10 Ways to Make Buffalo Chicken Healthier So You Can Keep Noshing on Game Day

What do you get when you combine buffalo chicken with ciabatta buns? Buffalo chicken burgers—yum! Using ground chicken instead of beef instantly lightens your burger dinner. To add more nutrients to your buffalo burgers, top them with fresh lettuce and tomato slices.

Buffalo chicken and Cobb salad make such a delicious combo, it'll leave you wondering why you haven't tried it before. To make this dinner salad in 25 minutes or less, start with frozen buffalo chicken wings. Wings served on top of veggie-filled salad makes a much healthier meal than chicken wings alone.

This hot dip recipe takes longer start-to-finish than most in our collection here, but only 15 minutes of hands-on time are required. Once the dip ingredients (made lighter thanks to reduced-fat dairy choices) are combined, your slow cooker will handle the cooking. Keep the healthy buffalo chicken dip extra nutritious by serving with carrot sticks, celery, or other favorite veggies.

Buy It: Crock-Pot 2-Quart Slow Cooker ($10, Target)

OK, you caught us. While this recipe might be missing the chicken, using cauliflower in place of wings is a great way to make your buffalo chicken healthier (and vegetarian-friendly!). Trust us; once these baked cauliflower bites get dressed up in spicy sauce, you won't miss the poultry.

Lean protein, veggies, dairy, and whole grains—this healthy buffalo chicken recipe covers four of your food groups. If you can spare 15 minutes in the morning to prep this buffalo chicken dish, you'll be rewarded with a mouthwatering slow cooker meal at dinnertime.

Buy It: Crock-Pot 4-Quart Programmable Slow Cooker ($30, Target)

Still enjoy flavors of fried chicken wings made WAY healthier by swapping nutritious cauliflower for chicken and using your air fryer instead of a pot of fat for cooking. The game-day snack couldn’t be simpler. Just stir together the ingredients and air-fry in batches. If you swap in a reduced-fat blue cheese dip or another favorite light dip, the fat in this recipe will be drastically slashed.

Buy It: GoWISE Air Fryer ($81, Bed Bath & Beyond)

Make gooey cheese quesadillas hearty enough for dinner by loading your tortilla with homemade buffalo chicken. This cheesy recipe might sound like a decadent treat, but the filling of lean protein and veggies (carrots and celery, naturally) inside a whole wheat tortilla keeps this a healthy take on buffalo chicken.

Bring the buffalo flavor so common in appetizers to your entrée with this full-flavor vegan salad recipe. Speed prep along by using purchased cut-up cauliflower florets and a bag of chopped greens. Then roast the cauliflower and tomatoes for even richer flavors, add your homemade healthy buffalo sauce, and assemble your salad. If you’re not following a vegan diet, you could always add cooked chicken for a heartier salad.

Buffalo chicken, meet pizza. With a few simple swaps from your usual pizza, you can transform your slice into a fast and healthy dinner. Use pita rounds instead of spending the day making your own dough and start with store-bought buffalo chicken to save time.

Yes, you'll have to wait a little between prepping and grilling the chicken for the zesty marinade to work its magic, but you still need only about 35 minutes of hands-on time for this healthy buffalo chicken salad. Besides, while the chicken is marinating in the fridge, you can get a jump on making the rest of your salad.