When you’re thinking of macro-friendly foods, I’m guessing the first thing that comes to mind isn’t an appetizer. But, that doesn’t have to be the case! Take for example this Buffalo Chicken Dip that I’ve adapted to be just a single serving AND macro-friendly. It is creamy, has a good level of heat, and packs a great dose of protein. Plus, it is so delicious that I have been eating it every. single. day. since I first started working on this recipe! It’s that good!

The Dip

The idea for this dip was inspired by Buffalo Chicken Dip, which is a pretty popular appetizer. Usually, it contains a couple bricks of cream cheese, ranch dressing, chicken, hot sauce, and plenty of gooey cheese. I don’t know if that description gives it away or not, but it is not the most macro-friendly of appetizers. But, that flavor is irresistible, so I knew I had to make a macro-friendly version.

The Swaps

1. Laughing Cow Cheese Wedge. One of the major swaps I made to this recipe is swapping out the cream cheese for a wedge of laughing cow cheese. It adds a rich, creamy element to the dish but only adds just 1.5 grams of fat and a few extra grams of protein, too.
2. Greek Yogurt. To add another creamy element to the dish without a bunch of excess calories and fat, I decided to add some non-fat Greek yogurt. I love the Kirkland brand from Costco because of the price and the taste.
3. Ranch Dressing Mix. Instead of adding the real stuff, I decided to add just a half teaspoon of the Ranch Dressing Seasoning mix. It still adds that yummy Ranch flavor but has hardly any macros to its name.
4. Cheese. When you’re having a dip, you gotta top it with cheese! I decided to add just a half serving of mozzarella cheese to the top. You can always add more if you prefer, but I find I don’t mind to scale back on the cheese since the dip is already so gooey.

The Prep

This recipe is really so simple to prepare! I first began by taking the laughing cow cheese wedge and softening it in a microwave and oven safe dish. I used a shallow Corningware dish (23 ounces). Just 10 seconds was enough to get it to a creamy consistency. Then I added 1/3 cup of non-fat greek yogurt, a half teaspoon of ranch seasoning mix, and 5-10 grams of Frank’s Hot Sauce. You can add more or less to taste. If you are sensitive to heat, I’d start on the lower end. You can always add more.

To that mixture, I added 3 ounces of shredded cooked chicken. You can use any chicken that you have on hand, but I opted to use the canned chicken from Costco. If you can’t stomach the thought of it, I totally understand. However, it works really well in this type of situation. The chicken has so much flavor from the other stuff, you won’t notice that it once was canned.

After all the ingredients above are mixed well together, sprinkle them with a half serving of mozzarella cheese. Then place the dish underneath the broiler and heat until hot and the cheese starts to bubble and brown.

To Serve

To eat my dip, I use lavash bread that I cut up into chip-sized pieces and crisp up in the air fryer (you can find an example recipe here). I also ate it with some sliced celery and carrots for extra wing flair. This dip would also be great served over a salad.

The Macros

The macros for 1 serving of the dip below are rounded to 6F/5C/35P or 215 calories. It is hard to believe that a dip so creamy and delicious could be so protein-packed. I don’t think I’ll be giving this dip up soon!