Buffalo Chicken Nachos

Pita chips topped with pieces of Buffalo chicken, a creamy blue cheese sauce, and all the fixings.
Directions for: Buffalo Chicken Nachos

Ingredients

Buffalo Sauce

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

4 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 1 jalapeno, minced

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1 cups hot sauce, such as Frank's RedHot

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1 Tbsp fresh lime juice

1 Tbsp white vinegar

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Dry Rub

2 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp cayenne

1 tsp celery salt

1 tsp kosher salt

tsp freshly ground black pepper

3 5-oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced lengthwise into 3 strips

Pita Chips

Canola oil, for deep-frying

8 pitas, each cut into 8 wedges

Kosher salt

Blue Cheese Topping

cup milk

cup crumbled smoked blue cheese

cup mayonnaise

cup sour cream

2 Tbsp finely sliced fresh chives

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 cups shredded mozzarella

Garnish

cup finely sliced celery

cup finely sliced radish

pickled jalapeno, drained and thinly sliced

2 Tbsp grated Parmesan, optional

Directions

Buffalo Sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

2. To a medium saute pan over medium heat, add the oil, butter, jalapeno and garlic. Allow the butter to melt, and lightly saute the garlic and jalapeno for about 2 minutes. Stir in the hot sauce, chicken broth, lime juice and vinegar and bring to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and keep warm until ready to use.

Dry Rub

1. Combine the smoked paprika, cayenne, celery salt, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Mix to blend.

2. Combine the chicken and 1/4 cup of the Buffalo sauce in a bowl; toss to coat. Transfer the chicken to a wire rack set over a baking sheet and sprinkle with the dry rub. Bake until the chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, allow to cool a bit, then chop the chicken into bite-size pieces. Set aside. (Leave the oven at 350F for the nachos.)

Pita Chips

1. While the chicken is baking, fill a deep, heavy pot with 4 inches of oil and heat the oil to 350F over moderate heat. In batches, fry the pita wedges until golden brown and crispy, 1 to 2 minutes. Drain on paper towels and immediately sprinkle with salt.

Blue Cheese Topping

1. To a small saucepan over medium heat, add the milk and 1/2 cup of the smoked blue cheese. Allow the cheese to melt into the milk, then transfer the mixture to a bowl along with the remaining blue cheese and the mayonnaise, sour cream and chives. Season with salt and pepper.

Garnish

1. To assemble: In a large roasting pan, spread out half of the pita chips in an even layer. Top with half of the chopped chicken, half of the remaining Buffalo sauce, half of the blue cheese topping and 1/2 cup of the shredded mozzarella. Repeat, ending with a generous helping of the shredded mozzarella. Place the roasting pan on the center rack of the oven and bake until the cheese has melted and the pitas have crisped and soaked up some of the hot sauce, 5 to 10 minutes.

2. Remove from oven and sprinkle the nachos with the celery, radish, jalapeno and Parmesan. Serve immediately.

See more: Chicken, Appetizer, Dinner, Poultry