Wingin’ It: Deviled Chicken by the (Tampa) Bay

You like football. You like food. So do we! So much so, in fact, that we smash the two together to bring you a Buffalo Bills-inspired recipe each week. Whether it’s a take on an opponents’ fave or some real mad scientist **** coming your way, Wingin’ It is the spot to watch. This week we’re prepping for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers!

When looking around for Tampa Bay specialties “Deviled Crab” was the thing that kept popping up. Similar to crab cakes (which I did here), I was reluctant to do what might look like a repeat. However, a couple small differences between the two convinced me to give it a shot and I was very glad I did. The small differences lead to a much different end result. Also, Tom Brady’s success is only explained through a pact with a certain cloven-hoofed being so the recipe name was a natural fit.

Buffalo Deviled Chicken

Makes: 10-12 Deviled chickens
Active Time: 30 min
Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

5 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 celery rib, finely diced
¹⁄₂ cup, finely diced onion
¹⁄₄ cup bell pepper, finely diced
1 lb cooked chicken, shredded (or chopped, see below)
5 Tbsp hot sauce
1 egg
¹⁄₃ cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 Tbsp heavy cream
2 tsp Old Bay lemon and herb (original would be fine too)
1 tsp garlic powder
¹⁄₂ tsp onion powder
¹⁄₂ tsp salt
¹⁄₂ tsp black pepper
1 sleeve of saltines, crushed

1. Melt butter in a large sauce pan on MED. Add celery, increase heat to MED/HIGH and sauté for 1-2 min.
2. Stir in onion; sauté 2-3 min. Add bell pepper and continue sautéing for another 1-2 minutes. Vegetables should be starting to become translucent (see below).
3. Stir in shredded chicken and hot sauce until chicken is evenly coated; remove from heat.
4. Preheat oven to 350ºF. In a large mixing bowl, beat egg.
5. Stir in mayo, Worcestershire sauce, heavy cream, salt and spices.
6. Fold chicken/veggies into mixture. Stir in crushed saltines until mixture is uniform.
7. Mold mixture using a lightly greased cupcake pan (or crab shell molds which are apparently a thing and exist for this recipe—or y’know...an actual crab shell). You can mold by hand and use a cookie sheet as well.
8. Bake until edges start to crisp, about 25 min (or longer for thicker molds like a cupcake tray).

Wingin’ It Tips and Prep Gallery

Grid View

I feel like every other recipe has “sauté onions until translucent” so fine, let’s show you what I mean. I have a strong preference toward red onion, which starts with a bright purpose. This milky, softer color in the first picture is what you’re aiming for. The really light green is the celery. There are still a couple bell pepper chunks that are dark green in this picture, which means they’re not quite done.

The second picture is me being more specific with what I mean with shredded chicken. I chopped mine but the piece size is what’s most important.

I used a cupcake tray to do this and remembered to grease halfway through. The third picture is one I had to get out with a fork. You can see the inside is lighter color and also that it wasn’t the end of the world. It still stayed mostly together.