Buckle up buffalo chicken lovers, I’ve got a WINNER for ya: air fried buffalo chicken cakes. 🏆
They have the outward texture of a crab cake with the inner texture of a thick buffalo chicken dip. And it’s made out of wholesome ingredients, too! (Paleo/whole30 except for the 🧀).
Honestly, this was a “clean out the fridge” experiment and I did not have high expectations…but dang, I impressed myself.
Here is what I threw into it: 2 well-drained cans of shredded chicken, a dollop of paleo mayo, a little over 1/2 cup paleo “bread” crumbs (almond meal, flax meal, garlic powder), about 1/2 cup buffalo sauce (I use thenewprimal medium buffalo), 1/4 finely diced and sautéed red onion, about 1/2 cup feta cheese, garlic powder, salt, and white pepper. Maybe I have false confidence, but I’m pretty sure you could substitute any type of binder, cheese, or seasonings and it would still be delicious. Blue cheese would probably be amazing.
Combine everything in a bowl and mix well. Adjust with more buffalo sauce if it’s too dry and more flax meal if it’s too wet. Hand form the mixture into patties. Put a thin layer of oil into a large pan over medium high heat. They will be fragile AF, so hand place them into the pan and use a flat spatula to gently scoop and flip ‘em. Brown for about 3 minutes per side until you get a nice crust. (You don’t need to cook it through because the chicken is already cooked, just warm it up inside and crisp up the outside).
Preheat your air fryer. Gently transfer patties and air fry at 400 for 5 minutes. This is the tricky part! Do not flip them! CAREFULLY get under them and scoop ‘em out of the air fryer. It’s a little messy, but just trust me, they’re WORTH IT, OKAY?!
I recommend serving with a sprinkle of green onion, more buffalo sauce for dipping, and some veggies. But you do you boo.
Let me know if you make them and how they turn out!
