This Buffalo Chicken Casserole is a simple dinner of delicious homemade comfort food. Your favorite flavors come together in one tasty main dish.
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This buffalo chicken casserole recipe is for all the buffalo sauce fans out there! It uses tender chicken, buffalo sauce, cheese, and carbs; what could be better?
Answer: nothing.
Looking for more super easy chicken casseroles? Check out our Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole, Creamy Chicken Casserole, Chicken Fajitas Casserole, and Chicken Pasta Broccoli Bake.
Recipe Ingredients
This recipe has:
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts (I order from Butcher Box)
- Noodles – I used rotini, but penne, bow ties, or small shells would also work.
- Olive oil
- Salted butter
- Buffalo sauce – use your favorite brand
- Garlic powder
- Ranch seasoning – storebought or make your own
- Cream cheese
- Mozzarella
- Shredded parmesan
- Sliced green onions, which are optional but highly recommend.
Use any leftover buffalo sauce to make our healthy buffalo chicken dip and buffalo hummus.
Step by Step Instructions
I’ll walk you through it here with some photos and tips, and you’ll also find a printable recipe card at the bottom of the post with exact measurements, etc. You can also click “jump to recipe” to skip down.
Start by bringing a saucepan of salted water to a boil and cooking your pasta to al dente. Drain and set aside.
While the pasta is cooking, you’re going to start cooking the chicken, because you’re efficient and awesome and you also want to make dinner as quickly as possible.
Salt and pepper the cubed chicken. Pro tip: if you’re short on time, cut the chicken into smaller pieces. It will cook more quickly.
In a deep oven-safe skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook it until it is almost cooked through (~5 minutes). Transfer to a plate. Drain any juices from the pan.
Over low heat, melt butter in the skillet, and stir in garlic powder, ranch seasoning, and buffalo sauce*. Slowly whisk in warmed milk, and bring to a low boil for 1 minute, whisking constantly.
*Pro tip: if you are cooking for people who have milder tastebuds, I recommend starting with 1/4 cup of buffalo sauce, and then adjusting to taste.
Add in cubed cream cheese, shredded parmesan, and black pepper. Stir until the cream cheese has melted. Whisk until smooth.
Add in the cooked pasta and chicken and stir to combine. Top with shredded mozzarella. I’ve made a suggestion for how much to use in this recipe, but we all know that cheese should be measured with your heart.
Bake, uncovered at 350˚F for 15 minutes or until the cheese has melted. And if you feel like adding some sliced green onions on top, go forth and follow your dreams.
Recipe Variations & Optional Addins
You can easily make this recipe gluten-free by using your favorite gluten-free pasta. The cooking times will vary based on the pasta brand.
Gluten-free pasta tends to dry out more than traditional wheat pasta when reheating. If you plan to reheat this for leftovers, I would increase the whole milk to 1 & 1/3 cup.
To cut down on prep time, you can also use leftover cooked chicken or rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. Skip steps 4-6 in the printable recipe card below, and add the cooked chicken during step 10.
For a homemade version of simple cooked chicken, I’d use leftovers from a dry brine chicken or air fryer no breading chicken tenders.
Pro Tips/Recipe Notes
- Make sure you warm the milk before adding it to the butter sauce. Cold milk will curdle when it interacts with the hot pan and ingredients.
- Adjust the buffalo sauce to your liking. You can always add more if needed, but start with a minimum amount if you’re cooking for people with tamer tastebuds.
- If you don’t have an oven-safe skillet, do all the prep work in a skillet that you do have, and then transfer everything to a greased 9×13 casserole dish.
HOW TO STORE AND REHEAT
Storing Leftovers: Allow the buffalo chicken pasta to fully cool before storing it in an air-tight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Reheating Leftovers: You can reheat the pasta for 60-90 seconds in the microwave, or eat it cold like a pasta salad.
Freezing Leftovers: I do not recommend freezing this dish.
What to Serve With This Recipe
A side dish of veggies like Chopped Cabbage Salad, Roasted Frozen Broccoli, Air Fryer Asparagus, or Green Pea Salad are all great.
For a cooling effect from the buffalo sauce, try our Creamy Healthy Coleslaw.
And for more carbs (yes please!), Cheesy Garlic Bread, Air Fryer Texas Toast, Stuffing Biscuits, or No Knead Dutch Oven Bread are delicious options.
Buffalo Chicken Casserole Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups dry rotini noodles
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts {cubed, cut into ~1-inch pieces}
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup salted butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp powdered ranch seasoning
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 3/4 cup buffalo sauce {use 1/4-1/2 cup if you don't like spicy}
- 1 1/4 cup whole milk, warmed
- 4 oz cream cheese {cubed and slightly warmed}
- 1 1/3 cup shredded parmesan
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
- 2 green onions, sliced {optional}
Equipment
- Strainer
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350˚F.
- In a large saucepan bring 3 quarts of salted water to a boil.
- Add rotini and cook until al dente, ~7 minutes. Drain pasta. Set aside. Make the rest while the pasta cooks.3 cups dry rotini noodles
- Salt and pepper the cubed chicken.1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, 1/4 tsp kosher salt, 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
- In a deep oven-safe skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat.1 tbsp olive oil
- Add the chicken and cook it until it is almost cooked through (~5 minutes). Transfer to a plate. Drain any juices from the pan.
- Over low heat, melt butter in the skillet, stir in garlic powder, ranch seasoning, and buffalo sauce. Pro tip: for tamer taste buds, start with 1/4 cup buffalo sauce and adjust to taste.1/4 cup salted butter, 2 tbsp powdered ranch seasoning, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 3/4 cup buffalo sauce
- Slowly whisk in warmed milk, and bring to a low boil for 1 minute, whisking constantly.1 1/4 cup whole milk, warmed
- Add in cubed cream cheese, shredded parmesan, and black pepper. Stir until the cream cheese has melted. Whisk until smooth.4 oz cream cheese, 1 1/3 cup shredded parmesan, 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- Add in the cooked pasta and chicken and stir to combine.
- Top with shredded mozzarella.1 cup shredded mozzarella
- Bake, uncovered at 350˚F for 15 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
- Top with sliced green onions.
Notes
- Make sure you warm the milk before adding it to the butter sauce. Cold milk will curdle when it interacts with the hot pan.
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This disappeared before I got a chance to take a picture! We veganized it with dairy-free milk and cheeses and plant-based chicken, and it was delicious. We’ll be making this one regularly.
Pasta is generally measured in ounces, not cups, which makes it easy to sub other pasta shapes. The standard serving is 2 ounces, so this recipe would need 16 ounces to serve 8 people.
Thanks for your input, Barb. As pasta is part of, but not the only component of this meal, I did not follow anything standard to determine serving size/number of people served.
At the end of the day, I can only provide guidelines based on testing and making a recipe over and over. No family is going to ever eat the same meal the same way. I address this in-depth in the comment section of this Fajita Chicken Casserole recipe.