Buffalo Chicken Pasta Skillet
Buffalo Chicken Pasta is a one-pot meal made with juicy chicken, tender pasta, and bold Buffalo sauce. A Super-fast and flavorful dinner recipe that’s perfect for busy weeknight dinners or game day meals.
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If you’re a Buffalo Chicken Dip lover or you enjoy some Buffalo Chicken Tenders, this pasta dish is one you’ll love too. These flavors work so well together and make for some tasty Buffalo Chicken Wraps too.
Why You'll Love This Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Pasta
The buffalo chicken flavor combination is something many people enjoy. This pasta recipe is an easy, one-pan meal that is super quick and easy to toss together. It’s ready in under half an hour, making it the perfect dinner to make on those busy nights.
A Buffalo Chicken Pasta Bake is easily customizable. You can alter the heat level by using your favorite buffalo wing sauce, change up the cheese, pasta types, and more. Leftovers are even more delicious the next day, once all the flavors can really soak in.
Let's gather the Ingredients
- Veggies: diced onion, diced celery, and diced tomatoes
- Dairy: butter, softened cream cheese, shredded cheddar cheese, and shredded mozzarella cheese
- Herbs and spices: minced garlic, ranch dressing, salt, black pepper, and optional red pepper flakes (an easy way to increase the heat)
- Chicken stock: or you can use chicken broth
- Dried Rotini: Any short-cut pasta.
- Buffalo sauce: I use Frank‘s Hot sauce, but any brand will work
- Chicken: Rotisserie chicken or leftover cooked chicken.
How to make Creamy Buffalo Chicken Pasta
- Step 1: Add butter, diced onions, and diced celery to a pot to cook until soft.
- Step 2: Add garlic and cook a little longer, until fragrant.
- Step 3: Pour chicken stock and tomatoes into the pot and bring to a boil.
- Step 4: Dump in dried pasta. Be sure to cover it with the cooking liquid and let the pasta boil.
- Step 5: Add in cream cheese, cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, ranch, buffalo sauce, salt, pepper, and optional red pepper flakes if using. Stir.
- Step 6: Fold in the chicken, the cheesy pasta, and the cheesy sauce mixture.
Recipe Tips
- Adjust the spice by using mild or hot Buffalo sauce to suit your preference.
- For another twist on flavor, drizzle some blue cheese dressing, blue cheese crumbles, or more ranch dressing on top.
- Swap out the cheese options for sharp cheddar cheese and Monterey Jack.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4-5 days and keep them in the refrigerator.
- If serving at a gathering or party, you can keep this in a Slow Cooker on the warm setting. Stir often so it doesn’t stick to the bottom.
Recipe Faq's
Whatever leftover chicken you prefer and have on hand should work for this pasta dish. I used leftover diced and cooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts from another recipe. But you can use rotisserie chicken, shredded chicken, or whip up some chicken thighs and use that tender chicken in this.
Instead of dried rotini pasta, you can swap it out for other short pasta options like penne pasta, cavatappi, bow tie pasta, etc. Shells or elbow macaroni should also work as they will hold the creamy sauce nicely. I suppose you could try longer pasta, but you want to pick something that will hold the sauce nicely.
Yes, you can. If you are planning to freeze this creamy pasta
with creamy buffalo sauce, I suggest cooking the pasta al dente so when you go to reheat it later, you aren’t overcooking the pasta and making it mushy. Also, this recipe makes a decent amount of sauce, so prepare for that if freezing this pasta recipe.
More Chicken Pasta Recipes
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Buffalo Chicken Pasta
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup onion diced
- ½ cup celery diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 3 cups chicken stock or broth
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can of diced tomatoes, undrained
- 3 cups dried Rotini
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened and cubed
- 1 cup cheddar cheese shredded
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese shredded
- ½ cup ranch dressing
- ½ cup buffalo sauce I use Franks
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- Pinch red pepper flakes optional
- 3 cups cooked and diced chicken
Instructions
- Heat a large 12 inch skillet on medium high heat and add the butter, onions and celery let cook 2-3 minutes to soften.
- Gently pour in the chicken stock and tomatoes and stir. Bring to a boil.
- Add in the dried pasta and make sure the pasta is submerged in the liquid. Let the pasta boil 9-10 minutes. Test the pasta to make sure its tender enough, add another 1-2 minutes if its not.
- Reduce the heat to low and add in the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, ranch dressing, buffalo sauce, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes if you’re adding them. Give it a stir to combine and let simmer on low for 1-2 minutes to let the cheese melt.
- Fold in the diced chicken and mix until combined.
- Add additional salt and pepper to taste if needed and serve!
