Buffalo Chicken Cheesy Pasta Recipe
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This easy Buffalo Chicken Pasta recipe is made in just 29 minutes on the stovetop by adding shredded chicken and penne pasta to the most amazing creamy, cheesy sauce, filled with two cheeses, buffalo sauce and spices!
For almost a decade, this has been the most popular recipe on the blog! It has been viewed over a million times and has received dozens of 5 star reviews! Needless to say, people go crazy for this buffalo chicken pasta!
For years now I have been obsessed with all things buffalo chicken! Thanks to my friend Lindsay who first introduced me to Buffalo Chicken Dip back in 2010.
I now think of all the ways I can incorporate buffalo chicken into new recipes. From Buffalo Chicken Burgers and Buffalo Chicken Tacos, to Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Peppers and Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls. I’ve found some interesting ways to spread out my obsession over several genres of food!
Now for one of my favorite combinations, buffalo chicken, cheese and pasta!
Table of contents
Ingredients
- Shredded Chicken Breasts – boil or pressure cook 1 pound of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, then shred the chicken. You can also use shredded rotisserie chicken. I like to use either this Instant Pot Shredded Chicken or this Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken recipe when making this dish.
- Cream Cheese
- Buffalo Sauce – I like to use Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Sauce, but any brand of buffalo sauce will work!
- Chicken Broth
- Paprika
- Garlic Powder
- Black Pepper
- Kosher Salt
- Blue Cheese Dressing – ranch dressing can also be used instead, if that’s your preference!
- Uncooked Penne Pasta
- Green Onions – optional topping to add some color, flavor and crunch!
- Crushed Red Pepper Flakes – optional topping, for a little extra spice!
Step by step instructions
Just follow these 6 simple steps to make one of my all-time favorite recipes!
- Prepare the cheesy buffalo sauce. In a large pot or skillet on the stove over medium heat, add cream cheese, buffalo sauce and chicken broth. Whisk the ingredients together until the sauce is smooth and creamy.
- Spice up the sauce! Add paprika, garlic powder, black pepper and salt. Stir to combine.
- Make it creamy! Add blue cheese or ranch dressing to the sauce. Stir the sauce together until it’s smooth and creamy.
- Add the chicken. Add cooked, shredded chicken to the sauce, reduce the heat on the stove to low, then allow the sauce to simmer for 10 minutes.
- Cook the pasta. Add penne pasta to a large pot of boiling water on the stove. Cook according to package directions, then drain the pasta and add it to the buffalo chicken sauce.
- Finish and serve. Top the pasta with diced green onions and crushed red pepper flakes, if you’d like and serve immediately.
More recipes with buffalo sauce
Try these other popular WhitneyBond.com recipes with buffalo sauce!
- Buffalo Chicken Cheesy Tortellini
- Slow Cooker Buffalo Cheesy Sausage Balls
- Buffalo Cheesy Meatloaf
- Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls
- Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Chili
Buffalo Chicken Pasta
Ingredients
- 2 cups shredded chicken breasts, boil or pressure cook 1 lb of chicken and shred
- 8 oz cream cheese, cubed
- 1/3 cup buffalo sauce
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 3/4 cup blue cheese dressing
- 12 oz uncooked penne pasta
Optional toppings
- green onions, chopped
- crushed red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat.
- Add the cream cheese, buffalo sauce and chicken broth.
- Whisk until creamy.
- Add the paprika, garlic powder, black pepper, salt and stir to combine
- Add the blue cheese dressing and stir to combine.
- Add the shredded chicken.
- Allow the sauce to simmer for 10 minutes over low heat.
- While the sauce is simmering, bring a large pot of water to boil on the stove. Add the penne pasta and cook according to package directions.
- Drain the pasta then add it to the cheesy buffalo chicken sauce and stir to combine.
- Top with diced green onions and crushed red pepper flakes, if you would like.
Video
Notes
- Vegetarian Option: Omit the chicken. The spicy, cheesy buffalo sauce is so good on its own, you could definitely do it without chicken! Also, use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.
- Gluten Free Option: Use gluten-free pasta to make this recipe gluten free. Make sure the blue cheese dressing and chicken broth used are gluten-free.
Nutrition Facts
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126 Comments on “Buffalo Chicken Cheesy Pasta Recipe”
It was delicious and easy to make!
Making this yummy chicken again tonight. So good and easy to make. I do want to mention that unless you use precooked chicken this can’t be made in 30 minutes. By the time you boil water, cook pasta, mix everything together. Time doesn’t add up. This doesn’t stop me from making it several times a month. Great recipe.
I have made this a couple of times now and my super picky eaters, (aside from my anti-chicken and pasta anything husband) all love it. I substitute ranch for blue cheese dressing as not everyone is a blue cheese fan in my household. I have optional topping of blue cheese crumbles, bacon pieces, and chopped celery. The celery for me is a must! With all of the creamy richness the celery is the perfect fresh balance.
Nice! I love your additions of bacon & celery! Definitely going to try the celery on top next time I make this! Thanks so much for sharing!
My husband and I love this recipe (I just swap the blue cheese for ranch). It’s such a delicious and quick dinner. Thank you so much.
Thank you Nicole! So glad you all enjoy it 🙂
Congratulations on your 5-year blogaversary! Now I’ve got to go check out how to make buffalo sauce- tha’s a new one for me!!
This will be perfect for picnic season! I love buffalo anything. 🙂
You and me both girl! 😉
I love that this is a creamy delicious dish. It’s such a fun take on the typical Buffalo Chicken dip. I can’t wait to make this and enjoy all those classic Buffalo flavors with with some pasta!
Thanks so much Cristin!
I’ve been making this for a couple months now. Delicious and so simple! Thank you!
So glad to hear it Candace! Thanks so much for sharing!
So I made this last week. I think this is the 3rd or 4th buffalo pasta dish i’ve tried off Pinterest, and this by far is THE BEST ONE! We tore into this, and I had another bowl later that night! I’m addicted to this stuff. I’m making more today to dig into while we watch football. Only thing I added was to throw some crumbled blue cheese on top.
Oh yay! This is so great to hear! Thank you for sharing!!
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe. I made it for our high school football team supper club and they loved it so much they ordered 2 trays for their “end of the season party”. I add in some sour cream too. (Improvised the first time because I didn’t have enough blue cheese dressing.)
Awesome! Thanks so much for sharing Susan! I’m so glad that everyone enjoyed the recipe 🙂
I’m going to make this tonight but I’m going to use half the cream cheese and half fat-free sour cream in order to attempt a healthier dish!
Awesome Danielle, let me know how it turns out with the substitutions!
This is a womderful recipe. I am dealing with dairy and gluten issues. I made this with kite hill choice dairy feee cream cheese and made my own dressing from veganaise. My family loved it. Thank you for the recipe.
Oh that’s great to hear Heather! I love to see peoples modifications to the recipes to make them work for their diet, so glad you could do that with this recipe!
Can this dish be frozen after assembling it all together? My college aged son would LOVE this!
Hi Kelly, to be honest, I have not tried freezing it. I’ve made it and refrigerated it several times and reheated it, and it was great, so I’m assuming you could freeze it, de-thaw it in the refrigerator then reheat it and it would work very similarly! I hope your son loves it 🙂
Did you try freezing this? How did it turn out?
Can you substitute blue cheese dressing for something else?
Hi Robin, yes, dozens of people over the years have substituted ranch dressing for the blue cheese dressing! Enjoy 🙂
Made this last night and I am ADDICTED.. snacked on it cold this morning and it was just as good cold! Do not normally leave comments on recipes, but I had to on this one! so good.
That’s so great to hear Olivia! Thanks so much for sharing 🙂 🙂
How long do you boil the chicken?
I want to make this for dinner, but it says two different numbers for the serving size. Does the recipe make enough for two or four?
Hi Ashley, thanks for bringing that to my attention & I apologize for the confusion. This recipe should feed 4. Enjoy!
I think I am going to try to substitute the cream cheese with greek yogurt. Have you tried this at all?
Hi Sarah, I haven’t tried this, but I think it would work fine, the sauce may just be a little thiner. Let me know how it turns out 🙂
Is there anything to substitute the blue cheese dressing with besides ranch dressing? My bf is not a fan of either. Can it be made without or will the sauce be too runny?
Hi Heather,
You might try adding an additional 4 oz of cream cheese. This should give it a similar consistency without the blue cheese or ranch dressing!
Just made this tonight for my husband and myself! SO GOOD! He never ever eats leftovers on any of our meals yet told me tonight he will be eating them for the 1st time tomorrow!
Haha that’s so great Megan, I’m so glad you both enjoyed it so much!