Buffalo Blue Cheese Chicken Soup

All of the spicy goodness of buffalo chicken wings, in soup form (and without the mess!). Buffalo Blue Cheese Chicken Soup has it all: hot sauce, seasoned chicken, and the irresistible, creamy blue cheese and ranch sauce, all in a bowl of soup!

Gather ’round, buffalo chicken wings fans. This is a soup that has been a long time coming.

I’m not ashamed to admit that chicken wings just aren’t my thang. Oh, the flavors are awesome — gimmee all that creamy, spicy buffalo chicken goodness — but I can do without the delivery vehicle.

Put a plate of sticky chicken wings in front of me, and I’m looking for the fork and knife.

Put a plate of sticky chicken wings in front of me in a public restaurant, with other casual acquaintance people around (maybe colleagues or old friends you haven’t seen in a while or {gasp!} a date), and I’m looking for the exit. Nopity nope nope nope.

It’s not that I have an objection to eating with my hands — bring on da tacos! — but my few run-ins with chicken wings have left me looking like a one-year-old at her first chocolate cake birthday party. Adults aren’t supposed to have that kind of trouble with their food, lol.

And then there’s the chicken pieces themselves: wings and drumsticks have just tiny bits of meat them, so, you’re saucing up your fingers (and chin and cheeks) to get barely a nibble off the bone.

Maybe we’re not supposed to admit this in a weight conscious world, but, Imma gonna: an order of chicken wings is just not enough food, even though your plate looks like a gluttonous slaughter at the end of it.

So, I’ve completely missed out on the wonders of the buffalo chicken wing craze: too self-conscious to eat them at a restaurant; too lazy to fry them up at home. Until now, when I’ve hit upon a format fit for a soup addict.

This soup has all of the yummy bits and pieces of a buffalo chicken wings meal: hot sauce (of course), loads of chicken (but no puny wings!), the creamy blue cheese/ranch dipping sauce. Even celery.

Fun science fact: Do you know why a creamy blue cheese dipping sauce is the perfect complement to hot and spicy buffalo chicken wings? Because dairy is a natural antidote to the capsaicin found in chile peppers. Capsaicin is the chemical compound that causes your mouth and skin to burn when put in contact with chile peppers.

Combining a hot chile pepper sauce with a bite of dairy gives you the flavor of the chiles, while the dairy works to neutralize the burn. That’s why lovely, pungent Indian food is often served with raita, a yogurt sauce whose job is to douse the fire of a dish’s chile pepper seasoning.

In this case, the cooling blue cheese ranch sauce goes right into the soup, and not only tempers the buffalo wing sauce, but adds its own rich, earthy-herby flavors, as only blue cheese and ranch seasoning can do.

Lovely Reader, you could be reading this post at any time of the year, of course, but it was first published the week after Thanksgiving. To quote Sam Sifton in one of his recent NYT newsletters, it’s time to free yourself from the tyranny of turkey and stuffing. And in this very moment, I so agree.

It’s been a carb overload weekend, and I’m ready to shake off the Thanksgiving grub — awesome as it was — and dig into something that makes you sit up and go, WOW. Something spicy and energizing, like [shameless plug] Buffalo Blue Cheese Chicken Soup. 😀

Karen xo

Print Recipe

5 from 3 votes

Buffalo Blue Cheese Chicken Soup

All the spicy/creamy flavors of buffalo chicken wings with dipping sauce, but in soup form!

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time50 minutes mins

Course: Soup

Cuisine: American

Keyword: blue cheese, buffalo chicken soup

Servings: 4

Calories: 424kcal

Author: Karen Gibson

Ingredients

for the soup

• 1 tablespoon butter
• olive oil
• 1/2 red onion diced
• 1 cup diced celery about 2 ribs
• 1/2 cup diced carrot 1 medium
• 2 teaspoons flour
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 blue cheese bechamel recipe below
• 1 rotisserie chicken skin removed, meat shredded
• 1/2 cup wing sauce
• kosher salt

for the blue cheese bechamel

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 cup half and half
• 1 tablespoon ranch seasoning*
• 4 ounces soft gorgonzola (such as Cambozola Black)
• 2 ounces grated Fontina cheese

optional toppings

• sliced green onions
• minced cilantro
• sour cream
• blue cheese crumbles

Instructions

Start the soup

• Heat the butter and oil in a 4 to 5 quart Dutch oven over medium heat until melted. Add the onions, celery, and carrots, and saute until soft (about 8 minutes). Sprinkle the flour and smoke paprika over the vegetables and stir to coat.
• Tip in the chicken broth, and increase heat to medium-high. When soup begins to gently bubble, reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer while you make the mornay.

Make the blue cheese bechamel

• Melt the butter in a 2 quart pot over medium heat. Stir in the flour to create a paste (roux). Begin adding the half and half in small amounts, stirring or whisking it into the roux. When the first pour smooths out, add more and continue whisking. When you've added all of the half and half, continue heating until it begins to thicken (this could take several minutes - be patient!).
• Meanwhile, reduce heat on the soup to low.
• Sprinkle the ranch seasoning over the thickened bechamel and whisk until combined. Add the cheese and stir until melted.

Finish the soup

• Pour the blue cheese bechamel into the soup and stir well to combine. Add the wing sauce and shredded chicken, and let warm through for 5 minutes. Taste, and season with salt, if necessary.
• Serve with toppings.

Notes

* You can use packaged ranch seasoning, or make your own! Here's my recipe:

1 tablespoon dried parsley

1 tablespoon buttermilk powder

2 teaspoons dried chives

2 teaspoons dried dill

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Mix all of the seasonings together in a small bowl.

For finer results, use a spice grinder: First, pulse the chives by themselves a few times, to break them down a bit (if the pieces are large, which they often are). Then add the other green herbs and salt, and pulse a few times more. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse once or twice, just to mix.

This blend will store at room temperature in an airtight jar. So tasty sprinkled over salads, sandwiches, even mac & cheese. If you plan to use the leftovers for ranch dip, add another tablespoon of the buttermilk powder to the remaining seasonings before blending with the dairy.

Nutrition

Calories: 424kcal

Nutritional information, if shown, is provided as a courtesy only, and is not to be taken as medical information or advice. The nutritional values of your preparation of this recipe are impacted by several factors, including, but not limited to, the ingredient brands you use, any substitutions or measurement changes you make, and measuring accuracy.

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