Jalapenos and buffalo chicken are a marriage of flavors that just had to be done. It’s a flavor explosion that is oozing with rich and delicious cheese, and packed full of spiciness in every bite. Of course – you can’t forget about bacon. Everything tastes better with bacon.
I based this on a quick skillet meal that my girlfriend made me the other night. It was pretty much this, but in a pan – and I knew right then and there I had to make a casserole out of it. Both of us absolutely love buffalo sauce and try to put it on just about everything we can. Spice in general is welcome in this house – and this have a serious kick of delicious and spicy flavors. If you’re not a fan of spice, make sure you de-seed the jalapenos!
P.S. Don’t forget to serve your meal up with a delicious piece of crispy chicken skin!
A word of warning in advance: try not to add too much salt and pepper to the filling mixture until you’ve tasted it with the hot sauce. The hot sauce itself is relatively salty and will usually balance out the dish on its own.
Yields 6 servings of Buffalo Chicken Jalapeno Popper Casserole
The Preparation
- 32 ounces boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 6 ounces bacon
- 3 medium jalapeno pepper, sliced and optionally deseeded
- 12 ounces cream cheese
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup hot sauce
- 4 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
- 2 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
The Execution
1. De-bone all chicken thighs and pre-heat oven to 400F. Season chicken thighs well with salt and pepper, then lay on a cooling rack over a cookie sheet wrapped in foil. Bake chicken thighs for 40 minutes at 400F.
2. Once your timer hits 20 minutes, start on the filling. Chop 6 slices of bacon into pieces and put into a pan over medium heat.
3. Once bacon is mostly crisped, add jalapenos into the pan.
4. Once jalapenos are soft and cooked, add cream cheese, mayo, and frank’s red hot to the pan. Mix together and season to taste.
5. Remove chicken from the oven and let cool slightly. Once they are cool enough, remove the skins from the chicken.
6. Lay chicken into a casserole dish, then spread cream cheese mixture over it, then top with cheddar and mozzarella cheese.
7. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 400F. Broil for 3-5 minutes to finish. Optional: Top with extra jalapenos before you broil.
8. Let cool for 5 minutes. Slice and serve up!
This makes a total of 6 servings of Buffalo Chicken Jalapeno Popper Casserole. Each serving comes out to be 738 calories, 62.3g fats, 3.9g net carbs, and 45.1g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 32 ounce boneless, skinless chicken thighs | 1297 | 81 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 153.9 |
| — salt and pepper | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 ounce bacon | 907 | 79.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45.4 |
| 3 medium jalapeno pepper | 13 | 0.2 | 2.9 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 0.4 |
| 12 ounce cream cheese | 1163 | 115.7 | 14 | 0 | 14 | 20.9 |
| 1/4 cup mayonnaise | 374 | 41.2 | 0.3 | 0 | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| 1/4 cup hot sauce | 6 | 0.2 | 1 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 0.3 |
| 4 ounce cheddar cheese | 458 | 37.8 | 3.5 | 0 | 3.5 | 25.9 |
| 2 ounce mozzarella cheese | 170 | 12.7 | 1.2 | 0 | 1.2 | 12.6 |
| Totals | 4389 | 368.1 | 22.9 | 1.4 | 21.5 | 259.9 |
| Per Serving (/6) | 731 | 61.3 | 3.8 | 0.2 | 3.6 | 43.3 |
Buffalo Chicken Jalapeno Popper Casserole
Ingredients
- 32 ounce boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- salt and pepper to taste
- 6 ounce bacon
- 3 medium jalapeno pepper sliced and optionally deseeded
- 12 ounce cream cheese
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup hot sauce
- 4 ounce cheddar cheese shredded
- 2 ounce mozzarella cheese shredded
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F. Debone the chicken thighs and season well with salt and pepper. Place on a cooling rack over a foil-lined baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes.
- After about 20 minutes, start preparing the filling. Chop the bacon into pieces and add them to a pan over medium heat.
- Once the bacon is mostly crisped, add the jalapeños to the pan and let them cook down.
- Once the jalapeños are soft and cooked, add the cream cheese, mayo, and hot sauce to the pan. Mix to combine and season to taste.
- Remove the chicken from the oven and let cool slightly. Once cooled, remove the skins from the chicken.
- Transfer the thighs to the bottom of a casserole dish. Spread the cream cheese mixture over them and top with the shredded cheddar and mozzarella cheeses.
- Bake for 10–15 minutes. Broil for an additional 3–5 minutes to finish. Remove from the oven and let cool for about 5 minutes before serving.
- Slice, serve, and enjoy!
Hiya Craig! I was wondering, what size pan did you use to cook this dish in? I know it isn’t “traditional” but this sounds like an awesome thing to try and make for Christmas dinner!!
Hey Whitney! It’s a 10 ¼x7 ¾” baking dish. I got it at Ikea (the name is KONCIS if you were wondering). Anyway, hope you enjoy it!
I made this tonight and it was great! I’m so glad I found your site. Looking forward to making lots of your recipes!
Happy to hear Vicki – hopefully the other recipes are just as delicious 🙂 Welcome to the site!
This sounds deelish! Is that cilantro I see as garnish or parsley?
Yeah, I garnished with Cilantro, but you can easily leave that out and still enjoy it!
This is amazing. I made this for dinner tonight and followed the recipe exactly as written. No need to change anything. This will become a regular for me. Thank you so much for sharing!
Thanks so much Caren – hope you enjoy it all the same, day one or year one 🙂
This was excellent with turkey leftovers and side of salad – flavours really came together well. Even the non-keto people loved it.
Happy to hear it Mara. I knew it’d work well with other meat – and I’m glad to hear it worked well with Turkey. I usually think Turkey gets a weird aftertaste, so I’m sure the flavors masked that well.
Craig, you have OUTDONE yourself with this one… OMG! I made this last night, knowing my hubby would love it. Boy, oh boy. Love is an understatement…
I’m not supposed to eat dairy, but I just could not help myself… (Paying for it now, but it was worth it!)
Note: I made this recipe entirely in one pan (my cast iron). I did not debone my chicken (who has time for THAT?). I used jalapeños from a jar. I mixed cheddar and parm (had no mozz).
A huge winner… Keep ’em coming.
Will do Cristina – thanks so much for coming out and giving such an awesome comment!
Hey Craig, I made this the other day and… best meal I’ve ever made. Have you tried ripping apart the chicken and mixing it in before putting it in the oven? I did that, and I really enjoyed the texture.
I had a few people tell me that they shredded the chicken also and it turned out great – I just liked to have it in there for the knife and fork quality. But that definitely sounds good. Glad you liked it!
This is the recipe I’ve searching for for my entire life.
Haha, thanks so much Mattie – glad to hear it!
Haha, thanks so much Mattie – glad to hear it!
OMG. S P E C T A C U L A R – This dish has everything that turns you on when you’re hungry; salty crunchy, chewy, creamy, spicy, tangy…. so delicious. One note is that my BF noted how much jalapenos 3 was…. he was like ‘are you sure??’ so I thirded the recipe and it was still spicy and delicious. I think 3 might have overdone it for us even though we hot sauce everything.
If you’re not too big a fan of spice, I can see that. Though in my house we love out spicy foods. If you end up using 3, you can always de-seed the jalapenos and it will take a lot of the heat away.
And thank you Craig so so much for everything you do. It means a lot to me and maybe people don’t tell you enough, maybe they do…. you are AMAZING. 🙂
I really appreciate that Louise 🙂
Eating this was one of the happiest moments of my life…. it was amazing!
Glad to hear it Toni!
what can I use instead of cream cheese.. I can not eat cream cheese.. sorry suggestions?
I’m not 100% sure what you could use instead of cream cheese. I generally eat dairy so I don’t know the typical substitutions on it. Some Google searches may give you some good information, though 🙂
thanks… I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask.. if I find anything I will post as well..
Sure thing – I’ll check your replies if you do 🙂
here are a couple of options.. will try them and let you know how they work.. or if you do let me know…
½ cup of Yogurt + ½ cup of Ricotta Cheese=1cup cream crease.. or 1 cup yogurt strained overnight in cheese cloth..
I’ll keep it in mind. Sour Cream might also replace yogurt in that scenario. Let me know if you get the chance to try it. I don’t usually buy those 2 because of the carb counts.
I have made this dish several times and my family loves it.. It’s one one of our favorites.. Looking forward to trying the Jalapeno popper soup!
Glad to hear it Natasha! Hope you keep on enjoying it 🙂
I made this dish last night and it AMAZING! Even my non-keto bf was in food heaven! Slight change I made was adding a tin of plum tomatoes and some chopped sundried tomatoes and a pile of wilted spinach to get more veg happening and it was gorgeous! Craig, you are a master of your trade and this little keto-er thanks you. 🙂
…aaaand I just googled sundried tomatoes and they are way higher in carbs that I thought. Would you have them yourself or just skip them??
Well, I’m definitely glad you liked the casserole! I would personally skip out on most tomatoes. Sun-dried especially. There are some instances where I use tomatoes, but I usually go after tomato paste to get the flavor in there without adding too many carbs.
Hi Craig – I’m new to your site & love the look of some of your recipes. I really don’t like mayonaise. Can you think of an alternative ingredient?
Did anyone else not drain the bacon? I feel like that’s a necessary step, because mine came out incredibly greasy. Novice chef, here!
This was great!! By far the easiest buffalo/jalapeno popper dish I have made. I really like it as a casserole. I am hands down making this for the next BBQ I attend!!
Delicious! I made this for dinner tonight. I had to modify the spice a bit and I used boneless, skinless thighs and it came out perfectly. The whole family loved it. I served it with broccoli, the perfect low carb dinner. Thank you so much for this recipe! I am definitely going to make it again!
Awesome to hear! I usually just buy the skin on and bone on because I love the skin and they’re much cheaper 🙂
I love your recipes, Craig! Keep up the great work! 🙂
This was tasty! Thank you for sharing.
Side note: my topping to chicken ratio seemed out of whack. I think you could almost get away with 8 pieces of chicken and be good. Fortunately, my steamed beans on the side tasted amazing with the extra topping. Yum!
I made this today, it was amazing! Thank you for sharing this fantastic recepie
I am new to the Keto lifestyle, I cooked this over this past weekend and it was AWESOME!!!!
Making this tonight for dinner. Added a 14oz bag of frozen cauliflower (steamed first) and 4oz of blue cheese crumbles. Used two cups of mexican shredded cheese rather than the mozzerella and cheddar. Also subbed the cream cheese for the neufchatel to bring the fat/calorie content down just a wee bit.
Where do you get your nutritional information from? Every source I’ve looked up shows chicken thighs having more protein than fat, but this is the second recipe I’ve seen on this site that shows chicken thighs having as much (or more fat) than protein….
Also, I’ve never seen bacon that is 100 calories per slice…
That said, I’m thoroughly looking forward to making this. All the other recipes I’ve made from this site have been awesome!
I normally buy my chicken thighs with skin on and bone in. I’ll de-bone them myself and keep the skin on for cooking. A lot of fat lies within the skin – so that may be why the nutritional information seems off. Bacon is also similar. When you see nutritional information, they talk about (cooked) bacon. This means with the fat drained. I keep all fat that I render off any meat in the dish. Hope that helps!
Hi Craig! This looks awesome and I’m looking forward to trying it this weekend. One quick question for you though: do you have any suggestions for substitutions for the cream cheese and mayonnaise? Maybe ricotta for the cream cheese perhaps? I really dislike both of those things and I’m afraid they’ll ruin the dish for me. If they just blend in and you can’t taste them individually, I’ll give it a shot as is but I’d appreciate your input!
Hey Brittnee. You definitely can’t really taste either of those 2 ingredients in the final product, but if you are super sensitive to the flavors, you may grab a hint or two in there. I would suggest trying it how it is written first and seeing how you like it (I think you will!), but if you have to change: ranch dressing or another high fat dressing would work in place of the mayo. For the cream cheese, ricotta or a mix of sour cream + parmesan cheese may do the trick. Hope you enjoy it!
Hi again Craig. Just wanted to let you know that I finished making this for dinner tonight and it came out great! I switched the cream cheese for ricotta and left the mayo; it tastes delicious. Thanks for your help, and I’m looking forward to trying more of your recipes 🙂
Just made this yesterday and it was amazingly good! This will definitely be a regular recipe in my rotation of low carb meals. Thank you so much!
Hi Craig, I’m just wondering what brand of mayonnaise you use?
I sometimes make my own, but if I buy store-bought I usually go with Hellman’s. You’re welcome to use an organic option, but I just have grown up on the taste.
Hi Craig:
This recipe sounds awesome. I realize what you wrote here was 2 years ago; however, research has found Canola oil – which is in Hellmans mayo to be extremely toxic and can cause dementia, etc. I was so disappointed to learn this as Hellmans was my go to mayo and Canola oil is used in soooo many things. You probably know all this by now, so “just sayin'”
Hi there! I’m thinking about making this tomorrow. Looks really good! Do you have an alternative to the Frank’s Red Hot? I live in the Netherlands and I think it’ll be a challenge to get my hands on some. Could I just add cayenne pepper or substitute it with sriracha?
Any hot sauce that doesn’t have sugar/carbs will do. Franks is pretty much vinegar + cayenne pepper and you could most likely find a substitution (or recipe) for it online. I wouldn’t use very much sriracha as it can add up in carbs quickly.
I managed to get a bottle of Franks, so I was able to make this the way it should be. And I think I found my new favourite comfort food 🙂
Samantha you can get the hotsauce at Albert Heijn. Making the recipe now Craig, cant wait!
Not surprising, but this turned out great!! I halved the recipe (since it’s only me eating it and not my family) –I’ll eat on it all week! By the way, what is the serving size? Thanks!
Hey Craig, I’m new to keto but 4 days in I feel great about it. This seriously is one of the best things I have ever eaten. I used shredded chicken breast, I left the bacon fat in the dish, added an extra jalepeno and some mushrooms. For buffalo sauce I used Wing-Time (hot). I want to eat this all the time! Thanks for your awesome website. I look forward to making more of your dishes. Cheers!
I made this for last night’s dinner and had leftovers for today’s lunch and it was absolutely delicious! I just wish the process didn’t take so long though! Between the casserole and the mashed roasted cauliflower (which I baked at the same time as the casserole) it took me about 1.5 hrs.. Totally worth it though! Next time I will definitely reserve this recipe for a weekend meal. Also, I wanted to point out that I used 9X13 casserole dish and there was more than enough space left for 2 more chicken thighs. Aaand I think 12 oz of cream cheese is way too much for 6 thighs, I used 8 oz for the 6 small/medium thighs and it was just a perfect amount. I also drained the bacon fat out of the pan a bit before adding the cream cheese and other stuff.. For those who might want to cut out the unnecessary calories while keeping all the flavors 🙂 Thanks for a great recipe!
Hey Craig, I made this for my husband a few weeks ago, and he asked me to make it again tonight, he sat down to dinner, took a bit, rolled his eyes, and said “I think this is the best chicken dish I have ever tasted. I modified only one thing, I made it with boneless, skinless, chicken breasts so there was a little less work. If this recipe was offered in restaurants, it would be one of the most popular dishes on the menu! Thanks for posting it.
No problem at all – glad to hear you guys like it so much! I’d definitely recommend going with boneless skinless thighs if you want to go the convenient route. Chicken breast is really lean and will throw the macros out of whack.
Am eating this now…..I must say Craig, this is by far THE BEST chicken casserole I have ever eaten. This one will be going to family get togethers very often, thank you for this recipe!!!
That’s so awesomely nice of you to say Deanna – I’m so happy you guys liked it!
Hey Craig,
I started with the Keto diet on Saturday and already made 2 of your dinner recipes: the buffalo chicken jalapeno popper casserole and the bbq bacon cheeseburger waffle. What can I say it was soooooo good and my husband liked it too. I am really glad that I found your website. This week I will try your recipe for the coffee cake as well 🙂
Thank you so much Christina – hope you enjoy the coffee cake, too!
Love how quick and easy this is to make. I switched the mozzarella out with a farmers cheese or queso…because that’s all I had the first time I made it and it came out amazing!
Really glad to hear!
Yum–I made this last night and did alter it slightly–I drained the bacon fat, and even then there was enough fat glazing the pan to saute the 2 seeded jalapenos I used, plus about 1/3 c. of diced onion. I used 2.5 cups of diced rotisserie chicken, and 2T of Franks (about 2/3 of the recipe amount). I can’t believe it took me 2 years to find this recipe!!! This can also be served with tortilla chips to make a dip like game night snack
Do we have to use Mayo? I am not a fan at all and in fact it is never in our house. This looks amazing though. Let me know.
I have this in the oven as we speak…OMG my house smells amazing. Can’t wait to taste it. I think my family will love it!! Thanks for such a great and easy recipe to try.
So, I know this post is older, but my husband just started keto. I have been looking for recipes everywhere and found this one. ITS AMAZING. I followed your exact recipe and I’m not sorry!
If you don’t have or can’t find Frank’s Red Hot what can you substitute in its place?
Any hot sauce will do 🙂
We just finished having this. My husband had bariatric surgery and has become quite picky and finds most meals these days unimpressive to straight up yuck. I’ve started keto to lose weight as well and came upon this in my search for recipes. Gigantic hit with my husband. And my daughter. And my son. And me! DH has asked for this to be a regular menu item. I’m happy to oblige. Thanks! This is quite rich. While my mouth wanted more, it was quite difficult to finish my one boneless thigh. Served this with broccoli lightly stir fried in clarified butter. <3
I’m so glad to hear that this was a hit at your house!
I just made this and it is delicious! I used Frank’s Red Hot Sauce Sriracha, colby jack cheese instead of cheddar and added some onion. YUM!!!
That sounds divine!
I’m thinking some blue cheese or ranch would be good drizzled on this, some added moisture and coolant for the hot pepper
I love blue cheese on everything!
OMG…me too!
Going to make this for a work potluck. Can I make this the night before and pop it in the oven the next morning? Also, not a fan of mayo in baked casseroles. Can I swap the mayo for sour cream? If so, can I use half sour cream and half blue cheese dressing?
I think all of those would work fine!
This recipe looks great, but I just wanted to point out the fact that every package of cream cheese I’ve seen shows that there are 2 Carbs for each ounce of the stuff…maybe I’m missing something but that makes the carb count go way up! Either way I look forward to making it!
Hey Scarlett, there used to be less carbs but they’ve all gone up since this recipe was posted. I’ll get the nutrition info updated. 🙂
What do you do with the chicken skins?
I think Craig just tossed them. In my house, someone would probably eat them lol.
A step that is not mentioned but that I would add is to remove the bacon grease from the pan before adding the cream cheese, mayo, and sauce. I failed to do so and my filling was pretty gross until I spooned out all the bacon grease. Also using a low temperature to melt the cream cheese while stirring continuously will help with the consistency of the filling. Cheers.
I left my grease in and it was just fine. It was a little harder to get the mix to blend better but it worked fine. It seemed to help melt down the cream cheese but I cut that up in chunks to make it easier.
I am trying to loose weight and I was told that I do still need to keep track of calories while doing keto. I see this is almost 800 calories a serving what should my other meals look like? I have been doing bacon and eggs and a HF salad for lunch and BPC
Hi Diana, we have some other meals that are lower calories per serving. These higher ones are probably better for a treat, or if you are doing fasting during the earlier part of the day. Some people like to do a high-fat coffee in the morning then fast all the way until dinner.
This was sooooo good. Only addition I made was adding chopped onion and garlic in about 3 minutes after the jalapeños. Served with broccoli which was so amazing mixed with a little of the cheese sauce. Definitely a keeper!
I made this tonight and words can’t even describe how good it was. OMG. This recipe was genius and super easy.
Thank you so much Brian!