My kids love buffalo sauce. I mean, what’s not to love about buffalo sauce? It is their dipping sauce and condiment of choice, and they love to put it on everything, including pizza. That got me thinking that it could be used to turn a basic mac and cheese into something spicier and more interesting and that is how this recipe was born! I like to use Abbot’s plant-based chicken for this recipe, but if you eat meat, you could use chicken breast instead! You could also leave the chicken out altogether, but it adds a little protein and texture to the dish.
Ingredients
- 1 container Kite Hill Cream Cheese
- 1 cup vegan cheddar (favorite brand is VioLife)
- ¼ cup Buffalo Sauce (Best brand is Primal Kitchen) + some extra to marinate the vegan chicken
- 1 cup almond milk
- ½ cup nutritional yeast
- 1 package of Abbot’s plant-based chicken (or you could use 2 chicken breasts and sprinkle with garlic salt, smoked paprika and onion powder and bake them in the oven until cooked and then chop up into 1 inch cubes)
- 1 box of elbow gluten free pasta (favorite brand is Jovial Foods)
Toppings
- Vegan Ranch (favorite brand is Follow Your Heart)
- Chives
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Boil water in a large pot and cook the pasta according to the directions on the package
- While the pasta is cooking, prepare the sauce by adding the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, Buffalo sauce, almond milk and nutritional yeast in a blender and blend until smooth.
- Marinate the vegan chicken in buffalo sauce until well coated. I like to put my vegan chicken in an air fryer at 425 degrees until browned on the outside. Alternatively, you could put it in the over at 425 degrees. You will cook the chicken pieces for about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Drain the pasta and put it back in the pot. Add the sauce and mix until well coated. Taste the pasta and add some salt and more nutritional yeast if it needs more flavor. Add the chicken to the pasta.
- Pour the pasta into a baking dish and bake for 30 to 40 minutes.
- Drizzle with ranch and more Buffalo sauce and top with chopped chives.
