Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Meatballs (2024)

The addicting flavors of chicken wings get translated into meatballs, made with ground chicken, so they are basically health food! These are like the skinny jeans of buffalo wings.

Buffalo chicken wings are possibly my family’s favorite indulgent “junky” appetizer, tied only with nachos. If life is good, and we are in that kind of restaurant, we might order both.

But, hey, the reality is that buffalo wings are a pretty special occasion appetizer, whether you are making them or ordering them. It’s not exactly as justifiable on a regular basis as a bowl of hummus and some vegetables. But we can’t only have the beautiful flavors of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce on limited occasions.

Buffalo Chicken Wing Inspired Meatballs

So, here the addicting flavors of chicken wings get translated into meatballs. Ground chicken meatballs, so there’s even more reason to feel like these are practically health food! These are like the skinny jeans of buffalo wings.

If you like your buffalo chicken world hotter than not, dial up the amount of cayenne pepper. These make buffalo chicken meatballs with a quite moderate level of heat.

The addicting flavors of chicken wings get translated into meatballs, made with ground chicken, so they are basically health food! These are like the skinny jeans of buffalo wings.

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Serve these with celery sticks and blue cheese dip. Make your own blue cheese dip if you wish, or grab a bottle if you don’t. If you are purchasing blue cheese dip or dressing, go for one of the better brands, usually found in the refrigerated vegetable section of the grocery store. I just think they are better than the shelf stable bottles of dressing.

You may have noticed I forgot to put the blue cheese dressing and celery sticks into these photos. Sigh.

Quick Pre-Bake

You do have to bake these briefly before piling them into the slow cooker, which I’ll be the first to admit is kind of annoying. But if you don’t, because the temperature in the slow cooker is (as you would guess) low, they won’t hold their shape as well, and might kind of fuse together into a buffalo chicken meatloaf. Which might be my next recipe, now that I’m typing this. Spray cooker with nonstick spray first.

Make Ahead Chicken Meatballs

Rolling meatballs is a bit time consuming, so if you can, shape the meatballs ahead , up to one day, and then when you are ready to cook them, just pull them from the fridge. Get a kid or a friend to help you with this. You can make the meatballs a bit bigger or smaller than the size suggested in this recipe—the cooking times will still be the same.

This recipe makes about 50 1-inch meatballs. You can certainly cut the recipe in half if you don’t need that many (you probably need that many – think about the fact that one could easily eat 10 if one were me). Give them a sprinkle of minced scallions or chives before serving (see, I at least remembered to do that!)

More Buffalo Style Recipes:

• Buffalo Turkey Burger Sliders
• Air Fryer Buffalo Chicken Wings
• Roasted Buffalo Cauliflower Steaks

Other Great Slow Cooker Recipes:

• Slow Cooker Teriyaki Beef Tip Steaks
• Barbacoa Beef in the Slow Cooker
• Slow Cooker Barbecue Pulled Pork Loin
• Slow Cooker Barbecue Beer Beef Stew
• How to Make Shredded Chicken in the Slow Cooker