Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad

Was April Fools’ Day rescheduled this year? After a week of temps in the high 80’s, we took a drastic tumble down to the 30’s last night. This recipe for pasta salad has as much of a contrast in temps as the current weather pattern. Imagine a nice cool summer macaroni salad, then pair it with the spicy heat of Buffalo wings. It’s kind of like a roller coaster for your palate. Savory pasta tossed with blue cheese dressing, hot sauce, celery, red onion and cooked chicken. Makes a perfect lunch, side dish, or party-pleasing take-a-along. This is another one of those super versatile dishes. You can cut back on the heat or kick it up a notch, add more veggies (or just change them up completely), substitute ranch dressing (if you’re not a fan of blue cheese), add blue cheese crumbles (or another cheese of your choice), and substitute rotisserie chicken (to save on time). If you love pasta and you love Buffalo chicken wings (and you love easy), this is the salad for you. This is what I call “summer comfort food.”

I usually oven “poach” my chicken breasts. The chicken always comes out moist and tender, without drying out. I just season the breasts with a sprinkling of dried thyme, dried rosemary, salt and pepper; add about 1/2-inch of water to the baking dish, cover, and bake at 375° F. until done. 

However, with this recipe, you can substitute cut-up rotisserie chicken, leftover chicken, grilled chicken strips, whatever works best for you. 

Dice chicken.

Chop celery and onion (and any other veggies you want to include).

Meanwhile, prepare pasta according to package directions. Rinse under cold water and drain thoroughly.

In bowl, combine the whole jar of blue cheese dressing with hot sauce. I added 1 cup of hot sauce, which I felt was a perfect balance of heat for us. But again, adjust the heat to your liking. Fire it up, or cool it down! Similar recipes online call for “3/4 of a bottle of Frank’s Hot Sauce,” but they don’t specify bottle size. I’m assuming a standard bottle size is 12-ounces, so you would use 9 ounces of hot sauce if that’s the case. But, precision is not at all necessary here. Start with 3/4 cup, taste, then add as much as you want.

In large bowl, combine cooked pasta, dressing/hot sauce mixture, celery, onion and diced chicken. Stir well to incorporate all ingredients. Add salt and pepper, to taste. 

Cover and chill until ready to serve.

BUFFALO CHICKEN PASTA SALAD
Source:  Simply Alli
Posted by: www.meldingmagic.com

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 box (16-ounces) Rotini pasta (or pasta of your choice)
• 1 jar (12-ounces) Marie’s Blue Cheese Salad Dressing, or substitute equal amount of Ranch Dressing
• 1 to 1-1/4 cups Hot sauce, whatever brand you prefer (or adjust amount to your taste)
• 2 to 3 cooked chicken breasts, diced (or adjust amount to your liking)
• 5 to 6 stalks celery, chopped
• 1/2 to 1 whole red onion, chopped (or adjust amount to your taste)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Rinse under cold water. Drain thoroughly.
2. In bowl, combine jar of salad dressing with hot sauce. Start with 3/4 to 1 cup of hot sauce, then
    adjust to taste.
3. In large bowl, combine pasta, dressing mixture, celery, onions and diced chicken. Mix thoroughly to
    combine. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Cover and chill until ready to serve.