Buffalo Chicken Pasta is an easy one-dish delish casserole with extra quick prep time.
A quick baked pasta casserole with shredded chicken and tender pasta in a shortcut creamy buffalo pasta sauce.
This is the ultimate combo for those of us who love a little heat and lots of melty cheese! What’s not to love!?
Quick & Easy Buffalo Pasta
- Buffalo chicken pasta bake is a crowd-pleasing pasta recipe favorite.
- Since this is made with leftover, rotisserie, or cooked chicken, it’s quick and easy to prepare.
- It can be prepped ahead of time and baked before serving.
- On game-day keep it warm in a crockpot and let guests help themselves!
- DIY your own buffalo sauce and ranch seasoning or use your favorite buffalo wing sauce to make it easy.
Ingredients and Variations
PASTA Any mediu pasta shape will do! The rich, creamy sauce will cling better to heavier kinds of pasta like penne, farfalle, rotini, or cavatappi.
PRO TIP: Cook pasta to al dente (‘to the bite’) because the pasta will cook a little more in the oven.
SAUCE There’s no whisking or roux, this sauce is a shortcut favorite. Use a hand mixer to get the smoothest results and no pre-cooking required.
Sour cream and cream cheese, milk, buffalo sauce, condensed chicken soup, and ranch powder.
CHICKEN Premade rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken makes this recipe quick. If you don’t have cooked chicken, pan-fry or bake skinless chicken breasts to use in this recipe.
CHEESE The cheesy combo of Monterey Jack cheese and cheddar brings this dish together. Try any combination of Pepper Jack, Mozzarella cheese, or Mexican Cotija. Don’t forget the sliced green onion topping.
How to Make Buffalo Chicken Pasta
Keep this cheesy, creamy, pasta dish on hand.
- Cook pasta.
- While pasta is cooking mix the sauce ingredients together, add the chicken.
- Combine with pasta, top with cheese, and bake per the recipe below.
Literally so easy.
How to Make Ahead
Assemble pasta bake and keep it covered in the refrigerator until it’s ready to bake. It’s a tasty takeaway main dish for potlucks and parties. Or, portion the casserole for grab-and-go workday lunches.
Leftover Pasta?
Keep leftover buffalo ranch pasta bake covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat portions on the stove by adding a little milk to loosen up the sauce. Freeze cooled pasta in zippered bags with the date labeled on the outside for up to 6 weeks.
Pasta for Days!
- Quick & Creamy Spinach Pasta – a meatless meal
- Homemade Mac and Cheese Casserole – so rich & creamy
- Cheesy Sausage Pasta – a one-pot wonder
- Broccoli Cheese Casserole with Ham – made from scratch
- Homemade Chicken Alfredo – a 30 minute meal
Did your family love this Ranch Buffalo Pasta Bake? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Buffalo Chicken Pasta
Ingredients
- 12 ounces penne or any medium pasta
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 10.5 oz condensed cream of chicken soup
- ¾ cup sour cream
- ⅓ cup milk
- ½ cup buffalo sauce divided
- 2 tablespoons ranch seasoning mix
- 2-3 cups cooked chicken shredded
- 2 green onions sliced
- 1 cup Monterey jack shredded
- 1 cup cheddar cheese shredded
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a 9x13 pan.
- Cook pasta in salted water according to package directions and set aside.
- While pasta is cooking, combine sour cream, soup, cream cheese, milk, ¼ cup of buffalo sauce, and ranch seasoning with a hand mixer (or spoon) until fully combined.
- In a large bowl, mix the chicken, pasta, sauce mixture, and half of each of the cheese. Spread into the prepared pan.
- Top with remaining cheese and bake for 30-35 minutes or until heated through.
- Top with remaining buffalo sauce and garnish with additional green onions if desired.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Chicken, Dinner, Main Course, Pasta
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
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The original recipe for this pasta included a product no longer available. The recipe has been updated.
What happened to the recipe that had the jar of Alfredo sauce and Hidden Valley Ranch bottled dressing?
It was my families favorite but I don’t remember the exact recipe. Please help!
Here is the version with Alfredo sauce:
1 lb rotini pasta
2 cups Alfredo pasta sauce
⅔ cup Hidden Valley® Ranch Buffalo Ranch Dressing
2 cups cooked chicken
1 cup sliced celery
1 red pepper, diced
2½ cups cheddar cheese
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13 dish and set aside.
Cook pasta al dente according to package directions.
Combine pasta, alfredo sauce, Hidden Valley® Ranch Buffalo Ranch Dressing, chicken, celery, red pepper and 1 cup of the cheese.
Spread into prepared dish and top with remaining cheese.
Bake 20-22 minutes or until hot and cheese is melted.
This was a hit for us – my fiance loved it as did our friends. I added some freshly crumbled blue cheese to both the sauce and the topping (before baking). Used about 2/3 cup of ranch dressing since I didn’t have sour cream or dry ranch seasoning on hand. Sprinkled in some garlic powder, paprika, and black pepper. Was generous with the wing sauce since we like spice; on that note, I also sliced up a fresh jalapeno and mixed that in. Grated two cups of pepperjack cheese since this was what we had available already. Baked for 30 minutes at 375 and it came out lightly golden brown and bubbling. Smelled truly amazing and tasted delicious.
I made this recipe once and it was amazing. I prefer to make more of the sauce because it becomes even tastier having a little bit more moisture for me but to each their own. All together a recipe I’m keeping forever.
my husband absolutely loved this, it’s so hard finding food he begs for repeats on as he is a picky eater so this is one added to a favorite for sure
I (and my friends) are IN LOVE with this recipe. The only tweak I did was for the Buffalo sauce on top, I mixed it with some sour cream and water to be more of a creamy sauce on top so it’s not overly spicy for sensitive folks. Amazing dish, I make it all the time and it’s delicious every single time.
I am so happy to hear this recipe was such a hit Amanda!
Made this exactly as written and it was delicious. Thank you!
Super yummy, easy to make. I premade the dish, then stored in fridge & baked the following day. Used a combo of shredded Italian and Mexican cheeses rather than those called for in the recipe as that’s what I always have on hand. Not at all salty (I used low sodium cream of chicken soup) which was a very pleasant surprise. Added extra buffalo sauce for extra spice. Only reason I didn’t give it 5 starts is that it’s not as good on reheat as on day one, though still very, very good. This will be on our regular rotation.
Glad you enjoyed it, MelB! Thanks for sharing your substitutions.
Have you ever frozen this dish?
Hi Nicole, this recipe freezes well. We freeze cooled pasta in zippered bags with the date labeled on the outside for up to 6 weeks.
Sub Srircha and ranch powder packet instead of buffalo each sauce.
looks realy good
Thanks Linda!