Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese

I’ve had a lifelong love affair with mac and cheese. 

And when you add buffalo sauce my love affair becomes a full on obsession. This recipe is very easy and it includes making your own cheese sauce. The secret is to use cavatappi pasta instead of macaroni. The ridges in cavatappi hold the cheese sauce so much better.

★★★★★ 5 Star Average Rating

Get ready to make a dish that will knock it out of the park every time.

Mac and cheese in some form is already a staple in most homes. This recipe will prove that you can dump the blue box and powdered cheese.

I used to be a little intimidated by the thought of making mac and cheese from scratch. Why would someone want to make their own mac and cheese when boxed mac and cheese only takes 15 minutes?

What if I told you that the extra time was well worth the flavor bomb that you’ll get? Would you believe me? If you’ve got an extra 30 minutes you’ll want to make this your new go-to recipe for Mac and Cheese.

🛒 Shopping List

• Cavatappi Pasta (not macaroni)
• Cheese — you can use your favorite blend. I like sharp cheddar, gouda, Havarti, cream cheese, and parmesan.
• Milk
• Half n half
• Butter
• All-purpose flour
• Salt
• Pepper
• Dijon mustard
• Nutmeg
• Granulated garlic
• Paprika
• Buffalo Sauce — you can use a premade sauce like Sweet Baby Ray’s Buffalo Wing Sauce or make your own.
• Olive oil
• Chicken — boneless, skinless breasts or even a rotisserie chicken will work.

🍽 Equipment needed:

• Stockpot to boil the pasta
• 9×13 Baking pan
• Frying pan to pan sear the chicken breast if you don’t use a rotisserie chicken
• Strainer
• Large bowl to toss pasta and cheese sauce in
• Cutting board
• Whisk
• Meat thermometer

This recipe uses the benefit of multitasking while the water is coming to a boil and pasta is cooking to get a lot accomplished. Here’s the order of steps I use.

1. Get all of your ingredients, pans, pots, bowls, utensils out.
2. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
3. Start the water to boil in the stockpot.
4. Prep the chicken breasts. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, paprika and granulated garlic.
5. Begin pan-searing the chicken. Depending on your chicken thickness, this will take about 15 minutes total.
6. Grate the cheeses — you don’t want to use pre-grated cheese. The anti-caking agents in bagged shredded cheese cause the cheese sauce to break.
7. While the chicken is cooking, your water will come to a boil.
8. Add the pasta and cook for 2 minutes less than the package recommends. You want the pasta to be al dente. It finishes in the oven. It took about 8-9 minutes for my pasta to cook.
9. While the pasta is cooking and the chicken is pan-searing, begin your cheese sauce.
10. Make the rue with butter and flour.
11. Check the chicken doneness. Have you flipped it? Probably time to do that.
12. Pasta done? Probably at this point. Drain it and toss with a little olive oil so it doesn’t get sticky. Set it aside.
13. Back to the cheese sauce. Add the milk and half and half along with the mustard, spices, and 1/2 of the cheese indicated for the sauce and whisk.
14. Heat the buffalo sauce and add additional spices and butter.
15. Check on your chicken again. Use a meat thermometer to test for doneness. In the thickest part of the chicken, insert the probe. You’ll want to read 165 degrees F. If the chicken is done, pull it from the stove and let it rest on a cutting board.
16. Add the remaining cheese for the sauce and whisk.

At this point, pasta is done, chicken is cooked, cheese sauce is done and all that’s left is heating up the Buffalo sauce, chopping up the chicken, mixing the cheese sauce with the pasta, assembling in the pan, and putting it in the oven.

Specific directions are listed below in the recipe card.

🍷 Wine Pairing Suggestion:

You’ll want a white wine for this dish. This dish loves a high acid wine like a Sauvignon Blanc, unoaked Chardonnay or dry Riesling. The acid helps balance the cheese and highlights the buffalo sauce.

🍛 Looking for other Recipes? Click Here