Spicy buffalo chicken, rice, celery, carrots and buffalo sauce combine to a flavorful, slightly spicy and simple weeknight dinner. Use leftover rice to make this Buffalo Fried Rice even easier.
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It’s been too long since I’ve buffalo-ed something. If you’ve been around for some time, you know my love of buffalo sauce runs deep.
Some of my favorite are buffalo coleslaw for potlucks, crispy buffalo chicken tenders for football games, buffalo popcorn for Bachelor night and sheet pan buffalo chicken and veggies for healthy weeknights.
And that doesn’t even start to put a dent in the buffalo recipes around here.
I thought it was about time to share my new favorite creation. BUFFALO fried rice my friends. It’s as glorious as it sounds.
All the buffalo classics are incorporated into this rice. Chicken of course, then all the accompaniments of celery, carrots, blue cheese, hot sauce and butter.
What makes this dish even better is that with a little prep work, it can be done in 30 minutes. That includes marinating the chicken for a few hours and cooking the rice.
An important step in making fried rice is making the rice ahead of time and refrigerating it. If you cook rice then use it right away for fried rice, it can get mushy and clump together. When the rice is cold, the grains won’t stick together and will fry up to a much more appealing texture.
You can also get the celery and carrots prepared while the chicken in marinating in hot sauce.
When it’s time to pull everything together, the process will be quick and simple.
I love using a wok to make this buffalo fried rice. The wok I currently have has seen better days and I’m currently eyeing this one. If you don’t own a wok, a large skillet or even a dutch oven would work to make this buffalo fried rice.
The chicken gets stir fried quickly then removed so the celery and carrot can soften in the same pan. While those are coking away, a simple buffalo sauce of hot sauce and butter gets melted together.
The rice gets added to the party along with the buffalo sauce and chicken. After a few minutes in the pan the buffalo fried rice is ready to be served with a sprinkle of crumbled blue cheese.
The ingredient list is common and simple yet packed with flavor. Just the way I like it.
Buffalo Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces
- 1/4 cup hot pepper sauce
- 4 cups cooked, cold white rice
- 1 Tbsp. canola or grapeseed oil
- 1 Tbsp. butter
- 2/3 cup shredded carrot
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
For the sauce:
- 3 Tbsp. hot pepper sauce
- 3 Tbsp. butter
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp. onion powder
- Blue cheese crumbles
- Chopped chives or green onion, for garnish
Instructions
- Combine the chicken and 1/4 cup hot sauce in a shallow bowl or ziplock bag. Marinate for 1 to 4 hours in the refrigerator. Cook the rice according to package directions and refrigerate.
- Preheat a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add canola oil to the pan. Saute chicken until browned, crispy and cooked through. Remove to a plate and set aside. Keep pan hot over heat.
- Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add remaining sauce ingredients and cook for 2 minutes, until well combined.
- Add butter to the pan you cooked the chicken in. Saute carrots and celery until softened 2 to 3 minutes. Add rice and chicken to the pan, cook another minute. Drizzle the sauce over the rice mixture and stir until completely combined. Cook another 2 minutes.
- Divide into bowls and sprinkle with blue cheese and chives.
