Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese



For the past two days I've been trying to get a blog post written but things keep happening to prevent me from sitting down. Monday it was the power, we were without electricity for a good 3 hours in the morning and early afternoon. We had to get a little creative with our lunch plan but it was no biggie. Yesterday I went to prepare lunch and found tons of tiny little ants in one of our pantry cupboards. Yuck! This was the first time I've had to deal with that whole thing, so I spent naptime going through food, throwing items away and cleaning. Let's hope we don't have any surprises today.....

So I've had this recipe bookmarked for awhile now, both my husband and I love anything buffalo flavored. Even the kids like it, if it's not too spicy. It's been really hot here in Iowa but I figured what the heck, let's make it for supper last night.

I made a few minor changes to the original recipe, like replacing the blue cheese dressing with ranch. Overall, we gave this 2 thumbs up! I find it hard to please the hubby all the time, he's so picky but even he said it was really good. That's when I know I've succeeded. It was a little too spicy for the kids, I felt bad because I know they really wanted to eat more but were having a hard time handling the heat. I might have to cut back on the hot sauce a little bit and see if that makes a difference for them.


I can't wait for you to make this! You're going to love the creamy buffalo sauce and the crunchy top layer from the panko crumbs and cheese! This will be a perfect dish to keep in mind for football season or any type of potluck.

Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese

Ingredients:
8 oz. medium shell pasta
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked and chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
8 oz. cream cheese
1 c hot wing sauce ( I like to use Cookie's Wings-n-Things)
3/4 c ranch dressing
2 c shredded/grated cheese ( I used cheddar but feel free to use any combo)
3/4 panko crumbs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain and transfer to a greased 11x7 inch baking dish. Add in chopped chicken, peppers and 1 1/4 cups cheese, mix all together. In a food processor, combine garlic, cream cheese, ranch dressing and hot sauce. Pulse until smooth, add more sauce if desired. Pour over pasta and toss together.  Mix last of cheese and panko crumbs together and sprinkle over pasta. Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.

Adapted from: A Spicy Perspective

5 comments:

  1. Sounds pretty easy to make - just dump and mix! Love that. I might make this for my next girl's night:)

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    Replies
    1. It is really easy, I did mix it up ahead of time and then put it in the oven when we got back from swimming last night.

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  2. This recipe sounds good! I've been searching for a good spicy mac n cheese recipe, and I love how this one has chicken in it so it can be an actual meal, and not just a side dish. Thanks for sharing!! =)

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  3. Is it real hot? If i were to use a half cup hot sauce instead of a cup, i wonder what i could use for the other half cup? Water? I would love it, but afraid others would not. :)

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  4. I think it has good flavor but the spice isn't overbearing. My five and seven year olds like it. But you could definitely decrease the amount of buffalo sauce and increase the ranch. I don't know if I would add water though. Or maybe even add a little more cheese too. Hope you like it!

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