Buffalo chicken rice bowl
35 min · 46 g protein · 450 cals / serving
Everything you want from a plate of buffalo wings, rebuilt as a bowl: tender chicken glossy with tangy hot sauce, over rice mixed half and half with cauliflower rice, with crunchy celery, carrot and cucumber, a herby yogurt ranch and a little crumbled blue cheese.
Ingredients
Rice
- 2/3 cup jasmine rice, uncooked
- about 4 cups cauliflower rice, fresh or frozen
Buffalo chicken
- 1 1/3 lb chicken breast, 2 cm (3/4-inch) cubes
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp salt, divided
- 1 1/2 tsp olive oil
- 6 tbsp buffalo sauce, cayenne pepper hot sauce
- 1 tbsp butter
Yogurt ranch
- 3/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp skim milk
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 small clove garlic, grated
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh chives, chopped
- a few grinds black pepper
Bowls
- 4 stalks celery, thinly sliced
- 2 medium carrots, shredded
- 1 medium cucumber, diced
- 3 tbsp blue cheese, crumbled
- 2 green onions, sliced
Steps
- Cook the rice with a pinch of the salt according to the package. Meanwhile, cook the cauliflower rice in a dry skillet over medium-high heat, or in the microwave, for 4–5 minutes until just tender, and tip off any liquid. Fold the two together.
- Toss the chicken with the garlic powder, paprika and most of the remaining salt. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook the chicken in a single layer, turning, for 6–8 minutes, until browned and it reaches 165°F in the thickest piece.
- Turn the heat to low, add the hot sauce and butter, and toss for about a minute until the butter melts and every piece is glossy.
- Whisk the yogurt, milk, lemon juice, garlic, onion powder, dill, chives, pepper and the last pinch of salt into a pourable ranch. Add a splash more milk if it is too thick to drizzle.
- Divide the rice among four bowls and top with the buffalo chicken, celery, carrot and cucumber. Drizzle with the ranch and finish with the blue cheese and green onion.
Good to know
Blue cheese or ranch?
Both, in small amounts: the yogurt ranch does the cooling, and a spoonful of real blue cheese gives the funk that makes it taste like wing night. Leave the blue cheese out and the ranch carries the bowl on its own, at about the same score.
How hot is it?
Cayenne hot sauce is more tangy than fiery. For more heat, add a pinch of cayenne to the chicken; for less, swap a third of the hot sauce for a little extra butter melted with a squeeze of lemon, which leaves it at about the same score.
Meal prep?
Keep the ranch and the raw vegetables in separate containers; the rest keeps 4 days in the fridge and reheats well. Add the cold toppings after reheating.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 86
- Protein
- (42%)
- 9 g
- Fat
- (24%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (34%)
- 7 g
- of which sugar
- 1 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 274 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 1799 kcal goes into the pot and 2090 g of ingredients comes out as about 2100 g of food: 86 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.