Buffalo Chicken and Potatoes

Sometimes Game Day Eats should be made for one. And sometimes, they can even be made on a bye week when your team is not playing.   I love a lazy Sunday and I love Buffalo chicken so I decided that I'd bring those two things together.  

This was a Pinterest find (of course) and what drew me to it was that it wasn't just buffalo chicken--but also buffalo potatoes.  Genius. 

Buffalo sauce.  Seriously, I think I would eat shrimp if it was coated in Buffalo sauce.  That might be stretching it, but I absolutely adore that vinegary, spicy goodness.   You can buy the actual Buffalo wing sauce premade or you can buy the Red Hot sauce and mix it with some melted butter and make your own.  Yes, my high school years of working at Shakey's Pizza taught me how to mix butter(they used margarine) and hot sauce to make wing sauce.  I checked a bottle of pre made sauce and the one I picked up used butter flavoring and lots of other ingredients.  I feel better just mixing in my own butter--and you can control the ratio. 

It took a crazy amount of self control and logic to stop myself from eating these raw potatoes with buffalo sauce.  

The other perfect part of this recipe is that it has lots of cheese, bacon and green onions.  

The recipe calls for cooking the potatoes first until they are browned and crispy.  

You then top with raw diced chicken and the cheese and bacon.  It goes back into the oven for 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the cheese is bubbly. 

It comes out of the oven as a cheesy, bacony buffalo sauced delicousness.  This might be one of the world's most perfect eats. 

Buffalo Chicken and Potatoes

adapted from Cook Lisa Cook

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
4 medium potatoes

1/3 cup hot sauce

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup melted butter
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 tsp paprika
1 tbsp garlic powder

Topping:
1 cup shredded cheddar jack
5 slices of crispy bacon crumbled
1/2 cup sliced green onions

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees
2. Dice potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes
3. In a large bowl whisk hot sauce, butter, olive oil, pepper,  paprika and garlic powder until well blended and smooth. Add the cubed potatoes and stir to coat. 
4. Use a slotted spoon to transfer potatoes into lightly greased casserole dish or oven proof pan (I used a cast iron pan).   
5. Bake the potatoes for 45-50 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes, until cooked through and crispy & browned on the outside. 
6. While the potatoes are cooking, add the cubed chicken to the bowl with the leftover hot sauce and mix well to ensure evenly coated.  I sprinkled additional hot sauce onto the chicken because I could.   Once the potatoes are brown and crisp on the outside and tender inside, remove from the oven and lower the oven temperature to 400F. 
7. Top the cooked potatoes with the raw chicken. 
8. Return the casserole to the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the topping is bubbly