This lighter buffalo chicken and rice skillet makes for an easy dinner, or perfect meal lunch meal prep for the week. This dish has all of the classic flavors of buffalo chicken: carrots, celery, and onion are sauteed and then combined with lean ground chicken breast, a variety of spices, cauliflower rice and brown rice. Simmered in buffalo sauce and chicken broth and then topped with melty cheese, this is truly an all-in-one dish, packed with protein, whole grains, and vegetables.
All-in-one skillet meals
Skillet meals are such an easy solution to meal time! Whether it’s a quick and easy dinner or lunch, or meal prep for the week, skillet meals are easy to prepare, and all made in one pot. Clean up is a breeze, and the cooking method is essentially fool-proof. My basic formula for a skillet meal is: flavorful sauteed vegetables, a ground meat (like lean chicken or turkey), a grain (like brown rice or farro) and other topping components, like cheese. If you like the idea of a skillet meal, you might enjoy these other recipes: Southwestern Chicken and Rice Skillet Italian Chicken, Farro and Vegetable Skillet Greek Chicken and Rice Skillet Teriyaki Turkey and Vegetable Skillet
What you will need to make lighter buffalo chicken and rice skillet
Here is the list of ingredients you will need to make this recipe:
- carrot
- celery
- onion
- ground chicken breast
- To make my own ground chicken breast, I take regular full chicken breasts and add them to the food processor. Sometimes the store doesn’t have ground chicken breast, so this is a great solution.
- brown rice
- cauliflower rice
- I use Green Giant riced cauliflower. It is sold in the frozen section, but has no other ingredients besides cauliflower.
- hot sauce
- I use Frank’s Red Hot sauce.
- chicken broth
- reduced fat cream cheese
- I use the Philadelphia 1/3 less fat cream cheese.
- scallions
- fat free cheddar cheese
- I use Kraft Fat Free Cheddar.
For the spice blend, you will need:
- cumin
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- paprika
- kosher salt
How to make lighter buffalo chicken and rice skillet
This recipe is all made in one dish, although the components are cooked and seasoned in steps. To begin, combine the spices for the spice blend in a small bowl. Chop the carrots, onion and celery. Add them to to a skillet with olive oil spray and 2 teaspoons of the spice blend, and cook the vegetables over medium high heat for about 10 minutes or until tender. Remove the vegetables from the bowl and set them aside. In the same skillet, add the ground chicken to the skillet with more olive oil spray, along with the remaining spice blend. Break the chicken up with a wooden spoon, and cook it until just cooked through and no longer pink.
Remove the cooked chicken from the skillet and set it aside with the cooked vegetables. To the same skillet, add the cauliflower rice. Cook the rice for 5 minutes or until defrosted and starting to get crispy. Stir in the cooked brown rice. Then, add the hot sauce and chicken broth. Stir to combine. Simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the cream cheese and the scallions (reserving some for garnish). Top with the shredded cheddar, and cover with the lid to melt. The serving size for this recipe is 2 cups, which is a generous amount. It is ready from start to finish in under 30 minutes.
How-To Video
Easy to meal prep
To prepare this for meal prep for the week, simply keep it in a storage container in the fridge, or portion it out into containers for each day. To reheat, microwave to heat through, Top with more scallions, buffalo sauce, or cheese, if desired.

Lighter Buffalo Chicken and Rice Skillet
Equipment
- skillet, large frying pan
Ingredients
Skillet
- 2 cups carrots, chopped
- 1 cup celery, chopped
- 1 cup onion, chopped
- 1 lb ground chicken breast, 99% fat free
- 1 cup brown rice , cooked
- 10 oz cauliflower rice, frozen
- 1/2 cup hot sauce
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1/3 cup reduced fat cream cheese
- 3 scallions, chopped
- 1/2 cup fat free cheddar
Spice Blend
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
Instructions
- Chop the carrots, celery and onions.
- Combine the spices for the seasoning blend.
- Add olive oil spray to the frying pan.
- Add the carrots, celery and onions to the frying pan.
- Add 2 teaspoons of the seasoning blend.
- Cook the vegetables for 10 minutes or until tender.
- Remove the vegetables from the skillet and set aside.
- Add olive oil spray to the skillet, and add the ground chicken breast.
- Break the meat apart with a spatula.
- Add the rest of the seasoning blend.
- Cook the chicken until no longer pink. Then, remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside with the vegetables.
- Add the frozen cauliflower rice to the pan, and cook for 5 minutes, Add the cooked brown rice.
- Return the chicken and vegetables to the skillet.
- Add the hot sauce and chicken broth. Stir to combine.
- Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Fold in the cream cheese.
- Chop the scallions and add them to the skillet (reserve some for garnish).
- Sprinkle the top of the skillet with the cheddar cheese. Cover with the lid to melt.
Notes
- 6 WW points (green plan)
- 4 WW points (blue plan)
- 3 WW points (purple plan)
Nutrition
If you love buffalo flavor, check these recipes out: One Pot Skinny Buffalo Chicken Pasta Buffalo Ranch Chicken Meatballs Buffalo Ranch Chicken Salad Blazing Buffalo Chicken Tenders
Making this today.. can’t wait
Made today. It is excellent! Has a little kick to i…
Love how the cauliflower rice helps bulk out the meal so you aren’t relying on two cups of rice. I’m not usually a hot sauce fan, but the cream cheese helps mellow it out. A delicious meal that I love forward to eating all week. Thank you!
Love this one – definitely has a great kick, lots of flavor and SO SATISFYING/FILLING! I am pairing this with cut cucumbers, celery sticks and crackers for lunch this week. Definitely light and easy the week before the holidays!
I made this tonight for my VERY veggie averse finance, and she LOVED IT! Way better way to get your buffalo wing fix for Sunday football! Thanks Steph, this was a great addition to my rotation of meals. Portions are huge!
Delicious recipe! I adapted the recipe with DF violife cream cheese and it worked well. I love how this recipe relies on pantry staple to bang out a wonderful dish.
Delicious meal! Easy prep and cleanup. Everyone enjoyed and now I have enough for lunch too!
I LOVE all things buffaloed and this was delicious. Huge portions. I added arugula on top of mine with a drizzle of blue cheese-PERFECT!
Easy and delicious! I will absolutely be making this again!
New favorite! The flavor is amazing. The buffalo sauce and the cream cheese, a little spicy and creamy. Is it lunch time yet:-) I’m a fan of 4 hearty servings.
Question, is this one cup raw brown rice or one cup after cooking?
one cup cooked!
I added my brown rice frozen🤦🏻♀️
Trying to fix now 😬
So this is amazing!! I got a little too excited with the cauliflower rice and added 2 bags instead of 1, but it was still delicious and so easy for meal prep for lunches this week.
Another amazing recipe by Steph! I had 0 idea what I would prep for lunches this week, but when I got my daily email from Step I knew this has to be it! And it turned out great with great flavor.
Would this freeze well?
So yummy!!! My lunch for the week!! I prepped all 3 meals from the week all from Steph!!!
Fantastic flavors!!! Made this today and it will definitely be in my monthly rotation!!!
Amazing!!!!! Will be on repeat!
This recipe was absolutely delicious! It had tons of flavor and was so filling! Loved that cauliflower rice was added to bulk it up and add more veggies. My husband and I loved it! I used vegan cream cheese due to a sensitivity to dairy and it still turned out great. 🙂
Do you think this would freeze well?
Steph! Just made & it’s amazing!!
Super filling and packed with flavor!
I love fennel so I added a heaping tablespoon to ground chicken also!
Made this last night for dinner – WOW! Allllll of the jam packed flavor without all of the cals! Absolutely loved this recipe and will add it to my meal prep repertoire. Steph blew it out of the water here yet again! Thank you thank you!
I hate cauliflower usually, but decided to give this dish a try. OH MAN it’s good! My husband loved it too. I used 1/3 cup of buffalo sauce as I’m going to try to get my kiddos to try it. On my portion I added a few extra drizzles of both the buffalo sauce and ranch, it was perfect for lunch. It’s 4 hrs later and still not hungry!
I made this last night. Grocery store was out of cauliflower rice, so I made my own in the food processor. It was easy to make, and delicious – and there was plenty of food. My husband did not even realize there was cauliflower in it! It definitely has a strong kick to it – so you may wish to adjust the heat of the sauce you use or use a little less.
Easy to make, delicious to eat. What more can you ask for, thanks Steph. Heats up great, this will become a staple in my recipe repertoire.
Delicious! I top it with light sour cream and eat it with scoops like a dip! SO GOOD!
I made this today and it was delicious and it makes a very large (and filling) portion! I put a dollop of Greek yogurt on top which went really well with it and countered the spice a bit. Great option for lunch meal prep!
So so good. The entire family loved it and that is no small task. You nailed this one Steph!
Absolutely delicious! I’m usually not a fan of Buffalo because I don’t like spicy but the cream cheese made this so rich and delicious, I didn’t even mind it! I love how filling it is and how veggie heavy it is but still tastes rich and indulgent!
WOW! 10/10!!
This was so delicious! 🤤
Another brilliant recipe by Steph! This is going on a permanent rotation for me!
Absolutely delish! My husband and daughter raved about it! I will be making it again, and again! Thank you Steph, you’ve done it again!!!!
I honestly hate cauliflower and I was skeptical to try this, but it was amazing! You can’t taste the cauliflower flavor at all. Just had leftovers of it and it was so good cold too! Definitely a new regular meal for us!
This was excellent! Perfect combo of heat and loved all the veggies.
Absolutely delicious! I am excited to have this as my lunch when I head back to my classroom. Thank you for such delicious and healthy meals.
I know it says it’s 4 servings but can you tell me how many cups is each serving? Thank you!
Hi! It should be at the bottom of the recipe card 🙂
WOW. sooo much food and the perfect flavor for meal prep.
This was a winner with everyone in my house. I made extra white rice that they added to the dish but I didn’t miss a thing the way the recipe was written. My kids said you have to make this again! Definitely a keeper!
Very good. Instead of ground chicken , cut up chicken breast in bite size pieces and worked great
So perfectly delicious! I can’t wait to make this again!
This meal was absolutely incredible! I’m blown away. Will be on repeat.
Just made this for lunch today. One I got all the chopping done, it was such a quick and simple recipe. I was expecting it to be good/basic but you really hit it out of the park… It’s excellent! The combination of the hot sauce with the cream cheese is perfect. I also love the tons of hidden veggies it packs in.
Oh, and such a huge, indulgent portion! Here for it!!
Just prepped this for my lunches this week after craving buffalo chicken dip all weekend. BEST IDEA EVER. This is incredible! The taste is amazing, and the portions are huge! So many veggies which is a big plus. I can’t wait to eat this all week!
Holy. Moly. This was so good!!! May do a little less hot sauce next time for my liking but 10/10
I used half mild Buffalo and half no sugar added ketchup instead of the full amount of Buffalo sauce cuz I can’t do very spicy but I love the flavor of Buffalo sauce. So good!!
Very tasty and filling. May be my new favorite…although the Chicken Pot Pie is hard to beat!
I’ve made this several times now and it’s perfect every time. It also freezes amazingly well so it’s a go to for my freezer stash
This is the 6th recipe I have made from this website and my goodness, they NEVER disappoint! My husband is a Buffalo lover and he loved this. I left out the brown rice mainly because I did not have any on hand. The recipe was still amazing, flavorful and satisfying!
I wasn’t sure how this was going to taste/turn out, but I’m so glad I gave this one a chance. The flavors together are so good! I made this for lunch meal prep for this week, and I’m so excited for lunch each day!
Yum!! Made it for my meal prep this week. So good.
Don’t overlook this recipe! It’s delicious and just the right amount of spicy.
Another home run! I meal prepped for lunch and it reheats beautifully!
This was sooo good!!! Thanks Steph for another protein and veggie win!!
Could you use rotisserie chicken for this one? 2 cups?
Hi! Have you ever froze this recipe?
You have to make this!!! It’s sooooo delicious!!!
Just made for lunches this week…had to sample a bite…just delicious. Thank you.
This is a go to for me. Meal prepping right now. I probably make it once a month. Excellent, lots of flavor and filling.
This is so delicious. My boyfriend that doesn’t care for buffalo flavor loved this too. The left overs are fantastic! I will be adding this to our meal rotation for sure.
This recipe is absolutely amazing with the right amount of cheese and spiciness. Huge portions that fill you up but still keep you feeling healthy and light!! Love love love everything about this.
4th time making this meal. Only had 1/2 bag cauliflower rice so added some frozen broccoli and it was amazing. Such a great weeknight meal
DELICIOUS! the whole family loved. For health reasons I would omit the salt and add later to taste since sodium content is high or use low sodium broth. Definitely making this again! Thanks Steph
So yummy and easy. I bought pre-cut veggies and brown rice in a microwaveable pouch for convenience. And made lettuce wraps with the chicken mixture. I also added a tbsp of crumbled blue cheese split between 2 wraps. Easy weeknight dinner with lots of leftovers which I love. Thanks Steph!
Everyone enjoyed this recipe. I will definitely be making it again!
Love this! I made a double batch….served it for dinner and then have enough for lunches for the week 🙂
Another great skillet dish! Buffalo is very popular here so this will be on rotation! Especially with football season coming!
Thanks again Steph❤️
So good! I love all your skillet recipes because they are the easiest meal prep full of flavor!
Made this last night and hubby and I both loved it. It’s going Into my regular rotation!! This recipe is genius
Absolutely delicious! If you’re in the Jersey/Philly area and you have Hank hot sauce at your store…. It’s perfect in this recipe!
Hi. This was delicious. I reduced the amount of hot sauce to 1/4 cup and it still had a good kick. Recommend!!
This was so easy and quick to make! And tastes delicious, especially with a little sizzle of ranch dressing. Great meal prep option!
So I made this tonight. I’m hooked! I could never could find a way to eat cauliflower and like it. Well I found it. It’s so good!! Will definitely be making this a lot!
This was so delicious! Full of flavor and texture. Serving size is generous – I would say 5-6 servings instead of 4! I like that I can make this as a dinner for 2, and then use the leftovers for lunches. The cauliflower rice is completely hidden in here. In terms of prep time – remember that is once you have all of the ingredients prepped.
Perfect timing when you posted I was looking for something just like this for lunches. It was delicious and so fast to put together.
I made this today and it is delicious! Way better than I anticipated! I portioned mine out into 4 servings to meal prep for the week and I probably should have done 5 servings because this is SO filling. Macro friendly as well. Will definitely be adding this into my rotation.
This recipe is amazing! So much flavor in every bite. I had never cooked with ground chicken before so I was a little hesitant. As always, Steph does not disappoint!! This will go in the lunch rotation for sure. Portion sizes are very generous too!
Another great recipe! This one was easy and delicious! Thank you, Stephanie!
Love this!
This was such a huge hit for my family! My son helped make it and he never eats vegetables but the cauliflower rice didn’t bother him while we made it and he was so surprised he couldn’t taste it! That and the carrots and celery, this packs in those veggies! And 2 cups for 4 points for me, that’s a winner! We eat so many of your recipes Steph!!!! This is a new favorite!