Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese

I've mentioned before that John rarely makes requests for dinner. In fact if he requests three things a year it's a lot. Yet whenever he does make a request it always involves buffalo sauce. A few weeks ago John got buffalo chicken macaroni and cheese from a food truck by his office (by the way, I'm totally jealous that he works in NYC and eats at cool food trucks, but that's a whole other story) and has been asking me to make my own version of it. Honestly the idea kind of grossed me out. I put it off for about two weeks but then John started asking when it was coming so I decided to bite the bullet. I wasn't sure how to go about it. If you look online there are hundreds of varieties. Most seem to use shredded chicken which just isn't a favorite of mine. Ultimately I came up with this recipe and I have to say I loved it. I tried something different (for me at least) by using the evaporated milk for the mac and cheese part and I'll tell you, it was a great move! This wasn't too heavy all things considered and it was really delicious. John loved it too. He asked that next time I make a breadcrumb topping like they do at the food trucks, but other than that he was happy. I think we'll definitely have this again!

Source: Stephanie Cooks Original

Ingredients:

1 large breaded chicken breast, cooked  (roughly 8 oz)

Buffalo wing sauce

1/2 lb pasta

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp flour

1 can evaporated 2% milk

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp buffalo wing sauce

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese 

1/2 cup Philadelphia Italian herb cooking cream

Green onion (optional)

Directions:

1- Cook pasta according to packaging directions. Preheat oven to 350.

2- Meanwhile, cover the chicken breast with wing sauce. Chop and set aside, keeping covered.

3- In a large pot melt the butter. Add the flour, stirring well until a paste forms. 

4- Whisk constantly, add the can of evaporated milk, garlic powder, and wing sauce. Heat for about 5 minutes. 

5- Stir in the cheddar and cooking cream. Toss in the pasta, stirring well. Transfer to an oven safe dish.

6- Top with chicken. Bake for 15 minutes.

7- Top with green onion and serve hot.