Chicken sliders made in the SLOW COOKER cooked in an awesome sweet and mildly spicy Buffalo sauce! Plus directions to make this on the stove or even in a pressure cooker, AND an optional blue cheese sauce. These Honey Buffalo Chicken Sliders are a great way to feed a crowd with minimal effort!
It’s Super Bowl Sunday this weekend. Just the biggest game day in America in the entire year. To put this into perspective for Australians, it’s like our equivalent of the Melbourne Cup. You know how we call that the “race that stops the nation”? And it literally does – I was once on the M5 and traffic almost came to a standstill for the 3 minutes the race was on.
Well, on Super Bowl Sunday, basically the entire United States of America comes to a standstill for the annual championship of American football. All 300 million or so Americans can be accounted for doing one of 3 things:
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Glued to the TV, chugging beers and nibbling on food that can be eaten with hands, without taking your eyes off the TV*;
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Making food for the sports-obsessed, and socialising with the non-sports-obsessed; or
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Just generally enjoying this unofficial holiday!
* The definition of Game Day Food as per RecipeTin Eats-pedia. The following meet the stringent requirements:
MY TOP GAME DAY PICKS
So this is a last minute Super Bowl Sunday recipe that I’m sharing for all of those who haven’t been planning Game Day Food for weeks and weeks and are pressed for time. 🙂
These Honey Buffalo Chicken Sliders take 5 minutes preparation. Maybe 7 – depends how organised your pantry is. Throw chicken and a handful of other ingredients into the slow cooker, including honey, butter and hot sauce which are the base of a traditional Buffalo Sauce. I add other flavourings in the sauce to jazz it up because I find the taste a bit plain to use for sliders.
Set the slow cooker, then 4 hours later, open it up to find perfectly cooked chicken sitting in a pool of delicious sauce, ready for shredding.
One thing to note about shredded chicken: I am not a fan of pulled / shredded meats that are cooked beyond tender so they are mushy. I actually have a bit of a hang up about mushy-pulled meats, especially on sliders.
So the cook time for this chicken is quite specific! It yields a tender chicken that shreds very easily with two forks with barely any effort, but the shredded pieces maintain their shape and texture nicely, rather than disintegrating which is what happens if you overcook chicken breast. 🙂
And now….the sauce. Let’s talk about the Honey Buffalo Sauce! Cooking the chicken in the sauce serves 2 purposes: infuses flavour into the chicken, and the chicken juices flavours the sauce. It’s too thin to use straight out the slow cooker so it needs just 5 minutes of cooking with the help of a little cornstarch / cornflour to thicken up while you shred the chicken. I love that my slow cooker has a sauté function so I can leave it in my slow cooker for this step!
And here it is. Tender, juicy shredded chicken tossed in a mildly spicy, honey-sweetened sauce. Oh my. Knees, weak.
Pile it onto rolls with a touch of token greens (because, you know…I’m all about well rounded meals here! 😉 )…..
And if you really want to go all out, make some Blue Cheese Sauce for the blue cheese fans! (That’d be me, but I’d say my friends are split pretty evenly in the pro and anti blue-cheese camps. So I always serve blue cheese on the side!)
Oh boy, happy days.
You know that 2 seconds after I took this shot, there was an enormous BITE taken out of this, don’t you??
But more important than whether you’re in the Blue Cheese camp, which camp are you in for SUPER BOWL SUNDAY 2016??
a) Denver BRONCOS!
b) Carolina PANTHERS!
c) Neither. I just get excited about the food!
For disclosure purposes, I am c). 😉 – Nagi x
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Slow Cooker Honey Buffalo Chicken Sliders
Ingredients
Buffalo Chicken
- 2 lb / 1 kg chicken breast , boneless skinless (3 large or 4 small)
- 4 tbsp butter
- 3/4 cup hot sauce of choice (Note 2)
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 tbsp tomato ketchup (or Australian tomato sauce)
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder (or onion powder)
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme (or 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves)
- 1 tsp salt
- Black pepper
Sauce
- 1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch / corn flour
To serve
- 7 rolls
- Lettuce of choice (optional)
- Blue Cheese Sauce (optional - see recipe below)
Instructions
Buffalo Chicken
- Place chicken in one layer in slow cooker and sprinkle with garlic powder, paprika, thyme, salt and pepper. Add remaining Buffalo Chicken ingredients, mostly around the chicken rather than on top. Cook on LOW for 4 hours. (Note 2)
- Remove chicken from slow cooker and shred roughly with too forks.
- Toss in Sauce and keep warm.
Sauce
- Mix cornstarch with 2 tbsp water and add to Sauce (after chicken is removed). Simmer on sauté setting in slow cooker for 5 minutes, or until thickened to a syrup consistency (or transfer to saucepan and do this over medium heat).
- Adjust salt & spiciness to taste per Note 1.
To serve
- Split rolls in half and toast (if desired). Butter (if desired), then place lettuce on bottom half and top with chicken. Serve warm, with Blue Cheese Sauce if you're a fan of blue cheese!
Recipe Notes:
PRESSURE COOKER: 30 minutes on high.
STOVE: Add 1/2 cup of water and simmer for 50 minutes to 1 hour (with lid), or until chicken is fork tender. 3. Nutrition for Buffalo Chicken Sliders (excluding blue cheese sauce), per serving assuming 8 servings.
Nutrition Information:
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Blue Cheese Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese , softened (I use gorgonzola)
- 1/4 cup sour cream (I usually use low fat)
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 small garlic clove , minced
- 2 - 4 tbsp milk
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Black pepper
Instructions
- Place blue cheese and sour cream in a bowl and mush with a fork, to taste. I like mine a bit chunky.
- Add remaining ingredients, using milk to adjust the consistency to your taste. I like it thick so it doesn't run everywhere.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Absolutely C! Who would opt for the other if this is in front of you?
I might sound rude but I think you need to invite me over Nagi! Those recipes you show over here are way to close to what I like…
Thanks for sharing them!
BA HA HA!! I love that, you’re my kind of people Simon!!! Come on over, I’ll bury you in a mountain of these! 😉
Ok I’m on my way! How long will I have to walk I’ll be coming from Belgium; ) think I will be hungry 🙂
Oh! Belgium to Sydney? Just around the corner! 😉
I’m “C”…..I like all the food recipes!!! Your sandwiches Look Great! I can’t wait to try them for the Daytona 500!!!!
Thats my sport! I have also visited Adelaide many times for my work! I really miss the place!
Woah! You’re into racing?? You’ve been to Adelaide for work?? What do you do??
Denver because I have family there. I’ll definitely be making these in honour.
Your family must still be on Cloud NINE!!!! 🙂
Camp C and then camp A
Chicken sounds wonderful, can’t wait to try it.
I love that you have your priorities straight!! 😉
I am in the big C camp!! Yeah rah food!! That way I’m a winner all the way around. Your sandwiches look delicious and I wish I were there to enjoy them. My second choice will be the Broncos because of Peyton Manning — we are from Indiana and he did play for the Colts for many years. He is still highly regarded! xxxooo
This is why we are friends!!! 😉
I’m rooting for the food. Don’t c are who wins
You’re my kind of people 😉
Thanks for the great game day recipes. I’m rooting for the Panthers
Aw Gail….condolences!!! I trust you drowned your sorrows…??? 😉
c.
Yay! Come join MY party!! 🙂
Denver born and raised! Go Broncos!
I’m definitely going to make these. They sound amazing!
So you enjoyed the game then??!!! 😉 N x
I am with you, c, just enjoy good food and especially with good friends!
Camp C is where the real action happens. Great food, great drinks, no distraction of a game on TV!!! 🙂
I’m in the “A” camp (cause I like to pull for the old guy….) And I am most definitely in the pro-blue cheese camp, as well! I’m thinking this would be fantastic on King’s Hawaiian rolls (not sure if you have those in Australia… ) Yum!
We don’t!! I tried them while I was in America, they are lovely! We have similar, but not quite as sweet 🙂
I’m c. I just love football.
🙂 N x
I’m “C” as well, Nagi! Great food and friends! These sandwiches need to be inside my belly right now though! What a yummy recipe. Thanks for sharing!
Woo hoo! We can have our OWN Game Day parties!!
Nagi, sentimentally rooting for Peyton and the Broncos. Your pic is amazing. You made a pulled chicken sandwich look good. You are incredible!!!
How hard did you celebrate…???? N x
Hi Nagi! Printed this immediately! YES to the blue cheese sauce! It’s not noon here yet and I want one (or two) of these! 🙂 Frank’s is always in my house, it’s my go to hot sauce. Have a great weekend! PS I’m right there with you in camp “c” – for me it’s the food, not the football !
Of COURSE you’re a blue cheese gal Dorothy!!!! I would never have doubted otherwise 😉 You’re my kind of gal….in camp C all the way!!! 🙂