Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese

Plate full of buffalo chicken mac and cheese.

Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese

It's hard to go wrong in my house when it comes to buffalo chicken and this is no exception! We combined two favorites: spicy chicken and creamy mac and cheese.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 30

Total Time 50

Servings servings

Calories 739kcal

Author Karly Campbell

Ingredients

8 ounces macaroni
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
1 3/4 cups milk
3/4 cup Frank's Red Hot Sauce
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese divided
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1 tablespoon dry ranch seasoning powder
2 cups cooked, diced chicken
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons chopped green onions
Ranch dressing for drizzling over the top

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with nonstick spray.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook macaroni for 1 minute less than the package directions state. Drain and set aside in a large mixing bowl.
While the macaroni is cooking, melt the butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for 2 minutes.
Slowly add the milk and hot sauce, whisking constantly. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, for about 5 minutes or until the sauce has thickened. Remove from heat.
Stir in 1 cup of the cheddar cheese and all of the mozzarella cheese. Stir until the cheese melts.
Pour the cheese sauce over the macaroni.
Add the chicken and ranch powder to the cheese sauce and macaroni and stir well to combine.
Pour macaroni and cheese into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining cheddar over the top. Sprinkle on the panko and drizzle with the melted butter.
Bake for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with green onions.
Serve immediately with ranch dressing and extra hot sauce, if desired.

Video

Notes

If you'd like to add blue cheese to this dish, sprinkle it over the top of the casserole in place of the cheddar. Alternately, stir it in with the cheese sauce. Blue cheese dressing would be great drizzled over the top in place of ranch dressing as well.

Nutrition