Grilled Buffalo Chicken Tacos Recipe

Buffalo chicken and blue cheese aren't exactly a revolutionary pairing, but the duo definitely feels fresh and exciting in taco form. These grilled Buffalo chicken tacos — brought to us by recipe developer Patterson Watkins — come loaded with an avocado blue cheese dressing, making for some funky-fresh handhelds that are perfect to enjoy in warmer weather. "These are some awesome tacos — perfect for grilling season," Watkins says. 

It all starts with the chicken, which gets a heavy coating of Buffalo sauce and lots of garlic for perfectly spicy yet buttery flavors. "To soothe the palate, we deploy the cooling creamy sharpness of this homemade avocado blue cheese dressing," Watkins says. And, unlike those store-bought blue cheese dressings that might skimp you on actual blue cheese flavor, this one packs plenty of sharp, pungent flavor with just the right balance of creaminess from mayonnaise, sour cream, and the avocado itself. While the Buffalo chicken and avocado blue cheese dressing are no doubt the stars of the show, the final toppings of cabbage slaw, diced tomato, and even more avocado add just the right textural contrast and freshness to make for one balanced and bountiful taco.

Patterson Watkins/Mashed

For the Buffalo chicken, you'll need Buffalo-style hot sauce, unsalted butter, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, and chicken breasts cut into bite-sized pieces. Meanwhile, the avocado blue cheese dressing consists of avocado, mayonnaise, sour cream, blue cheese crumbles, cilantro, lime juice, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt. To assemble and serve the tacos, you'll need corn tortillas, cabbage slaw mix, sliced avocado, and fresh diced tomatoes.

Patterson Watkins/Mashed

Place the hot sauce, butter, garlic, and Worcestershire in a small saucepan.

Patterson Watkins/Mashed

Warm the sauce over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the butter has melted, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Patterson Watkins/Mashed

Place the chicken pieces in a large bowl and add half of the buffalo sauce. Stir to coat.

Patterson Watkins/Mashed

Thread the chicken onto skewers.

Patterson Watkins/Mashed

Preheat a grill or grill pan over medium-high heat.

Patterson Watkins/Mashed

Once hot, add the skewered chicken, and grill for 10 to 12 minutes, flipping occasionally, until cooked through and moderately charred.

Patterson Watkins/Mashed

While the chicken is grilling, make the blue cheese dressing by placing the avocado, mayonnaise, sour cream, blue cheese crumbles, cilantro, lime juice, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt in a medium bowl.

Patterson Watkins/Mashed

Using a fork, mash and stir to combine the dressing. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Patterson Watkins/Mashed

Once the chicken has cooked, remove it from the grill, and set it aside to rest for 5 minutes.

Patterson Watkins/Mashed

While the chicken is resting, place the tortillas on the grill to warm, for about 1 minute total. Once warm, remove the tortillas, and set them aside.

Patterson Watkins/Mashed

Remove the chicken from the skewers and drizzle it with the remaining Buffalo sauce.

Patterson Watkins/Mashed

Divide the cabbage mix, sliced avocado, diced tomatoes, and grilled Buffalo chicken between the tortillas.

Patterson Watkins/Mashed

Dollop the tacos with the blue cheese dressing before serving.

Patterson Watkins/Mashed

There are plenty of ways to customize these Buffalo chicken tacos, and the first customization is for those who aren't completely sold on the whole taco thing. "This taco recipe can easily be transformed into a bowl or salad," Watkins says. If you want to go the Buffalo chicken bowl route, she recommends using yellow rice, cilantro-lime rice, or black beans as a base. Or go the similar salad route and combine the cabbage slaw with fresh greens as your base. Whether you go bowl or salad, you can pile on the same goodies (chicken, dressing, fresh toppings) as you would the regular taco, or you can add Tex-Mex inspired toppings like red onion, corn, cilantro, radish, or scallions.

Let's say you're good with the taco format, but that blue cheese dressing is something you'd like to tweak. For starters, you don't have to be married to that creamy combo of mayonnaise and sour cream. "If you'd like a lighter version, feel free to sub-in low-fat or nonfat plain Greek yogurt for either or both of the creamy ingredients," Watkins suggests. Another option is to go semi-homemade with the dressing by picking up a bottle of blue cheese dressing off the shelf and jazzing it up. "Use your favorite off-the-shelf bottle and add some fresh avocado, lime juice, and cilantro (pulse in a food processor for a smoother dressing, mash with a fork for a chunkier dressing)," Watkins advises. If you go the semi-homemade route, however, be sure to grab some fresh blue cheese crumbles to sprinkle on top of the dressing and your tacos.

Patterson Watkins/Mashed

When following along with this recipe, you may be wondering why it calls for skewering bite-sized pieces of chicken as opposed to just grilling up whole breasts. As it turns out, there's a method to Watkins' madness. "You'll get much more flavorful Buffalo chicken by portioning it into smaller pieces," she explains. "Those smaller pieces create more surface area/contact area with the Buffalo sauce marinade, ensuring a greater saturation of flavor." This method also ensures that the chicken gets more contact with the grill overall, meaning that you'll get more of those desirable smoky, charred flavors.

For successful grilling, make sure that you're only coating the chicken in half of the Buffalo sauce before cooking it, otherwise, you might end up with a goopy mess. "Being that this marinade is butter-based, it will cause little flare-ups," Watkins notes, referring to bursts of high heat and possibly even flames if you're using an actual grill. "Since we are not drenching the raw chicken in all of the marinade, those flare-ups will be less dramatic and more manageable."