Take taco night up a notch and serve buffalo chicken tacos with pickled onions and ranch!
Perfectly sauced shredded chicken and simple toppings make these gluten free tacos a perfect weeknight dinner.
TLDR: Top tips
KEEP IT SIMPLE: With so many various toppings and ways to customize a recipe, it's easy to overdo it. Stick to the basics - buffalo chicken and pickled onions have plenty of flavor on their own!
SMART SHORTCUTS: Use storebought tortillas and pre-made buffalo sauce to keep these tacos fast and easy. Prep the pickled onions in advance to save even more time!
Jump to:
Ingredients
CHICKEN BREAST or THIGHS: You can use either, but as written the recipe calls for chicken breast.
HOT SAUCE: My go-to for homemade buffalo sauce is Frank's Redhot Original.
BUTTER: Can't skip this for buffalo sauce! You can substitute ghee if you'd like.
APPLE CIDER VINEGAR: I find a touch of acid adds some brightness to buffalo sauce.
TAMARI/COCONUT AMINOS: Whatever gluten free versoin of soy sauce you choose, a dash of it is a flavor enhancer for the buffalo sauce!
HOMEMADE RANCH: This recipe includes a quick homemade ranch made Greek yogurt and herbs. You can make this in advance if you'd like!
PICKLED ONIONS: Pickled onions are the topping of choice for these tacos! Another pickled favorite you can include are Garlicky Quick-Pickled Radishes or Pickled Jalapeños. I love the brine and bite that pickled toppings add.
Instructions
These tacos do require a little bit of prep, but you can prep most of it in advance!
How to make homemade buffalo chicken
First, make the buffalo chicken - the cornerstone of these chicken tacos!
- Poach the chicken breast - My preferred method for making shredded chicken. Put the chicken in a Dutch oven or pot and cover with water. Then simmer for about 15 minutes.
- Make the sauce - While the chicken is simmering, make the buffalo sauce by whisking everything together.
- Shred chicken & toss with sauce - Once the chicken's done, take it out of the water and shred. Toss with the buffalo sauce and you're ready to go!
Now, this isn't my first foray into buffalo chicken (remember buffalo chicken smothered sweet potato fries?) so the original buffalo chicken recipe was fairy easy to modify for tacos.
If you choose, you can definitely use pre-made buffalo sauce (this would be my pick if I were going that route). But as usual, I think homemade buffalo sauce is pretty dang easy so I definitely recommend you give it a try!
Personally, I think it's worth it to prep a big batch of buffalo chicken. You can use that as your protein for so many different meals - tacos, smothered fries, salads, burrito bowls. Seriously, options! Gotta love recipes like that.
Homemade ranch and pickled onions
The rest of the taco prep is pretty straightforward.
Make the ranch by whisking all the ingredients together or adding to a jar and shaking until blended.
Make pickled onions ideally a day or two in advance, but you can quick-pickle them the day of, too. Packed thinly sliced onions into a mason jar. Heat vinegar and water over medium-high heat until just about to boil, then pour over into the jar with the onions. Once cooled, cap and refrigerate until ready to use.
Variations and topping ideas
Toppings are important. And there are SO MANY taco toppings to pick from. But for this buffalo chicken taco recipe, I decided to keep it simple with pickled red onions, fresh cilantro, and a drizzle of homemade ranch.
Some extra toppings to consider:
- Garlicky Quick-Pickled Radishes
- Sliced green onion/scallions
- Pickled Jalapeños
- Fresh radishes
- Thinly sliced cabbage
- Minced white onion
FAQs
The buffalo chicken, pickled onions, and ranch can all be prepped in advance. As long as you've got tortillas on hand, you can put these tacos together in a snap!
You can certainly give it a try! Combine the buffalo sauce ingredients in the crockpot and add the chicken, turning to coat. Cook on LOW for 4-5 hours or HIGH for 2-3 hours. Shred before using.
When making tortillas at home, a go-to of mine is cassava flour tortillas. However, we often use store-bought corn tortillas or Plantain Tortillas!
More taco recipes to save
Creative gluten free tacos are something of a specialty of mine!
Try our ever-favorite Maple Chipotle Chicken Tacos or easy Steak & Egg Breakfast Tacos with Chimichurri.
Otherwise, I've got a fantastic BBQ Chicken Taco with Simple Coleslaw recipe for you to try!
And if you're on the hunt for even more, browse the whole category of Taco Recipes.
Taco recipe e-book
You're in luck; I wrote a whole ebook of taco recipes that you can get for FREE by signing up for my email list!
Did you try buffalo chicken tacos? I'd love to hear what you think! Comment below or tag me on Instagram.
Print📖 Recipe
Buffalo Chicken Tacos with Pickled Onions and Ranch
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Entree
- Method: poached
- Cuisine: Tacos
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
With zesty pickled red onions and cooling homemade ranch, Buffalo Chicken Tacos make an epic Taco Tuesday meal! The chicken, ranch, and pickled red onions can all be prepped in advance.
Ingredients
For the buffalo chicken:
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- ⅓ cup + 2 tablespoons Frank's Red Hot sauce
- 2 tablespoons butter or ghee
- ½ tablespoon tamari or coconut aminos, gluten free
- ½ tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 large garlic clove, minced
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
For the ranch dressing:
- ½ cup Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons milk or water
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill (or ½ teaspoon dried dill)
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (or ¼ teasooon dried parsley)
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice or vinegar
For the tacos:
- 6 corn tortillas or cassava flour tortillas
- pickled red onions (follow these instructions, just use red onions instead of radishes!)
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro, for garnish
- lime wedges, for garnish
Instructions
- First, make the buffalo chicken. Put the chicken breasts in a Dutch oven or pot and cover completely with water. Heat on medium-high until the water begins to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, whisk together hot sauce, butter, tamari/coconut aminos, apple cider vinegar, salt, garlic, and ground black pepper in a large bowl. Once the chicken is done simmering, use kitchen tongs to transfer the chicken breasts to a bowl or plate. Use two forks to shred the chicken. Add the buffalo sauce and stir to coat the chicken.
- Next, prep the ranch dressing. Combine Greek yogurt, milk, dill, parsley, onion powder, salt, black pepper, and lemon juice in a jar or medium bowl. Whisk or cover the jar and shake until completely mixed. Add more milk or water to reach your desired consistency (I prefer to keep it thicker for tacos).
- To assemble the tacos, lay out tortillas, add 2-3 tablespoons buffalo chicken to the center of the tortilla. Add pickled onions. Drizzle with ranch. Garnish with cilantro. Serve with lime wedges for (optional) spritzing.
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