These air fryer buffalo chicken bites are a healthier and easier alternative to your favorite buffalo chicken wings. Serve them with a blue cheese sauce and celery sticks. A perfect appetizer for a crowd!
Buffalo Chicken Bites
We all know and love the spicy, vinegary zing of great buffalo wings. But sometimes you don’t want to deep-fry your wings. Maybe you’re cutting calories, or you don’t feel like something as dense as deep-fried food. What are you to do?
Well, you can take a look at this awesome recipe for buffalo chicken bites! It’s actually healthier than typical buffalo wings, and it’s easier to make as well. We even think it tastes better, but we’ll let you be the judge of your own cooking.
What is Buffalo Chicken?
Something that has long confused visitors to the United States is the phrase “buffalo wings”. Buffalo, after all, are huge mammals. They don’t have wings, right? So what gives?
The term “Buffalo”, as we’re using it here, actually refers to Buffalo, New York, not the American bison. Buffalo wings, chicken wings either cooked, dipped, or marinated in buffalo sauce, supposedly trace their origins, like the sauce, to this part of New York state.
Typically, Buffalo wings are deep-fried without batter, tossed in a sauce, and served with a cheese dressing and celery sticks. The sauce is usually some type of hot sauce mixed with butter, and the classic cheese dressing is blue cheese. Chicken wings became a popular bar food because it’s easy to make large quantities to share with your friends and family.
Here, we’re riffing on this classic, and making some tangy, zesty buffalo bites. You can make your own chicken treats at home, miss the mess, and keep it pretty healthy, too.
Why We Love Boneless Wings
These buffalo bites aren’t deep fried. That means that some buffalo wing purists will claim that they aren’t authentic enough, but we say these are delicious enough to make up for it. These contain all the classic buffalo wings flavors with less mess, easier cooking, and even easier eating. How?
Boneless “wings”.
Just as the majestic American buffalo has no wings, we’re using bite-sized chunks of boneless chicken breast rather than a bone-in chicken wing to make this recipe. Why is that?
- First of all, there’s no skin. Traditional chicken wings taste best with the skin on, but the skin tastes best because it’s chock full of saturated fats. Here, we’re reducing the calories and lowering the saturated fat content by going skinless.
- Secondly, we’re not deep-frying chicken breast here. We’ll be quickly sauteeing our breast bites in olive oil to keep things from getting too messy, make it a little bit healthier, and still give you satisfyingly crispy chicken bites.
- Finally, with no bones, there’s less to worry about cleaning up. The chicken breast pieces are all meat, so there’s no annoying chicken bones left over to throw in the bin, and your guests can simply put the whole chicken bite in their mouth.
You'll Need
You will need a few simple ingredients to make this fantastic chicken dish.
How To Make Buffalo Chicken Bites
So these low-carb chicken bites are awesome for those on a diet, and they taste good enough that those who aren’t won’t suspect a thing! They’re also just as easy to make as they are to eat, and the simple, quick preparation minimizes mess as well. You won’t be deep-frying anything or using a batter, so that removed the pesky deep-cleaning that often follows a deep-frying session. As we mentioned before, with no bones, there’s nothing to clean up except the bowl you serve these little bites in!
- Combine chicken and olive oil in a large bowl.
- In a small bowl whisk together the cornstarch, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Add the mixture to the chicken and toss until evenly coated.
- Arrange the chicken in the air fryer basket and air fry at 390°F |200°C for 9-10 minutes. After 6 minutes, open the air fryer and flip the chicken.
- Once the chicken is cooked through, remove from heat, and make up your buffalo sauce. We’ll be using a mixture of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce and butter. Stir your chicken bites in this mixture until they’re generously coated in the sauce, which should be an attractive shade of red and quite aromatic.
- Last of all, you serve them up! As sides, serve up with blue cheese dressing and some celery sticks for the palate-cleansing crunch we all love.
Tools You’ll Need
You’ll need an air fryer. We love our Instant Vortex Air Fryer.
Tongs are very helpful for turning and tossing your buffalo chicken while it cooks.
Use a wooden spoon to coat your chicken bites in the buffalo sauce.
Expert Tips
- While we often recommend the use of a meat thermometer to check the doneness of your chicken, in this instance because there’s a large quantity of small chicken pieces, that’s not very helpful. Instead, you can simply cut through one of your chicken pieces - preferably a larger one - to see if it’s cooked through.
- Try to make sure your pieces of chicken are uniform in size and shape so they all cook evenly.
- If you have a medium-sized air fryer, we highly recommend cooking your chicken in batches so as not to overcrowd the basket. You want enough space between each bit of chicken so they aren’t touching one another. This can make the bites stick to each other and prevent them from cooking evenly, so we recommend that you prioritize quality over time if need be. These little bites don’t need long to cook, so your first batch won’t cool down too much while waiting for the second, and they all go back into the pan on low heat with the sauce anyway, so your chicken will all be served at a similar temperature.
More Air Fryer Recipes
Air Fryer Parmesan Crusted Chicken
Crispy Air Fryer Green Beans with Garlic
If you make this recipe be sure to leave a comment or give this recipe a rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐! I will be happy to hear from you!
Air Fryer Buffalo Chicken Bites
Ingredients
- 2 pounds 1 kilogram boneless chicken breast, diced into 2" pieces
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ cup cornstarch or cornflour
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 cup Frank's RedHot
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter or ghee
Serving
- Celery sticks
- Blue cheese dressing
Equipment
Instructions
- Mix the chicken and olive oil in a large bowl. Keep aside. It will help the coating to stick.
- In a small bowl whisk together the cornstarch, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
- Add the mixture to the chicken and toss until evenly coated.
- Preheat your air fryer. Spray the air basket with non-stick cooking spray. Arrange the chicken in a single layer and air fry at 390°F |200°C for 9-10 minutes. After 6 minutes, open the air fryer and flip the chicken. Cook further for 3-4 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken pieces. Transfer to a plate. You might need to air fry the chicken in batches.
- Add the butter and Franks Red Hot sauce to the skillet and cook until the butter is melted.
- Add the cooked chicken to the buffalo sauce and toss to coat. Cook further for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce slightly thickens.
- Serve immediately with blue cheese dressing and celery sticks.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
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Lisa says
Made it today and it was WOW! So easy and very delicious. A keeper!
chefjar says
I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe, Lisa! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!
Ashkey says
Just made this omg it's so good and easy to make! I love the tip about putting the chicken into the skillet with the buffalo sauce for few minutes cause the sauce thickens and sticks to the chicken perfectly 🙂 thank you
chefjar says
Hey, Ashkey! I am glad you liked this air fryer chicken recipe and thanks for sharing your experience!!!
Teri says
Hi! I really want to make this recipe, but I've read it at least five times and can't see at what point or how I use the 2 T of olive oil. Am I missing it? Thank you!
chefjar says
Hey, Teri! Sorry for the confusing you. You need to place chicken in a large bowl. Add olive oil and toss to coat. It will help the coating stick.
Teri says
OMG, maybe I lay off the margaritas! I see it now. Lol Aaaanyhoo, I did make these last night without olive oil and they were so delicious and easy and tasty, I'm making them again today! Thank you so much!
chefjar says
That is amazing to hear, Teri! Glad you enjoyed the recipe. And thank you for sharing your experience!
Stacy says
It came out perfect and my kids loved it! Can't wait to make it again!
Ova says
This was a big hit with my family. We’ll definitely be using this one often.
chefjar says
Hey, Ova! I am glad you and your family liked this air fryer recipe. And thanks for sharing your experience!
Aashna says
Super easy and full of flavor! This recipe is definitely a keeper.
chefjar says
Thank you, Aashna! -Tatiana 🙂
Skylar says
Easy to put together and came out perfect.Thank you for this delicious recipe!
chefjar says
Thank you, Skylar!
Marianna says
I had all the ingredients and it was super easy. All of my family loved it!
chefjar says
Hey Marianna! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review, I really appreciate it! Tatiana 🙂
Liliana says
My family and I really enjoyed this recipe. It’s now added to the weekly dinner list. Thank you so much!!
chefjar says
Thank you, Liliana!
Sasha says
The flavor combination is perfect! I am keeping this recipe for sure!
chefjar says
That's great to hear! I'm glad you liked the flavor combination. Thank you for your feedback!
Loujaina says
I made this and it was really easy and delicious! Most of all I loved how easy this was. Will surely have this again!
chefjar says
I'm thrilled to hear that the recipe was both easy and delicious! The ease of preparation is a big factor in making a recipe a go-to, and it sounds like this one fits the bill. Thanks for sharing your positive experience, and I hope you enjoy having this again in the future.
Ethan says
Fantastic recipe! Everyone raved about it. Can’t wait to make it again.
chefjar says
Hi Ethan! That's fantastic to hear! Thanks for the wonderful feedback!
Kim says
Could these be made in a convection oven instead?
Tatiana says
Hi Kim! In a convection oven at 400°F, bake for about 12-15 minutes, flipping halfway through. Keep an eye on them to prevent overcooking, as convection ovens can cook faster. Always check that the internal temperature reaches 165°F to ensure they’re fully cooked.
Nikki says
Can I use frozen chicken?
Tatiana says
Hi Nikki! Yes, you can use frozen chicken, but I recommend thawing it first for even cooking and better texture. If cooking from frozen, add a few extra minutes to the air fryer time and check that the internal temperature reaches 165°F. Let me know if you give it a try!