Once upon a time, good old mac and cheese met spicy buffalo chicken—and lived happily ever after (or were they eaten by the big bad wolf?). This Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese recipe not only has a classic cheddar cheese sauce, but also crumbled blue cheese and a spicy buffalo sauce, which tie together lots of exciting flavors in one dish. Topped with parsley and breadcrumbs, the cheesy, spicy dish is baked in the oven for an extra crunch. It is a crowd-pleaser that you will be making over and over again! Scroll down to see how you can make this ultimate comfort food with a hot twist!
Ingredients
- 3 cups Cooked chicken
- 1 lb Cellentani (Cavatappi) pasta
- 1 Onion, yellow
- 4 tbsp Butter
- 4 tbsp Flour
- 2 cups Milk
- 2 cups Shredded cheddar cheese
- 0.5 cup Crumbled blue cheese
- 1.5 cups Panko breadcrumbs
- 0.5 cup Curly parsley
- 2 tbsp Oil
- 1 cup Buffalo sauce (more for serving)
- 1 bunch Scallion (optional)
Instructions
This recipe begins with 3 cups of diced cooked chicken. Leftover grilled or rotisserie chicken would work very well here. I didn’t have any leftover chicken, so I cooked raw chicken breast cutlets in a lightly greased pan over medium heat for 20 minutes until golden brown. Sprinkle the chicken with some salt and pepper and flip it occasionally, about every 5 minutes, to ensure it cooks evenly.
Once the chicken is cooked, remove from the pan and dice it into medium-sized pieces, roughly 3/4-inch cubes.
Also, prepare the pasta al dente according to the box instructions. The pasta will cook a bit more once it goes in the oven with other ingredients, so you want to be careful not to overcook it. You can use macaroni, but I just love the corkscrew appearance and ridged texture of cellentani (also known as cavatappi) for this buffalo chicken mac and cheese recipe.
Next, it’s time to make the buttery cheddar cheese sauce. Small dice one yellow onion and cook in a saucepan with butter over medium-low heat. Once the onion becomes translucent, add 4 tbsp of flour and cook for one minute. Then, add the milk and shredded cheddar cheese to the pan and whisk as the cheese melts and the sauce thickens.
Last but not least, prepare the breadcrumb mixture that will be sprinkled on top of the buffalo chicken mac and cheese before it goes in the oven. Finely chop 1/2 cup of curly parsley and toss with panko breadcrumbs and 2 tbsp of oil.
Once all the individual ingredients are prepped, it is time to assemble the buffalo chicken mac and cheese! In a 9×13 in. casserole dish, add the pasta, diced chicken, and crumbled blue cheese. Gently toss it to evenly distribute the ingredients. Then, add the cheddar cheese sauce with buffalo sauce. I used 1 cup of Frank’s RedHot sauce, but you can adjust the amount of spicy buffalo sauce depending on your level of heat tolerance. Toss the ingredients again to mix in the sauce.
Finally, sprinkle the top with the parsley-breadcrumb mixture and bake in a 350º F preheated oven for 20 minutes, until the sauce bubbles and the breadcrumbs are golden brown.
Ta-da! This is what the buffalo chicken mac and cheese will look like when it comes out of the oven. Doesn’t this look amazing? Before serving, you can garnish with some chopped scallions and please feel free to drizzle some extra buffalo sauce!
If you like this Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese recipe, you might be interested in this Mushroom & Wild Rice Casserole with Chicken recipe. Also, follow me on Instagram and check out my pins on Pinterest for more great recipes!
Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 3 cups chicken cooked
- 1 lb Cellentani or Cavatappi pasta
- 1 onion yellow
- 4 tbsp butter
- 4 tbsp flour
- 2 cups milk
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- ½ cup crumbled blue cheese
- 1½ cups panko breadcrumbs
- ½ cup parsley curly
- 2 tbsp oil cooking
- 1 cup buffalo sauce more for serving
- 1 scallion optional
Instructions
- Dice the cooked chicken into medium-sized (3/4-inch) chunks.
- Cook the pasta al dente according to the package instructions
- Finely dice the onion. Over medium-low heat, cook the onion with butter in a saucepan until translucent.
- To the saucepan, add flour and cook for another minute while whisking. Then, add milk and cheese to the pan and stir until the cheese melts and the sauce thickens.
- Prepare the breadcrumb mixture by mixing breadcrumbs, finely chopped parsley, and oil in a bowl.
- In a 9×13 inch casserole dish, add cooked pasta, diced chicken, and crumbled blue cheese. Toss to combine. Then, mix in the cheese sauce and buffalo sauce. Top with the breadcrumb mixture. Bake in a preheated 350° F oven for 20 minutes, until bubbling with golden-brown breadcrumbs.
- Garnish with chopped scallions and drizzle extra buffalo sauce before serving (optional).
An additional factor which was quite disappointing about the earlier motion pictures wasthe dark outlook which was provided to everything on screen.
Do I detect some inspiration from John Harvard’s? 😉
Its a great dish! Traditional mac & cheese with lots of added flavors!!
Thank you! Hope you enjoy it!