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Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad

Buffalo chicken pasta salad with spicy shredded buffalo-sauced chicken, celery crunch, and a cool ranch dressing coating al dente rotini. It’s an easy buffalo ranch pasta salad where blue cheese and extra hot sauce finish each bite.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
chilling 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings: 6 servings
Course: Main Dish
Cuisine: American
Calories: 640
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Rotini pasta salad
  • 12 oz rotini pasta
  • 2 cup cooked chicken, shredded
  • 0.33 cup buffalo sauce (Frank's or similar)
  • 4 celery, sliced
  • 0.5 red onion, diced
  • 4 oz blue cheese, crumbled
  • 2 green onions, sliced
  • 0.5 cup mayonnaise
  • 0.25 cup sour cream
  • 2 tbsp buttermilk
  • 1 ranch seasoning packet
  • 1 extra buffalo sauce for serving
  • 1 extra blue cheese for serving

Equipment

  • 1 sheet pan
  • 1 pot with lid

Method
 

Cook and cool the pasta
  1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the rotini pasta until al dente. Drain, rinse cold under running water, and cool completely.
Season the chicken
  1. In a mixing bowl, toss the shredded cooked chicken with the buffalo sauce until evenly coated.
Make the ranch dressing
  1. Whisk mayonnaise, sour cream, buttermilk, and the ranch seasoning packet together until smooth.
Assemble the pasta salad
  1. In a large bowl, combine the cooled pasta with the buffalo chicken, sliced celery, and diced red onion.
Add ranch and toss
  1. Pour the ranch dressing over the pasta salad and toss until everything is coated.
Finish with cheeses and onions
  1. Fold in the crumbled blue cheese and sliced green onions.
Chill and serve
  1. Refrigerate the pasta salad for 30 minutes to let flavors meld. Just before serving, drizzle extra buffalo sauce and sprinkle extra blue cheese over the top.

Notes

Pro tip: rinse the pasta cold and cool it before mixing so it doesn’t melt the ranch dressing. Store covered in the refrigerator up to 3 days (best texture within 48 hours); freezing isn’t recommended. For a lighter option, swap mayonnaise for light mayo and use reduced-fat blue cheese if you want less fat without changing the method.