Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
These meatballs are a lighter, healthier alternative to buffalo wings, and you can easily make them right in the slow cooker!
It’s been insanely warm out here in the Bay Area, and I even think it high 90 degrees in the house yesterday. So the last thing I want to do is leave the stovetop or oven on. That’s why I finally dusted off my slow cooker, and seeing that I had an entire bottle of Frank’s RedHot ready to be used up, I just had to make these epic buffalo chicken meatballs. I’m not even a buffalo fan but these meatballs still blew my mind!
You can even make these ahead of time up to the point of baking them. When you’re ready to serve, pop these babies right into the slow cooker for about 2 hours, really letting the buffalo flavors soak right in. From there, you can drizzle on that blue cheese dressing goodness to taste. Best of all, these can be served as a snack, a party appetizer or even a light dinner!
Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground chicken
- ¾ cup Panko*
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ¾ cup buffalo sauce
- ¼ cup blue cheese dressing
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat; set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine ground chicken, Panko, egg, garlic and onion powder and green onions; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Using a wooden spoon or clean hands, stir until well combined. Roll the mixture into 1 1/4-to-1 1/2-inch meatballs, forming about 24 meatballs.
- Place meatballs onto prepared baking sheet and bake for 4-5 minutes, or until all sides are browned.
- Place meatballs into a slow cooker. Add buffalo sauce and gently toss to combine. Cover and cook on low heat for 2 hours.
- Serve immediately, drizzled with blue cheese dressing, if desired.
Notes
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Yaaaay for these! Perfect for a pot luck or BBQ. Or just perfect for my face.
These meatballs look amazing! I love buffalo chicken anything, yum!
Just love these photos – I want to reach out and swipe a meatball. Or at the least, some of your warm temps!
It’s the boyfriend’s birthday party next weekend and I have a feeling these will be very popular with the lads! The best part is I can prepare everything ahead of time! One less thing to worry about 🙂 Thank you!!!
I LOVE meatballs, but don’t make them nearly often enough. Totally making these the next time we have a family get together – I know they’ll be devoured!
I need to make these for my husband – he will LOVE them!
I’m thinking I may bake them, then freeze until I need them quickly one night. Wonder if I could just put them in the slow cooker frozen. I have recipes for the slow cooker where you use frozen chicken thighs, etc. How do you think the meatball would survive being slow cooked from frozen?
I recommend thawing the meatballs prior to adding to the slow cooker.
I know! It was 94 degrees in San Diego yesterday! Too hot. These meatballs look divine. Pinned.
LOVE that you used your slow cooker for this!!! Brilliant. . love this, Chung-Ah!
Where can I purchase the wooden skewers featured in your awesome photo?
I was able to purchase them from Amazon.
You can buy them on amazon.com
How about little pretzel sticks instead!
Brilliant idea!
I got them at my local supermarket. I cut up celery into sticks and used them.
Hot weather???? I live in Arizona its been hot for about a month or two. LOL! Look forward to making these. You had me at crock pot!……. Great photos! On a serious note , your recipes have renewed my love of cooking , thanks…..
Can I just, uhm maybe *sneaks up and steals one*
These look marvellous! Buffalo combo all the way, thanks for a great recipe! x
love your recipes….but 3/4 cup of Franks???????? I think I am brave when I use 2 tablespoons!!!!!!!!
Feel free to adjust the amount of buffalo sauce to taste.
Buffalo sauce is 1/2 hot sauce and 1/2 melted butter! Yum, try it!
So tasty looking and so easy! Envious of your sunny weather, it’s chilly and rainy here.
Looks great. Love ground chicken. Is the buffalo sauce the hot sauce you used?
I used Frank’s RedHot for the buffalo sauce.
I put that $#!+ on EVERYTHING!!!
Yep, got to 90 degrees here in FL this week too so I am definitely needing some time off the oven! I adore buffalo chicken, so these must happen to my face!
I love the colors in the first shot! Pinned!
Oh what an awesome idea!!! I could see theses being a big hit at my next party!
OMGerd. This looks so simple to make! But soo delicious looking! Must try it soon!
these were delicious….i was only able to get 19 meatballs out of the batch and i did make them small so next time i will double the recipe i think…i used sweet baby rays wing sauce and they were perfect…thank you for sharing
I can see you took full advantage of your hand model, or platter-holding model 🙂 The blue shirt with the color of the meatballs make these images pop! What perfect party food!