Get all the tangy, buttery flavors of Buffalo chicken wings wrapped in a tender pie crust! These hand pies are baked and served with a delicious blue cheese dressing. Make them a little smaller for a game day appetizer!
I’m ashamed to say I’m that white person who can’t handle the hot stuff. I watch First We Feast, and my eyes water FOR the people. True story: I once complained about the cheese fries at a bowling alley being too spicy. It was definitely CANNED nacho cheese. CANNED. CHEESE.
At least I can say that was over a decade ago, and in that time I have grown, people. While sriracha is still my number 1 favorite hot sauce, I love Buffalo mild sauce. Recently, I’ve been craving wings but not craving the price of wings, and so the Buffalo Chicken Hand Pie was born. These are 100% from scratch, from the pie crust to the dressing to the sauce, but there are lots of shortcuts and ways you can personalize this recipe.
What Meat Should I Use?
For this recipe, we use ground chicken. This makes a more compact, less wet filling that also cooks up quickly, which is important because this is not a fast recipe overall. Don’t worry – I give you tips about how to prep later!
You can use ground chicken breast or the ground chicken breast and thigh mix. Ground turkey would also be a great, less expensive alternative. If you have leftover cooked chicken, remove the skin and bones. Chop it finely. Start cooking the filling with the onions, and once those are ready, add the chicken. Cook that together for 1-2 minutes, then skip ahead to building the sauce in the pan.
How Do I Make Buffalo Sauce?
For this recipe, you will make the Buffalo sauce right in the pan where you cook the chicken. Buffalo sauce is, at the heart, red pepper sauce, salt, and butter. That’s it!
I use Texas Pete when I make this, but I am not brand specific. If you have a favorite red pepper sauce, use it! Also, use unsalted butter for every part of this recipe including the crust. You can taste the filling and adjust the salt levels before building your pies.
How Do I Make Pie Crust?
My pie crust recipe is straightforward and easy. I used to really struggle with homemade crust, but I finally have it down with this easy recipe.
- Add the flour to the food processor.
- Add the cold water and salt to a cup, stir to dissolve the salt, and store that in the fridge.
- Cut two sticks (1 cup) of cold unsalted butter into small cubes.
- Scatter those butter cubes over the flour.
- Close the lid and pulse several times to incorporate the butter through the flour. It should look mealy with some butter chunks still visible throughout. The flour should have a cakey look, though.
- Take the cup of salty water from the fridge and sprinkle half of it over the top of the flour.
- Pulse several times.
- Sprinkle the rest of the water over the flour.
- Pulse several more times until the dough forms in the food processor.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Press and shape it into a rough circle, then cut it in half. Don’t knead the dough! Shape each half into a flat disc about 1″ thick.
- Wrap each half in plastic wrap.
At this point, you can chill the dough for a minimum of 1 hour in the fridge. If you are prepping it ahead of time, it can last 2 days in the fridge or up to 3 months in the freezer. If you are freezing it, double wrap it in plastic wrap.
What Ingredients Do I Need for Buffalo Chicken Hand Pies?
You have three components to this dish, so let’s break down the ingredients for each one.
- For the Filling, you’ll need:
- Ground chicken: you can use the breast-only mix, breast and thigh mix, or even ground turkey!
- Onions: white or yellow onions work best here.
- Cornstarch: this thickens the filling to make it less likely to sog up your beautiful pie crust
- Red pepper sauce: use your favorite brand!
- Unsalted butter: the butter fat tempers the spiciness of the sauce.
- Olive oil & salt: small amounts to get things going.
- For the Pie Crust
- AP flour: I like White Lily or King Arthur flour.
- Unsalted butter: salted butter might make your crust mushy, so go with unsalted here too.
- Salt: I’m using coarse kosher throughout this recipe.
- Water: keep it ice cold in the fridge before adding to the dough.
- For the Blue Cheese Dressing
- Blue cheese: use your favorite version!
- Buttermilk: this gives so much texture and flavor.
- Greek yogurt: you can sub sour cream here for a milder flavor.
- White wine vinegar: you can use rice wine or even white vinegar here.
- Mayonnaise: just a little adds a lot of flavor.
- Salt: Of course we have salt!
That list looks long, but a lot of these are common ingredients like salt, water, and butter.
Tips for Making Buffalo Chicken Hand Pies
There are lots of ways you can customize this recipe besides using leftover chicken or ground turkey in the filling!
- Go for a milder blue cheese for a milder flavor. Because this is so creamy, I grab the cheapest crumbled option from my grocery store for the dressing. I save the pricier, stinkier stuff to be enjoyed on its own.
- Don’t like blue cheese? Make a ranch dip instead!
- Cut the pie crust smaller and make appetizers! These would be a super cute game day party food!
- Use your favorite hot sauce in the filling! I use Texax Pete’s in mine, but go with your heart on this one!
- Grab premade pie crust, Buffalo sauce, or blue cheese dressing. I have all the directions for homemade versions here, but there are great store-bought options for all of these items, too!
Can I Prep Buffalo Chicken Hand Pies Ahead of Time?
Yes! You can get all three components ready to go up to 2 days ahead of time!
Make the dressing. You can keep the dressing in an airtight container for up to a week. This means you can easily prep this ahead of time. I make mine in a wide-mouth Mason jar, then pop a lid on and store it in the same jar.
Make the filling. The filling can be made and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days before you assemble the pies. The filling is easier to handle when it’s chilled, too.
Make the pie dough. You can make the dough, get it to the resting stage, and store it in the fridge for 2 days before you use it. You could also make the dough and freeze it for up to 3 months! To get it ready to use, place the frozen dough in the fridge for at least a day before you plan to use it.
Tips for Storing Buffalo Chicken Hand Pies
You can store your hand pies in an airtight container in the fridge for about 3 days after you make them. To reheat, place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. You can also wrap them in a damp paper towel and microwave for 1-2 minutes. Use your judgment!
You can also wrap each pie in cling wrap twice, then zip them into a freezer bag and store for up to 2 months in the freezer. To reheat, unwrap them, place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and warm in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30-40 minutes or until they are as hot as you like.
For more photos of this recipe and all the other homemaking projects I’m doing, including recipes, knitting patterns, and other fun stuff, find me on Instagram and Pinterest!
Buffalo Chicken Hand Pies
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 3 cups AP flour
- 1 cup unsalted butter, cold
- 2/3 cup very cold water
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 egg For the egg wash
For the Filling
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 1 cup red pepper hot sauce
- 1/2 cup diced white onion
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
For the Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce
- 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream
- 1 tablespoon white wine or rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
To Make the Crust
- You need to make the pie dough at least 2 hours before making the pie. You can make it up to 24 hours beforehand and store it in the refridgerator, or you can make it up to 3 months beforehand and freeze it. Defrost frozen dough in the refrigerator for 24 hours before using for this recipe.
- In a small bowl, dissolve the salt into the water. Place the bowl in the refrigerator until you need to use it.
- Cut the butter into small, pea-sized chunks.
- Add the flour and butter to the food processor. Working quickly, pulse the mixture until it forms into large crumbs and some of the pieces of butter remain pea-sized.
- Drizzle about half the salted water over the flour mixture. Pulse several times.
- Drizzle the rest of the salted water over the mixture and pulse several more times. The dough will come together in the food processor. As soon as it comes together, transfer the dough from the food processor onto a clean, lighly floured surface.
- Divide the dough into 2 equal balls.
- Working quickly, shape each ball into a round disk about 1” thick.
- Completely wrap each disk in plastic wrap, then refrigerate them for a minimum of 2 hours. You can make the dough a day ahead and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.
- Reserve the egg until later. You will use this as an egg wash right before you bake the assembled hand pies.
To Make the Filling
- Warm a skillet over medium high on the stovetop until it is completely warmed through.
- Add the olive oil, then the onions. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and saute until they are translucent.
- Add the ground chicken. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt, then cook until the chicken is completely cooked. While it is cooking, break it up with a spatula or spoon. You want the fill to be smooth, with no big chunks of meat.
- Add the butter and red pepper sauce. Stir to thoroughly combine. Cook this mixture down until it is reduced in liquid and does not have visible liquid at the bottom of the pan, about 5-10 minutes.
- Sprinkle the cornstarch over the mixture. Stir to combine, then cook another 5 or so minutes, stirring often.
- Remove from heat. The filling needs to cool down to room temperature before you assemble the pies. It can be cooled in the fridge overnight in an airtight containter.
Make the Pies
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Roll out the pie discs until they are about 1/4" thick.
- Cut them into your desired shape and size. For the pies pictured, I cut squares of about 4" on each side. A 4" cookie cutter would also work.
- Add about 2 tablespoons of the filling to one corner of each pie square. Fold the other side over the filling, making sure all the filling fits inside. Seal the edges by pressing them with the tines of a fork. Repeat for each pie.
- Arrange the hand pies on the baking sheets so they are not touching.
- In a small bowl, beat the egg until it is well mixed.
- Brush each hand pie with the beaten egg. Sprinkle with a bit of salt.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Make the Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce
- Combine all the sauce ingredients into a jar that has a tight fitting lid.
- Shake vigorously to combine the ingredients. You can also use a whisk to combine.
- Serve hand pies warm from the oven with the blue cheese dipping sauce on the side.
These look absolutely delicious! Definitely going to give these a try soon!!!
Thanks Niki!! <3
Wow, this looks so delicious! I love handpies because they’re so easy and I’ll have to make this recipe asap!
We love that portability too! Thanks Anja!
These buffalo chicken hand pies look so delicious!!! Perfect for a game or movie night. Thank you for sharing!!!
Thanks Ada!! They feel extra fun even if they’re really just little pies 🙂