Craving Chili’s Triple Dipper appetizer sampler plate at home? In this video, Nicole shows you how to recreate this fan-favorite appetizer platter with a homemade twist! She’s putting together three mouthwatering appetizers: 1) Nashville Hot Mozzarella Sticks paired with a tangy ranch sauce (with a secret ingredient—pickle juice!), 2) Southwestern Egg Rolls with a creamy avocado ranch sauce, and 3) Honey Chipotle Chicken Crispers with sweet and savory honey mustard. Each dish comes with its own irresistible dipping sauce, making this the ultimate combo plate you can enjoy without leaving the house!
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00:00I've been seeing it all over my social media,
00:02people eating their version of the triple dipper
00:05and it just looks so good.
00:07I thought it was the perfect thing
00:08with the big game coming up.
00:10We're making Chili's triple dipper at home.
00:13This is the perfect appetizer that turns into a meal
00:16because it's three all in one plate.
00:18You have your choice of several appetizers.
00:20You pick three along with three dips,
00:22hence the words triple dipper.
00:23I'm gonna choose the Nashville Hot mozzarella sticks,
00:28the Southwest egg rolls with avocado ranch,
00:32and the Chipotle honey chicken crispers
00:36because every party needs a chicken finger.
00:40I'm gonna start with the Nashville Hot mozzarella sticks.
00:42You might have seen me make this before
00:44on a quick social video,
00:45but I'm gonna give you the full rundown.
00:47These are just like,
00:48you haven't seen mozzarella sticks like this before
00:50because they're like wide.
00:52You know, they're not just those little dinky
00:54little things you get at other places
00:56or in the freezer section.
00:58These are the real deal
00:59and they give you the most epic cheese pull.
01:01Best thing to use for this
01:03are one of these like 16 ounce blocks of mozzarella
01:06because you can like cut little planks
01:08and that's what we're trying to do.
01:09So this size is perfect
01:11and then you wanna kind of make them thick.
01:13So about like half inch thick or so
01:16and you create little planks.
01:18And now you just create a simple breading.
01:20We're deep frying everything today.
01:22The good news is all three are going in the deep fryer
01:24just like they would at Chili's.
01:26So it really is only one pot of oil.
01:29Okay, so then we're just gonna set up
01:30a simple breading station like you do when you fry things.
01:34First dish, flour.
01:35We're gonna season it with just some salt and pepper.
01:38Okay, second dish, eggs and hot sauce.
01:45And then breadcrumbs in the third dish.
01:47I'm using a combination of the seasoned breadcrumbs
01:49for flavor and then just some plain panko breadcrumbs
01:52for extra crunch.
01:53So it's like two part seasoned to one part panko.
01:57And I'm gonna mix this together with a little paprika.
02:00You know, with all of these you can do
02:02whatever kind of flavor combination you want.
02:04So there's buffalo, I'm doing the Nashville hot
02:07with these mozzarella sticks
02:08but you could do that with the chicken tenders
02:10and vice versa.
02:11I'm gonna go ahead and get a rimmed baking sheet.
02:14This is going to help me after I fry them
02:16so you can use the same one.
02:18So as I bread them, I'm gonna set them on here.
02:20So you wanna go dry, wet, dry.
02:23So I'm going to give them a nice dry surface
02:25by coating them in the flour.
02:28And then you wanna dust off any extra.
02:30And that gives the egg something to stick to.
02:32So then into the egg and then you just toss that
02:36till it's well coated and then into the breadcrumbs.
02:40And then I like to just kinda cover it
02:42and then press it down.
02:43And you're gonna go back into the egg
02:45and then back into the breadcrumbs.
02:47I'm gonna create a nice barrier
02:49so that the cheese doesn't seep everywhere.
02:52And then we just keep going.
02:53If I was doing this at home,
02:55you can make everything a day or two in advance.
02:59And then come the day of the party,
03:02all you have to do is fry it up.
03:03So you don't have any prep to do, just fry and eat.
03:07Our friends have this party every year
03:09and it's the Friday before Christmas
03:11and it's called Fry-ay.
03:12And everyone brings something to put in the fryer
03:16and it's just the most fun party.
03:18You know what I bring?
03:19Uncrustables.
03:20That was one of my biggest viral creations.
03:22Fried Uncrustable.
03:24I never understood these sandwiches until now.
03:26So once you have all of these breaded,
03:28you're just gonna pop them in the freezer
03:30for about 30 minutes.
03:31And that's ideally when you would start heating your oil.
03:35You can make these a month before
03:36and keep them in the freezer.
03:37Okay.
03:39While the mozzarella freezes,
03:41I'm gonna go ahead and make the ranch.
03:43The ranch is gonna be our main dipping sauce for today
03:46because duh, duh.
03:48Chili's is really good about hiding their recipes
03:51from the internet.
03:53So we're guessing here on a lot of these
03:55that it was hard also finding the exact ingredients
03:57they used.
03:58But I did my research
04:00and we're just gonna make the best ranch
04:03that I think a lot of restaurants use.
04:05And it starts with a packet because MSG.
04:08I think when you make the packet though,
04:10the way to like zhuzh it up the best
04:13is to use buttermilk instead of regular milk.
04:16That's gonna be key.
04:18And then sour cream
04:18and then a little splash of the secret ingredient.
04:21So I'm going in with the packet
04:23and then you gotta have mayonnaise.
04:25And for me, this is the one,
04:28about like two parts mayonnaise to one part sour cream
04:31and then your buttermilk to get to the consistency you want.
04:35Additions, I'm gonna make a little pickle juice,
04:38just a splash.
04:40It's got dill in it, you know, it makes sense.
04:42It's got vinegar, some pepper.
04:45That's gonna be good.
04:47Get this in the fridge
04:49and then we'll go get our mozzarella and fry it up.
04:52Okay, before you can fry though,
04:53you have to have your seasoning blend ready,
04:55your Nashville hot.
04:57This always looks a little scary
04:59because it's a lot of seasoning,
05:02but for some reason it's like not as hot
05:05as you think it's gonna be.
05:06It's just, it's a good burn, you know, that slow burn.
05:09Okay, so it's a lot of paprika,
05:11like three tablespoons and a lot of cayenne pepper.
05:15Okay, and then just a little garlic powder
05:17and then some brown sugar to balance out the spicy.
05:20Some salt and then a little black pepper and then that's it.
05:23After you fry, you take some of that frying oil
05:26and put it in your spices and it activates all those flavors
05:29and then you toss the mozzarella sticks around in it.
05:32So you wanna have this on standby.
05:34You want your oil slightly hotter
05:36than you really want it to be
05:37because as soon as you put these in there,
05:39it's gonna drop the oil temperature.
05:41So I'm starting at about 370
05:43and ideally, I'll get it down to like 360.
05:45So these are like pretty solidly frozen
05:49after a half hour or so.
05:51And all we need to do is get the outside brown and crispy.
05:54By the time that happens,
05:55that cheese is going to be ooey gooey, so delicious.
06:01It'll only take a couple minutes.
06:02So you can already see the cheese starting to peek out.
06:13You might ask me if you can air fry these
06:16and the answer is yes, you can.
06:18However, I've learned that sometimes in the air fryer,
06:21it happens a little slower so the cheese
06:24like really like comes out of the thing.
06:27So you really need to make sure they're frozen
06:29if you're gonna air fry them
06:30and make sure you can do it at the highest temperature
06:33your air fryer will go.
06:35But if you're wanting the Nashville hot flavor,
06:37you need the grease.
06:39So it's not every day you do this.
06:42Just a little bit of it.
06:43All right, now for the magic,
06:45you're gonna take that hot grease
06:46and add it to our spice mixture.
06:48About a cup to a cup and a half.
06:52Be careful, this is hot grease.
06:55It's gonna be so good.
06:57So now we're gonna take our hot mozz.
07:00Toss it in this liquid gold.
07:06You're gonna wanna dunk it in the ranch.
07:08You're gonna need something to cool you off.
07:13Oh my God, the best mozzarella sticks that ever existed.
07:22And look at the breading and how substantial it is,
07:26yet it's like crunchy and light at the same time.
07:29My mouth is hot, like it's spicy, but it's not unbearable.
07:34And you would think with, you know,
07:35three tablespoons of cayenne pepper
07:36that you would not be able to handle that.
07:38You can, and this is mine so I can double dip
07:40or triple dip.
07:42Mm, I added a little more oil
07:46just to freshen it up a little bit.
07:49That can be heating while we make the next one.
07:51This is an oldie but goodie.
07:53This is probably what I had maybe the first time
07:56I've ever ate at a Chili's, the Southwestern egg rolls.
07:59So this is your classic Southwestern flavors
08:02all wrapped up into a flour tortilla and fried.
08:05Really they're just little mini burritos, okay?
08:08So don't come at me when you say that's not an egg roll.
08:10You mix everything into a bowl and then wrap it up.
08:13So I'm going in with some just cooked chopped chicken.
08:17You can use rotisserie.
08:18And then Monterey Jack cheese.
08:20And then corn and black beans.
08:21This is just frozen corn that I've thawed out.
08:23And then about half a can of black beans.
08:26Some pickled jalapenos that have been chopped up.
08:29You can customize this too.
08:30You can make it whatever fillings you like
08:33or however spicy you like it.
08:34About a quarter cup of finely chopped red bell pepper.
08:37The good thing you do wanna do is finely chop everything
08:40because these are not huge things, you know?
08:42And you want a little bit of everything in every bite.
08:44And then this is spinach.
08:47So just fresh baby spinach that has been chopped up.
08:51This is an appetizer that did list
08:54exactly what's in their version.
08:56And that's what's going in this version.
08:58Green onion, some taco seasoning.
09:00I'm gonna add in a little salt and then just stir it up.
09:02It was just a little bit of everything
09:04but it makes a lot of filling.
09:06So this is going to make a lot of little egg rolls.
09:09Appetizers and parties aside,
09:11this is just a good idea to do as meal prep
09:13and keep these in the freezer.
09:15You can pop these for sure in the air fryer,
09:18just spraying them or brushing them with a little oil
09:21and then air frying them.
09:22This would be like a great snack for kids.
09:25Eight inch tortilla and then you're gonna spoon in
09:27about a half a cup of the filling into each one.
09:29And then you roll it as you would a burrito or an egg roll.
09:34Tuck in the sides and then flip the top over,
09:36tucking and rolling as you go.
09:38You might find that you might wanna do
09:40one more small little tuck as you get to the end.
09:43And then you're gonna seal the seam with a toothpick.
09:46Kinda go down and back through like you're sewing.
09:50I'm just gonna keep it closed while it fries.
09:53So we get 10 good size egg rolls out of this.
09:57You cut them in half as a serving
09:58so you get 20 good substantial bites.
10:01Let's fry them up.
10:03Of course they wanna roll to one side
10:05so you're gonna need to kinda flip them throughout.
10:09This is probably the one of the day
10:13that will be just as good if you wanna air fry it
10:15instead of deep fry it.
10:16But this is my favorite part.
10:20There's something about a crispy tortilla
10:23with all the goods inside.
10:24We're gonna serve these with avocado ranch.
10:26For the avocado ranch, we're gonna take the ranch
10:29that we made for the first one
10:30and then just add some avocado and a little lime to it.
10:34You want a nice, soft, ripe avocado for this
10:38just so it's extra creamy.
10:42Then you wanna go till it's really smooth.
10:47Okay, so to serve them, a deep bias cut.
10:50Oh yeah, that's gonna be delicious.
10:53Don't forget to take the toothpick out.
10:55They look just like chilies.
10:57Part two of the triple dipper, the Southwest egg rolls
11:01with avocado ranch.
11:03I'm gonna have a good job.
11:08A plus plus plus.
11:10You can get a version of these in the freezer section
11:12but don't because this is about a billion times
11:15better than that.
11:17Well now I want a margarita.
11:22This is their most popular cocktail
11:24and it just sounds so good after those egg rolls.
11:27Tequila, orange liqueur.
11:34Oh.
11:40Now that's good.
11:42Every party needs a chicken tendy.
11:44The honey chipotle chicken crispers.
11:47Now this one has been blowing up my feed
11:50and they make it look just so good.
11:54So I first have to make the crispiest chicken finger
11:58because they have to be crispy
11:59and the thing about the chicken crispers
12:01is that they have these little bits of crispiness
12:03on the outside.
12:04But that's what we're going to create
12:07which means we're gonna do a little double dredge
12:10for our chicken.
12:11The element of this appetizer that is really
12:13just as good as the chicken is the sauce.
12:15So a shortcut here is to find your favorite
12:18crispy chicken tender and just make the sauce.
12:21But what kind of service would I be giving you
12:23if I just didn't go all the way with it, you know?
12:25So we're gonna go all the way.
12:26Am I right?
12:27Yes, Nicole, you're always right.
12:30All right, so there's gonna be two real keys
12:32to making this the best crispy chicken tenders.
12:36The first is that we're going to marinate it in buttermilk.
12:39That's going to tenderize it, give it great flavor
12:42and that's the first trick to the best chicken.
12:45The second is we're gonna double dredge it
12:47meaning we're going to go from wet to dry to wet to dry.
12:52Give it a good kind of thick, crumbly kind of coating.
12:56All right, so you're gonna cut your chicken into tenders,
13:00whatever you feel is gonna be delicious.
13:02But this is also gonna be way more cost effective
13:05than buying a bag of already breaded chicken tenders
13:09and definitely more cost effective
13:11than eating it at the restaurant
13:12because I only buy my chicken when it's on sale anyway.
13:15Ain't nobody paying full price for chicken.
13:17That's a lot of chicken tenders from four chicken breasts
13:19and it was buy one, get one free
13:21so this is why you make it at home.
13:23Okay, so you're gonna coat it in buttermilk
13:26and then some hot sauce.
13:28Remember, you already bought the buttermilk for the ranch.
13:30Okay, and then in goes the chicken.
13:33You wanna make sure it is coated
13:35and everything is super cold right now.
13:37The buttermilk is freezing, the chicken is freezing
13:40so this is just gonna hang out on the counter.
13:42You don't need to put it back in the fridge.
13:43Okay, so while that marinates,
13:45we can get our breading ready and our sauce.
13:49For the dredge, all you really need is seasoned flour.
13:52You can do this however you want.
13:54Here's how I do it.
13:55Okay, I'm going in with some flour, a couple cups.
13:59Season it with onion powder, garlic powder.
14:02Then I'm gonna add in some smoked paprika.
14:04You could also just do regular paprika
14:06but the chipotle's gonna have a little smokiness
14:09so I thought that would be nice.
14:10And then just salt and pepper.
14:13Then I'm adding a little baking powder.
14:15This is just gonna help with the crispiness a little bit.
14:18Whisk it all up.
14:19Now for the sauce.
14:20The sauce is super simple.
14:22I mean, I don't know how they make it
14:23but my version is super simple.
14:26Honey chipotle.
14:27Both of those things have a ton of flavor on their own.
14:29The sauce is just like really flavorful.
14:32It's mildly spicy but it has, you know,
14:35the bulk of the flavor and all that smoky goodness.
14:37The pepper is where the heat is
14:39so you can cut these up with or without the seeds
14:42but they are kind of spicy.
14:44So you can take some of this spice out if you want
14:47and then you wanna finely chop this.
14:49You could also just puree it
14:50in a small blender or food processor.
14:52Since it's such a small amount,
14:54I'm just gonna use my knife.
14:56Okay, then I'm going in with the sauce.
15:00Now I see all the videos and it looks sticky, you know?
15:05It is a sticky sauce.
15:06What I noticed in my research
15:08is that there's barbecue sauce in some of these.
15:10That kind of makes sense.
15:12Adds a little salt and vinegar, tomato flair.
15:16Let's see how we're doing.
15:21See that the heat just kind of sneaks up just a little bit
15:24but these are not spicy, more sweet and spicy.
15:28I'm gonna add in a little bit of salt.
15:32I might have to process this a little bit.
15:35The crispers that I've seen don't really have
15:37like the bits of, you know, chipotle in there
15:40so if you can just find the adobo sauce,
15:41you could also just use that.
15:51It's delicious.
15:52All right, wet, dry, wet, dry.
15:57Shake off the excess then dunk back into the wet
16:02and back into the dry.
16:03As the flour gets moistened a little bit,
16:06you'll notice that it starts to have
16:07all these little kind of crumbly bits.
16:10That's gonna end up on the outside of your chicken
16:12and that's what's gonna give you the extra crispers.
16:15All right, 350, fry it up.
16:18You don't want your oil to get too hot
16:21because we need that chicken to cook all the way through.
16:23So you want it to cook on the inside
16:25at the same time it cooks on the outside.
16:27All those crispy bits, sound check.
16:33It's crispy and look at all those.
16:36Perfection.
16:37I'm gonna like thickly paint onto the tenders
16:40instead of tossing it because I'm scared
16:42to break off all that delicate breading.
16:45Looks like I nailed it and I haven't even taken a bite.
16:47Honey chipotle chicken crispers.
16:50I kind of want to eat it without any dip.
16:54Mm, no pun intended but that chicken is so tender
16:59and then with the crispy, sticky, sweet
17:01yet a little bit spicy.
17:04I'm gonna go for the dunk.
17:10Mm, I thought the chicken tenders
17:11might be the least exciting of the day
17:13but dang, is it my favorite?
17:16It's definitely close.
17:17Dang, this is good.
17:19Mm.
17:20I give to you the triple dipper.
17:23You break this out at your next party
17:25and you will be a complete and utter hero.
17:28I think we made the best selections too.
17:30You've got your Nashville hot mozzarella sticks,
17:33the honey chipotle chicken crispers
17:36and of course the southwestern egg rolls.
17:38Got ranch, got a little honey mustard,
17:40got the avocado ranch and a margarita to boot.
17:44Three appetizers, one platter.
17:45I think the biggest problem is gonna be
17:47deciding which one to eat first.
17:49Remember, all of these can be made in advance
17:51and prepped ahead of time.
17:52Then you can cook them up right before your guests arrive
17:54or they're also ideal for meal prep,
17:57especially these little southwest egg rolls.
17:59So let me know, how do you order your triple dipper?
18:02This is like what heaven looks like, honestly.
18:06Welcome to Chili's.
18:08This is not a commercial.