Tips, Tricks and Substitutions
Do you have to use boneless thighs? You can easily use breast instead of thighs so use whatever is in your house and/or your preference. The important thing is that the chicken is cooked and shredded before you make the dip.
Do you HAVE to use these specific cheeses? If you don’t have monterey jack, just make sure you have a good melting cheese like havarti, fontina, young gouda, young cheddar. Any of these cheeses will give you the satisfying cheese pull. The sharp cheddar gives you some more flavor, so an aged gouda, aged cheddar would work well here. As for blue cheese, it can be left out if you want. I’d stay away from the dressing and use freshly crumbled blue cheese though. Gorgonzola will also work of course.
Method
What are other ways to make shredded chicken? I usually make my shredded chicken in the pressure cooker because it’s my fastest option where I can set it and forget it. Another option is in the slow cooker, or baking and then shredding. If you have leftover whole roasted chicken, pick the meat and toss in buffalo sauce. The biggest thing is that the chicken is already cooked and shredded before it goes into the dip.
Does the cream cheese need to be softened? No, but it is going to make your life a lot easier to mix it. It will be easier to mix it once you add the warm chicken (assuming you just finished cooking it) but ultimately, the easiest way to mix it is when it is soft and nice and spreadable.
Ingredients
What type of buffalo sauce do you use? I usually buy Sweet Baby Ray’s buffalo sauce. Use whatever sauce you prefer. I like this one as it’s mild in the spice area but still has a good flavor.
What is miso and do I need it? Miso is fermented soy beans. It adds a fantastic savoriness to the dish and an extra layer of depth to the dish to make it stand out a bit. I use white miso because it’s the fairly mild. If you have yellow or red miso, I’d use a little less as it has been fermented longer and usually has a stronger flavor. If you don’t have miso, you can easily leave that out as well. But I’d recommend buying it because it lasts in the fridge for a very long time.
Where do you find miso in the grocery store? I find it either by the tofu/vegetarian area where the kimchi is located or in the Asian aisle. I haven’t found a brand I’m particularly attached to, just make sure you know what kind you’re buying.
Do you need to use the specific amount of cheese? You can add more or less cheese, the 2 oz is roughly ½ cup of shredded cheese. I used this as a ballpark so it was easier to replicate. As for the blue cheese if you really love blue cheese, feel free to add more into the the mix. Or less if it is too strong for you.
Equipment
What type of vessel did you use? I used a 1.5 qt casserole dish to bake my dip. This gave the dip a bigger surface area and thus more cheesy topping. You could easily do it in a small glass container or metal pan. A 9 x 9 square pan will work, but it may take a bit longer to get melty, so keep an eye on it. Just look for bubbling and browning of the cheese.
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Three Cheese Buffalo Chicken Dip
Ingredients
- 3 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1 ½ cup buffalo sauce divided
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 3 tablespoons white miso
- 2 oz shredded monterey jack about ½ cup
- 2 oz shredded sharp cheddar about ½ cup
- 1 oz crumbled blue cheese
- Tortilla chips
Instructions
- Place the 3 chicken thighs in the pressure cooker and add 1 cup of buffalo sauce into the pot. Seal and set to high pressure for 20 minutes. Carefully, release the pressure manually after it is complete.
- While the chicken is cooking, preheat the oven to 375 F.
- Shred the monterey jack and sharp cheddar and combine in a small mixing bowl.
- Remove the chicken from the pressure cooker (you can leave the buffalo sauce in the pressure cooker) and shred in a medium mixing bowl. Set aside.
- In the medium mixing bowl that has the chicken, add the cream cheese, miso and ½ of the monterey jack/cheddar mixture plus the rest of the buffalo sauce until creamy and well mixed.
- Spread the dip into an oven safe vessel (I use a 1.5 qt casserole dish or 9x9 pan). Top with the rest of the monterey jack/cheddar mixture and sprinkle with the blue cheese.
- Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until bubbles form.
- Remove from the oven and enjoy with chips.
Notes
- You can cook the chicken in a slow cooker on high for 4 hours or on low for 8 hours with the buffalo sauce and then shred it.
- You can use already cooked chicken from a whole chicken and toss in buffalo sauce.
- You can substitute chicken breasts for chicken thighs if you prefer. You may need to add a bit more buffalo sauce to the dip.
