Foodie Friday: Buffalo Chicken Tater Tot Casserole

Buffalo Chicken Tater Tot Casserole is one of my favorite recipes and a big go to for me. Everyone I have made it for loves it, and I have been able to tweak it to make things easier. So in this rendition of “Foodie Friday” I will pass on the recipe that has treated me so well! Without anymore distractions, the Buffalo Chicken Tater Tot Casserole recipe:

Recipe and ingredients below taken and adapted from sheknows.com

Ingredients:

• 2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts (really, you can use a rotisserie chicken for this, just take the chicken off the bone first!)

• Olive oil ✯

• Salt and Pepper, to taste ✯

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter

• 1 cup Frank’s RedHot sauce (I use Franks RedHot Buffalo Sauce usually)

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 1/3 cup blue cheese (I don't like blue cheese, so I don't use this, I put in extra Pepper Jack)

• 1 bag tater tots

• 1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese

• 1/2 cup diced celery ( I really never put this in... You can if you like celery, but I hate it warm, so if it's left out, it's totally okay!)

✯If you use rotisserie chicken instead, just pull the chicken off the bone and you don't need these two ingredients or steps 2 & 3✯

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Rub down chicken breasts with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, Roast for about 30-40 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked. (Leave oven on)

3. Let the chicken sit for 5 minutes and finely chop or shred the chicken. Depending on what texture you desire. (Be careful, the chicken will be hot. You can do this step the day before if you’d like!)

4. Once chicken is cooled and chopped, it’s time to put the casserole together.

5. In a large skillet melt butter over medium hear. Once melted, whisk in Frank’s RedHot and minced garlic. Gently whisk for about 1 minute and then remove from heat. Pour 1/3 cup of the sauce into a measuring cup and set aside. (But really, just whisk until combined)

6. Add chicken to the remaining sauce in the pan and mix together to evenly coat. Add sauced chicken to the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch casserole dish.

7. Sprinkle the mixture with blue cheese.

8. Top the chicken with tater tots. Lay them out in rows evenly covering the top of the chicken.

9. Top with shredded cheese and bake for about 45 minuted until the cheese is melted and the chicken and tater tots are hot. Drizzle the remaining 1/3 cup sauce over the finished dish and serve.

Tips and shortcuts that make this recipe even better:

• I suggest getting the rotisserie chicken, I know that sometimes it's more fun and makes you feel awesome to roast your own chicken. But really, if you are unsure of your capabilities still, the rotisserie chicken costs all of $6 and is already cooked to perfection, you just have to take the meat off them bone. Which is less time consuming than roasting your chicken for 30-40 minutes.

• When making the sauce, I have never used just regular Frank's RedHot... I have always used the Frank's RedHot Buffalo style! It makes the sauce perfect and not TOO hot. Also, after you make the sauce, you don't necessarily have to keep the 1/3 cup aside, you can use some of your leftover Buffalo sauce from the bottle (if you bought the oversized bottle like I do). You also could just leave it on the side, not everyone needs the extra.

• Instead of mincing the garlic yourself, get already minced garlic and keep it in the fridge! You will use it in everything!

• I also like to make extra tater tots, because sometimes you need extra. Depending on the kind of pan you use (you can use a regular glass pan, like the kind you make brownies in.. Or the aluminum, throw-away ones) you can make multiple layers of tater tots. It's typically two layers tops, one on the bottom, then the chicken, then another layer of tater tots. This is better for people that aren't usually a fan of lots of buffalo.

Review:

As I've said, this is my go-to and I absolutely love it! I recomment making this to anyone, even those who think they can't cook. The only real cooking you're doing it just making sure you do the buffalo sauce correctly. Other than that it's just assembling your dish the way you want it! So everyone, go make it!!!

Here are a few of my personal pictures (off instagram) or how my Buffalo Chicken Tater Tot Casserole came out:

Stay Hungry, my friends✿

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