Slow Cooker Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Pasta
The most decadent, amazing and delicious meal to ever come out of your slow cooker! This Slow Cooker Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Pasta continues to get rave reviews! See why for yourself!
Ohhhh, I’m going to be such a bad influence right now. I mean, if you are trying to eat super healthy or stick to light salads for dinner you might want to look away. Except don’t! Because we all need a little indulgence now and then, right? And this one is totally (and I mean TOTALLY) worth the splurge. Delicious, rich, cheesy, creamy and just the right amount of spicy…. Slow Cooker Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Pasta. Yes. In the slow cooker. Like every step of this recipe completed in the slow cooker. Have I convinced you yet?
I don’t indulge in pasta any too often. And when I do I usually eat a small helping and have lots of veggies or a side salad. Not here. No. I stuffed myself full of this yummy, gooey, cheesy pasta. And then started getting super pumped about the idea of sharing it with all of you!
Can you cook pasta in a slow cooker?
- Yes! Make sure to use regular (not gluten free, etc.) pasta
- Keep an eye on it the first time you make it, it can quickly overcook
- If it’s not cooked enough, just add a little more liquid and let it cook a few minutes longer
I’m a huge fan of anything buffalo chicken. I’ve mentioned once or twice (or a bazillion times) that it’s only been in the last year or two that I discovered the wonderful spicy flavor and now I can’t seem to stop myself. I hope you don’t mind. I think I could eat it every day. I’ve found a couple of favorite sauces and still have lots of ideas for using them for dinners.
Tips for making this buffalo chicken pasta for your family:
- This recipe will make a bit ‘ole pot of pasta. Like enough to serve at least six people. Unless you invite me to dinner. In which case I’ll race you for seconds. I’m not feeding six people at my house and in fact I only fed three with this meal.
- My three year old is not a fan of buffalo sauce. Yet. She ate microwaved mac and cheese and I only felt a little guilty. I know what I’m having for lunch!
- If you want to heat some of this up for leftover just add a little splash of water or broth and it will be like the first time you ate it all over again.
Another tip on making pasta in the slow cooker:
Just a little note on how this will all go down. You will cook everything but the pasta. Then in the last 30-60 minutes you will add the noodles.
Try to be around at this point so you can walk by and give it a stir every now and then. Your noodles will cook evenly and you will be glad you gave your arm a little workout.
Every time I’ve made pasta this way in the crockpot my noodles were perfectly done in exactly 45 minutes.
I also feel it’s important to tell you that if you love things buffalo chicken you really need to try my slow cooker buffalo chicken chili!! Okay, now on the the recipe!
Slow Cooker Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce (1/4 cup now, 1/4 cup later)
- 1 tablespoon ranch dressing mix ( packet kind)
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon celery salt
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
- 1 tablespoon corn starch + 1 tablespoon water
- 16 ounces linguine noodles
- Chopped cilantro for garnish optional
Instructions
- Place chicken, broth, 1/4 cup buffalo sauce, and seasonings in crock
- Top with cream cheese and shredded cheese
- Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8
- When chicken is fully cooked remove to separate bowl and shred with two forks
- Add remaining 1/4 cup buffalo sauce to chicken and toss to coat
- Set aside chicken
- Whisk together corn starch and water and add to crock
- Use a whisk and stir until cheese and cream cheese (which were added in step 2 and should now be soft and melted) are all combined and smooth
- Break noodles in half and place in crock
- Top with chicken and cover
- Turn crock on high for 30-60 minutes until noodles are fully cooked, stir 3-4 times during cooking
- If noodles are not done you can add extra broth or water 1/4 cup at a time
- Garnish with cilantro if desired and serve immediately
Notes
Nutrition
We cook from scratch daily in my house. I found the end result of this meal to be flat. Had I known, I would have doctored this up a bit. Good starting ingredients but lacked flavor.
If I wanted to make this without the chicken how would I go about doing that?
Hi Grace! I haven’t tested this recipe without the chicken to be certain, but I think you could simply leave it out and reduce cooking time to 1-2 hours on high.
I love this recipe!!! Do you know if this can be doubled and can you freeze leftovers?
I’m so glad you love it! I don’t really recommend this one for freezing as the pasta and dairy do not reheat well from frozen.
Thanks! We make this regularly in our house! I personally don’t like seeing any pieces of cream cheese floating in my sauce, no matter how small, so I just heat the cream cheese ahead of time in a saucepan with the broth, buffalo sauce, and seasonings and whisk the crap out of it until it’s all well blended! Then I add it to the crockpot with the chicken for cooking (and then I add the cheese at the end after removing chicken to shred). So if you are having trouble with the cream cheese not melting, give it a try!
Anybody try converting this over to instant pot instead of crock pot? Looks delicious but instant pot always works better for us.
I’m working on a conversion now actually! I ended up doubling the chicken, sauce and broth and cooking for 8 minutes on high pressure, then shredding the chicken and stirring in the cream cheese and 4 oz of shredded cheese.
Finally got around to making this the other day after wanting to try it for ages. I cut the recipe a bit as there are only two of us and I didn’t have enough chicken. That also meant I cut down the stock. Unfortunately it was too late when I thought about cutting down the amount of pasta. I did have to add another 1/2 cup of stock to cook the pasta, but that’s no worries and I know what I did wrong. It was delicious! Will definitely make it again and add more heat to it! Thank you!
Awesome!
The best ever!
Awesome! Thank you!
I think the recipe looks amazing, however I am not a big fan of buffalo sauce, can you suggest a substitute?
You might enjoy this BBQ Chicken Pasta recipe instead!
I actually have added the cheese in the beginning each time I’ve made this! Although it appears as though I did it wrong, it’s worked out each time! Actually got it cooking now, that’s why I’m here to begin with 😊
Hooray! So glad you love it!
A little confused with the directions do I add the cheese in with the chicken before starting to cook meat or after the chicken is already shredded?
After the chicken is cooked and you remove it to shred, stir in cheese then add meat back in. Hope that helps!
You should probably change the directions to state this. I thought it was weird that you would add cheeses so I looked for comments about it. Your directions say to add them then cook. I’m trying this for first time now.
Please update the direction. Numbers 2 and 8 are very confusing and I already put shredded cheese and cream cheese in the crock pot in the beginning… it’s too late to take them out… I hope it tastes good 😞
Will do ;). I hope it turned out great, you can truly make it either way and it should be totally fine.
She still hasn’t change the recipe…I added the cheese with chicken (didn’t read the comments before 😡) now my cream cheese is lumpy and the cheese isn’t melting. So frustrating.
Hi Ashley. I actually didn’t change the instructions because this is actually how I make it. Either way works, and either way you need to whisk the cheese and cream cheese until smooth. It takes a few minutes and is just kind of the trade off for the ease of making in the slow cooker. I hope you were able to enjoy your dinner and I’m sorry you felt angry and frustrated!
I’m confused. Your recipe says to add the cheese before cooking. Please clarify.
Added an additional note to help clarify that cheeses are added in step 2, but stirred and whisked well in step 8. Hope that helps!
Hi. I am making this now. I put the chicken in with broth and Italian packet and salt pepper etc. it’s been cooking for about 30 min. Oh I added 1/4 buffalo sauce too. Do I cook this. Shred. Then put in cream cheese and let it cook/melt another hour? I don’t know when to add the cheeses. I’m scared I’ll mess it up. Thx Gina
You can add the cheese in the beginning or simply let the cream cheese come to room temp and stir in the cheeses at the end. Totally up to your preference but either will work out just fine! Enjoy!