Cheesy egg skillet with buffalo chicken and crispy potatoes
🧀 Cheesy Egg Skillet with Buffalo Chicken & Crispy Potatoes
Serves: 3–4
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 30–35 minutes
Total: ~45–50 minutes
Ingredients
For the crispy potatoes
- 500 g (about 1 lb) baby potatoes or regular potatoes
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
- ½ tsp onion powder
For the buffalo chicken
- 300 g (about 10 oz) cooked chicken, shredded or chopped
- â…“ cup buffalo sauce
- 1 tbsp butter
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ÂĽ tsp black pepper
For the skillet
- 5–6 large eggs
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- ½ cup shredded mozzarella
- 2 tbsp cream or milk
- 1 tbsp butter or olive oil
- 2 green onions, sliced
- 1–2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley or cilantro
Optional toppings
- Extra buffalo sauce
- Ranch or blue cheese dressing
- Crumbled blue cheese
- Sliced jalapeños
- Avocado
- Fresh cilantro or green onions
Step 1: Prepare the potatoes
Wash the potatoes well. If you’re using baby potatoes, you can leave the skin on.
Cut them into small bite-sized cubes, roughly 1–2 cm. Smaller pieces cook faster and become much crispier.
Place the potatoes in a bowl and add:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Garlic powder
- Smoked paprika
- Onion powder
Toss everything until the potatoes are evenly coated.
Tip: Make sure the potatoes aren’t wet. Patting them dry before seasoning helps them become crispy rather than steamed.
Step 2: Crisp the potatoes
Place a large oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat.
Add a little oil and then spread the potatoes into the skillet in one relatively even layer.
Let them cook for about 4–5 minutes without constantly stirring. This allows the bottom to develop a golden crust.
Then stir/flip them and continue cooking for another 10–15 minutes.
Keep turning them every few minutes until they’re:
- Golden brown
- Crispy on the outside
- Tender when pierced with a fork
If they’re browning too quickly while still hard inside, lower the heat slightly and cover the skillet for 2–3 minutes. Then uncover it and continue cooking to crisp them again.
Step 3: Make the buffalo chicken
While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the chicken.
If you’re using leftover roasted chicken or rotisserie chicken, simply shred or chop it into bite-sized pieces.
In a small pan, melt 1 tbsp butter over medium heat.
Add the chicken, buffalo sauce, garlic powder, and black pepper.
Stir everything together and cook for about 3–5 minutes, until the chicken is hot and completely coated in the buffalo sauce.
You want the chicken to be saucy but not swimming in sauce.
Set it aside.
Step 4: Combine the chicken and potatoes
Once your potatoes are crispy and tender, reduce the skillet heat to medium-low.
Spread the buffalo chicken over the potatoes.
Don’t mix everything too aggressively—you want to keep those crispy potatoes intact.
Give the skillet a gentle toss or simply distribute the chicken evenly over the top.
Step 5: Prepare the eggs
Crack 5–6 eggs into a bowl.
Add:
- 2 tbsp milk or cream
- A small pinch of salt
- A little black pepper
Whisk until the eggs are smooth.
The cream or milk makes the eggs softer and more tender.
Step 6: Add the eggs to the skillet
Make 5–6 small wells in the chicken-and-potato mixture using the back of a spoon.
Pour a little of the beaten egg into the spaces between the potatoes and chicken.
Alternatively, you can simply pour the eggs over everything if you prefer a more scrambled-egg-style skillet.
Reduce the heat to low.
Cover the skillet with a lid and let it cook for approximately 5–7 minutes.
The goal is for the egg whites to become set while the yolks remain slightly soft.
For fully cooked eggs:
Cook for another 2–4 minutes.
For runny yolks:
Remove the skillet as soon as the whites are set but the yolks still jiggle slightly.
Step 7: Add ALL the cheese 🧀
Now comes the best part.
Sprinkle the cheddar and mozzarella evenly over the entire skillet.
Cover again and cook on low for 2–3 minutes, just until the cheese melts.
For an extra-golden cheesy top, transfer the oven-safe skillet under the broiler/grill for 1–2 minutes.
Watch it carefully—the cheese can go from beautifully golden to burnt very quickly.
Step 8: Finish with toppings
Take the skillet off the heat.
Drizzle a little extra buffalo sauce over the top.
Add:
- Sliced green onions
- Fresh parsley or cilantro
- Jalapeños if you like heat
- Blue cheese if you want a stronger buffalo-chicken flavor
And for the ultimate finish, drizzle ranch dressing over the top.
🍳 How to serve it
Bring the skillet directly to the table while everything is hot and bubbling.
Spoon out some of the crispy potatoes, buffalo chicken, melted cheese, and egg onto each plate.
The combination should give you:
crispy potatoes → spicy buffalo chicken → creamy melted cheese → soft egg yolk → cool ranch dressing
For an even heartier meal, serve it with toast, warm tortillas, or a simple green salad.
🔥 Pro tips for the BEST skillet
- Don’t overcrowd the potatoes. Crowding makes them steam instead of crisp.
- Use a cast-iron skillet if you have one—it holds heat extremely well.
- Don’t add the buffalo sauce too early to the potatoes; it can prevent them from getting crispy.
- Use two cheeses: cheddar gives strong flavor while mozzarella gives that stretchy, melty texture.
- Add ranch at the end, not during cooking, so you get a nice cool contrast to the spicy buffalo chicken.
- If using raw chicken, cook it completely before adding it to the skillet; the recipe assumes the chicken is already cooked.
