I created my new favorite slow cooker recipe recently, Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese!  And no need to precook the pasta!  You may remember my Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad last year.  It’s been one of my most popular posts. Then there was also my Buffalo Shrimp Bread Bowl Dip. By the amount of traffic that each of those recipes has received, I’m guessing many of you LOVE buffalo flavored anything and everything!  If that’s the case, then you will LOVE this Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese!  I love it because it is SUPER easy.  No other cooking or pots/pans required.  The only prep work is chopping up some chicken and veggies.  You just throw everything (including uncooked pasta) in your crockpot and in a couple of hours you have a complete meal!  Yum!!!

Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese is nothing new.  In fact there are a lot of recipes out there already for it.  But I didn’t see too many that you could make in a slow cooker.  The recipes I saw seemed to require a lot of work or they didn’t work out for me so I did some experimenting on my own. I’ll admit that the first time I tried making this Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese in my crockpot, epic FAIL.  Forgot the kids had swimming lessons (oops) and everything sat in the slow cooker WAY too long while I was sitting by the pool.  I also tried using raw chicken and that didn’t work well either.  I altered my recipe, and it turned out perfect the next time!

You can use any shape pasta you’d like although I would highly suggest using a smaller size such as Barilla’s Pipettes or something about the same size or smaller that has a shorter cooking time since you’ll be cooking it right in your crockpot.  I thought these Pipettes were perfect and adorable!  Don’t you love cute pasta??   Larger pasta may have a hard time cooking all the way through so stick to the smaller shapes.  If you do want to use a larger shape or a heartier pasta (such as whole-wheat), pre-cook the pasta before putting it in your slow cooker.

You’ll also need to chop up some veggies and precooked chicken.  For the veggies you can use any combination of celery, onions, and/or carrots.  I used a combination of all 3 but you can use whatever you like or have in the fridge.  Be sure everything is finely chopped.  For the chicken, you can use leftover cooked chicken, chopped up rotisserie chicken, etc.  I had some leftover chicken breasts so I just chopped those up.

Put the chicken, veggies, and the rest of the ingredients (including the uncooked pasta) in the slow cooker and stir to combine.  I used Frank’s hot sauce, yum!  You could also add some blue cheese and/or a Ranch seasoning packet.  I will try both of those next time.  Cover and set your crockpot on low.  After about an hour, quickly remove the lid, stir, cover again, and cook another half hour to an hour.  You want to make sure the stuff on top moves to the bottom to cook in the liquid a little.  Check on the macaroni and cheese every now and then so that the sides of your crockpot don’t burn.  It should be ok, but it may vary depending on the size and model of your slow cooker.  My slow cooker is by Rival, oval, and I believe 6-quarts so you may have to alter the recipe for your model/size.

Once it’s all done cooking, give it a few stirs to make sure everything is combined and cooked through.   The time it takes to cook is going to vary depending on your slow cooker so you may have to cook a little longer.  It took about an hour and a half in mine and probably could have gone a little longer but I like my veggies and pasta a little crunchy.  The veggies were a little crunchy but not raw, just the way I love it!  My family gobbled this up except my son who thought it was spicy.  I didn’t think it was too spicy, but he doesn’t like anything even the slightest bit spicy, so if your kids are the same, you may have to cut back on the hot sauce and add some chicken broth or more milk to make up for the loss of liquid.

When serving, you can add more chopped veggies, cheese, and/or blue cheese on top.  I will definitely be making this recipe again!!!!  If you make it and enjoy it, let me know!  I always love getting comments!

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A few other Buffalo inspired recipes from around the internet that I though you may enjoy:

• Buffalo Chicken Pizzettes – Crumb
• Sriracha Honey Buffalo Wings – White On Rice Couple
• Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwich – Closet Cooking