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Jun 23
51

Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese Muffins

Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese Muffin

These Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese Muffins are a perfect mash-up of two of my all-time favorite comfort foods. I’ve actually had Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese on my to-do list for a really long time, but there are a lot of recipes out there for it and I wanted to put an Emily Bites spin on it. I used my own recipe and decided that since my first attempt at Mac & Cheese Muffins were such a success, breaking out my muffin tins for these was a perfect solution. The result was a tray full of cheesy, portion-controlled macaroni muffins that I couldn’t wait to share with you all. I considered using pure blue cheese in the recipe, but since that can be a pretty intense for some people I decided to go with my absolute favorite brand of light blue cheese dressing, Marie’s. It gives the muffins a hint of creamy blue cheese flavor without being overpowering. The 3-4 tablespoons of wing sauce I listed give it a nice Buffalo flavor without being over the top spicy. If you like more heat, taste the sauce and add a little more before you add the eggs.

I love making main course “muffins/cupcakes” because they allow me to enjoy all the sinful, gooey, cheesy flavors of my favorite comfort foods in perfectly portion controlled servings so that I don’t go overboard. I like to eat two of these along with a side of fruit or a salad for a filling and complete meal.

If you don’t have muffins tins, are out of eggs, or you just feel like serving this in a baking dish, you can absolutely do that instead. Just omit the eggs and egg white (since they are only there as a binding agent to hold the muffins together) and transfer the pasta/cheese mixture into a baking dish instead of muffin tins to bake. In this instance it will make 6 servings and you can just double the Points and nutrition information for each muffin for a serving. To view your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!

Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese Muffins

Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese Muffins

These Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese Muffins are a perfectly portioned comfort food mashup!

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 1 cup skim milk
  • ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
  • 1/3 cup light blue cheese dressing, I used Marie’s
  • 3-4 tablespoons Buffalo Wing sauce, I used Anchor Bar brand
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 large egg white
  • 1 cup cooked shredded boneless skinless chicken breast
  • 1 medium celery stalk, chopped small
  • 4 cups cooked whole wheat macaroni, about 8 oz uncooked

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 400. Lightly mist a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray and set aside.
  • In a large sauté pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour, mixing it into the butter until thick. Stir in the milk and garlic powder and raise the temp to bring the mixture to just under a boil. Add the cheddar cheese and whisk mixture together until thoroughly combined into a cheese sauce.
  • Remove the cheese sauce from heat and then mix in the blue cheese dressing and Buffalo wing sauce. Beat together the eggs and egg white and then stir into the cheese sauce until combined.
  • Add the chicken and celery to the cheese sauce and stir together. Add the macaroni and continue to stir until coated. Spoon the macaroni mixture evenly into the prepared muffin tin.
  • Bake for 15 minutes or until the tops slightly brown. Let cool at least 15 minutes before removing from muffin tin. Letting the “muffins” cool before removing them from the pan is crucial if you want them to stay together.

Notes

To view your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!
Nutrition Information:
163 calories, 15 g carbs, 1 g sugars, 7 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 11 g protein, 1 g fiber (from myfitnesspal.com)
MyWW SmartPoints per (1 muffin) serving: (SP calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)
Green: 5 SmartPoints/ Blue: 4 SmartPoints/ Purple: 3 SmartPoints
Weight Watchers Points Plus:
4 per muffin (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)

Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese Muffins

 

51 comments on “Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese Muffins”

  1. these look delicious! i never pass up a new mac and cheese recipe

  2. Looks great! Just added this to my meal plan for next week 🙂

  3. I could only find the Marie’s light CHUNKY blue cheese dressing. Did you use that or should I puree it a bit. Not a BC fan but these sound REALLY good. Also, I made your Spinach Mac and Cheese muffins and eat them with Frank’s Red Hot Sauce ON TOP. My goodness are they yummy! I share all the wonton cupcakes and main meal muffins with a co-worked and she enjoys them (probably because I do the work! LOL). Have you ever pondered spinach, chicken and artichoke cupcake?

    Thanks again I enjoy your site! Nancy

    • I think that’s the same kind I used. It’s okay of there are a few chunks in the dressing. I’m so glad to hear you’re a main course “muffin” fan! Spinach & artichoke is a great combo – yum!

  4. I haven’t tried this yet, but am definitely planning to make it next week. So, we LOVE bc in my family and would actually like the intense flavor of it….any thoughts on this as far as whether I should add this on it’s own or add it along with the bc dressing. What amount would you suggest? Thanks for your time and your wonderful blog!

    • I made these as is and the BC taste from the dressing was very mild and did not stand out as a dominant ingredient. It just blended nicely with all the other ingredients. See my earlier post (I am not a BC fan). I found the “chunky” blue cheese was barely chunky and I was surprised how pleasnt it tasted on its own. You may want to experiment with your suggestion since your family loves BC. Enjoy! Nancy

    • Thanks for the response, Nancy – glad you loved them!

      Anonymous – If I were you I think I would just sprinkle some crumbles over the top of each one before putting it in the oven so the blue cheese on top would get nice and bubbly. Yum.

  5. Hi… (this may be a dumb question BUT)… the Mac N Cheese (with Spinach) says cooked noodles. Here it doesn’t. My presumption is noodles should be cooked before baking, right?

    • I’m confused…it DOES say cooked noodles above! The ingredients list 4 cups cooked and then give the estimated uncooked weight. I hope that helps!

  6. Got’cha… makes sense… I saw this 4 cups cooked whole wheat or high fiber macaroni (about 8 oz uncooked)… focused on part in parenthesis.

    Thanks ma’am

  7. Made these and they were delicious so creamy. Had them for lunch the next day with some sauted radishes.

  8. Made these last night and they were a hit! I’m really not a bc fan so I substituted Eating Rights all natural yogurt ranch..they were amazing! Thank you again for another fabulous recipe! I’m down 35 lbs and you’re meals have made my journey so much easier! Thank you Emily! Celena

  9. OMG, these were soooooo good I just made them. I used red hot hot sauce ( I am a Buffalonian also) an roasted red peppers instead of celery because i didnt have any. it was sooo good. This will be a menue fave in my house.

  10. Wow these look fantastic!! I will definitely need to make these soon 🙂 Thanks for posting!

  11. We made these today and they were great. Put in one less egg on accident and it still held up pretty well. Would use more buffalo sauce next time, perhaps add a sprinkle of bread crumbs.

  12. Just found your blog yesterday and made these today OMG they are good thanks I love your recipes will try more

  13. Was very good I cooked them a little bit to long they were just a little bit dry but other wise the family loved them

  14. good recipe.
    I am not used to cooking with recipes.
    so i always botch the first time.
    my noodles were still hard after baking the dish…
    any suggestions?

  15. How are these reheated the next day? I’m going to a party on Friday but was hoping to make them ahead on Thursday night.

  16. I made these tonight and they were delicious ! I followed the recipe except I used 2% cheese and they rocked! Great! Thanks for the great recipes.

  17. The confusion is with the fact that uncooked is the last thing on that ingredient. Skim readers will ONLY see the uncooked, as I did until I read your comments …

    Change this sentence:
    4 cups cooked whole wheat or high fiber macaroni (about 8 oz uncooked)

    To:
    Cook 8 oz of wheat or high fiber macaroni, it will yield @ 4 cups

  18. These are fantastic! I’m turning everyone on to them. If you like buffalo dip like my extended family does, and everyone loves homemade mac and cheese, you will love this recipe!

  19. These were so delicious! Thank you for sharing the recipe!

  20. How many muffins equal a serving. Just recently started my fitness pal!

  21. I made these tonight and they were delicious! Even my Buffalo native, chicken wing loving, diet-anything hating husband loved them. Will make these again for sure.

  22. I ran across your site last week and I am so happy that I did because these are amazing!! I made them last night and my wife and I decided that we are going to make these as part of the appetizers for my daughters first birthday party.

  23. I would like to say it was delicious. I tried it and froze some of them. Heat them up for a quick snack since I am a teen with little time. Delicious for sure though 🙂

  24. I just made these…AMAZING…OMG. my 15 year old loved them too!! THANK YOU

  25. This is a silly question but I’m new to cooking could you please explain if the t is Tablespoon or teaspoon. Thank you 🙂

  26. Hi, I made these tonight and the flavor is great, but the muffins didn’t hold their muffin form… I followed your instruction to let them cool in the pan for 15 mins, but I’m wondering if I should have let them bake a bit longer…thoughts? I’ll definitely try these again. Love your site, thanks for doing what you do!

  27. holy moly! I just made these on Monday and they were absolutely delish! Perfect size and filling too. Just discovered your website via pinterest and can’t wait to try more of your recipes! Thanks for sharing and including the point values!

  28. Ok I made these tonight and they were great! I made a few changes to accommodate what I had on hand. I used 2% cheese which worked just fine. I also used light ranch and then added 1/4c reduced fat blue cheese crumbles. Extra buffalo sauce is also a must in this household! For the chicken, I threw a 8 oz boneless skinless chicken breast in the crockpot and put some buffalo sauce on it. Then just shredded it when it was done. It worked perfect. Thanks for the great recipe.

  29. Thank you so much for your recipes! This recipe is amazing! I make it for me and my husband all of the time. I can’t wait to try more of your creations! Thanks again!

  30. These were delicious!! 🙂 Thanks for sharing such great recipes!!

  31. I may be a bit late to the party but I just made these the other night and they were SO good! My boyfriend absolutely raved about them too. They are great warmed up as well – I’ve been loving leftovers and haven’t gotten bored yet 🙂

  32. I had leftover shredded chicken that needed to get used, so buffalo mac and cheese muffins it was! I tweaked the recipe a bit for my preferences and what I had on hand: I used Kraft Lite Ranch in place of the bleu cheese dressing and some organic spiral pasta instead of the elbows. I had 3oz of leftover sharp cheddar that I shredded and used instead of the 1 cup of pre-shredded stuff. Oh and I guess I can’t read because I completely left the eggs out. :-X The muffins didn’t hold their shape (as expected), but I just scooped them into individual bags to freeze and reheat later. They were delicious and I’m looking forward to my lunches this next week!

    • I’m so glad they were yummy! The eggs definitely help hold them together, haha. Taste is what matters though! 🙂

  33. AMAZING!!! Made this for the first time tonight and it was a hit!! This recipe is a keeper ☺

  34. Thank you so much for this DELICIOUS recipe! I made them last night and they were sooooo amazing/addicting!

  35. I made these for an upcoming party. I followed your recipe and used both mini and regular muffin tins. They turned out great and I put the small ones in the freezer for the party in a few days. They really turned out great and will probably add more hot sauce for an extra zip! So delicious and they all held together perfectly. Let them cool completely in the tin. Thanks for the recipe!

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