this “BEST Buffalo Chicken Dip” recipe and the show too! Don’t miss the “Behind the scenes bloopers” included at the end of the show. And if you want to make an amazing desert that will get you lots of oohs and ahhs try the Pavlova or the “Death by Chocolate Meringue Pie”! Don’t forget a Homemade Caesar Salad and an entré of Lobster Mac n’ Cheese or Eggplant Balls with pasta or Zucchini Spaghetti!

chcomerg lobmac DSCN4572-300x225 zucspaghetti

Ingredients: NOTE: You can use ROTISSERIE Chicken!

3/4 lb chicken tenderloins raw OR 1/2 of a ROTISSERIE Chicken
1 tbsp olive oil (NOTE: this is only if sautéing up the tenderloins)
Sprinkle of salt (only if sautéing up the tenderloins)
1 -8 oz pkg Philadelphia Cream Cheese
Frank’s Hot Sauce
Buffalo sauce: 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter (Kerrygold or favorite) & 1/3 cup Franks Hot Sauce
1/4 cup Blue cheese crumbles
1/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup mozzarella
(1) 9″ Deep-dish baking pie plate

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 375º
Melt 1/2 stick of butter in microwave, then add 1/3 cup of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce, whisk until combined – this is the “homemade buffalo sauce” – set aside
Add 1 tbsp. olive oil on medium heat
Add in the chicken tenderloin pieces to a pan on med. high heat, sprinkle with a pinch of salt begin to sauté for 3 minutes
Flip chicken pieces over and sauté another 3 minutes
Once they start to golden slightly add 2 tbsp. Franks hot sauce and let reduce on low 1-2 minutes
Remove from heat and shred or cut up
OR toss ROTISSERIE CHICKEN meat from 1/2 of a chicken, cut up or pulled apart to bite-size pieces with enough Frank’s Red Hot/butter sauce mixture to coat
Begin the layering on top of the cream cheese
Smear 8 oz. of room temperature cream cheese in bottom of your bake dish
Then add the shredded chicken for the layer next
Drizzle homemade buffalo sauce over the chicken (save some to drizzle after the layer of cheeses)
Sprinkle 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
Then Sprinkle 1/4-1/3 cup cheddar and mozzarella each – if using 9″ baking dish go with 1/4 cup, if using 12″ baking dish you could use 1/3 cup if you want a little extra
OPTIONAL – Drizzle more buffalo sauce over the cheeses
Bake for 20 minutes until bubbly and serve with tortilla ships, carrots and celery

Chicken Piccata-Easy Gourmet

March 16, 2019December 2, 2014 by Michel

Chicken Piccata-Easy Gourmet

My Chicken Piccata-Easy Gourmet recipe really is an uncomplicated dish that will knock your socks off! The chicken cutlets are so tender that they are almost falling apart in it’s delicate wine-shallot sauce with capers, paper thin Baby Bella mushrooms and fresh squeezed lemon is truly amazing. It has a delicate zing from the capers, and a brightness from that fresh squeezed lemon at the end. I serve up this chicken piccata with fresh sautéed spinach and mashed potatoes that just seems to pull it all together almost making it a comfort food with the mouth watering wine gravy and mashed potatoes. It is a dish that you may just start to crave! It only takes about 30 minutes to make so it should definitely be part of your cooking repertoire considering how incredible it tastes!

Even my kids love it although I do put aside several pieces for them at the point right after I deg-laze with wine and before I add the mushrooms and capers because that’s just not their thing …yet! -This way everyone is happy.

I don’t use too much butter in this recipe. I don’t think there is a big need for that with all these amazing layered flavors from the chicken, shallots, mushrooms, capers, white wine, chicken broth and lemon juice. The light flour coating on the chicken when dredging it to sauté helps to thicken the sauce right there. I see many recipes adding a ton of butter “to thicken” it and it’s just not necessary. Enjoy making this tasty dish and be sure to watch it on my Chicken Piccata cooking show video either posted right here (listed under “videos” tab above) or on my YouTube channel.

Ingredients: Serves 4-6 people if served with mashed potatoes and fresh sautéed spinach

3 lg chicken breasts or 4 med. sliced into 3 and pounded thinly
3 tbsp lg capers (or sm if you prefer…they’re all good)
3 tbsp. finely chopped shallots
2 cups white wine (approx. 1/2 cup for each chicken deglazing and 1/3 c. for mushrooms and approx another 1/2 cup at the end to simmer…NOTE in my video I did say 1/4 cup at each stage but oops I used a little more than that : )
1/3-1/2 cup chicken broth
6 lg BABY BELLA mushrooms sliced PAPER thin
1 wedge of lemon for the end
6 lg garlic cloves just smashed to sauté and flavor olive oil
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper for flavoring flour
1 recipe fresh sautéed spinach (can leave out garlic in recipe)
1 recipe mashed potatoes (can leave out red onion)

Directions: Approx. 30-40 minute to prep and cook

Either buy chicken breasts pounded out at your local butcher or cut each breast into 3 horizontally and pound out each one gently to 1/4″ thickness
Put flour into shallow dish and season with s & p
Dredge pounded chicken breasts in flour and leave in flour dish ready to sauté
Heat large, shallow pan on med/high
Add 3 tbsp-1/4 cup olive oil to pan while heating
Add 3 garlic clove to olive oil and sauté til golden to flavor pan
Remove garlic cloves and begin to sauté chicken breasts filling entire pan (this will be done in 2 batches)
Make sure the pan stays hot enough on med/high heat while cooking breasts
Cook chicken approx. 2 1/2 minutes on each side
Add 1/4 white wine and deglaze, place cover over for 1 minute
Remove cover and remove first batch of chicken to baking dish using a spatula to scrap out all of the gravy and bits
Put pan back on med/high heat and repeat #5-#11.
Now add 1 tbsp butter, finely chopped shallots and paper thin sliced Baby Bella’s to the pan and sauté til water renders out of mushrooms and they are a light golden
OPTIONAL: you can finely chop the golden sautéed garlic cloves and add them back in at this point or not
Deglaze mushroom and shallots with 1/4 cup wine and cover for 30 seconds
Remove cover and add all the chicken breasts back into pan
Add 1/4 cup wine and 1/4 cup chicken broth to pan and turn down to med/low
Simmer 5 minutes ONLY …don’t want too much of the sauce to evoporate
Either serve immediately or put into frig until your guests arrive and then PRE-HEAT oven to 325º and warm for approx. 30 minutes with pan COVERED-if too much of the sauce evaporates you can add a splash of white wine and chicken broth
Add s & p to taste
Right before serving squeeze a wedge of lemon on chicken breasts ( about 1 tbsp) and serve over mashed potatoes and fresh sauteed spinach

Stuffed Roulades of Chicken

January 6, 2017February 26, 2014 by Michel

Stuffed Roulades of Chicken

I serve these stuffed roulades of chicken sliced up on top of a roasted garlic and cannellini bean purée…the flavors are amazing together! Stuffing meats with vegetables and herbs makes a great presentation and people will think you worked a lot harder than you did. The stuffing in these chicken roulades is especially wonderful because the ingredients are all raw there isn’t any sautéing, . If you don’t like one of the ingredients in the stuffing you can easily substitute for something you do like. For instance, cilantro instead of basil, or diced artichoke hearts instead of olives or maybe swiss cheese instead of feta.

Ingredients:

2 large boneless chicken breasts (butterflied)
1/2 cup diced cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup diced kalamata olives
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup chopped basil
1 garlic clove thru garlic press
1 Tbsp olive oil (for stuffing)
1 Tsp rice wine vinegar-“Seasoned” (comes “original” or “seasoned”-I always get the seasoned cause I like the flavor… it has a hint of sweet)
fresh spinach leaves (flat leaf is easier to use in stuffing then curly)
2 Tbsp olive oil for sautéing roulades
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup white wine (Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc … your favorite white drinking wine)
salt and pepper
4 pieces of 20-24″ cotton string

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 350º.
In a small bowl mix together diced tomaotes, olives, feta, basil and garlic with 1 Tbsp olive oil and 1 Tsp rice wine vinegar and set aside (this is the stuffing).
Butterfly chicken breasts slicing them open like a book keeping them in 1 piece.
Place the breasts in a large Ziplock Baggie and pound them out to 1/4″ (if they rip no worries because the spinach leaves will cover that and then you’ll be tying them with string).
Put the breasts on a work surface smooth breast side down so the length is going vertically.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper and put down a layer of spinach leaves on top of the breasts.
Divide the stuffing into 2 and place each 1/2 onto the center of the breasts (right on top of the spinach leaves).
Roll up the breasts tucking in sides as best as possible. Slide two pieces of string under the breast rolls crisscross like in the photo.
Begin to tie off from each end knotting the first wrap so it doesn’t move then keep wrapping around the chicken without tying til you get to the other end. You can slide string under the other rows as you go.
When you get to the other end you should end with a knot.
Don’t need to get fancy or crazy about this …. it’s only to help hold in place until you can get the roulades in a hot pan to sauté where everything will firm up and stay together.
Add 2 Tbsp olive oil to a medium sauce pan on medium/high heat.
When the pan is hot add the tied up roulades and sauté for 2 minutes on each side total of 8 minutes.
Add the wine, and then the broth to the chicken (be careful of the steam when add the liquids) and place into the oven for 15 minutes.
Take the chicken out of the oven and cover it with foil.
Let it sit for 5 minutes and then simply cut the string with a clean pair of scissors (or kitchen scissors).
Slice up the roulades and serve on top of roasted garlic and cannellini bean purée.
The great thing about this dish is you can make the roasted garlic and bean purée the day before!

TIP: I like to buy a giant roll of cotton string from the hardware store and keep it in a Ziplock Baggie on the spice shelf so no one can get to it and dirty it up.

TIP: It’s a good idea to soak the cotton string in water for 10 minutes before you use it otherwise it will dry out in the oven and become brittle.

Sautéed Chicken Breasts and Spinach

February 27, 2014January 27, 2014 by Michel

Ingredients:

4 med. size chicken breast ( washed and pat dry with paper towel)
Olive oil and S & P
8 oz. pre-washed fresh spinach leaves
1/2 cup white wine (optional- delicious for another layer of flavor)

Directions:

Chicken:

Pre-heat to 375º.
Heat pan to med/high heat and add 3 tbsp olive oil.
After a few minutes when pan is hot add chicken and saute for 5 minutes til golden and flip.
Continue to cook for another 8 minutes til golden in color.
Depending how thick your chicken breast are you can either flip again for an additional 2-3 minutes or place into the oven for approx. 8 minutes.
OR if u have the white wine on hand flip chicken back over for the last 2-3 min. and pour in 1/2 cup of white wine and cover immediately.
Let steam for 3 minutes then remove cover to let wine evaporate for the next 3-4 min.
This addition of wine gives you another layer of amazing flavor and you won’t need to put it into the oven again just cover with foil for a few minutes til you are ready to slice and plate.

Spinach: Place fresh spinach into med. size pan with 2 tbsp water put on med heat and cover for a few minutes. You’ ll start to hear the steam, lift off the top and begin to toss around with tongs or a fork for approx 1 min. til slightly wilted and remove from heat. Put into ice bath to shock spinach (or briefly run cold water on it) It helps to keep vibrant green color til you are ready to plate dishes. Gently squeeze out water and place on paper towel on a dish til u need to plate the dinner. The easiest way to re-heat spinach is put it in a small pan with 1 tbsp of butter on top and warm thru just for 2-3 minute, add salt & pepper (or put into microwave very briefly ….don’t need to cook it ….heating thru only). Then place small mound in the middle of the plate and place sliced up chicken right on top. Drizzle my Green Goddess Sauce recipe around chicken on plate and mangia!