Pimp my too-spicy chicken!

January 9, 2008 4:52 PM

Following a recommended recipe, we cooked a number of chopped chicken breasts in a sauce that contained a large amount of "buffalo" sauce - you know, the hot stuff that people put on wings. After serving them we discovered that the sauce was actually the 'fire' version and the chicken was inedibly spicy-hot. We now have two pounds of fire-engine red, top-notch, ultra-buffaloed chicken breast sitting in the fridge. I'd hate to waste this much food - especially high-quality breasts like the ones we purchased. What can we do with this chicken?

The chicken is in 'chunks' - not breast-sized, but not cubed either. The family does like 'buffalo wings', but these are just too hot to eat as-is. I'm a good cook(*), so feel free to suggest anything.

* But not a very observant one, apparently. :)

posted by unixrat to food & drink (20 comments total)

I'd probably cut the chicken chunks into smaller pieces, cook up an equivalent amount of unseasoned chicken, then mix it with the fiery-hot stuff and use it as fajita filling. You could serve it with lots of sour cream or plain yogurt in case it's still really hot.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 5:00 PM on January 9

You can freeze them, and then pull out one or two chunks at a time to put a little bit of kick into an otherwise not-so-spicy meal. I would personally put a few chunks into chili and then not add as much chili powder to the chili. Maybe soup? Google for tortilla soup - those are usually spicier to start with - just reduce the spices if you use your fire chicken.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 5:01 PM on January 9

Dairy neutralizes spiciness -- mix plain yogurt or sour cream into the sauce. Try it on a small batch to get the balance right.
posted by jjg at 5:01 PM on January 9

Make or buy some very mild buffalo sauce, drain the wings (pat them with paper towels, even) and replace with the mild stuff. The hot flavor should be mostly on the outside of the wings, so you would end up with something that's half-way in between. You could probably make a completely mild sauce with some tomato sauce, vinegar and melted butter.

Or, you could make sandwiches out of them. Bread, lots of shredded lettuce and a bit of mayo should temper the heat.
posted by found dog one eye at 5:02 PM on January 9

Shred/thinly slice the chunks by hand or through a food processor.

* Make [something soupy or stewy] and add the shredded chicken to it. Refrigerate for a day to distribute the heat and flavour. For example, I could see this working in an underspiced black bean soup, or a chicken stew (with roux or white sauce added when reheated for extra body).
* Combine shreds with mashed potato to make patties which you can lightly pan fry. (This is how my Dad got me to learn to eat fish).
* Freeze whatever you don't expect to use in the next couple of days in some chicken broth or stock. This can be the base for a spicy soup later.
posted by maudlin at 5:03 PM on January 9

you might try looking for a recipe for an Indian cream sauce to help cut the spicyness.
posted by gauchodaspampas at 5:06 PM on January 9

Sounds like it would make delicious chicken salad. The mayonnaise would help neutralize the fire.
posted by st looney up the cream bun and jam at 5:16 PM on January 9

Cut the chicken into bite size pieces and put them into a salad. The chicken would be great with lots of leafy greens, tomatoes, and cucumbers or whatever vegetable combination you would want to use. Then of course, you would want to use a mayonnaise based dressing, such as ranch, to also help cut down on the heat.
posted by bobber at 5:38 PM on January 9

Make chili? Stewing it should let some of the heat leach out into the rest of the soup. Mixing it with non-spicy beans should help.
posted by salvia at 5:38 PM on January 9

Nachos
Potato's topped with the chicken and sour cream or gorgonzola?
posted by iamabot at 5:45 PM on January 9

Send them to my house?

I'd keed, I keed... I'd probably shred them up and try to make wraps or something out of them. With bleu cheese or ranch. They're generally served with those for a reason.

But I'm betting you probably know someone who can handle the heat who wouldn't mind a gift of free chicken. Ask around at work. Hell, have a contest or something. "If you can take the heat, you can take it home."
posted by Cyrano at 5:45 PM on January 9

i assume the skins are off if it's in chunks; if not, get rid of the skin. then put the chicken in a colander and rinse the holy heck out of it, mixing it up to get as much of the excess sauce off as possible.

then shred it, and use it in:

chicken chili with beans and tomatoes over rice or spaghetti
mixed liberally with raita--plain strained yogurt with lots of diced cucumber, minced onion, and some chopped grape tomatoes--and served in pita bread
chicken quesadillas topped with lots of cheese

also, i like the idea of cooking up some plain chicken breasts, shredding those, and mixing them in with the overspiced ones.
posted by thinkingwoman at 6:00 PM on January 9

I'll Nth the dairy suggestion, but go a different direction. I used to fix a kick-ass buffalo alfredo that sounds like these would work perfect for. Basic alfredo sauce with a bit of extra garlic and a sprinkle of blue cheese. Make the noodles (any work, but penne actually works well), ladle of sauce into a saute pan, a few chunks of chicken, heat it up and toss in some pasta...beautiful!
posted by griffey at 6:08 PM on January 9

Take it to a small, friendly pizza place and have them put in on a pie.
Give some to the pie guys too.
posted by gally99 at 6:10 PM on January 9

All these suggestions are great - many thanks.

We've got all the stuff for alfredo around here and it's been a long time since I've made any, so it's on the menu for tomorrow night. Thanks, griffey.
posted by unixrat at 6:28 PM on January 9

I like the chili suggestion above -- anything to add additional material to the dish that can dilute the super fire hot.

But I bet of you just rinse the chicken, you'll find it significantly less hot.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 6:31 PM on January 9

I would go with chicken enchiladas. Shred the chicken, make the sauce but nix any additional spiciness. Top with some avacado and sour cream and you should have a nice dish. Any enchilada recipe will do but I like what cooksillustrated.com has to offer. Not sure if you can access the recipe for free so I didn't link it.
posted by bkeene12 at 7:36 PM on January 9

Sounds like it would make an awesome chicken caesar. I frequently make a quick meal by making a caesar and mixing some buffalo-wing flavored gardenburger faux chicken nuggets with it. As others have said, the dairy cools off the heat and buffalo flavor and caesar go pretty excellently together.
posted by wuzandfuzz at 8:18 PM on January 9

Spicy chicken salad! I have a great recipe for Curry Chicken Salad from Cook Something that might work well. Regular curry chicken is too spicy for me (yeah, I'm a wimp), but when use in a chicken salad, it's great.

Cut up the chicken, add mayo, a bunch of veggies, maybe even some bleu cheese, and it should be excellent.
posted by scottso17 at 6:23 AM on January 10

chop it up, add velveeta, cream cheese, and a little blue cheese. Eat with chips or celery sticks.
posted by bolognius maximus at 8:54 AM on January 10