Loaded Potato and Buffalo Chicken Casserole: Football Food

Gregg actually saw this and asked me to make it. Naturally, I looked at the ingredients and tried to see what I could do to make it as healthy as possible but still delicious. As soon as I saw it I thought FOOTBALL. And oh is football season approaching fast!!! GAME.....COCKS! As you will see in my recipe notes this one was spicy for all you hot sauce lovers but you could easily take the spicy out. Here ya go!

So the original recipe called for 6 tablespoons of hot sauce but I think you would need to hospitalize me if I would have used that much. If you loveeee hot sauce you might can handle it. If you don’t like spicy I would only do 1 teaspoon of paprika and only 1 tablespoon (or less) hot sauce.  <------- that’s your warning. ;)

2 pounds boneless chicken breasts, raw, cubed (1")

8 medium red potatoes, cut in 1/2" cubes

1/3 cup olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp. black pepper

1 Tbsp. paprika (use your discretion on this spice level. I would use 1 teaspoon next time.)

2 Tbsp. garlic powder

2 Tbsp. hot sauce (Again, personal taste, I would use less.)

Topping:

2 cups fiesta blend cheese (I used reduced fat cheese.)

1 cup crumbled bacon (I used turkey bacon.)

1 cup diced green onion

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Spray a 9x13" baking dish with cooking spray. In a large bowl mix together the olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder and hot sauce. Add the cubed potatoes and stir to coat. Carefully scoop the potatoes into the prepared baking dish, leaving behind as much of the sauce mixture as possible. Bake the potatoes for 20 minutes, stirring after 10 minutes. While the potatoes are cooking, add the cubed chicken to the bowl with the left over olive oil/hot sauce mixture and stir to coat. Once the potatoes are fully cooked, remove from the oven and lower the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Top the cooked potatoes with the raw marinated chicken. In a bowl mix together the cheese, bacon and green onion and top the raw chicken with the cheese mixture. Return the casserole to the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and the topping is bubbly delicious.

Serve with extra hot sauce and/or ranch dressing if desired. Neither for a healthier option. :)

Go Cocks!