Buffalo Chicken Bowls (30 Minute Meal!)

These Easy Buffalo Chicken Bowls take all the flavor of your favorite buffalo chicken dish and turn it into a healthy, satisfying rice bowl that’s perfect for dinner or meal prep.

These bowls are ready in less than 30 minutes and all you need is one sheet pan!

Packed with buffalo chicken, cauliflower, rice, and lots of fresh veggies. Just add ranch or blue cheese for a nutritious meal everyone loves.

Why You’ll Love These Easy Buffalo Chicken Bowls

• 30-Minute Meal: In just 30 minutes, you have a complete meal that doubles as meal prep packed with chicken, cauliflower, beans, rice, and tons of veggies.
• Make it your own: Bowls are endlessly customizable. Make these bowls with rotisserie chicken or shrimp. Use cauliflower rice or greens. Change up the veggies and sauce.
• Healthy Way to Eat Buffalo Chicken: Instead of reaching for fried buffalo chicken tenders or wings, these healthy bowls have all that delicious buffalo flavor in a nutritious, protein-packed bowl.

Looking for more tasty chicken and rice bowls? Try these Chicken Fajita Bowls, Greek Chicken Bowls, and Grilled Chicken Bowls.

Ingredients and Substitutions

Here is everything you need to make these healthy buffalo chicken bowls.

• Chicken: This recipe comes out great with boneless skinless chicken breast, but it would also work with chicken thighs. For a quicker option, swap in rotisserie chicken or leftover cooked chicken.
• Cauliflower: To double up on the buffalo flavor, this recipe uses cauliflower as well. Swap in any vegetable you like including broccoli, zucchini, brussels sprouts, cabbage, butternut squash, or sweet potatoes. Just adjust the cooking time as needed.
• Buffalo sauce: Frank’s buffalo wing sauce is my go-to buffalo sauce but use any option you like. Then to get that restaurant-style flavor, make sure to add melted butter, lime juice, and a touch of honey. If you prefer something without any sweetness, leave out the honey. Swap in hot sauce or spicy barbecue sauce if you prefer.
• Rice: Traditionally these bowls are made with rice, but you could use quinoa, cauliflower rice, greens, or any other base you like for the bowls.
• Veggies: Buffalo chicken is almost always served with something crunchy so I like to add raw carrots, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes to the bowls. Add greens, celery, or shredded cabbage if you like.
• Sauce options: Grab some blue cheese, ranch dressing, or creamy yogurt to add to your bowls. Something cool and creamy is a great way to counteract the spice in the chicken.
• Shortcuts: Use rotisserie chicken, frozen cauliflower, and precooked rice to make this meal in less than 10 minutes! Skip the homemade buffalo sauce and simply grab your favorite buffalo wing sauce. 

How to Make Buffalo Chicken Rice Bowls

These bowls come together in less than 30 minutes!

1. Cook cauliflower and chicken

It’s important to season the chicken and cauliflower so that every bite has lots of flavor. Mix together a quick seasoning blend of garlic powder, paprika, onion powder, salt, and pepper.

Cut the cauliflower into bite-sized florets and toss them with olive oil and half of the seasoning mix. Place it in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 17-20 minutes until it is beginning to brown and crisp up.

While the cauliflower is roasting, cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Toss with olive oil and the remaining seasoning mix.

Carefully remove the cauliflower from the oven and push it to one side of the pan. Add the chicken in a single layer. Return to the oven and cook for 10-12 minutes until the chicken is lightly browned and cooked through.

When the chicken and cauliflower are both fully cooked, toss them with about ¾ of the homemade buffalo sauce.

2. Make Buffalo Sauce

The secret sauce in this recipe is a quick buffalo sauce that has the perfect combination of spicy and sweet. Combine your favorite store-bought buffalo sauce (like Frank’s) with melted butter, honey, and fresh lime juice. Taste the sauce and adjust the taste as needed.

3. Prep rice and toppings

While the cauliflower and chicken cook, prep the remaining ingredients and toppings for the buffalo chicken bowls. Make the rice or quinoa for the base. Chop the carrots, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes. Prep any homemade dressing or sauce.

4. Assemble bowls

Now it’s time to build your bowls. Start with the base of your bowls - rice, quinoa, greens, or cauliflower rice. Add the buffalo chicken and cauliflower. Layer in the fresh, crunchy veggies. Drizzle with the remaining buffalo sauce.

Add any additional toppings ranch dressing, blue cheese crumbles, green onions, or sliced celery. Continue reading for more ideas.

Recipe Ideas and Variations

There are so many ways to customize these buffalo chicken bowls!

• Add beans: These bowls are delicious with some fiber-filled beans. Consider adding black beans, chickpeas, or cannellini beans. Consider roasting the beans first, especially chickpeas, for some added crunch.
• Change the protein: Make these bowls with chicken thighs, rotisserie chicken, shrimp, salmon, ground meat, tofu, or chickpeas. It’s also delicious with baked chicken nuggets or chicken strips. You can also use these slow cooker buffalo chicken.
• Change up the veggies: Instead of cauliflower, consider using zucchini, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, cabbage, roasted carrots, or kale. You can also swap in different veggies for the toppings including butter lettuce, celery, red onion, corn, or peas.
• Make it low-carb: Use cauliflower rice, spaghetti squash, or zucchini noodles instead of steamed rice for a low-carb option. Skip the honey when making the buffalo sauce.
• Change up the sauce: If you don’t love buffalo sauce, make these bowls with barbecue sauce or honey mustard instead.
• Make it vegan: Swap in chickpeas for the chicken and you have a vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free option.

Best Sauces and Toppings for Buffalo Chicken

There are so many options for adding flavor to these bowls with different toppings and sauces. Here are some of our favorites.

• Skinny ranch
• Yogurt blue cheese dressing
• Creamy gorgonzola dressing
• Jalapeno ranch
• Cilantro lime sauce
• Thinly sliced celery
• Romaine lettuce
• Shredded cabbage
• Avocado
• Coleslaw
• Honey mustard
• Corn salsa

Meal Prep and More Serving Ideas

These bowls are great for meal prep and taste great cold, room temperature, and heated up.

• Meal Prep: If you plan on reheating these bowls, pack the dressing and raw veggies separately. Heat up the buffalo chicken, cauliflower, and rice, and then add the toppings. If you plan on eating it as a cold grain bowl/salad, you can assemble everything. Just make sure to place the raw veggies on top so they don’t get soggy.
• Fridge: These bowls will keep in the fridge for 4-5 days. Let everything cool and then store in an airtight container.
• More serving options: Serve this tasty buffalo chicken and cauliflower as a green salad, lettuce wraps, sandwiches, or fold everything into a delicious buffalo chicken quesadilla or buffalo chicken stuffed sweet potato.