Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps

One of the best, most flavorful finger foods, buffalo chicken lettuce wraps are easy to make and fun to eat. They're ready in 30 minutes!

Course Appetizer

Cuisine American

Prep Time 30

Total Time 30

Servings servings

Calories 144kcal

Mix the buffalo sauce ingredients (hot pepper sauce, melted butter, garlic powder, and smoked paprika) in a large bowl.
Add the shredded chicken in batches and mix thoroughly, until well-coated. If desired, cover and heat the chicken in the microwave until heated through, for 1-2 minutes. I usually serve these wraps cold.
Place two lettuce leaves on each plate. Pile ¼ cup of the chicken mixture on top of each leave. Drizzle with the blue cheese dressing. Serve immediately, or refrigerate for up to two hours before serving.

The nutrition info doesn’t include the blue cheese dressing, since I don’t know which you will use.
If you need to cook the chicken breasts, place them in a baking dish, lightly spray them with oil, season with a pinch of salt and pepper, and bake them in a preheated 450°F oven until cooked through, for 25-30 minutes. Transfer to a plate and let them rest until cool enough to handle, then shred them. Here’s a detailed recipe for baked chicken breasts.
You can use shredded skinless chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts.
You can add veggies (such as chopped celery and shredded carrots) to the chicken mixture, or add them on top of the chicken mounds.
You can top the wraps with chopped cilantro or thinly sliced green onions.
There's no need to add salt to the sauce - the cayenne pepper sauce is very high in sodium.
Boston or Bibb lettuces are the best varieties for wraps. They have round, soft leaves, and unlike Romaine, they don't have a crunchy middle that can snap.
Using rotisserie chicken is a great way to make this recipe as easy as can be. Just remember to remove the skin before shredding the chicken.
Make-ahead: You can make these wraps up to two hours ahead of time and keep them in the fridge until it's time to serve them. Just make sure to dry the lettuce well so it doesn't wilt. The chicken mixture itself, without the lettuce, can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Count these four days from the day the chicken was cooked.