15-minute Buffalo Chicken Pasta

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This amazingly easy, creamy buffalo chicken pasta has all your favorite buffalo flavors mixed with pasta. Cooked stove top with hot sauce, butter, cream and blue cheese this quick and indulgent weeknight dinner is a spicy and flavor packed dish that will definitely have you coming back for seconds!

There are some recipes I'm more proud of than others, for various reasons. This is definitely one of them. It combines two of the world's best things - buffalo sauce and pasta - to make a weeknight dish that's easy to make in just 15 minutes, and so full of flavor you will be coming back for seconds, and thirds... Seriously, no dish has ever finished faster in my house than this one!

And while there really is nothing that can compare to snacking on some buffalo wings or buffalo cauliflower - this is a close as you're gonna get in a weeknight approved dinner.

So save the wings for the weekend, grab your ingredients - and make a chicken buffalo pasta tonight!

Why I love this recipe

• Easy to make without any difficult or unnecessary steps
• Quick - when the pasta is done, so is the sauce
• All your favorite buffalo flavors - hot sauce, butter and blue cheese, it's all here!
• Spicy, but not crazy spicy - so you can actually finish a bowl or two
• Green spring onion lightens it up - and adds a nice, fresh crunch
• Heats up really well if you somehow manage to have leftovers

What you need to make this recipe

This recipe uses only common ingredients you can easily find in your supermarket. Read on for details on the ingredients, and substitutions you can make.

1. Chicken thigh filets - Chicken thigh filets have more taste than chicken breasts, but whichever works. Either way, cut it in small pieces to maximize the flavor of this dish.
2. Crumbled blue cheese - I use the cheapest kind I can find for this type of recipes. Save some for your topping if you'd like.
3. Cream - I use full fat, but feel free to us low fat or half n half instead. Or even use milk, if that's what you have.
4. Green spring onion - 3 large or 4 small for 4 servings of this recipe, or more or less according to taste. Clean the onions and cut off any ugly parts, but don't forget you can and should use the whole thing - both the white and green part. Save some for your topping, if you'd like.
5. Spaghetti - or another type of pasta. The cook time for the pasta is included in the 15 minutes it takes to make this recipe.
6. Onion powder and garlic powder - garlic powder can be switched for garlic salt, but keep in mind it will make your dish a bit saltier.
7. Hot sauce - my go to is always Cholula hot sauce, but any kind will work.
8. Butter - which you will add in two rounds: once for frying the chicken in, and once melted into the sauce.

How to make Buffalo Chicken Pasta

Start by prepping:

• Cut your chicken in small pieces
• Slice your green spring onion
• Crumble your blue cheese

Then get the pasta cooking, and it will be done just in time to dump into the sauce.

Expert tip 1: Cut the chicken into really small pieces to get as much buffalo flavor as possible in there.

To get the sauce started, start by placing a frying pan over medium-high heat and adding in half of the butter. (1) When melted and slightly browned, add in the chicken (2) and season with garlic powder and onion powder (3). Mix well to make sure the chicken is seasoned evenly. (4)

Expert tip 2: You can season the chicken beforehand if you like, but I find that seasoning it in the pan removes an unnecessary step.

Then fry the chicken for 2-3 minutes, until cooked on all sides and all the way through. (5) This should be quick since you've cut the chicken so small. Then lower the heat to medium, and add in the hot sauce (6) followed by the remaining half of the butter (7). Mix well while the butter is melting and then bring to a boil and let it simmer for 2 minutes. (8)

Expert tip 3: Add the hot sauce before the butter, to give the butter something to melt into. You don't want this part of the butter to brown, just melt into the sauce and give it a silky texture.

Now add the cream (9), mix well and bring to a simmer (10). Simmer for a minute and then add in the crumbled blue cheese (11) followed by sliced green spring onion (12).

Mix well (13) and grab your pasta, which should be cooked by now. When draining the pasta, save a bit of the pasta water - we will need it for the sauce. First add the pasta to the sauce (14) and then pour over a bit of pasta water (15). Mix well, bring to a boil and simmer for a minute. Then you are ready to serve! (16)

Top with some chopped green onions and crumbled blue cheese for extra points, or skip if you're in a hurry.

Expert tip 4: Cook the pasta until it is almost finished (say, 30 seconds or a minute from done) - and then let it finish cooking in the sauce. This way you won't get overcooked pasta.

Expert tip 4: To keep the pasta water, I prefer to not drain the pasta water but to pick up the pasta with kitchen forceps or a pasta ladle. Either way, make sure you don't pour that water out too early - it's pure gold!

Expert tips summarized

1. Cut the chicken really small to maximize flavor
2. Season the chicken in the pan to save time & effort
3. Add the second half of the butter after the hot sauce to avoid it browning
4. Cook the pasta until it is almost done and then let it finish cooking in the sauce
5. Use kitchen forceps or a pasta ladle to pick up the pasta, instead of draining the water

Want more 15-minute pasta recipes? Check out this Garlic Butter Pasta, this One Pot Hummus Pasta and this Smoked Salmon Pasta with Lemon & Spinach.

Now tell me! Are you a buffalo-anything fan like me, or what is your ride-or-die flavor? (If you are: don't miss out on my Buffalo Cauliflower Tacos, Buffalo Cauliflower Pizza or Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas) Let me know in the comments below! And please - leave me a rating as well, while you're there!

All the love & buffalo sauce,

Emmeline