Once a month, the PTA hosts a teacher luncheon as a fun little thank you to our hard working teachers. I always try to sign up. The teachers and staff are great and totally deserve a yummy lunch. PLUS I love a reason to get in the kitchen and develop a recipe. Potluck recipes are my favorite. I love feeding a crowd.
My local deli has a Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad that is just divine. I don’t really love paying the deli price for a pasta salad though. Why buy from the store when you can make it at home? I really love this recipe because you can control how hot and spicy it is. It has everything you love about eating buffalo wings in one dish; chicken, spicy buffalo sauce, blue cheese dressing, ranch, and some tomatoes and celery for some fresh crunch. Use your favorite brand of buffalo sauce to make sure the Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad is just to your liking.
- 2 cups cooked chopped chicken, I love using rotisserie chicken for this
- 1 12 oz bottle buffalo wing sauce
- 1 16 oz bottle blue cheese dressing
- 1 packet ranch seasoning mix, about 3 Tbsp
- 1 cup blue cheese crumbles
- 1 lb penne pasta, or pasta of your choice
- 1 cup chopped celery stalks
- 8 oz grape tomatoes
- Cook penne according to package directions. While the pasta is boiling, prep other ingredients.
- Once tender, drain the penne and set aside.
- Stir the buffalo sauce, blue cheese dressing, and ranch seasoning together until completely combined.
- Pour ½-2/3 of the sauce over the cooked penne and stir to coat. Save the remaining sauce and refrigerate.
- Toss in the chicken, blue cheese crumbles, celery, and grape tomatoes.
- Refrigerate 3 hours or until cold before serving.
- Before serving, add additional sauce if desired. The pasta tends to soak up the sauce. Alternately, serve the pasta salad with the extra sauce on the side for anyone that likes their pasta extra saucy.
I don’t typically think of myself as a huge blue cheese fan but I really love it in the buffalo chicken pasta salad. The combination of blue cheese, ranch flavor, and buffalo sauce is so good. I was wanting to use the sauce for everything!
Bring this buffalo chicken pasta salad to your next potluck and you can bet you’ll bring home an empty bowl! That’s definitely what happened at the teacher potluck. I was glad they liked it, but secretly bummed it was all gone! Guess I better make some more!
Sounds and taste delicious. I was lucky enough to get a bite. Can’t wait to make it myself.