Grilled Buffalo Chicken
When your family loves Buffalo chicken wings you find multiple different ways to make spicy chicken recipes. During the summer I have mastered the Grilled Buffalo Chicken recipe which is a combination of three sauces with your favorite cut of meat. The results are a spicy bbq grilled chicken. It is a must-make grilled chicken recipe.
While this recipe is a grilled chicken recipe, I got the idea to combine buffalo and ranch to form a marinade from the sheet pan Buffalo chicken and potatoes recipe. I also know ranch and barbecue sauce make a good combination in the crock pot BBQ ranch chicken legs. So, why not combine all three flavors into a marinade?
This grilled buffalo chicken is also the perfect topping for your favorite dinner salad or even served with pickle cole slaw. So it can be a spicy dinner salad kind of night too.
Spicy Barbecue Chicken Ingredients
To make this simple grilled Buffalo chicken, you just need three ingredients for the marinade and your favorite cut of chicken. Here are the ingredients you need.
- Buffalo Wings Sauce – This can be anything from Frank’s Red Hot Sauce to your favorite Buffalo Wild Wing Sauce.
- Ranch Dressing – Hidden Valley Ranch is the only ranch in my mind. Other unnamed people I live with think Kraft Ranch is where it is at. You use whatever ranch you like in your house.
- Barbecue Sauce – We are loyal Baby Ray’s Barbecue Sauce users. Like the ranch dressing, you use the barbecue sauce your family loves.
- Chicken – I made the Buffalo barbecue chicken with boneless, skinless chicken thighs. This recipe can be used with chicken breasts, chicken wings, chicken legs and even chicken leg quarters. This buffalo chicken marinade recipe is great on any chicken.
- Seasonings – You can use salt and pepper or add even more heat with a chipotle seasoning to give your buffalo grilled chicken even more flavor.
See the recipe card for quantities.
How to Make Grilled Buffalo Chicken
This grilled buffalo chicken recipe is simple to make by beginning with the marinade and then grilling the chicken. This recipe can also be used to bake and air frye the chicken
Make this barbecue buffalo sauce marinade by combining Buffalo sauce, barbecue sauce, and ranch salad dressing.
Pour the marinade over the chicken or place the chicken pieces in the marinade. Let marinate for 30 minutes.
Place the chicken on the grill. Season the chicken with salt and pepper or even your favorite wing seasoning.
Grill the chicken for 7-10 minutes and then flip. Continue to grill until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
Remember the marinade had raw chicken in it so don’t use it as sauce for the cooked chicken. If you want to add more sauce to the chicken after it has cooked to make more while the chicken is on the grill. This chicken is great with normal barbecue sides like cheesy potatoes or Italian slaw. But I love it on a big summer salad with tomatoes, eggs, and cheese. This is also perfect for Buffalo chicken grilled cheese. Don’t forget the carrot sticks and celery sticks though too.
Hint: let the chicken rest for a few minutes once you take it off the grill. This will let the juices absorb in the meat before you slice into it.
Substitutions
Everyone loves their buffalo chicken there way. Here are substitutions you can make:
- Buffalo Wings Sauce – Substitute with a homemade buffalo sauce by mixing 1/4 cup hot sauce with two tablespoons of melted butter, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, and a dash of cayenne pepper.
- Ranch Dressing – If you love blue cheese, substitute blue cheese dressing for the ranch dressing.
- Boneless Chicken Thighs – You can use any chicken for this recipe. Feel free to use chicken drumsticks, chicken wings, and chicken breasts too.
Variations
Want the buffalo grilled chicken to be milder or maybe hotter. Even if you have a kid who loves honey barbecue chicken wings, I have you covered.
- Mild Buffalo Chicken– Change up the spiciness by reducing the ratios and just using a fraction of the hot sauce compared to the barbecue.
- Honey Barbecue Chicken – add honey to the barbecue sauce with a tablespoon or two of hot sauce to make yourself a honey barbecue chicken.
- Fire Chicken – leave the ranch out of the marinade and just mix the hot sauce and barbecue sauce together.
See this sheet pan buffalo chicken and potatoes and roasted whole buffalo chicken on my website!
Grilling Equipment
Just like we all have our favorite bowl, spatula, and even burner, we have our favorite grilling equipment and ingredients.
Store those leftover grilled chicken.
Store the leftover grilled buffalo chicken in the fridge in an airtight container and use it in buffalo chicken bacon wraps, buffalo chicken grilled cheese, buffalo chicken dip, or even on top of the BBQ chicken mac and cheese. The grilled chicken is good for 2-3 days in the refrigerator.
The leftover chicken can also be frozen, whole, or chopped up for use later. Keep the cooked chicken for up to three months.
Top tip
Make a second batch of the buffalo marinade to use to dip the buffalo grilled chicken into after you have cooked the chicken.
FAQ
This chicken recipe can be baked or air fried. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes depending on the cut of the chicken, it may need to cook longer. Air fry the chicken on 390 degrees for 15 minutes, flipping halfway through cooking.
Grilled Chicken Recipes
Looking for other grilled chicken recipes like this? Try these:
Easy BBQ Sides
These are my favorite dishes to serve with any grilled or barbecue recipes:
Grilled Buffalo Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken Boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- ½ cup Buffalo Sauce or hot sauce
- ½ cup Barbecue Sauce
- ½ cup Ranch Dressing
- 1 teaspoon Salt and Pepper Chipotle Seasoning works too
Instructions
- Mix the hot sauce, barbecue sauce, and ranch dressing together. Pour over the chicken to marinade for 30 minutes
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper or even a chipotle seasoning. Place on the grill at a 350 degree temperature.
- Grill for 20-30 minutes or until chicken reaches an internal temp of 165.
Nutrition
Food safety
When cooking chicken, you can never be too careful. Here are some food safety tips.
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
- Wash hands after touching raw meat
- Don’t leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
See more guidelines at USDA.gov.
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