Buffalo Chicken Cheese Ball

This Buffalo Chicken Cheese Ball recipe is creamy, cheesy, and spicy! The buffalo chicken adds tons of flavor and it’s great with crackers, celery, and carrots!

 

Let’s all take a moment and just appreciate how great cheese balls are.

Buffalo Chicken + Cheese Ball = Perfection

Can we chat for a moment about cheese balls and how they are sorta one of my favorite foods?

Whoever had the idea to roll cheese into a ball and serve it as a snack was sort of brilliant.

In fact, I think I’ll be divorcing my husband and marrying that person instead. We’d be a match made in heaven. Sorry, husband. It was fun while it lasted. Please be sure to empty out your side of the dresser. I’ll need extra cheese storage.

Honestly, a good cheese ball is just the perfect party food and this one combined our buffalo chicken dip with the fun of a cheese ball. Perfect for dipping and spreading and munching.

This recipe is spicy, of course, but not overwhelming. All that cheese tones things down and gives you a nice, mellow burn that most people will enjoy.

We’ll include tips for amping up the heat (or toning it down) in the recipe card!

♥ What We Love About This Recipe:

• Easy: This is a very simple recipe to prepare! Just a bit of mixing and then some chilling in the fridge, no cooking required. I do recommend grating your own cheese instead of using shredded though, it’s worth the effort!
• Parties: Buffalo chicken cheese balls are perfect for party appetizers! Serve this up with your favorite options for dipping. See below for some serving suggestions. Your guests will love this cheesy, spicy, savory dip!

Ingredients & Swaps:

Cheese – This cheese ball recipe starts with room temperature cream cheese for easy mixing! You’ll also need some freshly grated cheddar cheese. It’ll have a much better taste and texture than the pre-shredded kind! Feel free to stir in some blue cheese if that’s a flavor you enjoy

Ranch Seasoning – You’ll need some ranch seasoning powder for mixing with the cheese and chicken. Be sure to use ranch seasoning and not ranch dip mix or your cheese ball will be quite salty.

Hot Sauce – We’re using Frank’s Red Hot for a nice kick here. For a more mild cheese ball, use mild buffalo sauce. For more spice, stir in dried cayenne or use an extra hot win sauce.

Shredded Chicken – We’re starting this recipe off with already cooked, shredded chicken. Try my easy shredded chicken recipe to make it ahead of time! We use it for recipes like this. A rotisserie chicken would work here too.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Step by Step:

To begin add the softened cream cheese, ranch seasoning, and hot sauce to a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth.

Next, grate some cheddar and combine it and the shredded chicken with the cheese mixture. Give it all a good stir to combine.

Tear off about a 12 inch piece of plastic wrap and pile the cheese ball mixture into the center. Bring up the edges of the wrap and shape the cheese into a ball. Place it in the fridge to chill for at least two hours.

After chilling you can unwrap the plastic and reshape it as needed and serve it with your favorite dipping options! See below for suggestions.

Serving Suggestions:

When it comes to dipping you’ve got lots of good options! Try this buffalo chicken cheese ball recipe with some of these popular choices:

• Crunchy Stuff: Pretty much any kind of cracker will do (try this with our Firecrackers for extra spicy flavor!) and so will chips! Pita chips, tortilla chips, potato chips, bagel chips, and pretzels are also good.

• Veggies: Plenty of options here! Carrot sticks and celery sticks are traditional buffalo chicken sides perfect for dipping. Bell peppers and cucumber slices are nice and cooling with the spicy cheese.

• Jalapeno Popper Bread
• Hot Corn Dip
• Olive Spread
• Totchos
• Ricotta Dip