This Buffalo Chicken Pasta is creamy, spicy, and super cheesy! It makes for an incredibly delicious dinner made ultra easy with the use of leftover shredded chicken, rotisserie chicken, or a quick batch of Instant Pot shredded chicken.
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This recipe is…
If you’re a buffalo sauce girly like I am, this pasta is for you. It’s decadent, cheesy, and has that classic kick of tangy spice that only buffalo sauce can provide!
If you have young kiddos at home (or people, of any age, at the dinner table that are sensitive to spice), you may want to skip this recipe (just as you’d likely skip a buffalo wing recipe), but if you’ve got a house full of spice lovers, this recipe is definitely worth giving a try.
Looking for more easy pasta dinners? We actually did a no-boil pasta bake series that consisted of 4 recipes (a no-boil pasta bake with sausage and spinach, a pesto pasta bake, a no boil chicken alfredo bake, and a baked feta recipe) that continues to be a reader favorite!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s creamy and decadent – this recipe is, essentially, a creamy mac and cheese recipe with a kick of spice from the buffalo sauce and a solid dose of protein from the chicken.
- It makes great use of leftovers – if you’ve got leftover shredded chicken hanging out in the fridge or freezer, this is an excellent recipe to use it in!
Buffalo Chicken Pasta Recipe Ingredients
You’ll need a few different cheeses here, a handful of ingredients to make the buffalo sauce base, chicken, and pasta. Find ingredient notes (including substitutions and swaps) below.
- Shredded cheese – this recipe calls for both shredded Monterey jack cheese and shredded cheddar cheese. The cheddar cheese gives the recipe a nice bite while the Monterey jack provides the creamy texture that you’re going to fall in love with!
- Chicken – as mentioned a few times now, you’ve got some options when it comes to the chicken in this recipe. You can throw fresh chicken in the Instant Pot or slow cooker (see our Instant Pot shredded chicken and slow cooker shredded chicken recipes for exact instructions) and shred it once cooked, use leftover shredded chicken that you have on hand already, or grab and shred a rotisserie chicken. Either way, you’ll need about 3 cups of cooked, shredded chicken (about 1.25 pounds of fresh chicken).
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Recipe Variations and Modifications
- Add bacon – adding cooked and crumbled bacon would be absolutely delicious here!
- Dairy-free – this is a very cheesy recipe, but thankfully, there are tons of dairy-free options at most grocery stores! To make this recipe dairy-free, you’ll need to swap the shredded cheddar and Monterey jack cheeses for a dairy-free shredded cheese, swap the cream cheese for dairy-free version (Kite Hill makes a delicious one), and either leave off the gorgonzola cheese or find a dairy-free alternative for that too. The gorgonzola will likely be the trickiest to find, so you may have to search a little bit (think: local specialty markets) for that one!
- Grain-free – Jovial Foods makes a delicious cassava-based grain-free pasta that you can swap for conventional pasta to make this recipe grain-free.
- Gluten-free – simply swap conventional pasta for a gluten-free version (Barilla’s gluten-free pasta is what we typically use).
- Nut-free – this recipe is nut-free as is!
- Egg-free – same as above – this recipe is egg-free without any modifications.
How to Make Buffalo Chicken Pasta
This recipe is incredibly easy to make, and besides the pasta, is all done in one skillet! Follow along below for the full how-to.
Step 1: Add the shredded cheese, hot sauce, cream cheese, granulated garlic, salt, and pepper to a skillet over medium heat.
Step 2: Whisk the cheesy sauce together until it’s smooth. At the same time, in a different pot, cook the pasta noodles according to package instructions.
Step 3: Once the sauce is smooth, add the shredded chicken, diced tomatoes, and dried dill to the skillet and stir to combine.
Step 4: Stir the pasta into the skillet and let everything continue to cook until warmed through. Garnish with green onions and gorgonzola cheese, then serve and enjoy!
How to Serve
Serve this pasta all on its own for a delicious, filling meal, or, if you’d like to serve the pasta with a veggie side, this simple arugula salad would be a great pick!
How to Store and Reheat
Store any leftover buffalo chicken pasta in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
To reheat the pasta, either pop a serving in the microwave for 1-2 minutes or reheat a couple of servings in a skillet over medium heat for 5-6 minutes (stirring throughout the time that it’s warming).
Frequently Asked Questions
We used Barilla’s gluten-free penne pasta here, but you can use any pasta that you love. We do recommend a shorter noodle (think: penne, rotini, farfalle, fusilli, ziti, etc.), but otherwise, the pasta world is your oyster!
You can absolutely use pre shredded chicken in this recipe! That’s actually what this recipe calls for (3 cups of pre shredded chicken), but there are options around how you get that shredded chicken – you can throw 1.25 pounds of fresh chicken in the Instant Pot or slow cooker and then shred it yourself, purchase cooked and shredded chicken from the grocery store, or grab a rotisserie chicken and shred it.
More Favorite Chicken Recipes
If you tried this Buffalo Chicken Pasta or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
Creamy Buffalo Chicken Pasta Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups (6 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 cups (6 ounces) shredded Monterey jack cheese
- 1 cup Frank's RedHot Original, or other hot sauce of choice
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 8 ounces dried penne pasta
- 3 cups cooked and shredded chicken, (about 1.25 pounds of fresh chicken, cooked and shredded)
- 14 ounces canned diced tomatoes, drained
- 1 tablespoon dried dill
- Green onion, sliced, for garnish, optional
- Gorgonzola cheese crumbles, for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Add the shredded cheese, hot sauce, cream cheese, granulated garlic, salt, and pepper to a skillet over medium heat.
- Whisk the cheesy sauce together until it's smooth. At the same time, in a different pot, cook the pasta noodles according to package instructions.
- Once the sauce is smooth, add the shredded chicken, diced tomatoes, and dried dill to the skillet and stir to combine.
- Stir the pasta into the skillet and let everything continue to cook until warmed through. Garnish with green onions and gorgonzola cheese, then serve and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
- Add bacon – adding cooked and crumbled bacon would be absolutely delicious here!
- Dairy-free – this is a very cheesy recipe, but thankfully, there are tons of dairy-free options at most grocery stores! To make this recipe dairy-free, you’ll need to swap the shredded cheddar and Monterey jack cheeses for a dairy-free shredded cheese, swap the cream cheese for dairy-free version (Kite Hill makes a delicious one), and either leave off the gorgonzola cheese or find a dairy-free alternative for that too. The gorgonzola will likely be the trickiest to find, so you may have to search a little bit (think: local specialty markets) for that one!
- Grain-free – Jovial Foods makes a delicious cassava-based grain-free pasta that you can swap for conventional pasta to make this recipe grain-free.
- Gluten-free – simply swap conventional pasta for a gluten-free version (Barilla’s gluten-free pasta is what we typically use).
- Nut-free – this recipe is nut-free as is!
- Egg-free – same as above – this recipe is egg-free without any modifications.
