Buffalo Chicken Toast

Mar 20, 2025 • Tom Jackson

Buffalo Chicken Toast is a bold, flavor-packed twist on a classic, combining tender brined chicken, tangy buffalo sauce, and creamy buttermilk ranch on crispy sourdough. Smoked and seared to perfection on a Yoder Smokers YS640s, the chicken is infused with heat from Jacobsen Salt Co. Habanero Salt and balanced with cool avocado and crumbled blue cheese. Whether you’re making it for game day or a quick, indulgent meal, this Buffalo Chicken Toast brings the perfect mix of crunch, heat, and richness in every bite.

What You'll Love

The pickle juice brine is doing more than tenderizing. Holmes Made Dad's Spicy Garlic Dill pickle juice brings salt, garlic, dill, and vinegar into the breast simultaneously — one hour in the bag and the flavor is already built into the meat before it ever touches the griddle.
Pounding to even thickness before brining, not after. Flattening the thick end first means the brine penetrates uniformly — you don't end up with an over-salted thin edge and an under-seasoned thick center. It also means the chicken cooks in the same time across the whole breast on a 450°F griddle.
Habanero salt seasons the exterior, pickle brine seasons the interior. The two heat sources are intentionally separate — the brine carries garlic and chile flavor deep into the meat, while the habanero salt builds a seasoned crust on the outside surface during the sear. One without the other is noticeably less complex.
Avocado goes under the chicken, not on top. Sliced avocado on the sourdough first, then the buffalo chicken piled over it, means the fat from the avocado soaks slightly into the toast from below while the buffalo sauce stays on top where it belongs — two flavor layers rather than everything mixed together in one wet pile.

Buffalo Chicken Toast

Tom Jackson

Rated 5.0 stars by 1 users

Cuisine

American

Servings

11

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

30 minutes

Calories

248

This Buffalo Chicken Toast is loaded with smoky, spicy flavor and satisfying textures. Juicy brined chicken seared on a Yoder Smokers YS640s is tossed in Yo Mama’s Buffalo Sauce, then layered on buttery sourdough with creamy avocado and tangy blue cheese. A drizzle of homemade buttermilk ranch ties it all together for a crave-worthy bite that’s easy to make and impossible to resist.

Print Recipe

Ingredients

1 lb chicken breasts
Cornhusker Kitchen Spray Duck Fat
1 cup Holmes Made Dad’s Spicy Garlic Dill Pickle juice
Jacobsen Salt Co. Habanero Salt
4 slices sourdough bread
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 large avocado, sliced
1/2 cup blue cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup Yo Mama’s Buffalo Sauce
Top with Ranch Dressing

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Directions

Place the chicken breasts in a freezer/brining bag, and spray the interior with duck fat to keep the chicken from sticking and tearing.
Using the flat side of a meat mallet, pound the thick end of the breasts until the chicken is even in thickness.
Add the pickle juice to the bag. Squeeze out the air and seal the bag. Place in the refrigerator to brine for an hour.
Preheat your Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill to 450ºF, set up with the Yoder Smokers Griddle over the firebox, with the diffuser plate removed.
Remove the chicken from the brine. Season with habanero salt.
Spray the griddle with duck fat and place the chicken on the griddle. Cook with the door open, searing both sides. Remove from the grill when the internal temperature reaches 155ºF - 160ºF.
Melt the butter on the griddle, then toast the sourdough and remove.
Dice the chicken and transfer to a bowl. Add the Yo Mama’s Buffalo Sauce and toss to coat.
Place the sliced avocado on the sourdough toast. Top with the buffalo chicken. Spoon ranch over the top, and place crumbled blue cheese on top.

Recipe Note

Recipe FAQ

Why pound the chicken before brining instead of after?

Pounding the thick end of the breast to an even thickness before the brine goes in means the salt and garlic dill pickle juice penetrates at the same rate across the whole piece of meat. If you brine an uneven breast, the thin edges over-salt and the thick center under-seasons. Even thickness also means every part of the breast finishes cooking at the same time on the griddle — no dry edges waiting for the center to catch up.

Why pull the chicken at 155–160°F instead of 165°F?

The USDA 165°F guideline is based on instantaneous kill of bacteria — but pasteurization is time and temperature dependent. Chicken held at 155°F for a very short period achieves the same food safety outcome. More practically, 155–160°F pulled off a screaming-hot griddle will carry-over cook to 160–165°F while it rests and while you're dicing and tossing in buffalo sauce. Pulling at 165°F produces breast meat that is already at 170°F by the time it hits the toast — noticeably drier.

Can I use a different bread instead of sourdough?

Sourdough is the right call because its tight crumb structure and slight tang hold up under the avocado, buffalo chicken, ranch, and blue cheese without going soggy in the first 60 seconds. A looser-crumbed bread like regular sandwich bread or brioche will absorb the buffalo sauce and avocado moisture immediately and collapse. If sourdough isn't available, a thick-cut country white or a toasted ciabatta are the best structural alternatives.

What ranch dressing works best here?

The recipe links to the ATBBQ homemade buttermilk ranch above — that's the version this build is calibrated for. A buttermilk-based ranch is thinner and tangier than a commercial ranch, which cuts through the buffalo sauce better than a thick bottled dressing. If you use store-bought, choose a thinner, refrigerated ranch over a shelf-stable one; Hidden Valley Original refrigerated is a reliable commercial option.

Can I make this indoors?

Indoor cooking rating: 5 out of 5 — Perfect for indoor or outdoor cooking. A cast iron skillet or griddle pan on high heat replicates the griddle sear identically — duck fat spray, hot pan, same sear. Toast the sourdough in the same pan in the residual butter. The entire recipe translates without any meaningful loss. This is one of the strongest indoor performers in the lineup.

Recipe Highlights

Duck Fat Spray Inside the Brine Bag: Spraying the interior of the brining bag with duck fat before adding the chicken and pickle juice keeps the breast from sticking and tearing when you remove it after an hour of brining. It's a 2-second step that prevents a frustrating moment when the brine-softened exterior of the breast pulls apart against the bag. It also adds a small amount of additional fat richness that carries through to the sear.
Cook with the Grill Door Open: The direction to sear with the lid open is specific to griddle cooking on the YS640s — keeping the lid up prevents the ambient grill temperature from contributing additional indirect heat, which would cook the breast unevenly from the top down before the crust sets on the bottom. The open-lid approach lets the griddle do the work from direct contact only. On a stovetop, this isn't applicable — just use a hot pan.
Dice After Cooking, Not Before: The chicken goes on the griddle as whole pounded breasts and gets diced after it comes off. Dicing raw and then cooking produces uneven pieces that dry out at different rates and don't sear — they steam. Whole breast seared and then diced gives you uniform pieces with a seared surface already on them before they hit the buffalo sauce.
Build Order Matters: Avocado on the toast first, then buffalo chicken, then ranch drizzle, then blue cheese crumbles on top. The avocado acts as a fat barrier between the crispy sourdough and the buffalo sauce — without it, the sauce soaks directly into the toast within 30 seconds. The blue cheese goes on last so it sits on the hot chicken and softens slightly rather than melting fully or drying out under the heat.