Buffalo Chicken Casserole is a flavorful, simple meal perfect for any night of the week. Made with chicken, potatoes, bacon, cheese, and perfectly seasoned with classic buffalo flavor, this is one meal your family will beg you to make again and again.
While this Buffalo Chicken Casserole is hearty enough to stand alone as a meal, I love to pair it with Instant Pot Green Beans or a side salad. And whatever you do, don't forget the ranch dressing! It is the perfect way to cool down this spicy casserole.
Not much beats the flavor of buffalo chicken.
From Buffalo Chicken Pizza to Buffalo Chicken Tacos to Buffalo Chicken Salad, to this Buffalo Chicken Casserole, I LOVE the flavor that buffalo sauce imparts to chicken.
But when add in potatoes, cheese, and bacon to the mix--PERFECTION!
Tender potatoes, moist chicken, sharp cheese, and salty bacon are tossed in a combination of seasonings and hot sauce to flavor each bite with the classic notes of Buffalo sauce. This casserole is hearty, flavorful, and delicious!
Not to mention it is extremely easy to make and budget-friendly to boot.
Ingredients Needed
- Chicken: Use boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thighs, or tenders.
- Potatoes: Any variety of starchy potatoes work well, such as red potatoes, russet potatoes, or Yukon Gold potatoes.
- Hot Sauce: I recommend Frank's Red Hot Sauce for the optimum flavor, but any generic brand of cayenne hot sauce works.
- Cheese: Sharp cheddar is my preferred cheese in this easy Buffalo Chicken Bake, but mozzarella, Colby, or provolone all work. Remember freshly shredded cheese will melt best.
Step-By-Step Directions
- Mix together potatoes with oil and seasonings in a large bowl.
- Pour potatoes into a large casserole dish and spread out into an even layer so that potatoes can get crispy, not steam while they bake. Set mixing bowl aside to use for the chicken.
- Bake potatoes until just fork-tender at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. This allows these potatoes to get crispy, like oven fries.
- While the potatoes are baking, add the cubed chicken to the same dish you mixed the potatoes with the seasonings. Add additional spices and hot sauce and toss to coat, incorporating any leftover spices from the potatoes into the chicken.
- Layer the chicken onto the potatoes.
- Sprinkle the chicken evenly with the bacon and the cheese.
- Return to the oven for 15 minutes to cook the chicken and bacon and melt the cheese.
- Serve with blue cheese or homemade ranch dressing.
Recipe FAQs
I would classify this dish as mild-medium spice level. To keep the spice level lower, cut the amount of hot sauce in half. Alternatively, omit the hot sauce and use BBQ sauce instead for a delicious, mild BBQ chicken and potato casserole.
The bacon will cook through, and the fat from the bacon will render into the chicken, adding flavor and keeping the chicken super moist. But the bacon does not get super crispy. If you like really crispy bacon, par-bake the bacon until just cooked before adding the casserole (I recommend doing this while the potatoes bake). Then chop up the bacon and add to the casserole as directed. The results will be crispy bacon.
No! While the bacon adds flavor to this dish, feel free to omit.
This casserole is best served warm with Blue Cheese or Ranch Dressing on the side or drizzled on top of the casserole. The contrast from the hot, spicy casserole, to the creamy, cool dressing is perfection.
Allow the leftover casserole to cool to room temperature and then place into an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for 3 days. To reheat, place leftovers onto a sheet pan and broil until warm or microwave individual servings for 45 seconds to 1 minute. I don't recommend freezing leftovers.
More Buffalo Chicken Recipes
If you enjoyed this Buffalo Chicken Bake, I would love for you to leave a comment and review below.
Buffalo Chicken Casserole
Ingredients
- 6 medium/large russet potatoes cut into 1 inch chunks
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts cubed
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 2 tablespoon Frank's Red Hot Sauce
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 slices bacon cut into thin strips
- 2 cups cheddar cheese shredded
- ¼ cup chives, for serving optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix the potatoes together with oil, 1 tablespoon hot sauce, garlic powder, chili powder, onion powder, and salt.
- Scoop the potatoes from the bowl, leaving behind excess seasoning in the bowl, and spread the potatoes out evenly in a 9x13 pan. Bake for 45 minutes, flipping the potatoes once half-way through cooking.
- In the meantime, place the cubed chicken into the mixing bowl with the remaining seasoning from the potatoes. Add in the remaining tablespoon of hot sauce and toss to coat.
- Once the potatoes have baked, remove them from the oven and turn the oven temperature down to 400 degrees. Top the potatoes with chicken, cheese, and bacon, and return to the oven for 15 minutes.
- Serve with ranch dressing and chopped chives if desired.
Equipment Needed
Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published in 2015 but was updated in 2021 with new pictures and a new video.
Dave
Great dinner -- made it for the first time. Thanks for sending weekly meal plans.
I liked bacon drippings (is it allowed to say bacon fat?) in this, but I detest eating bacon that is not crispy. My solution was to put uncooked bacon on the cheese, remove it when dinner was done, air-fry the bacon into crispy-dom, and add it back to the cheese just before serving. Problem solved 🙂
Kristen Chidsey
I am so happy you enjoyed Dave! And thank you for sharing how you ensured the bacon was super crispy!