I’ve got an easy and tasty sandwich for you this week. We’re talking about chopped chicken and mushrooms, sauteed in a skillet or on a griddle, seasoned with butter and hot sauce. I’ve written about Buffalo fried chicken sandwiches before, but this is something different. I’ve also written about Philly cheesesteaks before and this is also similar but not quite the same.
The addition of melty provolone cheese, blue cheese crumbles and thinly sliced celery ties this whole chicken cheesesteak together.
This is a great weeknight sandwich recipe since it doesn’t require much prep work (if you’ve already made or purchased your sub rolls) and the cooking only takes about 15 or 20 minutes.
The sub sandwich rolls
For this sandwich, I chose my tried and true sub sandwich roll recipe. This is probably the easiest bread recipe I have on the site. If this is your first time baking, and you have an interest, I would suggest you give this recipe a shot, because handling the dough is mostly foolproof.
Here’s my sub sandwich roll recipe, but you can buy your own if you don’t want to make mine. You just need some long bread rolls that are somewhat soft in the middle. You could even put this mixture on a hamburger bun if you wanted, but to be more like a cheesesteak, you need a long roll.
Sub sandwich rolls
This is a great recipe to use when you need a sub sandwich roll. These sub rolls are not too crusty with a soft interior and pleasant chew for a sub sandwich, cheese steak, or po-boy.
Get RecipeThe buffalo chicken
First, you need to slice the chicken. If you want thin slices, the best technique is to freeze your chicken breasts for about 45 minutes or an hour prior to slicing. This process doesn’t fully freeze the chicken, but it makes the meat much easier to slice with your knife as thinly as possible.
I also use my spatula to break the chicken up a bit more as it cooks, but you could just chop it more with your knife prior to cooking if you want. The goal is just to avoid having any overly large pieces of chicken in your finished sandwich.
Tip: if you are using a non-stick pan for cooking the chicken, you should make sure the chicken is fully sliced and chopped into small pieces before cooking. If you are using a cast iron pan or griddle, you can chop it with a metal spatula while cooking because you won’t scratch up the pan.
Keeping the chicken in small pieces also means it will cook really fast.
A cast iron griddle
If you want a griddle that fits over two burners as I have, you can get this Lodge version for about 35 bucks. It also flips over to become an indoor grill pan that you can grill a bunch of chicken or steak on because it covers the size of two stove burners. You can also take a griddle like this and place it on the grates of your gas grill outdoors if you want to make smash burgers outside.
Buffalo sauce
Traditional buffalo wing sauce is made with hot sauce and butter. Most recipes will mention Frank’s RedHot brand hot sauce, but you don’t have to use that if you don’t want to, you can use your favorite hot sauce. You can use the recipe below to make your buffalo sauce in a pan prior to cooking the chicken, but I find it’s easier to just add the butter and hot sauce right on top of the cooked chicken. Stir it all up and the sauce will meld together.
Buffalo sauce
Making wings? This recipe is for you. Two ingredients and a tiny bit of time on the stove and you are ready to go. This is also great to sauce your chicken tenders for a spicy option.
Get RecipeMushrooms optional
I like adding mushrooms to this sandwich, but you can leave them out if you want. You could also add sliced and sauteed onions or even some sliced sauteed peppers if you wanted. I just use mushrooms because they add texture but not a whole lot of flavors that would interfere with the buffalo sauce or blue cheese.
Buffalo chicken cheesesteak sandwiches
Chicken tossed in buffalo sauce and gooey melted cheese paired with blue cheese crumbles and crunchy pieces of celery stuffed inside of a soft, sub roll for a fantastic and easy-to-make sandwich.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound chicken, sliced and chopped into small pieces
- 10 to 20 mushrooms, sliced (optional)
- 2 to 4 slices of provolone or white cheddar cheese
- 2 to 3 tablespoons butter
- hot sauce (your choice, but Frank's RedHot is traditional)
- 2 six-to-eight-inch-long sub rolls
- celery, sliced into thin slices
- blue cheese or gorgonzola crumbles
Directions:
First, you need to slice the raw chicken into very small pieces. The easiest way to do this is to freeze the chicken for 45 minutes to 1 hour. This makes the chicken firm, but not frozen solid. Firming the chicken up allows you to slice it with your knife easier. Slice it into thin slices. You can do this without the freezing step if you're in a hurry, but do your best to get thin pieces so that the chicken cooks quickly.
If you are using mushrooms, add them to a medium pan or griddle over medium heat. Season mushrooms with salt and pepper. Cook mushrooms for 5 minutes or so until they have become soft and started to release their moisture. Remove mushrooms to a bowl and set aside.
Raise the heat in your pan to medium-high.
If you are using a non-stick pan, double-check to make sure your chicken is chopped up into small pieces before you put it in the pan. If you are using a cast iron pan or griddle you can continue chopping the chicken as it cooks.
Add chicken to the pan, season it with salt and pepper and cook it for 5 to 6 minutes or so, stirring occasionally.
Using a spatula, you can chop chicken while cooking to break it up more. But just make sure not to scratch and ruin your pan if it has a non-stick coating.
After the chicken has cooked for 5 to 6 minutes, add mushrooms back into the pan and stir in with the chicken.
Grab your slices of provolone and break them up into several smaller slices. Add to the chicken/mushroom mixture and stir everything together so that the provolone is mixed in and starts getting melty.
If you have pre-made buffalo sauce, add it now and stir everything up. If you are using hot sauce and butter: add 2 to 3 tablespoons of butter and as many shakes of hot sauce as you desire to the chicken/mushroom/cheese mixture. Stir everything together a few times to incorporate and get hot sauce all over everything.
Once the butter is fully melted and the sauce is integrated with everything, separate the buffalo chicken mixture in half, one half per sandwich.
Slice your sub roll halfway through, but not all the way. Open it up like a book so it's ready for buffalo chicken and cheese.
Once the cheese seems a bit melty scoop out chicken/mushroom/cheese and scoop into each sub roll.
Add blue cheese or gorgonzola crumbles and sprinkle in the sliced celery.
Serve and enjoy.
Notes:
If you want the cheese to melt even further and possibly get some melting on your blue cheese crumbles, wrap each sandwich up in aluminum foil and place in your turned off but still warm pan for a minute or two. This will trap the heat inside the aluminum and allow the cheese to get even more melty and help the sauce to soften the bread a little.
Make your own buffalo chicken cheesesteaks
This is a super quick and easy recipe that you should tackle the next time you need a quick weeknight meal. With just a few ingredients and less than 20 or 30 minutes, you can have hot, spicy sandwiches ready for plating.
Check back next week when I’ll be sharing the least Irish sandwich that you could make for St Patrick’s Day.
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