Buffalo Chicken French Breads

Before I say anything about this recipe, I just want to report that my Soul Sister, who is visiting from Oklahoma, called this dish a "resounding success". *nods*

This dish is incredibly easy the way I did it, and wouldn't have taken 30 minutes, except for the fact that I was prepping and cooking another dish at the same time, while chatting with my SSF. As always, the original recipe is below, but tell you of the changes I made. The cool thing about this particular occasion is that all of the changes were intentional! 

The major change was I used packaged grilled chicken pieces, instead of cooking chicken breasts in a skillet myself. Since they were already cooked, I just had to warm them. I know, I know...not the healthiest way to go. But I was looking for simplicity, and these pre-grilled chicken breast pieces are always a win around my house. The second change is that I didn't garnish with cilantro (blech!) or extra wing sauce.

The results: as I mentioned at the top of this post, this was a very successful dish. It's NOT low-fat, and while you could use reduced-fat cheese, why? The texture was awesome because it was soft and gooey AND crunchy! A few warnings, though: some people are very picky about their wing sauce. If the wing sauce isn't right, there goes the dish. Some people also aren't huge fans of Gorgonzola. To be safe, use less than the recipe calls for. (And actually, you could use whatever kind of cheese you want. There's just something wonderful about the blue/Buffalo combo.) Lastly, some ovens don't bake evenly (imagine that). As you can see, mine made the corner of the pictured piece a lil brown. So watch your bread carefully.

30-Minute Buffalo Chicken French Breads

1 loaf of french bread, cut in half
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
2/3 cup buffalo wing sauce + extra for drizzling
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 tablespoons ranch dressing
12 ounces fontina cheese, freshly grated
6 ounces crumbled gorgonzola cheese
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped

Place an oven rack in the middle of the over and heat your broiler to the high setting. Place the french bread, cut-side up, on a baking sheet and set in the oven for 2 minutes, then rotate and broil 2 minutes more, just until slightly golden. Remove and let cool.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add olive oil. Toss chicken with salt and pepper, then add to the skillet and cook until browned on all sides, about 10-12 minutes. Once cooked through, add garlic and stir for 30 seconds, then add in buffalo wing sauce and butter. Stir to toss and coat.

Brush 1 1/2 tablespoons (or more if desired) of ranch dressing onto each cut side of french bread. Top with 2-3 tablespoons each of buffalo wing sauce, then cover equally with a light sprinkling of fontina. Add the chicken, spooning out all of the sauce in the skillet. Cover with remaining fontina and gorgonzola. Broil on high (on the same center rack) for 5-6 minutes, watching closely and rotating the pan once or twice during broiling. You must watch closely because all broilers differ! It may take your oven 3-4 minutes or closer to 8. Just cook until the cheese is melted and slightly golden and the bread is somewhat crunchy.

Remove and top with another drizzle of buffalo wing sauce and then cover in green onions and cilantro. Cut into pieces and serve!