Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
I was feeling creative this weekend and I wanted to come up with a new recipe that would be good to serve while watching football. I’ve had meatballs on the brain lately and whenever I think of football I think of Buffalo chicken, so I decided to combine the two. I always make meatballs in the crockpot, and I figure pouring a bottle of wing sauce over these would keep them moist and help them suck up the Buffalo flavor. The meatballs are a mixture of everything you’d find on a plate of wings: chicken, carrots, celery and blue cheese. I thought they featured those flavors really well and were a perfect warm, hearty dish for cheering on your team from the couch.
I served these a la carte with a dish of light blue cheese dressing for drizzling and they went over really well. I think they’d also be great on a sub or served over pasta with some blue cheese dressing or light alfredo mixed in. Get creative and let me know how you serve them! To view your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!
Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground chicken breast
- 1 medium carrot, chopped finely in a food processor (or shredded on the small side of a box grater)
- 1 medium stalk of celery, chopped finely in a food processor (or shredded on the small side of a box grater)
- ½ cup plain dried breadcrumbs
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons skim milk
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese
- 12 oz bottle of Buffalo wing sauce, such as Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Wings Sauce
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients except wing sauce until thoroughly combined. Use your hands to form the mixture into 12 equal sized balls. *My slow cooker has a pot that is meant to go from stovetop to slow cooker. If the pot for your crock pot is not stovetop safe, complete step one in a heavy pot on the stove and then transfer contents to crock pot for step two*
- Mist the inside of your pot with cooking spray and brown the meatballs on all sides on the stove top. Do not cook all the way through.
- Transfer pot (or contents of pot) back onto your crock pot and pour the wing sauce over the top. Stir meatballs to coat. Turn crock pot temperature to low and cover. Cook for 7-8 hours.
Notes
2 per meatball (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)
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Buffalo Chicken is one of my favorite foods. In fact, I JUST had a buffalo chicken sandwich! Thanks for posting these, I’ll definitely be trying them 🙂
I hope you love them!
I’m not a fan of blue cheese. What would you suggest for a replacement?
You can just pick any other kind of cheese that you do like 🙂
I typically use part skim mozzarella when replacing bleu cheese in a buffalo chicken recipe. The stronger flavored cheeses like cheddar don’t “mesh” as well flavor wise in my opinion.
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How big a difference are brands? I used Hooters wing sauce and panko plain breadcrumbs in the recipe builder and it gave me 4 points per meatball. It was 2 until I added the wing sauce.
I guess a lot! The nutrition information for the wing sauce I used (the Frank’s I listed above) has 0 fat, fiber, protein, carbs and calories.
This is genius! I wonder why I never thought to do this, lol….loooove it!
I am trying this recipe out this weekend, looks yummy! I love your cupcakes too- <3 the philly one.
I’m SALIVATING!!!!!
Meatballs in hot sauce is the perfect football watching food. Great idea to add the blue cheese into the meat. These would be great with a really lean beef too! I love the combination of beef and blue cheese.
I haven’t tasted these yet, they’re currently cooking in my oven. They smell great. Tip for all of you who might be as dumb as me: I just broke my crock pot trying to brown these on the stove top. I should have known better than to pot the crock pot insert on the stove top, but the kids were making me crazy and I was just following the recipe. So don’t do it if unless you’re sure yours can be used on the stove! Otherwise, great recipes, I lover your stuff. 🙂
By the way, I’m actually a writer in real life. I have no idea why that previous post is so full of typos!! So sorry.
Ha! Don’t feel dumb, I just glanced at the comments here as I was waiting for mine to brown, saw your note, and turned around to turn the heat off my “detachable pot” . . . . when it cracked and broke! I guess it’s not the same kind as Emily’s . . . into the oven they go.
JuHalt, how long did you cook them in the oven and at what temp? Did they turn out ok? I want to make these for a party tomorrow but am already using my crock pot.
OMGosh- this blog is WONDERFUL! I found you through a link on the Wholly Guacamole FB site and I have just spent 2 hours drooling over your recipes!
Making the Buffalo Chkn Mtbls today with your zucchini tots for Sunday Supper- CAN”T WAIT! Love all the Buffalo Chicken recipes…. relocated WNY gal here myself!!
Keep the recipes coming!
DELISH!!!
I am making these today…but with turkey because I have no food processor and none of my local stores sell ground chicken all the time. 🙁 Still smell pretty good and I doubled the recipe for lunches all week!
I just made them they look delicious. Can’t wait for dinner!!!
OmG these are soo delicious my whole family enjoyed it can’t wait to try more recipes
If I make these into mini meatballs, how long do you think they should cook for? I am thinking of doing them for the Super Bowl but there is so much other food, that I think mini meatballs would be better.
If I make these into mini meatballs, how long do you think they should cook for? I am thinking of doing them for the Super Bowl but there is so much other food, that I think mini meatballs would be better.
Absolutely delicious, Emily!
Made these this weekend for a party and they were delicious!! Big hit! I put them in the oven at 325 for about a half hour (same as a different meatball recipe I was making) and then put them in the crock pot on high for about an hour and then on low. We ate about 1.5-2 hours later and they were perfect. Can’t wait to try other recipes on here!
Used ground turkey and they were great!! Hubbysaid he would order those again if he was at a restaurant. That is how I know he really likes it. I ask him if he would order it again. He thought it would be cool to have them shaped into links or hot dogs so they would go on a bun easier. May try that next time.
I so glad I found this website! I can not wait to try this ! It will be a guilt free meal .
I have made numerous recipes from your site and once again I was not disappointed! This recipe was great and surprisingly easy. Thanks for another good one EM!
Made these last night. Loved them. My 14 year old said we need to add them to the rotation. I did not make them in the slow cooker. Instead I baked them for about 25 minutes, flipping once. After baking I then added them to a pan with the buffalo sauce and simmers until we wer ready to eat.
I made these this morning for my office to taste test and see if they were party worthy. I have liked every recipe I have made from this site so I should have know they would be a huge hit, as they were. Thanks again for another great recipe!
Thanks Marilyn, I’m so happy they were a hit!