Douglas Kitchen Odyssey: Buffalo Chicken Dip

Buffalo chicken dip is a classic crowd-pleaser and we especially like to make it when we have friends over to watch football. You get the buffalo chicken flavor without the mess of chicken wings. Mixed with the creamy cheese, I have to say it is far more tasty than eating plain buffalo chicken. Opting out of the canned and bottled ingredients, we like to use fresh shredded chicken and homemade blue cheese dressing in our recipe. I also add some diced celery for a little texture and crunch. This makes enough for about 6, so double the recipe for a big crowd.

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups shredded chicken (I usually boil the chicken if I don't have any already cooked)
4 oz cream cheese at room temperature
1 cup blue cheese dressing (recommend home-made, recipe below)
1/2 cup hot sauce (recommend Frank's Red Hot)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 celery rib, finely diced
salt and pepper

Directions:

To make the blue cheese dressing:
In a food processor, combine 3/4 cup heavy cream with 3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese or gorgonzola, 1/2 cup mayonaisse, and 2 tablespoons white vinegar. Blend and season with salt and pepper to taste. Use 1 cup for this recipe and save the remainder for salad dressing.

To make the dip:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a bowl, mix the chicken with the celery, cream cheese, and blue cheese dressing until well blended.

Add the hot sauce and stir to combine. Fold in 1/2 cup of the cheddar cheese. Pour the mixture into a small casserole or other baking dish and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. The perfect opportunity to use our new ceramic dish we got this year for Christmas, which also kept the dip nice and warm long after it was out of the oven.