I love a good oven baked pasta but I hate that most recipes require you to cook everything before you put it in a pan to bake it; it triples the amount of dishes there are to do afterwards. I’m also not a fan of making a roux for a cheese sauce for most mac & cheese dishes.
Last winter, I decided to create a couple recipes that you could bake in the oven. These recipes don’t require pre-cooking anything, throw it all in and let it bake. So simple! This is one of those creations.
Bonus: this recipe is on the lighter side for a mac & cheese recipe too. It’s also great left over! Just heat it up in the microwave.
Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese
Throw it together and bake it! A true one pan recipe with no pre-cooking needed.
Ingredients
- 2 cups raw chicken breast or canned chicken (16 oz)
- 1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce
- 2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni, large
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup + extra to sprinkle cheddar cheese
- season to taste – pepper, garlic powder, onion powder
Instructions
- Grease an 8×8 or 9×9 pan. Preheat oven to 425°.
- Dice chicken breasts in large bite size pieces or drain canned chicken.
- In a small bowl, combine chicken broth, heavy cream, cheddar cheese and seasoning. Season to taste – I used a good sprinkle of black pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. Add uncooked elbow macaroni to the liquid, stir well and dump it into the greased pan.
- In the same bowl you used for the macaroni and liquid, pour buffalo wing sauce over the chicken and stir until the chicken is coated. Pour the chicken on top of the noodles. Sprinkle a small amount of cheddar cheese on top.
- Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for about 30 minutes or until macaroni is al dente. Carefully remove aluminum foil to avoid a steam burn, stir the dish and let it sit for about 5 minutes to set up before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
Serves 3-4 people or 2 really hungry people! I usually serve it with a spinach and lettuce salad and it serves 3. Double the recipe for a bigger family and bake in a 9×13 pan.
I used large elbow macaroni, but regular size works just fine.
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