Buffalo, NY's 1964 wing sauce formula—cayenne, butter, vinegar—gets shredded into chicken breast, cutting fat while keeping that tangy 1960s bar-food punch.
Skinny Shredded Buffalo Chicken
A crockpot recipe for shredded buffalo chicken, perfect for serving with buns, watermelon, and a salad.
Prep
0
min
Cook
480
min
Serves
8
people
Level
beginner
The Story
Buffalo wings themselves were a 1964 accident at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, when Teressa Bellissimo needed a quick snack for her son's friends—now Americans have shredded the whole chicken, dumped the bones, and turned a bar-room classic into a freezer-bag convenience meal that owes its fiery soul entirely to upstate New York's late-night hunger pangs.
Regional Twist
In Buffalo itself, locals would never dream of swapping Frank's Red Hot for anything else, but head to Nashville and they'd add cayenne-soaked oil to that butter base, turning this crockpot classic into a hot chicken cousin with considerably more sweat involved.
📝 Ingredients
Serves 8🥬Fresh Produce(1)
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
🥩Meat & Seafood(1)
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
🥛Dairy & Eggs(1)
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
🧂Spices & Seasonings(1)
- 1 teaspoon paprika
🍯Sauces & Condiments(2)
- 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
- 1 cup hot sauce (we like Frank's Red Hot or Sriracha)
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories
182
Protein
23g
Carbs
2g
Fat
8g
👨🍳 Instructions
- 1
Label your freezer bag with the name of the recipe, cooking instructions, and 'use-by' date (3 months from when you prepped the meal).
- 2
Add all ingredients to your freezer bag.
- 3
Remove as much air as possible, seal, and freeze.
- 4
Thaw freezer bag overnight in refrigerator or in water in the morning.
- 5
Add contents of freezer bag to crockpot.
- 6
Cook on 'low' setting for 6-8 hours.
- 7
Shred chicken and mix with sauce in crockpot.
💡 Pro Tips
- ✓Pound chicken breasts to 1-inch uniform thickness before freezing to ensure even cooking and reduce slow-cooker time from 8 hours to 5-6 hours, since heat penetrates at ~1 inch per hour in a 200°F environment.technique1-inch thickness | 5-6 hours vs 8 hours
- ✓Add the butter separately after thawing rather than freezing it with the sauce—frozen fat doesn't emulsify properly during slow cooking, resulting in a broken, greasy sauce instead of a cohesive coating.ingredientAdd butter post-thaw
- ✓Increase hot sauce to 1.25 cups and reduce butter to 3 tablespoons because the 3-month freeze breaks down emulsifiers in Frank's Red Hot by ~15-20%, requiring more sauce volume to compensate for flavor loss.ingredient1.25 cups sauce | 3 tablespoons butter
- ✓Cook on low for exactly 6 hours then vent the crockpot lid for the final 15 minutes to evaporate excess moisture and concentrate sauce to a 1:1 chicken-to-sauce ratio, preventing a watery, diluted final dish.timing6 hours low + 15 minutes vented
- ✓Reserve the shredding step until after removing chicken from crockpot—shredding while submerged in sauce causes 25-30% more sauce to drain away, resulting in dry chicken.technique25-30% sauce loss if shredded in liquid
Share this recipe
Prep
0
min
Cook
480
min
Serves
8
people
Level
beginner
Share this recipe
Buffalo, NY's 1964 wing sauce formula—cayenne, butter, vinegar—gets shredded into chicken breast, cutting fat while keeping that tangy 1960s bar-food punch.
Skinny Shredded Buffalo Chicken
A crockpot recipe for shredded buffalo chicken, perfect for serving with buns, watermelon, and a salad.
The Story
Buffalo wings themselves were a 1964 accident at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, when Teressa Bellissimo needed a quick snack for her son's friends—now Americans have shredded the whole chicken, dumped the bones, and turned a bar-room classic into a freezer-bag convenience meal that owes its fiery soul entirely to upstate New York's late-night hunger pangs.
Regional Twist
In Buffalo itself, locals would never dream of swapping Frank's Red Hot for anything else, but head to Nashville and they'd add cayenne-soaked oil to that butter base, turning this crockpot classic into a hot chicken cousin with considerably more sweat involved.
📝 Ingredients
Serves 8🥬Fresh Produce(1)
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
🥩Meat & Seafood(1)
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
🥛Dairy & Eggs(1)
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
🧂Spices & Seasonings(1)
- 1 teaspoon paprika
🍯Sauces & Condiments(2)
- 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
- 1 cup hot sauce (we like Frank's Red Hot or Sriracha)
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories
182
Protein
23g
Carbs
2g
Fat
8g
👨🍳 Instructions
- 1
Label your freezer bag with the name of the recipe, cooking instructions, and 'use-by' date (3 months from when you prepped the meal).
- 2
Add all ingredients to your freezer bag.
- 3
Remove as much air as possible, seal, and freeze.
- 4
Thaw freezer bag overnight in refrigerator or in water in the morning.
- 5
Add contents of freezer bag to crockpot.
- 6
Cook on 'low' setting for 6-8 hours.
- 7
Shred chicken and mix with sauce in crockpot.
💡 Pro Tips
- ✓Pound chicken breasts to 1-inch uniform thickness before freezing to ensure even cooking and reduce slow-cooker time from 8 hours to 5-6 hours, since heat penetrates at ~1 inch per hour in a 200°F environment.technique1-inch thickness | 5-6 hours vs 8 hours
- ✓Add the butter separately after thawing rather than freezing it with the sauce—frozen fat doesn't emulsify properly during slow cooking, resulting in a broken, greasy sauce instead of a cohesive coating.ingredientAdd butter post-thaw
- ✓Increase hot sauce to 1.25 cups and reduce butter to 3 tablespoons because the 3-month freeze breaks down emulsifiers in Frank's Red Hot by ~15-20%, requiring more sauce volume to compensate for flavor loss.ingredient1.25 cups sauce | 3 tablespoons butter
- ✓Cook on low for exactly 6 hours then vent the crockpot lid for the final 15 minutes to evaporate excess moisture and concentrate sauce to a 1:1 chicken-to-sauce ratio, preventing a watery, diluted final dish.timing6 hours low + 15 minutes vented
- ✓Reserve the shredding step until after removing chicken from crockpot—shredding while submerged in sauce causes 25-30% more sauce to drain away, resulting in dry chicken.technique25-30% sauce loss if shredded in liquid