Pulled Buffalo Chicken Bowls with Blue Cheese Celery Slaw are a healthy way to enjoy buffalo chicken and perfect for a weeknight meal. Boneless, skinless chicken breast is cooked low and slow until falling apart, then gets shredded and combined with your favorite hot sauce. The blue cheese celery slaw is a fun take on the classic combination and incorporates extra veggies into these bowls. The best part? I’ve tested two options for cooking your chicken: roasting in a Dutch oven, or letting it go in the crock pot. Whichever option you choose, just know you’ll have a delicious and healthy meal ready to go in no time!
Ingredients needed to make Pulled Buffalo Chicken Bowls with Blue Cheese Celery Slaw
To make the pulled buffalo chicken, you’ll need 3 large chicken breasts, a medium yellow onion, a few garlic cloves, dried parsley, your favorite hot sauce, water, and coconut cream. I know the coconut cream sounds strange, but you’ve got to trust me. You can’t taste the coconut at all, and using coconut cream is an easy and delicious way to get the creamy texture (similar to buffalo chicken dip!!) without all the cream cheese and shredded cheese that’s typically required. You can buy entire cans of coconut cream, or simply refrigerate a can of full-fat coconut milk overnight, then skim the hard white part off the top of the coconut milk and discard the clear liquid.
To make the blue cheese celery slaw, you’ll need a head of celery, a wedge of your favorite blue cheese or gorgonzola, fresh chives, fresh parsley, a few tablespoons of plain Greek yogurt, water, salt, and pepper. Bonus: if you double the recipe for the dressing, you can save the other half for dipping or drizzling over salads. This is a simple homemade blue cheese dressing recipe to have in your back pocket for loads of other uses!
Last, but certainly not least, you’ll need a base for your bowls. I love to serve this recipe over cauliflower rice, although my boyfriend prefers regular white rice. Both options are wonderful, but don’t be afraid to get creative. You could try stuffing the pulled buffalo chicken and blue cheese celery slaw inside of a baked sweet potato, serving it over quinoa, or rolling it into a wrap. Make it your own!
Tools used to make Pulled Buffalo Chicken Bowls with Blue Cheese Celery Slaw
You’ll need a few pieces of kitchen equipment to make Pulled Buffalo Chicken Bowls with Blue Cheese Celery Slaw. As always, you definitely want to have a good quality (and SHARP) chef’s knife in your arsenal. Depending on which method you choose to make your chicken, you’ll also need a medium-to-large Dutch oven with a lid, or a slow-cooker. My favorite Dutch oven is this one by Le Creuset.
To make the dressing for the blue cheese celery slaw, I recommend a food processor. Here’s the one I have and LOVE. It’s awesome because it has three containers all for different uses, whether you want to chop something, process it, or blend it!
Other than those items, you’ll need the typical cooking equipment such as cutting boards, mixing bowls, and all that jazz. Pretty easy, huh?
How to make Pulled Buffalo Chicken Bowls with Blue Cheese Celery Slaw
This recipe truly couldn’t be easier. To make the chicken, I’ve provided two options depending on the equipment in your kitchen and the amount of time you have. The first option is cooking the chicken in the oven in a Dutch oven. This option takes less time, but you can’t just leave and walk away like you can with the slow-cooker version, which is a downside. For the oven method, simply add all ingredients to your Dutch oven and cook at 325 degrees for approximately 1-1.5 hours.
To make the chicken in the slow-cooker instead, add all ingredients and cook on high power for 2-2.5 hours, or until the chicken easily pulls apart with a fork without much effort.
The blue cheese celery slaw is even easier to make than the chicken. All you have to do is chop a few things and add some other things to a food processor, and mix! Simple as that.
Looking for other easy dinner ideas?
Try these recipes for delicious meals that can be made any night of the week!
Summer White Pizza with Zucchini, Corn, and Chili Honey
Grilled Chicken, Asparagus, and Brie Ciabattas with Garlic Aioli
Recipe Ingredients
For the Pulled Buffalo Chicken
3 large chicken breasts
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried parsley
½ tsp kosher salt
½ cup hot sauce, divided
¼ cup water
¼ cup coconut cream
1 10-12oz package frozen cauliflower rice, for serving
For the Blue Cheese Celery Slaw
1 head celery, thinly sliced
1 handful chives, minced
⅛ cup blue cheese, at room temperature, plus more for serving
2 tbsp plain greek yogurt
2 tbsp water
1 tsp fresh parsley
Fresh ground black pepper
Pinch salt
Recipe Instructions
For the Pulled Buffalo Chicken
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut chicken breasts in half crosswise and place in the bottom of a large dutch oven with a lid. If using a crock pot, do not preheat the oven. Simply place the chicken inside the crockpot and proceed as directed.
- Scatter the onion and garlic over the chicken in an even layer. Combine ¼ cup of the hot sauce with the water, dried parsley, and salt, and pour over the chicken. Toss to coat.
- Bake for 1-1.5 hours, checking at the one hour mark, until the chicken easily pulls apart with a fork without much effort. If using a crock pot, cook on high for 2-2.5 hours.
- Remove the chicken and shred using two forks, then add it back into the cooking liquid. While the chicken is still hot, stir in the other ¼ cup hot sauce along with the coconut cream. Continue stirring until the coconut cream has melted and the chicken mixture becomes thick and creamy.
- Cook cauliflower rice according to package instructions. Serve pulled buffalo chicken over the cauliflower rice, and top with the blue cheese celery slaw. Drizzle additional hot sauce on top, if desired. Enjoy!
For the Blue Cheese Celery Slaw
- Thinly slice celery and chives and add to a large mixing bowl.
- In the bowl of a food processor, add the blue cheese, greek yogurt, water, parsley, salt, and pepper. Pulse to combine until the dressing is smooth and creamy. Add additional water if needed to achieve desired consistency.
- Pour the dressing over the celery and chives and fold to incorporate. Top with additional blue cheese crumbles if desired. Enjoy!
There may be affiliate links in this post! By purchasing a product I recommend, I may receive a small compensation. However, I only recommend products I love and use myself. Thank you for your continued support of The Ardent Cook, it does not go unnoticed.
The Ardent Cook 
3 Comments
Comments are closed.