This buffalo chicken nachos recipe is really a two-for-one recipe special. The nachos portion of the recipe is a standard nachos recipe, but the real magic is in the shredded buffalo chicken and beans that go on top!
You can make it in a pressure cooker like an Instant Pot or Ninja Foodi in about 20 minutes, or you can use a crockpot to slow cook your shredded buffalo chicken in a few hours. Either route you take, you’ll end up with tender shredded chicken breast with black and pinto beans in a super flavorful buffalo ranch sauce. It’s packed with protein, fiber, and almost zero fat, leaving you tons of room for cheesy nachos!
How to Make Buffalo Chicken Nachos
This is a crazy simple recipe with basically two steps. I’ll walk you through both and cover a few ingredient questions in each step. You’ll also find a printable recipe card at the bottom of the post, but I bet this ain’t your first rodeo!
Step 1: Make the Shredded Buffalo Chicken and Beans
Here’s everything you’ll need:
- boneless skinless chicken breast
- canned black and pinto beans
- ranch seasoning (or ranch dip mix)
- buffalo sauce
- chicken broth or water
That’s it. Toss everything in a pressure cooker or crockpot and walk away.
I used a 6.5 quart Ninja Foodi, but I’ve included notes for a crockpot in the recipe card. If you’re using an Instant Pot, the cook time should be about the same.
I used forks to shred my chicken, but you could use something like the meat claws I used for my Ninja Foodi Pulled Pork or crispy pork tenderloin carnitas to make faster work of it. Some like using the paddle attachment on a stand mixer as well, but I find that’s extra cleanup. Don’t over cook the chicken and shredding will be easy!
Ingredient Notes
The recipe calls for Frank’s RedHot buffalo sauce, which you’ll find in nearly every grocery store. If you wanted to make your own, I mentioned a great buffalo sauce recipe in my buffalo chicken mac and cheese recipe.
As for the ranch seasoning, you can buy it in bulk on Amazon or in stores like Sam’s Club and possibly Costco. Or you can use the ranch dip mix packets. If you use the packets, be sure to use just the two tablespoons the recipe calls for. And if you need a reason to buy in bulk, you can make my chicken bacon ranch quesadillas and air fried buffalo tuna patties with next!
Step 2: Assemble the Buffalo Chicken Nachos
Sticking to the theme of easy, I went with plain ol’ store bought tortilla chips for my buffalo chicken nachos. You could lighten your nachos up with a baked tortilla chip or make your own low calorie tortilla chips with extra thin corn tortillas like I did for my pulled pork nachos.
And when I say easy, I mean easy. In case you can’t tell, I broke my rule about not using pre-shredded cheese here. Nachos are much more forgiving when it comes to cheese, but you’re more than welcome to freshly grate your cheese. Your buffalo chicken nachos will be even better than mine if you do!
As for the type of cheese, I went with a blend of monterey jack, colby jack, and cheddar. Stick to a good melting cheese and you’ll be a-okay.
One last note about making your buffalo chicken nachos. The recipe only calls for 16 ounces of the shredded buffalo chicken and beans, which is about 1/3 of the yield. So if you’re feeding a crowd, you’ll have plenty of chicken to make more nachos. You could also repurpose the chicken for things like my buffalo chicken stuffed peppers, quesadillas, wraps, or pizza like I did with my Instant Pot buffalo chicken dip. You can also check out my black bean and corn quesadillas if you need some quesadilla inspiration.
Step 3: Dig in!
The world is your oyster when it comes to topping your buffalo chicken nachos. I kept it simple with green onion and gorgonzola, but you could add freshly diced tomatoes, a few dabs of buffalo sauce, or blue cheese crumbles. I’d love to hear about what you come up with! Come back and let me know in a recipe review.
And that should cover it. If you have any recipe questions I didn’t cover, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of the post. Otherwise, enjoy your easy cheesy buffalo chicken nachos. Oh, and be sure to check out my BBQ chicken nachos next!
Shredded Buffalo Chicken Nachos
Ingredients
For the Shredded Buffalo Chicken
- 1 1/2 lbs Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
- 15 oz can Black Beans
- 15 oz can Pinto Beans
- 2 Tbsp Ranch Seasoning
- 1/2 C 120g Frank's RedHot Buffalo Sauce
- 4 oz Chicken Broth or Water
For the Nachos
- 6 oz Tortilla Chips
- 4 oz Shredded Cheese
- 1-2 oz Blue Cheese or Gorgonzola, for topping (optional)
- Sliced Green Onions, for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Mix the chicken broth, buffalo sauce, ranch seasoning, and beans together in a pressure cooker or crockpot before adding the chicken breast. Pressure cook on HI for 10-12* minutes with quick release pressure or slow cook on HI for 2.5-3 hours until the chicken reaches 165ºF.
- Transfer the cooked chicken to a bowl to shred. Turn on the sauté function to reduce the remaining beans and liquid while you shred the chicken. (If you're using a crockpot, you can transfer to a sauce pan over medium-high heat on the stovetop.)
- Once the chicken is shredded and the remaining beans/liquid has thickened, add the chicken back to the beans and stir everything together.
- For the nachos, fill a baking sheet with the tortilla chips and top with 2 oz shredded cheese. Add 16 oz** of the buffalo chicken and beans, followed by another 2 oz shredded cheese. Bake for 6-8 minutes at 400ºF until the cheese is fully melted. Top with green onion and blue cheese crumbles, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition Facts Notes
- Optional blue cheese not included in nutrition info.
- Each serving of buffalo chicken nachos has 6 WW SmartPoints (blue).
- Shredded buffalo chicken and beans only: 1,495 calories, 203g protein, 145g carbs, 6g fat, and 2 WW SmartPoints (blue)
These were great, a hit with the family, the added blue cheese is what really made the dish top notch. Where I think I went wrong, is not draining the cans of beans prior to adding into the slow cooker, it left me with more liquid to cook down and I ended up straining most of the liquid off before adding to the chips. I didn’t see where the oven temp was mentioned… no biggie really, it just had me scrolling back and forth on my phone until I decided to set it to broil and keep a close eye on it,
I didn’t drain the beans, but it does require some time to cook it down. Sounds like you got it figured out though!
I see this makes 6 servings. How many grams or oz in a serving? Just trying to figure out macros
I didn’t weigh each serving. I just cut the nachos into 6 even-ish squares when serving. If you need precise servings, you could measure out the chips, buffalo chicken and beans, and cheese for each serving before baking. You could use foil dividers to keep the servings separate.
I made these for the fam on Friday night, and they have not stopped talking about them since. They are normally very picky but had no critiques on this recipe! They have since asked me to make this our “Friday Night Meal” and have been brainstorming all sorts of different toppings we can try. Overall, amazing recipe and very easy to follow. Definitely would drain the beans because it can take a while to cook down, but I found that transferring the beans to a skillet instead of saute-ing in the instant pot cooked them down faster.
This had such a great taste and was so easy to make, whole family loved it. Next time I will be making a double batch.
Perfect homemade nachos and the blue cheese makes it!!
Best nachos I’ve ever had. Macros are amazing and the taste is even better. Love the mix of beans too
Made these last week. Ended up liking them so much that we ate them 2 days in a row. Super easy to cook and prepare. We used a crockpot. We’ll definitely be making these again!
Another great, simple recipe from Mason. My boyfriend and I are just getting into cooking and these recipes are so helpful. They never miss. This recipe was perfect for game day. We love anything buffalo and definitely added a bit more than half a cup for this
This is one of my favorite recipes. I love making it with rotisserie chicken to make it a super easy meal. I usually eat it on a pita or on top of nachos!
We absolutely love this recipe, it has become a weekly staple in our house. It’s super simple to make and is a great dinner that we always have leftovers with!