Buff Chick Mac, known in layman’s terms as Buffalo Chicken Macaroni & Cheese, is a sacred meal in my household.
If you’ve ever experienced the magic of buffalo chicken, say you’ve visited a Buffalo Wild Wings or a Hooter’s in your life, then just raise that deliciousness to the power of macaroni & cheese and voila - you have buff chick mac.
What a treat this dish is.
If you’re thinking about now “another recipe involving cheese…?” you’re not wrong! Sorry, I love cheese.
That being said…if you’re vegan..I would stop reading here. This recipe contains XXX erotic cheesiness. You have been warned.
I always piggy back this meal after making my almost weekly roast chicken. Meaning, yes, I do eat this meal a lot. It just hits so good.
Anyone following here for a lil’ bit knows that I love my weekly roast chicken. I like to cook up a 3-4 lb bird so that I have plenty to serve 2 for dinner and then have lots of leftovers for another meal or two (and a general rule I have whenever I cook something that will take about 2 hrs is that it better feed me for days).
The first night of my roast chicken is a very wholesale and healthy meal. I serve it up with a salad or roasted veggies. I put on some light jazz music. I pour a glass of red wine (in the real stemmed glasses!). We actually sit at our dining room table. And I feel like a domestic goddess.
But then…..the second night of the roast chicken….I let my freak flag fly. I take this leftover chicken for a night on the town. My latest Netflix binge is ready to go. I’ve just cracked a beer. We are eating on the couch. Don’t talk to me or look at me. I’m here to EAT.
This really represents the duality of my culinary life.
I’ve also adjusted this recipe to make it a super easy weeknight meal. It should only take about 20 mins and it’s SO easy you can actually smoke a joint halfway through and still pull off a flawless meal (oh, did I mention a joint also pairs quite nicely with this dish?)
Just like my grilled cheese recipe, I follow the holy trinity of cheeses here. Using three types of cheese will make a really complex and dynamic mac n’ cheese. Toss your one-note Annie’s Mac in the trash!
Here, I did goat, cheddar, and asiago. The goat will make it nice and creammmyyy. The cheddar adds that classic sharpness. And the asiago will add a little nuttiness. You can definitely sub any of these cheeses out - have fun with it! (or just find whatever cheeses are in your fridge and throw it in the damn pot!).
Now for the buff part. Buffalo sauce is essentially just hot sauce and lots of butter. Sounds good to me!
Let’s DO this.
Buff Chick Mac
Ingredients
1 lb shell pasta
1/2 leftover roasted chicken (or grab a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket)
4oz goat cheese, freshly crumbled
4oz cheddar cheese, freshly chopped
2oz asiago cheese, freshly chopped
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4-1/2 cup Frank’s Red Hot Sauce (vary depending how spicy you like it)
1/4 cup milk (if you don’t have whole..nbd..i rarely do either! just some oat or almond will work too)
Splash of reserved pasta water
Instructions:
Cook your noods to a lil’ al dente - they’re going to cook a little more once we add in the cheese so you don’t want them to get mushy now.
Meanwhile, cut the cheese (insert dad joke here). I like to use fresh cheese rather than pre-shredded because it really does taste so much more flavorful. I also chop up the cheese rather than hand-grating because it’s just sooo much easier…. + I don’t own a cheese grater. It will all melt together in the pot anyway :)
Pick the chicken off your bird.
Drain and save some pasta water (aka nectar of the pasta gods!) FYI - pasta water will always add a little natural creaminess to a pasta dish. Those starches work some pasta magic.
Take the same pot you used to boil the pasta and put back on the stove at medium heat.
Melt the butter.
Add the chicken.
Add the hot sauce.
Cook a bit until you hear it sizzling in the pan.
Add the noodles.
Add the cheese.
Add the milk and a splash of pasta water.
Reduce heat to low and stir until it’s all melted and blended together.
Taste and adjust as needed. Add more milk/ pasta water, more cheese, more hot sauce - do YOU!
Serve immediately and top with fresh pepper and sliced green onion if you got ‘em.
Line up your Netflix, fire up the rest of your joint, and enjoy a cozy night in.
Happy cooking, love ya mucho.
xox
Tessa
Nothing better than “trash” night!!