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This simple Buffalo Chicken Chowder is a set it and forget it meal that you can make so easily in the Instant Pot or Slow Cooker! Packed with veggies, protein, and flavor, and creamy this easy soup is bound to be a new favorite for busy weeknights! This Dairy-free soup is made with coconut milk to give you a decadent taste you will love.
Let’s bust out everyone’s favorite kitchen appliance: the Instant Pot or Slow Cooker! You all know that I live by this during my busy seasons (which is basically year round!). Whether it be a soup or stew, a Sunday Pot Roast, or some of my favorite healthy Asian dishes, I find myself reaching for my Instant Pot constantly!
As a nutritionist, my favorite kind of meals to make in the Instant Pot are soups. I love the way soups pack in nutrition! Hearty vegetables, protein, and fresh herbs are centered around a warming broth that provides a nutrient dense meal. This not only is good for the body and gut, but also so good to keep us warm and full during cooler months!
Reasons you will love this Buffalo Chicken Soup!
- Buffalo sauce is my favorite kind of condiment: spicy and tangy! If you love the flavor of chicken wings, but don’t love chicken wings, this soup is exactly what you’ll want.
- Loaded with veggies! Celery, potatoes, carrots, and fresh cilantro. Flavors, texture, and fiber all loaded in one!
- The leftovers are fantastic! Perfect for meal prep. Make a batch on the weekend and enjoy throughout the week.
- Hit the easy button with less than 10 minutes of prep time. Only 30 minutes of total time for the Instant Pot, or use the slow cooker so that you can let this soup cook while you are gone during the day!
How to make Buffalo Chicken Chowder:
This recipe comes together with just a few easy steps and a handful of healthy ingredients:
- chicken breast or thighs
- onion
- carrots
- celery
- potatoes
- chicken broth
- buffalo wing sauce
- full fat coconut milk for creaminess
- fresh cilantro for garnish!
Simply chop up the veggies to prepare. If using the Instant Pot, saute the onion beforehand. Then toss in the celery, carrots, potatoes, chicken, and wing sauce. Cook on high pressure for 12 minutes, then use a quick release. Shred the chicken with a fork. Pour in the coconut milk to get the creamy texture.
For the slow cooker, dump all ingredients (minus the coconut milk). Cook on low for 4 to 6 hours. Shred the chicken with a fork and pour in the coconut milk to serve.
Why Coconut milk?
I use coconut milk as the “cream” base to make it a chowder, but if not following a strict dairy-free diet, half and half can also be used. I promise that between the buffalo sauce and vegetable flavors, there is…..Wait for it……
NO COCONUT TASTE!!
Tips and Adaptations:
- Chicken thighs or chicken breast: chicken thighs will pull apart and shred easier. I prefer breast, but this is just a personal preference! You can also do boneless, skinless, thighs.
- Buffalo Sauce: I use 3/4 cup of buffalo sauce. For many, this may be too spicy. You can always start with 1/2 cup and adjust as needed.
- Potatoes: Potatoes provide a hearty starch to this soup. You can omit completely if following a low carb or keto diet, or substitute with cauliflower florets or rice.
This would make the perfect soup for a healthy super bowl meal, or even for a tailgate. And as I mentioned above, this one is kind of a no-brainer for me for an an easy weeknight dish. Serve with my Easy House Salad as a side dish!
Enjoy, my friends!
Instant Pot Creamy Buffalo Chicken Chowder (Dairy-Free)
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs chicken breast
- 1 white or yellow onion, chopped
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1.5 cups diced potatoes*
- 5 cups chicken broth
- 3/4 cup buffalo hot sauce, I use Frank’s
- 2/3 cup full fat canned coconut milk or half and half
- 1/4 cup cilantro for garnish, optional
Instructions
For the Slow Cooker:
- Place chicken breast at the bottom of the slow cooker. Top with onion, celery, carrots, potatoes, chicken broth, and buffalo sauce.
- Cook on low for 4 hours (up to 6 hours, may depend on potatoes for slow cooker).
- Remove lid and stir in coconut milk (or half and half). Serve with cilantro for garnish.
For the Instant Pot:
- Set your instant Pot to saute. Add a bit of oil to coat the bottom of the pot. Now add in onion and saute for 2-3 minutes. Select cancel.
- Place chicken, celery, carrots, potatoes, chicken broth, and buffalo sauce on top of the chicken. Now add chicken broth. Secure the lid.
- Select the manual function on your IP, and cook on high pressure for 12 minutes. Use a quick release (place a kitchen towel over the valve to prevent a mess). Once steam is completely released, remove lid.
- Add coconut milk or half and half. Top with fresh cilantro and serve!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Made this last night. With a few changes amazing ! Did 1 full cup of hot sauce. 1 jalapeño , and used Mayocoba beans instead of potatoes , super spicy and wonderful. Was sweating the whole time. Wife and daughter loved it too.
Hi! This looks so delish. I’m making it tonight, but I am a very novice cook and had a question: should the chicken be cut at all or put in as full chicken breasts? I didn’t see instruction to cut so just put them in whole but have a feeling that was wrong… thank you!
Keep it whole, and then cut it or shred the chicken after it’s cooked!
This is a delicious soup. I may cut the chicken to 1 lb. next time and increase the vegies. Absolutely a keeper.
Yay!!!
Can you use fat free milk or will it be too thin?
No, don’t use fat free milk. If you are fine with dairy, use half and half.
I am trying this recipe today. I happen to have one sweet potato and one russet. Will the sweet potato be ok in this? Should I use the slow cooker method since the sweet potato tends to take longer to cook?
You can use either one, I would just maybe add a few more minutes to the Instant Pot if using.
Made this last night and it was delicious. I added some minced garlic in with the onions to sauté – also pretty much pulverized the celery and carrot in the food processor so it kind of disappeared into the soup. Also added a can of pumpkin – adds nice thickness and perhaps cuts the spice a little (though I upped the hot sauce so it was still pretty spicy!) my boyfriend who doesn’t love buffalo sauce (which I learned after making it) really enjoyed it!
So glad you loved it!
Super easy and really good 🙂
Not sure if this is because I made this in a crock pot, but the vegetables were not cooked after 4 hours on low as the recipe says to do. It was very thin soup also with the full fat coconut milk. It came out more of an off colored broth than a thick, bright orange chowder as shown in this picture. I ended up adding some heavy cream to try to make it more chowder like. The flavor of the soup itself was good, but the crock pot time definitely needs more, and it needs either more coconut milk or to just omit coconut milk as an option.
Oops…. What if I read the instructions too fast and added the cocounut milk along with everything else…. Will something taste off?
Nope, should be fine!
Hi, should the chicken already be cooked?
Nope!