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It’s November and that means the holidays are fast approaching! If you’re looking for the ultimate nacho dish to impress your guests, this Buffalo Chicken Nacho recipe is sure to please!
Believe it or not, I hadn’t made nachos since my Loaded BBQ Chicken Nachos almost two years ago! However, I was invited to participate in another nacho collaboration and I was happy to bring the nachos back after such a long delay! If you’re looking for an epic spread to serve your guests, then you’ve come to the right place!
This buffalo chicken nacho recipe will be unlike any other. While other buffalo chicken nacho recipes feature shredded chicken tossed in buffalo sauce, this recipe has got crunchy and juicy buttermilk popcorn chicken tossed in the buffalo sauce! These buffalo popcorn chicken nachos were inspired by my favorite poutine - I used to think that the Classic Poutine was my favorite, but when it comes to enjoying a poutine with toppings, a buffalo chicken poutine is always my favorite! I just love the crispy chicken and that amazing sauce - it complements French fries so nicely! If you want to see a buffalo chicken poutine recipe then be sure to let me know in the comments!
I always say that I get lots of my recipe inspiration from enjoying a meal out (or inside when I have takeout!). If you’re in a rut in the kitchen, then I totally recommend you take a trip out and see what dish you’d like to create! I give more details about this in my 5 top tips to discover your true potential in the kitchen, Make Cooking Fun!. Be sure to try these out as part of your Live to Cook one month challenge - I guarantee you’ll put your heart on this plate for your friends and family at your next dinner party or game day night!
To follow along and to grasp all the concepts then be sure to watch the video. You’ll see exactly how to marinate the chicken, fry it, and assemble and cook the nachos. If you haven’t already, please subscribe to my YouTube channel and hit the bell button so you’re notified when all of my video recipes go live with the written ones! I love to share both so you’re set up for success with your cooking journey! Let’s get cooking!
Why You’ll Love Buffalo Popcorn Chicken Nachos!
- Easy to make: Most of the work done in this recipe is for the buttermilk fried chicken! Otherwise, you just need to assemble and bake!
- Crispy buttermilk fried chicken: This is totally the star of the nachos! The chicken on its own is just so crisp outside and juicy inside, but when you top it with the buffalo sauce, it’s just a whole other creation!
- Saucy & cheesy: The chicken is super saucy and we’re going to garnish with sour cream. We’ll also load up the cheese with a Mexican cheese blend and some blue cheese crumbles!
- Colorful: This plate of nachos is almost too pretty to eat! We’ve got so many colors going on that make the dish really inviting! I always say that we eat with our eyes, and this is so true here!
What is the Secret to great Nachos?▼
No piece of nacho should be empty. Any nacho recipe should ensure that each chip has some or all elements of the toppings to make the dish fun throughout!
How Should Nachos Be Layered? Do You Put Meat or Cheese First on Nachos?▼
Think of it like a lasagne. You want every layer, every bit of the dish to have something delicious. The cheese is helpful in getting toppings to stick so they don’t just fall off when you have the nachos. Use the cheese as the base and in the way you see fit to make the most delicious stack. Just be sure to leave the sauces for topping until after baking.
How Do You Make Nachos Not Soggy?▼
Sogginess comes from excess liquid. This can come in the form of natural juices from fresh veggies like tomatoes or from grease released from cheese while baking. If using fresh tomatoes, try to use only the flesh of the tomato and avoid adding excess juices from it.
Do I Bake Or Broil Nachos?▼
A combination of baking and broiling is best. Bake the nachos until the cheese starts to melt and then turn on the broiler until the cheese and chips are done to your liking
Tools Needed
Ingredients for Buffalo Chicken Nachos
For all ingredient quantities and to save the recipe, don’t forget to scroll to the bottom for the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD or press the “Jump to Recipe” button. You can also scale the recipe based on how large of a nacho plate you want to make - all ingredient quantities get automatically adjusted for you!
For the Nachos
- Nacho chips
- Mexican cheese mix
- Blue cheese
- Jalapeño, thinly sliced
- Onions
- Tomatoes
- Sour cream, for garnish
- Green onions, for garnish
For the Buffalo Chicken
- Chicken
- Flour
- Buttermilk
- Paprika
- Dried sage
- Dried oregano
- Dried basil
- Onion powder
- Garlic powder
- Cayenne Pepper
- Salt
- Pepper
- Baking powder
- Oil
- Butter
- Frank’s hot sauce
How to Make Buffalo Popcorn Chicken Nachos
To Make the Buffalo Sauce
To Make the Buffalo Popcorn Chicken
For the spice mix
- Combine all the spices for the spice mix together and store in an airtight container.
For the marinade
Cut the chicken into 1 inch cubes and add to a large bowl along with the spice mix from earlier. Mix well to coat the spices all over the chicken.
Pour buttermilk over the chicken and add enough to completely submerge the chicken.
Add salt and then toss the chicken well in the buttermilk.
Marinate for at least 2 hours or preferably overnight.
To bread the chicken
In a large casserole or bowl add flour, salt, pepper and baking powder. Mix well.
Add 2-3 Tbsp of the buttermilk marinade on the breading mix and mix to combine.
Add the chicken pieces to the bowl of flour and toss well with the flour. Press lightly to ensure you get crusting and layers of flours over the marinated chicken. There is no need to drip any excess marinade while breading the chicken.
Repeat step 3 for the remaining chicken pieces.
To cook the chicken
Pour oil in a cast iron skillet or dutch oven until it fills around 2 inches of the height of your skillet/dutch oven. Preheat the oil to around 350F. In the meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350 F as well.
Carefully, transfer each breaded chicken to the oil and fry until crispy golden brown outside, make sure to turn the chicken every 2-3 minutes to ensure even color on each side. Adjust heat as required to ensure the oil maintains this temperature.
After 8-12 minutes, or when you are happy with the color of the chicken, transfer each chicken piece to a baking sheet lined with a wire rack. Check some of the chicken pieces to check if the internal temperature at the thickest part of the chicken is 165F.
While the chicken is frying, prepare the sauce. Melt butter in a saucepan and add 2 cups of hot sauce to the saucepan. Bring it up to a simmer.
Once the sauce has come to a simmer, turn off the heat and transfer the sauce to a large bowl. Add the cooked crispy chicken pieces and toss well to combine.
To Assemble the Nachos
- Preheat oven to 400F
- Arrange the nachos on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper in roughly the same shape as your final serving platter. Sprinkle on the cheese and let it fall through the cracks. You can layer the cheese between nachos as well.
- Top with chopped onions, jalapeño, tomatoes, buffalo chicken pieces and blue cheese. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is molten. Slide the nachos off the parchment paper to the serving plate
Top with sour cream and chopped green onions. Enjoy!
Tips & Tricks for Party-Perfect Popcorn Chicken Nachos
- The flour breading coating around the chicken should have cracks and be flaky to guarantee a crispy and flaky crust when the chicken is done frying.
- Use a sheet of parchment paper to ensure minimal cleanup and to simply slide off the nachos off the baking sheet to the serving platter.
- To have the cheesiest experience, lay the nachos in a single layer and leave minimal gap between the chips before adding the cheese.
- Use a squeeze bottle to garnish nachos with your favorite sauces including hot sauce or sour cream.
Prepping Tips for Buffalo Popcorn Chicken Nachos
I wouldn’t recommend that you make these Buffalo Popcorn Chicken Nachos in advance! They will not be crispy and fresh as when you serve them immediately out of the oven! However, you can follow some tips to make the prep efficient so all you need to do is cook and serve when you’re ready!
- Chop up all the veggies and store them in airtight containers or keep them on a plate and cover the plate with plastic wrap in the refrigerator.
- If grating your own cheese, grate the cheese and cover in the fridge.
- Pour your oil into the pan or wok you will be frying the chicken in and heat it when ready.
Fried Popcorn Chicken, Not Shredded Rotisserie Chicken
The shortcut version of this dish uses rotisserie chicken pulled into shreds and tossed in sauce. That is not what happens here, and the difference is the whole dish. One chicken breast is diced into 1 inch chunks, marinated in buttermilk for at least 2 hours and preferably overnight, breaded, and deep-fried until crisp. Chicken thighs are the listed swap if you prefer them.
Frying it properly matters because these pieces then get tossed in sauce and sat on a hot tray under melting cheese. A shred of poached chicken would go limp immediately; a crisp fried nugget holds its crust long enough to still have texture when the plate reaches the table. The oil sits at 350 F, the chicken turns every 2 to 3 minutes for even color, and after 8 to 12 minutes you check that the internal temperature at the thickest part reads 165 F before anything else happens.
One small detail from the breading step is worth repeating because it is counterintuitive: you do not shake the excess marinade off before the chicken hits the flour. The wet buttermilk clinging to each piece is what grabs the flour and builds those craggy layers of crust.
Nachos, Not Dip: What Is Not On This Plate
There is no cream cheese anywhere in this recipe. Cream cheese belongs to buffalo chicken dip, which is a different dish that happens to share the same flavors, and adding it here would just make the chips soggy. There is no drizzle of ranch dressing either. The creamy, cooling element is 2 tbsp of crumbled blue cheese baked on and a spoon of sour cream added at the end, which is the traditional pairing with buffalo sauce rather than the modern one.
The onions are 3 tbsp of finely chopped regular onion, not red onion, and the cheese is a Mexican blend of monterey jack, hot brick cheddar and hot pepper havarti. If you cannot find that blend, monterey jack with pepper jack cheese is the listed substitute and gets you to roughly the same place. The kick comes from three separate places rather than one: 1 tsp of cayenne in the spice mix, the Frank's hot sauce simmered with butter, and thinly sliced fresh jalapeno scattered over before baking.
Timing It for a Party
The prep time is 30 mins and the cook time is 35 mins, but the total time on the card is 185 mins, and that gap is entirely the marinade. This is the number to plan around: start the buttermilk the night before and the actual cooking on the day is under an hour. It makes 4 servings as an appetizer, which is the right scale for super bowl or any football season afternoon, and it doubles without complication.
The single best instruction in the recipe is easy to skim past. When you arrange the plate of tortilla chips on the parchment-lined baking sheet, sprinkle the cheese so it falls through the cracks and layer more cheese between the chips rather than only over the top. Cheese only on the surface gives you one welded lid and a pile of dry chips underneath; cheese distributed through the stack means every chip has something on it. Arrange them in roughly the shape of your final serving platter so you can slide the whole thing off the parchment when it comes out.
Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until the cheese is molten, then add the sour cream and green onions. Any additional toppings you want should go on at this point, once the tray is out, so they stay fresh rather than cooking. And if there are leftovers, do not use the microwave to revive them. It softens the chips into cardboard. A few minutes in a hot oven at room temperature is the only thing that brings nachos back.
Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cooking.with.anadi. Thank you!
Recipe by Anadi Misra
Crispy, loaded Buffalo Chicken Nachos packed with bold flavor and melty toppings. The ultimate game day recipe that's easy to make and impossible to resist. Your crowd will beg for more.
Deep-fried
Rate this recipe ✦
30 min
Prep
35 min
Cook
2 hr
Rest
3 hr 5 min
Total
4
servings
hard
Level
Ingredients
Ingredients
Tap any quantity to scale
For the spice mix
For the marinade
- chicken breast(diced into 1 inch chunks)
- (8 g) spice mix
- (240 ml) buttermilk
- (4 g) saltShop →
For the buffalo chicken
Instructions
For the spice mix
- 1
Combine all the spices together and store in an airtight container.
Combine all the spices together and store in an airtight container.
For the marinade
- 1
In a large bowl, add the chicken pieces and 2 tbsp of the spice mix from earlier. Mix well to coat the spices all over the chicken.
In a large bowl, add the chicken pieces and 2 tbsp of the spice mix from earlier. Mix well to coat the spices all over the chicken.
- 2
Pour buttermilk over the chicken and add enough to completely submerge the chicken.
Pour buttermilk over the chicken and add enough to completely submerge the chicken.
- 3
Add salt and then toss the chicken well in the buttermilk.
Add salt and then toss the chicken well in the buttermilk.
- 4
Marinate for at least 2 hours or preferably overnight.
Marinate for at least 2 hours or preferably overnight.
For the buffalo chicken
- 1
In a large casserole or bowl add flour, salt, pepper and baking powder. Mix well.
In a large casserole or bowl add flour, salt, pepper and baking powder. Mix well.
- 2
Add 2–3 tbsp of the buttermilk marinade on the breading mix and mix to combine.
Add 2–3 tbsp of the buttermilk marinade on the breading mix and mix to combine.
- 3
Add the chicken pieces to the bowl of flour and toss well with the flour. Press lightly to ensure you get crusting and layers of flours over the marinated chicken. There is no need to drip any excess marinade while breading the chicken.
Add the chicken pieces to the bowl of flour and toss well with the flour. Press lightly to ensure you get crusting and layers of flours over the marinated chicken. There is no need to drip any excess marinade while breading the chicken.
- 4
Repeat step 3 for the remaining chicken pieces.
Repeat step 3 for the remaining chicken pieces.
- 5
Pour oil in a cast iron skillet or dutch oven until it fills around 2 inches of the height of your skillet/dutch oven. Preheat the oil to around 350F. In the meanwhile, preheat your oven to 400 F as well.
Pour oil in a cast iron skillet or dutch oven until it fills around 2 inches of the height of your skillet/dutch oven. Preheat the oil to around 350°F (177°C). In the meanwhile, preheat your oven to 400°F (204°C) as well.
- 6
Carefully, transfer each breaded chicken to the oil and fry until crispy golden brown outside, make sure to turn the chicken every 2-3 minutes to ensure even color on each side. Adjust heat as required to ensure the oil maintains this temperature.
Carefully, transfer each breaded chicken to the oil and fry until crispy golden brown outside, make sure to turn the chicken every 2-3 minutes to ensure even color on each side. Adjust heat as required to ensure the oil maintains this temperature.
- 7
After 8-12 minutes, or when you are happy with the color of the chicken, transfer each chicken piece to a baking sheet lined with a wire rack. Check some of the chicken pieces to check if the internal temperature at the thickest part of the chicken is 165F.
After 8-12 minutes, or when you are happy with the color of the chicken, transfer each chicken piece to a baking sheet lined with a wire rack. Check some of the chicken pieces to check if the internal temperature at the thickest part of the chicken is 165°F (74°C).
- 8
While the chicken is frying, prepare the sauce. Melt butter in a saucepan and add 2 cups of hot sauce to the saucepan. Bring it up to a simmer.
While the chicken is frying, prepare the sauce. Melt butter in a saucepan and add 2 cups of hot sauce to the saucepan. Bring it up to a simmer.
- 9
Once the sauce has come to a simmer, turn off the heat and transfer the sauce to a large bowl. Add the cooked crispy chicken pieces and toss well to combine.
Once the sauce has come to a simmer, turn off the heat and transfer the sauce to a large bowl. Add the cooked crispy chicken pieces and toss well to combine.
For the nachos
- 1
Arrange the nachos on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper in roughly the same shape as your final serving platter. Sprinkle on the cheese and let it fall through the cracks. You can layer the cheese between nachos as well.
Arrange the nachos on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper in roughly the same shape as your final serving platter. Sprinkle on the cheese and let it fall through the cracks. You can layer the cheese between nachos as well.
- 2
Top with chopped onions, jalapeño, tomatoes, buffalo chicken pieces and blue cheese. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is molten. Slide the nachos off the parchment paper to the serving plate. Top with sour cream and chopped green onions. Enjoy!
Top with chopped onions, jalapeño, tomatoes, buffalo chicken pieces and blue cheese. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is molten. Slide the nachos off the parchment paper to the serving plate. Top with sour cream and chopped green onions. Enjoy!
Did you make this recipe? Tag @cooking.with.anadi on Instagram and hashtag it #cookingwithanadi
Tested & written in Anadi’s kitchen
Recipe history
- April 16, 2026 — Reworked and refreshed for the 2026 relaunch — new photography, restructured and standardized ingredients & instructions.
Filed under
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