Buffalo Chicken Pasta Casserole is an easy chicken dinner packed with cream cheese, buffalo sauce, and cheese. Just like buffalo chicken dip, once you start eating it’s hard to stop!
When you love buffalo chicken dip, the next step is to turn it into a pasta dinner! Move over baked ziti, there’s a new casserole in town.
Why this Recipe is Best
When you’re looking for a simple family dinner, pasta is usually a crowd pleaser. But if you’re tired of the same old spaghetti sauce based dishes, try something new!
- Can be assembled ahead of time
- Add more or less spice depending on your palate
- Cheesy and flavorful
Serve up tonights dinner with our homemade ranch dressing or make an easy italian salad.
How to Make Buffalo Chicken Pasta
STEP 1: Cook Pasta. Choose your favorite kind of pasta noodle and cook according to package directions. I prefer penne or bowtie pasta, but pick what your family loves!
STEP 2: Make Sauce. While pasta is cooking, in a large skillet, heat cream cheese, buffalo sauce (Frank’s Red Hot Sauce), and chicken broth. Simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly until cream cheese is melted.
Add in garlic powder and salt to the sauce, whisking until smooth.
STEP 3: Add Chicken. You’ll need about 1 pound of COOKED chicken for this buffalo chicken pasta casserole. You can make our shredded chicken in the instant pot, or boil some chicken ahead of time.
I usually cook several pounds of chicken in my slow cooker each weekend to use in recipes and salads during the week.
PRO TIP: Purchase a rotisserie chicken or use this leftover roasted chicken for quick weeknight dinners!
Add chicken to your buffalo sauce, stirring until coated.
STEP 4: Add Pasta and Cheese. Remove from heat and add warm cooked pasta. Add shredded cheese. Stir in a combination of shredded mozzarella cheese and shredded cheddar cheese.
If needed, heat for a few minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly.
STEP 5: EAT and enjoy.
Top with blue cheese or ranch dressing!
Can this be made ahead of time
YES.
While my recipe is written to eat immediately, you can assemble ahead of time to be baked later.
Follow steps 1-4. Cover with foil and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.
When ready to cook, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake for about 30 minutes, removing the foil for an additional 5-10 minutes. The bake time will vary depending on how cold the dish is (how long it has been refrigerated). You may need to adjust and add more.
I find when this pasta bake is assembled ahead of time and then baked it becomes slightly dry. So be sure to have a little extra buffalo sauce reserved to drizzle over the top when serving!
Can you Freeze pasta
Yes! This recipe for buffalo chicken can be frozen.
Once you’ve assembled the buffalo chicken pasta in a freezer safe casserole dish, cover with foil and freeze for up to 3 months.
Thaw in refrigerator overnight, then bake 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.
Serving Suggestions
While this makes a great meal, my family loves having a salad or side dish along with the pasta.
This applesauce recipe is a great palate cooler if the pasta is too spicy for you. My daughters love having this on hand!
A simple mandarin salad is also a delicious green side! Perfect for a light salad to pair with this pasta dish.
A slice of this Beer Bread goes with any dinner. Slather with butter or mop up the extra buffalo sauce, it’s always a hit!
What you’ll need
If you want a quick glance at what’s needed for today’s recipe, look no further. For the printable recipe with measurements, scroll all the way down!
Tools:
- Large Skillet (mine is 12 inch)- or 2 qt baking dish if heating in oven
- Large pot for making pasta noodles
- Foil – for covering dish
More Buffalo Chicken Recipes
More Easy Dinner Recipes
Buffalo Chicken Pasta
Buffalo Chicken Pasta Casserole is an easy chicken dinner packed with cream cheese, buffalo sauce, and cheese. Just like buffalo chicken dip, once you start eating it's hard to stop!
Ingredients
- 1 pound Penne Pasta
- 1 package (8 ounce) Cream Cheese
- ½ cup Buffalo Sauce (Frank's Red Hot Wing Sauce)
- 1 cup Chicken Broth
- 1 teaspoon galric powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 pound Chicken breast (or thigh), cooked and shredded
- 1 cup Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
- 1 cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded
- ¼ cup Ranch or Blue Cheese Dressing, optional
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions. While pasta is cooking, make sauce.
- For the sauce, in a large skillet, add cream cheese, buffalo sauce and chicken broth. Simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly until cream cheese is melted and smooth.
- Add in garlic powder and salt and whisk until smooth.
- Add cooked chicken and stir until blended.
- Fold in cooked pasta and shredded cheeses. Remove from heat and serve warm.
- Top with a drizzle of ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing, if desired.
Notes
- See blog post for more recipe tips and tricks.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 341Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 80mgSodium: 974mgCarbohydrates: 19gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gProtein: 28g
*Nutrition facts are an estimate and not guaranteed to be accurate. Please see a registered dietitian for special diet advice.
Buffalo Chicken Pasta is an easy, 30 minute meal recipe idea. Serve with blue cheese dressing!
Loved this dish. Only hubby didn’t like it, but he’s a very picky cry baby. My boys and I devoured it. I made Buffalo chicken in the instant pot yesterday, then used the leftover chicken in this dish today and just cut back a bit on the Buffalo sauce and chicken broth. Came out amazing!
“picky cry baby”…are we married to the same man?? Hahha, glad you and the boys enjoyed the dish!
Turned out AMAZING…
We just used some leftover rotisserie chicken- had everything else on hand, added a half a tablespoon of butter and omitted the salt.
Scallions are a MUST.
Bookmarked!
So glad you enjoyed the pasta!
What is the serving size?
My husband and I adored this dish! Added crumbled blue cheese and green onions on top. Only bad part there was no leftovers. Great recipe!
So happy to hear it!
AMAZING dish, and I may just be from Louisiana so I love the kick, but i added just a little bit extra buffalo sauce. So good.
I added spinach and broccoli to the dish to give some nutritional value 😉 but the whole family love it. My son called it buffalo wings in a bowl!
Thanks for the recipe.
Not sure if I did something wrong but my mouth is on fire! 😂 but it’s still good. Just much much much spicier than I thought it would be
Same!! 😂😂 It’s good but definitely spicy!
Came out DEE-LISH!
I’m making the buffalo chicken pasta tonight and I did everything you said do but I added crushed ritz crackers on top to give it a little crunch. I will take the foil off the last five minutes to brown the crackers and then I’m going to drizzle more of the hot sauce on top along with ranch dressing. Then I’m going to garnish it with blue cheese crumbles and green onions. We will see 🤷🏻♂️
Hope it turned out great 🙂
My kids LOVE this easy pasta dish! Great for weeknight dinner, too.
Delicious! Love this for a weeknight dinner!
Oh my, this sounds incredibly delicious!! My family would LOVE it!
Thank you so much for giving me a dinner that my whole family loved! It has such a burst of flavor and perfect for changing up our normal pasta routine.
This was an easy, quick & yummy weeknight dinner!
How much cream cheese?
The printable recipe with measurements is at the end of the recipe card.