This Buffalo Chicken Recipe is a fun and delicious anytime dinner made with just a handful of simple ingredients including juicy chicken breasts, hot sauce, honey, garlic, and butter. Ready in under 30 minutes, enjoy this low-carb and gluten-free baked buffalo chicken with all your favorite sides or chop it up and add it to this reader-favorite Buffalo Chicken Dip recipe.
The BEST Baked Buffalo Chicken
Bold, healthy, and bursting with delicious buffalo flavor, this buffalo chicken recipe is easily one of my all-time favorite chicken recipes. Made with super simple ingredients like chicken breasts, hot sauce, butter, honey, and garlic, it’s easy to enjoy this chicken plain, tossed in your favorite salad, baked in pasta, thrown on a pizza, or wrapped in a tortilla with crunchy veggies and healthy greens.
And, just like my baked buffalo cauliflower, slow cooker buffalo chicken dip, or buffalo turkey meatballs, these juicy baked buffalo chicken breasts come with all the same incredible flavor as sticky buffalo wings – minus the mess.
Simple Ingredients
For the full list and amounts of ingredients in this baked buffalo chicken recipe, scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom of the page.
- Chicken – I love both chicken breasts and chicken thighs but in keeping things on the lighter side, I chose to make this recipe with breast meat. I did not feel the need to sear my chicken breasts before baking. If you decide to use bone-in skin-on chicken thighs, this is a step that I would recommend.
- Olive oil – Simply drizzle your chicken breasts with olive oil and toss well to coat.
- Salt, pepper, and other seasonings – Since we’re planning to coat our chicken breasts in buffalo sauce I left the seasoning and spices simple with just salt, pepper, and a little garlic powder.
- Buffalo Sauce – Prepare your own homemade buffalo sauce or purchase your favorite store-bought sauce. Before I started making my own this Wing-Time Buffalo Wing Sauce was my go-to.
What is the Best Hot Sauce for Homemade Buffalo Sauce?
Frank’s Red Hot Sauce, hands down. Used in all my buffalo sauce recipes, including this Easy Buffalo Cauliflower Recipe and these Buffalo Turkey Meatballs, Frank’s Red Hot is easy to find in most supermarkets or on Amazon. Affordable, flavorful, and just the right amount of spicy, it tastes great plain or mixed with cheese, protein, or vegetables.
How to make this easy buffalo chicken recipe
To make this super flavorful chicken you’ll need the following tools and equipment: digital meat thermometer, 9×13 baking dish, mixing bowls and measuring cups, and kitchen tongs.
Step 1. Make your buffalo sauce
Making your own buffalo sauce is easy, requiring just a few ingredients. You can, of course, always buy store-bought buffalo sauce, but I find that it’s easier to make my own.
The main ingredients in this buffalo sauce include,
- Hot Sauce
- Melted butter
- Fresh garlic
- Honey
- Onion powder
- Fresh lime juice
The most well known hot sauce used for buffalo wings, buffalo dip, or buffalo sauce is Frank’s Red Hot Sauce (which also happens to be my favorite). Hands down, Frank’s has the best tang to spice ratio and is probably the hot sauce that has been used to make your favorite restaurant buffalo sauce.
Now, you also need butter. After all, that’s what makes buffalo sauce so finger-licking good! Typically, the hot sauce to butter ratio is 2 to 1. In this recipe, however, we’re going to be making our sauce with less since we start out by coating our chicken in olive oil and we’re adding honey. Too much butter would be overkill, but feel free to add as much or as little as you like.
All those other ingredients? Technically, they’re optional, but I highly recommend you add them to your sauce. The garlic and onion powder add a greater depth of flavor, the honey helps balance the spice and the lime (or lemon) juice really helps all the flavors POP!
How do you make buffalo sauce?
It’s super easy. Basically, grab a bowl, add all the ingredients, mix it all together, and season to taste. Does it have enough salt? Pepper? Is it sweet enough?
Step 2. Preheat oven and prepare chicken
Preheat oven to 400°F and spray a large 11 x 8-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Add the chicken breasts to your baking dish and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle both sides with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, to season.
Pour your prepared buffalo sauce (or store-bought buffalo sauce) over the top of the chicken breasts. Thoroughly coat each chicken breast in sauce (I like to use kitchen tongs to rotate each chicken breast 1-2 times).
Step 3. Bake
Tent your baking dish with foil and transfer it to the oven. Bake, covered, for 20 minutes. Then uncover and continue to bake for an additional 5-15 minutes, or until internal temperature registers 160°F as measured with a digital meat thermometer.
Remove from the oven and allow your chicken to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
What to Serve with Buffalo Chicken
For starchy sides, I love to serve this recipe with creamy cheesy Instant Pot mac and cheese, garlic roasted potatoes, or (my personal favorite) baked sweet potatoes.
Cut the carbs and serve it with cauliflower mashed potatoes, cauliflower rice, or zucchini noodles, instead.
But what about vegetables? Fortunately, buffalo sauce (especially when a little ranch dressing is served with it on the side) pairs well with all kinds of veggies. Try roasted carrots, cauliflower, or roasted brussels sprouts. Of course, you can never go wrong with a fresh green salad, so let’s not forget that.
Tips and Tricks
Buffalo Sauce: This recipe makes approx. 1.5 cups of buffalo sauce. You may pour it all onto your chicken and bake OR reserve approximately 1/2 cup for serving (careful not to cross-contaminate with raw chicken).
Prepare ahead: You can also prepare this recipe ahead of time and allow your chicken to marinate overnight. Combine the chicken breasts, olive oil, salt, pepper, and prepared buffalo sauce in a gallon size zip-lock bag and refrigerate until ready to bake.
To make keto-friendly – Omit the honey. Top with mozzarella cheese, instead.
How do I know when my chicken is cooked?
Poultry should be cooked to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F as read by a digital meat thermometer and allowed to rest for 5 minutes before serving. Cooking times will vary depending on the size and thickness of your chicken breasts.
More Healthy Chicken Recipes,
- Easy Baked Pesto Chicken Recipe
- Baked Honey Mustard Chicken Recipe
- Homemade Chicken Soup Recipe
- How to Cook Chicken Breasts
- Chicken Stock Recipe (How to Make Chicken Stock)
- Moo Goo Gai Pan Recipe
If you try this easy baked buffalo chicken recipe, please leave me a comment and let me know! I always love to read your thoughts and feedback!
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Buffalo Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup Frank's Red Hot Sauce
- 3 tablespoon butter - melted
- 3 tablespoon honey - plus more to taste
- ½ lime - juiced
- 3 cloves garlic - minced
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- Feta cheese - for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F and spray a large 11 x 8-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
- Add the chicken breasts to your baking dish and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle both sides with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, to season.
- Prepare your homemade buffalo sauce. In a small mixing bowl whisk together the Frank's Red Hot Sauce, melted butter, honey, lime juice, minced garlic, and onion powder. Season with additional salt, pepper, or honey, to taste.
- Pour your prepared buffalo sauce over the top of the chicken breasts. Thoroughly coat each chicken breast in sauce (I like to use kitchen tongs to rotate each chicken breast 1-2 times).
- Tent your baking dish with foil and transfer it to the oven. Bake, covered, for 20 minutes. Then uncover and continue to bake for an additional 5-15 minutes, or until internal temperature registers 160°F as measured with a digital meat thermometer.
- Remove from the oven and allow your chicken to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Jessica's Notes
- Buffalo Sauce: This recipes makes approx. 1.5 cups of buffalo sauce. You may pour it all onto your baking dish and bake with the chicken OR reserve approximately 1/2 cup for serving (careful not to cross-contaminate with raw chicken).
- Prepare ahead: You can also prepare this recipe ahead of time and allow your chicken to marinate overnight. Combine the chicken breasts, olive oil, salt, pepper, and prepared buffalo sauce in a gallon size zip-lock bag and refrigerate until ready to bake.
- Should you sear your chicken before baking? I did not feel the need to sear my chicken breasts before baking. However, if you decide to use bone-in skin-on chicken thighs, this is a step that I would recommend.
- What temperature should I cook chicken to? Poultry should be cooked to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F and allowed to rest for 5 minutes before serving. Cooking times will vary depending on the size and thickness of your chicken breasts.
- To make keto-friendly- Omit the honey. Top with mozzarella cheese, instead.
Nutritional Information
(Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and specific brands of ingredients used.)
This is so moist, and delicious, and adds so much more flavor!
After trying this recipe tonight, we voted…and it is officially this is our new favorite buffalo chicken recipe!
There was so much more flavor in this recipe my son actually passed on the blue cheese all together…the flavor also beats the premade big brand frozen stuff we would normally buy, which also would have included the extra breading -that’s already fried.
When I would make this from scratch, I always used the “lazy” way of making this with only butter and hot sauce (I like Frank’s RedHot) and used breaded chicken.
I’ve tried baking with no bread crumbs before, winging it myself, and it was over dried and boring. Safe to say this one is not boring!
**The only thing I did different was after following your recipe was when it was all cooked and had rested about five minutes, I took all the spice and juces from the bottom of the pan and added it to the reserved sauce I had set aside. After mixing them together, I pored it over the chicken I had sliced up on each plate and survey with a side of baked zucchini with olive oil and Tuscan Spicy Garlic to taste and a tossed salad of romaine lettuce, cucumber, mixed sweet peppers, with some added chopped kale.
I have been making healthier options when cooking for health benefits (and my diabetic needs) while trying hard to find things my family will also enjoy. There are some dishes that I love I knew I would miss…like buffalo chicken. Thanks to a recipe like this, that wont be the case anymore.
*Also, I love that your site has the option to change the servings by taping on the serving size button and the measurements adjust automatically in the recipe. That’s a really nice feature which takes the extra fuss of measuring out of the equation when making larger batches.
I just subscribed to your site and will be checking out your other recipes too…Thank you!
*PS…. I also left out the honey.
Thank you for the detailed feedback Jess 😀
All 3 kids loved this. That hardly ever happens! Thanks for the great recipe
I am happy to hear your kids all loved it 🙂
This dish is amazing!!! I double all ingredients except oil & chicken, put them in a baggie and marinate 3hrs. Dump all into a baking dish, add some crumbled blue cheese when done and oh soooooooo delicious! My husband’s favorite ❤
A good BBQ / Chicken sauce! Was easy.
turned out great! loved it
Thanks Lindsey 🙂
Delicious!
Is the nutrition for one serving or the whole meal
Hi Rob, the Nutritional information is for one serving, which is one full chicken breast in this case 🙂