Buffalo Chicken Bites Recipe

Buffalo chicken bites sit on a serving plate next to a side of blue cheese dip. Pieces of celery sit to the side.

5 from 1 vote

Buffalo Chicken Bites Recipe

These boneless buffalo wings are cooked in the air fryer for maximum crisp with minimal effort. They're the perfect game day appetizer, but they can also be served dinner-style next to a couple of easy sides.

Prep Time10

Cook Time13

Total Time23

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free

Servings: Servings

Author: Cassy Joy Garcia

Ingredients

For the Buffalo Chicken Bites

1 pound chicken breast tenders, cut into 1-inch chunks
2 teaspoons salt, divided
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup bread crumbs
½ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
Avocado oil spray, or about 2 tablespoons of avocado oil
¼ cup Frank's RedHot Original, or another hot sauce of your choice
¼ cup melted butter

For the Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce (Optional)

⅔ cup sour cream
⅓ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup blue cheese crumbles
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons buttermilk or milk
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of salt over the chicken and toss to combine.
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, bread crumbs, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and the remaining teaspoon of salt until fully combined.
In another medium-sized bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk.
Dip the chicken in the egg mixture, making sure each piece is fully coated.
Remove the chicken from the egg mixture, letting the excess egg drip off, then dredge the chicken in the flour mixture, making sure it's coated on all sides.
Place the chicken bites in the air fryer, making sure they don't overlap. You may need to work in batches depending on the size of your air fryer. Spray or brush the chicken bites with oil, and cook at 375°F for 7 minutes.
After 7 minutes, flip the nuggets and spay or brush them with oil again. Cook for an additional 6 minutes, until browned and crisp.
While the chicken bites are cooking in the air fryer, add the buffalo sauce and melted butter to a large bowl and whisk until combined. Once the chicken is done, toss in the buffalo sauce until well coated.
(Optional) If using, whisk together the sour cream, mayo, blue cheese, lemon juice, buttermilk (or milk), salt, and pepper for the blue cheese dipping sauce. If you prefer a smoother texture, blend the ingredients together.
Serve alongside blue cheese dipping sauce, if desired, and enjoy!

Notes

*The nutrition facts are written per serving, using 6 servings total, and without the optional blue cheese dipping sauce. If you're eating these as a meal (vs. as an appetizer), you'll only get 2-3 servings out of a batch.

Recipe Variations and Modifications:

Use pre-made buffalo sauce - feel free to grab a bottle of pre-made buffalo sauce (this Primal Kitchen buffalo sauce is dairy-free and made with great ingredients + and Noble Made's buffalo sauce is also great, if you can find it). ANY buffalo sauce will work, though!
Make them gluten free - use gluten free flour and gluten free bread crumbs (that's exactly what we did) to make this recipe gluten free. The buffalo chicken bites pictured in the photos are gluten free and still very, very crispy.
Make BBQ chicken bites - swap the buffalo sauce for BBQ sauce if you're not into either the taste or spice level of buffalo sauce.
Serve with ranch - don't like blue cheese? Skip it and serve your buffalo chicken bites with ranch instead! Our homemade ranch is tasty and calls for only 3 ingredients.
Omit the spice - if you're sensitive to spice, feel free to omit the cayenne from the breading of these buffalo chicken bites and either grab a super mild buffalo sauce or go with BBQ sauce instead.

Nutrition