Quick and Easy Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad Recipe

Buffalo chicken pasta salad combines chicken, carrots + celery, and pasta in a creamy, zippy sauce! It’s a perfect side dish for a summer picnic or potluck, and it can also be a full meal if you add a big green salad.

Being a native Buffalonian means anything related to Buffalo chicken is pure comfort food for me.

During high school I worked in a pizzeria, which was without a doubt the most fun job I’ve ever had before my transition to becoming a full-time blogger. We were always busy, continuously running around juggling orders, customers, and food prep. But most shifts went by in a snap!

And not to mention, break time always involved good food. Greek chicken salad. Chicken finger subs slathered with blue cheese sauce and a side of BBQ for dipping. Steak bombers with extra onion and a drizzle of hot sauce. White pizza with tomatoes and spinach. YUM. But back to Buffalo chicken.

It seems like the Buffalo chicken craze has taken over the food world. In terms of “Buffalo” flavor, you can find everything from dip, to grilled cheese sandwiches, to casseroles. You can’t go wrong with just about anything related to Buffalo chicken, pasta salad included.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• It’s a great way to reinvent leftover chicken! And it’s also the perfect use for rotisserie chicken. Leftover chicken can get a little dry, but the creamy ranch dressing in this salad is an easy fix for that.
• You can use just about any small-ish shape of pasta that you like. I used cavatappi pasta, but rigatoni, fusilli, penne, bowties, shells, and elbow noodles all work well.
• The sauce couldn’t be easier to mix up! It’s a combination of ranch, mayo, and Frank’s RedHot sauce.

Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad Recipe – A Great Potluck Dish!

If you enjoy Buffalo chicken side dishes, you’ll go crazy for this one! It’s easy to make, whips up fast, and is always a crowd-pleaser.

You can make this with whatever leftover chicken (or turkey) you have on hand. Canned chicken will also work fine, and so will rotisserie chicken.

Here we keep the vegetables simple and add what would be served with Buffalo chicken wings: carrot and celery! Additionally, we use a little scallion to bump up the savory flavor.

The sauce is just a simple mix of mayo, ranch, and hot sauce with a little salt and black pepper to enhance it.

And let’s not forget the blue cheese on top! A little goes a long way, and of course if you prefer you can skip the blue cheese and go with shredded cheddar instead.

This is a great cold pasta salad to whip up for a picnic, potluck, and of course game day!

Ingredients and Substitutions

• Pasta – I used cavatappi for this dish, but you can use any small shape of pasta you like. Rigatoni, fusilli, penne, bowties, shells, or elbows are all good options.
• Cooked chopped chicken – Leftover chicken, leftover turkey, or rotisserie chicken work well.
• Celery and carrot – Carrot and celery are classic vegetables that are typically served with Buffalo wings.
• Scallion – Scallion adds savory mild onion flavor here.
• Ranch – After moving outside of Buffalo, I realized that most people eat their chicken wings along with ranch for dipping, not blue cheese!
• Mayo – We use a mixture of ranch and mayo for this creamy Buffalo salad dressing.
• Frank’s RedHot sauce – Franks is a classic ingredient in Buffalo wing sauce. It adds the spicy component! Make sure you get the original sauce here, not what’s labeled as “wings sauce”.
• Salt and black pepper – Salt elevates the flavor and pepper adds a little piquancy.
• Crumbled blue cheese – As a Buffalo girl, I’m team blue cheese all the way! Because we’re simulating the Buffalo wing experience with this pasta salad, I wanted to incorporate blue cheese. But if blue cheese isn’t your thing, feel free to omit it or use shredded cheddar instead.

Instructions

1. Add the ranch dressing, mayo, Frank’s RedHot sauce, salt, and black pepper to a medium bowl. Mix well to combine the dressing.
2. Add the cooked pasta, cooked chicken, scallion, celery, and carrot to a large bowl. Pour the dressing on top. Stir well to combine. Right before serving, sprinkle the blue cheese on top.

Storage

Store this pasta salad covered in the fridge for up to 4 days. It’s even better the day after you make it!

What is Buffalo Sauce Made Of?

For me, my pizzeria job during high school in Buffalo demystified “Buffalo” sauce. Real Buffalo sauce (i.e., the original version that you’ll find in Buffalo!) is just a combo of Frank’s Redhot sauce and melted butter. Those two ingredients are combined in varying ratios to make it hot, medium, or mild.

Authentic Buffalo sauce doesn’t contain seasonings, such as garlic powder or Worcestershire sauce.

At the pizzeria where I worked, mild and medium sauces also had a touch of ketchup added in for a hint of sweetness to help mellow out the hot sauce, which additionally contributes a touch of a vinegary tang that I love.

They also offered what they called “suicidal” wings, which were wings tossed with straight hot sauce doused in cayenne pepper. Every time a customer ordered the wings this way, just shaking them up made my eyes water. I was too chicken – pardon the pun – to even try them, lol!

More Pasta Salad Recipes to Try

• Mediterranean Pasta Salad
• BLT Pasta Salad
• Creamy Sweet Macaroni Salad
• Warm Caramelized Leek Pasta Salad with Bacon and Goat Cheese

This post was first published on An Edible Mosaic on July 1, 2016 and updated on May 3, 2024.