This Buffalo Chicken Strips Recipe is such an easy weeknight dinner. These strips of boneless chicken are dipped in a delicious homemade Buffalo sauce, then breaded with a gluten-free panko, so even bite is packed with flavour. Even better, this sheet pan dinner only takes 35 minutes to make!
It always seems like there are not enough hours in a day. I’m running on mere moments of broken mediocre sleep, haven’t had a shower in a week, believe that flossing my teeth is a new luxury, and am HANGRY all the time. Man, breastfeeding is brutally hard and exhaustive. The only thing that’s saving my behind right now is batch cooking meals. Cooking ahead of time has been such a time saver and since it’s a sheet pan meal, it’s even better.
Table of contents
Why This Recipe Works
Sheet pan meals are truly a life saver as everything can be tossed on and if you want to use tin foil beforehand then you’re pretty much only washing your prep bowls and dinner bowls. Are you sold on this yet? Well here are some more reasons to make this:
- You only need a handful of ingredients
- The homemade ranch dipping sauce is finger-licking good
- Gluten-free
- Easy to make
- Made in under 30 minutes
Key Ingredients
Chicken — I use chicken tenders to make this buffalo chicken strips recipe but you can swap for chicken breasts or thighs if that’s what you have on hand.
Buffalo hot sauce dip — To make homemade buffalo sauce dip that the chicken gets dipped in before you bread it, you’ll need melted butter, hot sauce, egg, and garlic.
Panko — I use gluten-free panko to bread my chicken strips with. If you don’t have panko, you can use regular gluten-free breadcrumbs.
Ranch dip — To make the delicious homemade ranch dip, I combine ranch mix powder with yogurt. It’s so tasty and it’s a bit healthier since it’s yogurt based.
How to Make This Recipe
Step 1: Add panko to one bowl, flour and salt in another, and finally combine the melted butter, with hot sauce, garlic, and egg in the third bowl. Dip the chicken tenders into the flour, then the egg mixture, then the panko, and divide between two greased baking sheets.
Step 2: Toss the carrots and celery with the olive oil and scatter around the chicken. Sprinkle everything with fleur de sel. Bake at 425F for 20 minutes or until the chicken reaches 165 F and is golden brown. When ready, combine ranch dip mix and yogurt in a bowl to serve alongside the buffalo chicken strips.
Expert Tips
I like using two sheet pans to avoid overcrowding my sheet pan. However, if you have a large enough sheet pan to fit everything in, then you’re welcome to use just one.
You can easily double or triple this recipe. Simply continue to dredge the chicken when your first batch is in the oven. When I was prepping for my baby’s arrival, I tripled this buffalo chicken strips recipe (hey, if you’re going to dredge, you might as well dredge all day), so that we could enjoy half a batch for dinner, and then a lot more for later.
Cover the sheet pans with tin foil or parchment paper to save yourself from having to scrub them afterward.
Recipe FAQs
If you’ve doubled or tripled this recipe for meal prep, store the extra servings in an airtight container for 3 to 4 days.
To freeze this buffalo chicken strips recipe, allow everything to cool, and then flash freeze the sheet pan for an hour or until frozen solid. Then, transfer the frozen chicken strips (and vegetables) to a freezer friendly freezer bag. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Skip thawing the chicken and place the frozen chicken strips and vegetables onto a sheet pan and bake at 400F for 15-20 minutes or until heated through.
The hot sauce in the buffalo sauce does add some heat to this. However, the ranch dipping sauce can help balance the heat out. If you’re concerned that it’ll be too hot, you can decrease the amount of hot sauce.
You can definitely use whole wheat flour and whole wheat panko breadcrumbs if you don’t need these buffalo chicken strips to be gluten-free.
Yes! You can try potatoes, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, and more. Just be sure to cut them accordingly if you change the vegetables to match the cook time. For example broccoli and cauliflower shouldn’t be cut too small or it’ll burn before the chicken is done.
More Recipes You Might Like
Want more easy delicious recipes like this buffalo chicken strips recipe? Try these ones:
- Gluten Free Vegan Chickpea and Cauliflower Sheet Pan Dinner with Pomegranate Harissa Glaze
- Keto Cabbage Roll Enchiladas | One Pan Dinner
- Vegan Buffalo Cauliflower and Chickpea Hard Tacos | Healthy, High Protein Tacos
- Vegetarian Gluten Free Buffalo Cauliflower Steaks
What kind of easy meals would you like turned into a sheet pan dinner? Leave me a comment below with your thoughts!
Buffalo Chicken Strips (Easy Sheet Pan Dinner)
Ingredients
Chicken:
- 1 1/4 cup gluten free panko bread crumbs toasted in a pan
- 1/3 gluten free all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 1/4 cup Frank’s red hot sauce
- 1 clove garlic finely minced
- 1 egg beaten
- 1 lb chicken tenders
Vegetables:
- 6 stalks celery halved lengthwise and crosswise
- 3 skinny carrots with tops on trimmed and halved lengthwise
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Fleur de sel
Dip:
- 1/2 pack of Ranch dip mix
- 1 cup plain 2% greek yogurt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 F.
- In one bowl place the toasted panko breadcrumbs.
- In another bowl, combine the flour and salt.
- In another bowl, mix the melted butter, with hot sauce, garlic, and egg.
- Dip the chicken tenders into the flour, then the egg mixture, then the panko and divide between two greased baking sheets.
- Toss the carrots and celery with the olive oil and scatter around the chicken. Sprinkle everything with fleur de sel. Bake for 20 minutes or until the chicken reaches 165 F and is golden brown.
- Meanwhile, mix together the ranch dip mix and yogurt.
- To serve, drizzle with the dip and serve with your favourite grain like rice or quinoa.
Notes
- I like using two sheet pans to avoid overcrowding my sheet pan. However, if you have a large enough sheet pan to fit everything in, then you’re welcomed to use just one.
- You can easily double or triple this recipe. Simply continue to dredge the chicken when your first batch is in the oven. When I was prepping for my baby’s arrival, I tripled this buffalo chicken strips sheet pan dinner (hey, if you’re going to dredge, you might as well dredge all day), so that we could enjoy half a batch for dinner, and then a lot more for later.
- Cover the sheet pans with tin foil or parchment paper to save yourself from having to scrub them afterward.
Nutrition
Abbey Sharp is a Registered Dietitian (RD), regulated by the Ontario College of Dietitians. She is a mom, YouTuber, Blogger, award winning cookbook author, media coach specializing in food and nutrition influencers, and a frequent contributor to national publications like Healthline and on national broadcast TV shows.
Rhishikesh Gaikwad says
Wow Superr!! looks absolutely amazing.. beautiful pictures too.. 🙂 thanks for sharing..
jill conyers says
I was wondering what you used for the breading. And toasted for even more flavor.
Abbey Sharp says
gotta love panko!
Farrah says
Yay!! Gotta love one pan meals! The less cleanup needed, the better!!
Abbey Sharp says
Totally. Such a necessity right now!
Rachel says
Wait, you had the baby?! What did I miss??!! Congratulations, Abbey!!!
And yum, these look amazing. 🙂
Abbey Sharp says
Yes I did! A beautiful boy!
Deborah Brooks says
This would be an easy weeknight meal for my son on sports days. Looks tasty!
Abbey Sharp says
Yes totally! You’ll love it
Elysia | Haute & Healthy Living says
Congrats on your new baby! This article actually made me laugh out loud because I totally know where you’re coming from! I just had my baby 4 months ago and motherhood/breastfeeding is no joke!! Don’t worry — it does get easier! I also whipped up a bunch of freezer meals at the end of my pregnancy and it’s been a total lifesaver!! Your chicken fingers look awesome too by the way! 😉
Abbey Sharp says
Hey Elysia! Yes, freezer meals are my best friend right now lol
Katie Uhran says
OMG, these look delicious! I am definitely going to try these with one of my spicy Saucy Lips Foods sauces. Thanks for sharing…Pinned for later! xoxo
Abbey Sharp says
ooh sounds awesome! Enjoy Katie
rebecca says
love buffalo anything! I’ve got some hot sauce that’s just waiting to be made into this. Also, I’ve appreciated your brutally honest thoughts on pregnancy and now motherhood. I don’t have any comforting words other than I hope it gets easier/better 🙂
Abbey Sharp says
Mmm sounds lovely! Thanks so much love!