Buffalo Chicken Poppers
BUFFALO CHICKEN POPPERS!!!!
These just scream “cheat food”, but of course… they’re not! They are a little protein-packed piece of heaven and they give you the feeling of eating a delicious fried snack (pass the beer!) with ZERO guilt 🙂
I actually came up with this just yesterday, the day of the launch of my cookbook Kino Chef. As I’m sure you can understand, it was a big day yesterday for me, but also a little stressful… just not knowing how it was going to go and what the reaction would be from the audience.
But it ended up going FANTASTIC, so much better than I ever thought! The response has been so great and is even doing well today…
People are already cooking up healthy and delicious meals and the feedback has been incredible!
Yesterday though I needed to distract myself a bit and what better way than to create a new recipe? So, I came up with these buffalo chicken poppers…
This is actually very similar to the mixture I use for the Buffalo Chicken Taquitos, but then rolled in Panko breadcrumbs and baked with my favorite Ranch Greek Yogurt dip on the side.
If you’re looking for great beer option to go with these and want to keep the calories down… check these out!
These Buffalo Chicken Poppers are a great Friday night meal or even a great game day snack, and no one will even realize they are healthy!
Buffalo Chicken Poppers Ingredients:
2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast, trimmed
4 oz. 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup buffalo sauce
3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp. olive oil
2-3 green onion, chopped (for topping)
Don’t forget to make the ranch dipping sauce… it really compliments the poppers!
Optional: Ranch Greek Yogurt Dipping Sauce
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- First you will want to trim the fat off the chicken and cook however you prefer; usually I just cook it on the stovetop in a skillet.
- Let the chicken cool for a bit and then transfer to a food processor and shred the chicken.
- Add the softened cream cheese to the food processor and pulse until combined. Slowly add in the buffalo sauce and pulse until fully incorporated.
- Take the popper filling and place into a bowl and put in the fridge for about 30 minutes to 1 hour (this will make it easier to work with when you make the poppers).
- When the filling has been refrigerated, take it out and set aside. You will want to set up all the bowls and baking sheet almost like an assembly line, it will be a lot easier. In one small bowl beat one egg, then in another small bowl pour the panko, then line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.
- When you start to make the poppers you’ll want to keep the size consistent (I usually shoot for golf-ball size). Spray your hands with cooking spray and make one popper, roll into a ball, dip in the egg, then coat it in the panko and place on the baking sheet. Repeat this until you have used all of the popper mixture – makes about 20 poppers.
- Heat the 2 tsp. of oil on a skillet on medium-high heat and sear the top and bottom of each popper for about 1-2 minutes. This will help them stay together better and give them a little more crunch.
- Then you can place them back on the baking sheet and cook for an additional 15 minutes, flipping halfway through.
- Garnish with freshly chopped green onions (optional). Serve immediately.
Nutritional Information:
Servings: 20 approx.
Serving Size: 1 popper
Calories: 66
Fat: 3 g
Carbohydrates: 2 g
Sodium: 204 mg
Sugar: 1 g
Fiber: 0 g
Protein: 9 g
