Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese

Learn how to make mac & cheese better than ever by adding the flavors of buffalo wings.

I don’t know about you, but buffalo chicken anything tops my list of things to try at any restaurant. Pair that glorious buffalo chicken with mac and cheese and you’ve got this incredible Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese. Think creamy, spicy, and addictive. It’s perfect for just about any occasion including making a batch for yourself and digging in.

I opted to use cheddar jack cheese here. That’s the orange and white marble cheese. It combines the sharp cheddar flavors with the mild jack cheese. It also melts really well resulting in a smooth sauce. The cornstarch makes it thicken more which helps coat and stick to the pasta and chicken.

I love that the spice is tamed down with the creamy cheese sauce while the flavor of the buffalo sauce is still there. I found that this amount of buffalo sauce is good for just about everyone on the spice tolerance scale. If you’re someone who loves spicy, add more to the sauce or just drizzle even more on top when you’re done cooking!

The final hit of amazing in this recipe is a hint of ranch dressing in the mix. It’ll bring you immediately back to your first-ever bite of a chicken wing. You can use homemade ranch dressing or store-bought. Or, you can mix together 1/4 cup of sour cream with 2 teaspoons of store-bought ranch seasoning or homemade ranch seasoning. It’s actually really easy to make a small amount homemade seasoning using ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry.

If you’re more of a blue cheese dressing fan with your buffalo sauce, just substitute that out instead of ranch.  Here’s a delicious homemade blue cheese dressing to try. If you’re going this route, you can also add blue cheese crumbles as a part of the topping to give it that extra bite.

Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese

Contributor: Sam Ellis

Learn how to make mac & cheese better than ever by adding the flavors of buffalo wings.

• Author: Sam Ellis
• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 25 minutes
• Yield: 6 sevings 1x
• Category: Entrée
• Method: Baked
• Cuisine: American

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 8 oz. elbow pasta
• 1 cup milk
• 2 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 2 cups shredded cheddar jack cheese, divided
• ½ cup buffalo sauce
• ¼ cup ranch dressing
• 4 cups rotisserie chicken, shredded
• ⅓ cup plain breadcrumbs
• 2 Tbsp. green onions, diced

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

1. Preheat broiler on low.
2. In a large pot, cook elbow pasta according to box. Drain and set aside.
3. In the same pot over low heat, add milk and cornstarch together. Whisk together until smooth.
4. Stir in 1 and ¾ cups of the cheese, Buffalo sauce, and ranch dressing and whisk until melted.
5. Add cooked pasta and shredded rotisserie chicken and mix until everything is coated evenly.
6.  In an oven-proof baking dish, spread out the buffalo chicken mac and cheese. Top with remaining ¼ cup of cheese and breadcrumbs evenly. Place under the broiler until breadcrumbs are toasted, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with green onions and serve warm.