A healthy low carb paleo buffalo chicken casserole is perfect for sharing with friends and family on game days. It’s sure to score a win!
I’m not much of a football fan. But I often entertain friends who don’t mind having their rumps glued to the couch all day on Sundays during football season.
Me, I’d rather work on this recipe blog, read a good book or pretty much do anything else besides spend precious time watching obscenely-paid, abnormally large boys bash each other’s brains out.
But for my friends who do come over and watch, my low carb paleo buffalo chicken casserole is always a hit.
The recipe is the perfect surrogate for messy buffalo chicken wings, which, of course, is one of the major staples in football-watching households across the country.
(That reminds me … if you want a less messy wing appetizer, check out my dry rub chicken wings.)
And for many football-crazy husbands who grew up in a certain era, hearing the word “casserole” is unappetizing.
That’s because many casserole dishes of the 1970s and 80s were bland and unimaginative. Think tuna and chicken casserole.
True, this recipe is a chicken casserole dish.
But chances are, your mother or grandma didn’t make it with avocado mayo, ghee, cauliflower rice, and coconut cream, just to name a few of the unorthodox ingredients in this dish.
In fact, and I’m not one to usually brag, but I believe I’ve become expert at making imaginative low carb casseroles.
My three kids and husband especially love my low carb breakfast casserole. They also devour the pizza casserole I make.
Yup, casseroles have come a long way. So let’s get started, shall we?
Ingredients for the Low Carb Paleo Buffalo Chicken Casserole
There’s three components to the recipe: the crust, chicken topping and dressing.
For the crust, to eliminate all those junk carbs, I highly recommend using riced cauliflower.
I use four cups of it cooked (photo 1). To make the rest of the crust, you’ll need two large beaten eggs and two large stalks of celery chopped (photo 2). Also have a quarter teaspoon of sea salt handy.
As for the chicken, you’ll need, um, chicken, obviously. I love shredded chicken. Finely chopped will do as well. For the recipe, I use two cups.
If you have your favorite hot sauce, grab it. I use one-third of a cup here. And if you don’t have a favorite hot sauce, I recommend Frank’s Red HotFrank’s Red Hot. It won’t start a 3-alarm fire in your mouth but does elicit a mild thermonuclear palette-pleasing Pavlovian response.
Moreover, for true Buffalo sauce, you need butter. I prefer clarified butter, or ghee as it’s also called in Indian cooking. I use a quarter-cup here.
And for the real deal sauce, you also need ground cayenne pepper. I use about an eighth of a teaspoon. (Any more than that and you will have to call the fire department to put out the fire in your mouth.)
Complete the sauce by adding a tablespoon of white vinegar. Conventional buffalo wing sauce uses regular vinegar but I find the white vinegar balances out the over-sweet taste of barbecue sauce.
Just make sure you don’t use a lot of white vinegar as it has a pungent, acidic taste.
To make the dressing you’ll need a quarter-cup of avocado mayo; two tablespoons of coconut cream; a quarter teaspoon each of dried parsley, dried dill and garlic powder and dried chives, and one-eighth teaspoon each of onion powder and sea salt.
How to make low carb paleo buffalo chicken casserole
For the crust, preheat the oven to 400 and grease the casserole pan. I prefer either coconut oil or coconut oil cooking spray. For this recipe, I use a 7.5 by 11-inch pan.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the crust ingredients (photos 1-3), making sure to spread evenly in the pan (photos 4 & 5).
Bake for 20 minutes or until edges start to brown (photo 6). Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
To make the topping, place chicken in a medium bowl and set aside (photo 13). In a small pot, combine the rest of the topping ingredients and bring to a boil over medium heat (photos 7-9). Stir occasionally. When it starts to boil, remove from heat. Then, pour this sauce over the chicken and stir (photos 14 & 15). Next, spread the chicken mixture over the cauliflower rice (photo 16).
Now all that’s left is the ranch dressing. To make, in a small bowl, combine all the dressing ingredients until it’s smooth (photos 10-12). Now drizzle it over the chicken (photo 18).
Finally, bake the dish at 400 for another 5-10 minutes. Doing this will make the chicken nice and hot. Allow to cool slightly before digging in and being a football widow for the next few hours….enjoy!
We hope you enjoy this healthier low carb Buffalo Chicken Casserole. And if you give it a try, be sure to let us know what you think in the comment section below.
Low Carb Paleo Buffalo Chicken Casserole Recipe
Ingredients
Crust:
- 4 cups cauliflower rice cooked (leftover is perfect)
- 2 large eggs beaten
- 2 stalks celery chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Chicken Topping:
- 2 cups cooked chicken chopped or shredded
- 1/3 cup hot pepper sauce Frank's Red Hot is what I used
- 1/4 cup ghee or butter flavored coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
Ranch Dressing:
- 1/4 cup avocado mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons coconut cream
- 1/4 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/4 teaspoon dried dill
- 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon dried chives
- 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
Crust:
- Preheat oven to 400°F and grease casserole pan (I used a 7.5 x 11-inch) with coconut oil.
- In large mixing bowl, combine cauliflower rice, eggs, celery, and sea salt. Spread mixture into prepared casserole pan.
- Bake crust at at 400°F for 20-25 minutes or until edges are starting to brown. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack.
Chicken Topping:
- Place chopped chicken into a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a small pot, combine hot sauce, ghee, vinegar, and cayenne pepper with a whisk. Bring to a bowl over medium heat stirring as needed. Remove from heat.
- Pour hot sauce mixture over chicken and stir to combine. Spread over cauliflower crust.
Ranch Dressing:
- In small bowl, combine all the dressing ingredients until smooth. Drizzle over the chicken layer.
- Bake at 400°F for another 5-10 minutes to heat up the chicken layer. Cool slightly before serving. Additional ranch dressing can be added if desired.
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Notes
Nutrition
Note on Nutritional Information
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts as it has been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
About Lisa
Lisa has been creating low carb recipes for herself and sharing them with others since 2010. She loves to experiment in the kitchen and find new ways to create low sugar foods that taste like high carb favorites! Her recipes have been featured on popular magazine sites including Fitness, Shape, Country Living, Women's Health, and Men's Health. Lisa lives in Southeastern Connecticut. Connect with her and Low Carb Yum at:
Felicia says
Do you have a substitute suggestion for the avocado mayo?
Lisa MarcAurele says
Any mayonnaise will work.
Danielle says
My son made this recipe and followed it exactly
I couldn’t get past the strong coconut flavor of this recipe. It was potent. It wasn’t edible. Coconut and ranch? Not a good flavor combo.
Lisa MarcAurele says
You could use a nut based cream instead to make the dressing if you don’t care for coconut. However, I like to use coconut cream as it’s the least inflammatory. And if you don’t need dairy-free, heavy cream is always an option too.
Estelle says
Thank you; it is super for diabetics for example!
Sues says
What a fun dish! And I love that it’s made with cauliflower… Hoping it can fool my husband because I know he’d love this while watching the game! I also love your step-by-step photos 🙂
Lisa says
Thanks Sues!
Molly Kumar says
Looove how you did this chicken casserole with cauliflower rice and made it low carb. So yummm
Lisa says
Hope you give it a try Molly!