Imagine my surprise when I was prepping my weekly Walmart order and came across the First We Feast‘s Hot Ones Smoky Habanero Boneless Chicken Breast Bites ($9.48). If you’re unfamiliar with First We Feast’s Hot Ones, the episodes are all over YouTube and Hulu.
Each episode features a celebrity sampling a variety of hot sauces. Each sauce is hotter than the one before it, which is funny depending on their heat tolerance level.
Since I’m a Mick Foley (WWE’s Cactus Jack, Mankind) fan, here’s his episode for your viewing pleasure.
Bag of Hot Ones Chicken Bites
In addition to one pound of the bites, there is a 6 oz packet of Los Calientes Rojo Sauce to toss the chicken. The sauce can also be purchased separately.
Making the Bites
The back of the bag gives you three options for heating the chicken bites: Conventional Oven, Air Fryer, or Microwave. Heating in a microwave was out of the question since I didn’t want to toss soggy breading in a sauce, leaving the conventional oven or air fryer.
I use my oven for more grandiose dishes like meatloaf, so that was out of the question. My air fryer is used for simple reheating or baking a small amount of tasty biscuits. A decision has been made.
How were the Smoky Habanero Boneless Chicken Bites?
The bites are made from steroid and hormone-free chicken breast. One look at the ingredients surprised me since I expected a long list of what’s this.
The instructions suggest you heat the air fryer at 370 degrees for 5 minutes and flip the nuggets for 5 to 8 minutes. I heated at 400 for 5 minutes and then another 7 minutes to finish.
I took a plastic grocery bag and tossed the little fellas in the sauce. And then I microwaved them; just kidding, making sure that you were still paying attention.
The chicken was tasty and not dried out, but I kept a watchful eye on the cooking. For me, the bites could use more sauce, but overall, I enjoyed them.
Were the Hot Ones Smokey Habanero Chicken Bites really spicy? I didn’t think they were, but that’s ok cause I prefer flavor over heat level.
There are two more Hot Ones Boneless Chicken Bites: Barbacoa and Spicy Garlic. I’m leaning toward the spicy garlic since it features their classic hot sauce.
Who knows, I might buy both! But don’t worry, I’ll keep you posted.
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