Skillet Buffalo Chicken Dip
Canned chicken, shelf-stable cheese, and hot sauce melted in a skillet over the fire.
- calories
- 330
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 73
- protein
- 21 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 25 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Snack
- Lunch
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Dutch oven
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Cooked chicken | 2 cups, diced | canned chicken drained, or rotisserie meat pulled at home |
|---|---|---|
| Cream cheese | 8 oz | leave it out an hour before mixing or it will not blend |
| Shredded mozzarella | 1 1/2 cups | |
| Shredded parmesan | 1/2 cup | |
| Hot sauce | 1/3 cup | Frank's RedHot is the standard; start with less if the group is soft on heat |
Method
- At home or at camp, mash the cream cheese with the hot sauce until it is one color, then fold in the chicken and the mozzarella.
- Spread the mix into an 8-inch cast iron skillet and scatter the parmesan over the top.
- Cover the skillet with foil and set it on a grill grate over coals that have burned down. No flames.
- Give it about 20 minutes, turning the skillet a quarter turn every five so one side does not scorch. It is done when the edges bubble and the top has gone slack and golden.
- Pull it off the heat and let it sit two minutes before anyone puts a chip in it. It comes out of the pan at the temperature of lava.
This is dairy in a cooler, so it is a car camping dish and nothing else. What makes it work over a fire instead of an oven is the cast iron: the skillet holds an even, moderate heat off coals, and the foil lid traps enough steam that the cheese melts before the bottom browns. Direct flame will split the cream cheese into grease and curds.
Cream cheese is the structure. It is what keeps the hot sauce from running off the chicken and pooling. Mix it at home while it is soft and you skip the worst part of the job at camp, where cold cream cheese and a plastic spork are a bad pairing. Canned chicken works fine here and saves you carrying anything raw.
Packing
Mix everything except the parmesan at home and carry it in a quart freezer bag in the cooler. Parmesan goes in its own small bag. The bag mix keeps three days cold and pours straight into the skillet.
Variations
- Blue cheese crumbles in place of half the parmesan push it closer to a wing plate.
- Swap cheddar or Monterey Jack for the mozzarella if that is what the store had.
- Leftovers cold on a tortilla the next morning are better than they should be.
https://campfirefoodie.com/easy-skillet-buffalo-chicken-dip-recipe