One-Pot Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese
This One-Pot Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese is pure comfort food you’ll want to make again and again. With a rich, creamy cheese sauce and spicy Buffalo chicken mixed in, this recipe marries two of my favorite flavors into one perfect pasta dish. Better yet, it all cooks in one pot so clean up is a breeze. I love one-pot meals! Ever since I first posted my Barbecue Mac and Cheese recipe, I’ve been planning to post a Buffalo chicken version and I’m pumped to share this one today! I love to serve this with a side of veggies, but you could also mix the veggies right into the pasta for a complete meal if you prefer. This recipe is perfect when you’re craving cheese and pasta (so all the time?) and you’ll feel good indulging because a cup is only 334 calories or 7 WW Points! To view your current WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!
Looking for more lightened up pasta options? Check out the pasta section of my recipe index for favorites like Chicken Pot Pasta, One-Pot Barbecue Chicken Mac and Cheese, One-Pot Creamy Garlic Chicken Pasta, Bruschetta Chicken Pasta, Pasta with Chickpeas, Butternut Squash Pasta with Bacon, Beef Enchilada Pasta Skillet, Turkey Sloppy Joe Pasta, Italian Wedding Pasta, Sausage Ricotta Pasta, Lemon Chicken Orzo, Chicken Pesto Parmesan Pasta Skillet, Beef Stroganoff, Beefy American Goulash, Slow Cooker Kickin’ Chicken Pasta, Beef and Sausage Manicotti, Pumpkin Alfredo Tortellini Skillet, Spinach and Artichoke Lasagna Roll Ups, Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta Bake, Tomato Soup Mac & Cheese, Spaghetti Pie, Sausage Tortellini Skillet, Buffalo Chicken Lasagna Roll Ups, Chicken Parmesan Stuffed Shells, Spicy Sausage Pasta and many more!
One-Pot Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs uncooked boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 6 tablespoons Buffalo wing sauce, I use Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Wings sauce
- 4 tablespoons light butter, I use Land O’Lakes light butter
- ¼ cup flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 ½ cups skim milk
- 2 ½ cups water
- 10 oz uncooked whole wheat elbow macaroni
- 6 oz 50% reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (I use Cabot)
Instructions
- *Place the chicken breasts in a Dutch oven or other large pot and cover with water to about 2 inches over the chicken. Bring the water to a boil over high heat and then reduce the heat to medium. Cook over medium heat for 15-20 minutes (depending on the thickness of your chicken breasts – mine are generally done at 15, so check one then) until chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken breasts to a cutting board. Discard the water from the pot and rinse and wipe out the pot to use again. Chop the chicken into small, bite-size pieces and move to a mixing bowl. Add the Buffalo wing sauce and stir to coat. Set aside.
- Melt the butter in the pot over medium heat. Whisk in the flour, salt and black pepper until combined with the butter and continue to stir for a minute. Slowly whisk in the milk a little at a time until combined and smooth. Add the water and whisk in to combine.
- Increase the heat to med-high and stir occasionally until boiling. Reduce the heat to med-low and add the macaroni. Cook for 8 minutes, stirring regularly to prevent sticking.
- Reduce the heat to low and stir in the shredded cheese until well combined. Add the chopped chicken with Buffalo sauce and stir until thoroughly combined. Cook for another few minutes until all ingredients are heated through and serve.
- *If you already have cooked chicken breasts on hand you can skip this step and use a pound of cooked, chopped chicken. Place it in a bowl and mix it with the Buffalo wing sauce.
Notes
334 calories, 31 g carbs, 3 g sugars, 9 g fat, 4 g saturated fat, 32 g protein, 2 g fiber (from myfitnesspal.com) MyWW SmartPoints per (1 cup) serving:(SP calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com) Green: 9 SmartPoints/ Blue: 7 SmartPoints/ Purple: 4 SmartPoints (if using wheat pasta, if not, use the blue points) Weight Watchers Points Plus:
8 per (1 cup) serving (PP calculated using a WW PointsPlus calculator and the nutrition info below)
This looks EPIC!!! Do you have a certain brand of pasta you like to use?
Yesssss! More buffalo stuff! I love it, this looks great. Can’t wait to try! = ]
What time is dinner being served, and what should I wear?
I made this for dinner tonight and it was fantastic!!! I did cheat and bought a couple of rotisserie chickens and just cut the breast meat from them. Otherwise I followed the recipe exactly as written. Everything came together easily and dinner was delicious. Thanks Emily for another wonderful recipe.
Love this recipe! It is easy to make and delicious!
Made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious! Got two thumbs up from the hubby and he requested it to be added to the weekly rotation of meals! Thanks for another awesome recipe Emily…YOU ROCK!!
One of the things I love most about homemade mac and cheese is when there is a nice crust on the top, so when I was done with this, I used some of the leftover cheese sprinkled a layer on top and then put it in the broiler until it melted and formed a crust. It was fantastic and the recipe is delicious. 10/10 would recommend!
Made this tonight exactly as written and it was amazing! Thanks!
Made this tonight and it came out sticky. Is there a way to thin the sauce? Or did I possibly cook the butter and flour too quickly? Did you use the Land o Lakes Light butter with canola oil? Okay, enough questions. Will try again another day. Bringing some leftovers to work tomorrow.
Hm, not sure what would have caused that! I use the LOL light stick butter, not the kind in the tub.
Thinking about making this for 5 people tonight. How many does your recipe serve? Would I be better off doubling it?
The serving info is listed directly below the recipe title in the recipe section of the post!
Any suggestion on how to do this in the instant pot?
This sounds fantastic! Do you think leftovers would freeze well?
Just discover emilybites. com…so very glad I did. This recipe was filling and delicious. I cut recipe in 1/2 and used turkey instead of chicken. It will become a regular at my house. Thanks for making my journey easier.
This was AHHHHH-mazing! My 9 and 5 year old even ate seconds and my 5 year old asked to bring this for lunch tomorrow! I used whole wheat noodles and they tasted great! Thank you for yet another recipe that makes me stay on track! You are the best!
Sooooo amazing!!!! I couldn’t find 50% cheese, but I used the 1/3 less fat shredded and adjusted up the points. Very yummy!
Looks amazing! How do you manage to only eat one cup!
This recipe is PHENOMENAL! I tried making it today and it came out beautifully. Thank you for sharing this! You’ve got a new fan in me!
Silly question: Will it still turn out okay if I used unsweetened plain almond milk vs. the skim milk? I mean I usually use it for my mac and cheese anyway but wanted to double check.
I haven’t specifically tried that in this particular recipe, but I don’t see why not! I’ve used it to make similar creamy sauces before, so I’d imagine it will work just fine.
Random question that I should probably know. When it says 10 oz of elbow macaroni us that weighed out or 10 oz in a measuring cup?
Weighed!
This is fantastic! Just made it. Used 10 oz penne because I had everything else but elbow macaroni and didn’t have to go to store. Instead of 8 minutes cooking I did 12 minutes came out perfectly.
Yum, delicious just as written! Thank you, Emily!
We’ve made it twice and love it!! We used ww bow tie the first time bc it’s all we had and found we like elbow better. We also needed to add a little extra water to accommodate the whole wheat pasta. We added as sauce became too thick. We also added 2-3 T of marzettis simply ranch (which didn’t add any extra points) to add another layer of flavor. We put everything in a 9×13 baking dish at the end and added just a dusting more cheese, then broiled the whole dish for a few minutes. Perfection!! Thank you for sharing 🙂
This was delicious, I did modify just a little. I used caned chicken that is already cook and made sure was chopped/pulled apart really well and close to the end it was a little thick so I just added a little milk, worked great!! My husband loved it and he’s picky!!
So delicious!! I added just a touch of ranch. No other changes, perfect as is. Thank you for all the amazing recipes 🙂
Anyone else having trouble finding LOL light butter in your area? Now I’m afraid to use the one in the tub 🙁
LOL sadly discontinued their light stick butter :(. Their light tub butter does work though! I’ve tried it in this.
This was amazing!!!! so creamy and decadent. Loved every bite and was great for meal prep.
This was wonderful. I don’t want Mac ad Cheese any other way. So good very easy to make
This was absolutely amazing, definitely making again! Even husband who is a picky eater went for seconds.