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Buffalo Chicken Cauliflower Rice Bowl features spicy buffalo chicken made in the Instant Pot or the slow cooker; then it’s served over cauliflower rice and topped with creamy blue cheese! 

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Buffalo Chicken Cauliflower Rice Bowl close-up photo

This tasty Buffalo Chicken Cauliflower Rice Bowl is a recipe that made me wonder why I was so slow to discover that Franks Red Hot Sauce and Frank’s Buffalo Wing Sauce are both low-carb and completely sugar-free? And when I did realize that, it got my brain swirling with recipe ideas. This delicious bowl meal was one of the first Buffalo Chicken recipes I ever made, and five years later I’m still making it so it seems like a perfect dinner idea to feature for Friday Favorites this week!

I first made this in the slow cooker, and then I added an Instant Pot option, and now there’s a new video to show you how easy it is to make this in the Instant Pot! The recipe uses a few tricks for maximum flavor, including cooking the chicken with chicken stock and herbs, using a generous amount of the buffalo sauce mix so some drips down in the bowl and flavors the cauliflower, and mixing in thickly sliced green onion with the cauliflower rice for that extra crunch factor. This post shows the slow cooker steps in the photos and the Instant Pot steps in the video, so take your choice on the cooking method, and enjoy!

What ingredients do you need for this recipe:

What if you’re not a fan of cauliflower rice?

Of course you can make this with regular cooked white rice or brown rice if some family members aren’t fond of cauliflower rice, but when we tested the recipe we thought the cauliflower rice was delicious in these cauliflower rice bowls!

Want more low-carb recipes for the slow cooker?

Check out my huge collection of Keto Crock Pot Recipes for more slow cooker meals that are low in carbs!

Want more ideas for bowl meals?

Check out Low-Carb Bowl Meals You’ll Make Over and Over for more tasty bowl recipes like this one.

Buffalo Chicken Cauliflower Rice Bowl process shots collage

How to make this recipe:

(These are steps for making recipe in the slow cooker. Scroll down for complete recipe with nutritional information and Instant Pot Instructions. You can also watch the video above to see the recipe being made in the Instant Pot.)

  1. Trim the chicken breasts and cut each in half lengthwise; then place chicken in slow cooker. 
  2. Add the stock/herb mixture and cook on high for about 3 hours, or until the chicken shreds apart easily.
  3. Drain the chicken in a colander,  and discard the stock. 
  4. Shred chicken apart with two forks and put back in slow cooker.
  5. Mix together Frank’s Red Hot Sauce (affiliate link), olive oil, Worcestershire sauce or Gluten-Free Worcestershire Sauce (affiliate link) if needed, Green Tabasco Sauce (affiliate link), and sweetener of your choice and pour over the shredded chicken.   
  6. Cook chicken with sauce about 30 minutes more on high. while you make the cauliflower rice cut up the cauliflower and make the cauliflower rice. (
  7. Chop up a large head of cauliflower into pieces (including the stem) and then pulse in a food processor. 
  8. You can also use two 10 oz. packages frozen cauliflower rice instead of fresh cauliflower. Check the package for the cooking time.
  9. Heat oil in a large non-stick frying pan or wok, season the oil with garlic cloves or chopped garlic, and remove the garlic. 
  10. Stir-fry the cauliflower until it’s barely tender, about 4 minutes, then mix in the sliced green onions.
  11. To serve, put about one-sixth of the cauliflower rice mixture into a bowl, top with one-sixth of the spicy chicken and sauce, and sprinkle with crumbled blue cheese. Yum!

More Chicken Dinners You Might Like:

Instant Pot (or Slow Cooker) Low-Carb Cheesy Chicken Tacos ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen
Southwestern Instant Pot Chicken and Quinoa ~ Rachel Cooks
Amy’s Amazing White Chicken Chili (Stovetop or Instant Pot) ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen
Instant Pot Sweet and Sour Chicken ~ A Mind Full Mom
Slow Cooker Green Chile Chicken Cauliflower Rice Burrito Bowl ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen

Buffalo Chicken Cauliflower Rice Bowl square thumbnail photo

Weekend Food Prep:

This recipe has been added to a new category called Weekend Food Prep  to help you find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!

Buffalo Chicken Cauliflower Rice Bowl close-up photo
Yield: Makes 6 servings

Buffalo Chicken Cauliflower Rice Bowl

Prep Time 35 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours
Total Time 3 hours 35 minutes

This Buffalo Chicken Cauliflower Rice Bowl has spicy buffalo chicken made in the Instant Pot or the Slow Cooker and served over cauliflower rice for a delicious meal.

Ingredients

Buffalo Chicken Ingredients:

  • 4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 1 cup + 1/4 cup chicken stock (see notes)
  • 1 tsp. poultry seasoning
  • 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp. onion powder
  • 3/4 cup Franks Red Hot Sauce
  • 2 T olive oil
  • 2 T Worcestershire Sauce or Gluten-Free Worcestershire Sauce (see notes)
  • 2 tsp. Green Tabasco sauce or other green hot sauce (see notes)
  • 2 T Golden Monkfruit Sweetener, or sweetener of your choice

Other Ingredients:

  • 1 large head of cauliflower (see notes)
  • 1 T olive oil
  • 3-4 garlic cloves, sliced
  • salt and fresh ground black pepper to season cauliflower
  • 1/2 cup thickly sliced green onion, both green and white parts
  • 1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese

Instructions

  1. Trim chicken breasts and cut each one into half lengthwise.
  2. Spray the slow cooker insert with olive oil or non-stick spray and place chicken strips in the slow cooker.
  3. Mix the 1 cup chicken stock, poultry seasoning, garlic powder, and onion powder and pour over the chicken.
  4. Cook on high for about 3 hours or until the chicken shreds apart easily with a fork.
  5. When chicken is tender, drain in a colander placed in the sink, discarding the stock the chicken was cooked in. 
  6. Let chicken cool for a few minutes so it’s easier to handle, then shred chicken apart with two forks.
  7. Mix Frank’s Hot Sauce, olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, Green Tabasco Sauce, sweetener, and the other 1/4 cup chicken stock.
  8. Put the shredded chicken back into the slow cooker and pour the sauce over, stirring gently to combine the chicken and sauce.
  9. Cook on high while you prepare the cauliflower rice.
  10. Trim the cauliflower and discard the leaves.
  11. If you’re using a food processor to chop up the cauliflower, first use a large knife to chop the cauliflower (including the stems) into medium-sized pieces.
  12. Then pulse the cauliflower pieces using the steel blade in the food processor until it’s finely chopped. You can also grate larger pieces of cauliflower with a large standing box grater if you don’t have a food processor, or use two 10 oz. packages of frozen cauliflower rice.)
  13. Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large non-stick frying pan or wok. I used my new Green Pan Wok (affiliate link), which worked perfectly.
  14. Add the garlic cloves and saute about 30 seconds (just until you smell garlic) and then discard the garlic.  (Don’t let it brown or the oil will taste bitter.)
  15. Add the cauliflower and stir-fry until the cauliflower is starting to get tender, about 4 minutes (or a little longer if you want it more well done.)
  16. Season cauliflower well with salt and fresh-ground black pepper, then turn off the heat and stir in the sliced green onions.
  17. To serve, put about one-sixth of the cauliflower rice in a serving bowl, top with a generous spoonful of the buffalo chicken and some sauce, and sprinkle with crumbled blue cheese. Serve hot.

Instant Pot Directions:

  1. Trim chicken and put in Instant Pot with the broth and herbs as described above.
  2. Lock the lid, and set to MANUAL, HIGH PRESSURE for 5 minutes.
  3. When time ends, let the pressure release naturally.
  4. Shred chicken and mix buffalo sauce as above.
  5. Put shredded chicken back in the Instant Pot with the sauce and use SAUTE, LOW TEMPERATURE to keep it warm. (If your Instant Pot has a lot of liquid you might want to remove some before you add the sauce and chicken.)
  6. Prepare the rest of the recipe as above.

Notes

I used my Crock-Pot 3-1/2-Quart Slow Cooker to make the chicken in this recipe.  If you only have a large size, I would double the chicken and sauce ingredients and freeze some of the chicken for another meal. The Instant Pot version was made in a 6 Quart Instant Pot (affiliate link).

You can use homemade chicken stock or canned chicken broth (affiliate link) for this recipe. I was excited when I realized that Frank's Red Hot Sauce (affiliate link) has zero carbs. Use Gluten-Free Worcestershire Sauce (affiliate link) if needed. I'm a huge fan of Green Tabasco Sauce (affiliate link), but use any hot sauce you prefer.

I first made this recipe with agave nectar, but now I'd use Golden Monkfruit Sweetener (affiliate link) for fewer carbs. You need 6-8 cups chopped cauliflower, or use two 10 oz. packages frozen cauliflower rice.

This recipe created by Kalyn.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 294Total Fat: 13gSaturated Fat: 3gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 74mgSodium: 1164mgCarbohydrates: 8.3gFiber: 6gSugar: 7gProtein: 32g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

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© Kalyn Denny
Category: Bowl Meals

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This Buffalo Chicken Cauliflower Rice Bowl would be a great main dish for any phase of the South Beach Diet or any other type of  Low-Carb eating plan. Agave nectar does add some carbs to the sauce if you choose to use that, I would use Monkfruit Sweetener (affiliate link) if you’re strictly limiting carbs.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Slow Cooker Recipes or Pressure Cooker Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to Follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there. Click here for Slow Cooker / Pressure Cooker Recipes on my other site!

Historical Notes for This Recipe:
This recipe was first posted in 2015. It was updated in May 2020 with an Instant Pot option and better instructions and was last updated with more information in 2021.

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