Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Shells

Looking for a delicious and creative dish for your next game night? Try these spicy and cheesy Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Shells. A filling of shredded Buffalo chicken, crisp celery, and a combination of cheeses yields the most perfect little bundles of pure Buffalo chicken joy.

(This recipe was originally published in June 2016, but was updated with new photos and content in 2022).

These Buffalo chicken stuffed shells are super easy to make, especially if you already have some cooked chicken on hand to shred. It's also easy enough to cook a chicken breast or two and shred them up for this purpose.

I use homemade blue cheese dressing as the sauce on top along with some drizzled hot sauce. You could of course swap for ranch if that's what you prefer. I've seen other similar recipes that don't really have any type of sauce other than a little hot sauce and cheese. I feel this can yield dry shells, and prefer my method which kicks things up a notch.

Serve these stuffed shells as an appetizer or snack at your next game night or sporting event, or enjoy them for dinner with a crisp salad on the side. Either way, they are definitely an easy-to-prepare and creative rendition of Buffalo chicken.

Ingredient notes

• Cooked Shredded Chicken: You can use store-bought rotisserie chicken to save time, or cook your own chicken breasts (or chicken tenders) and then shred the meat. You'll need about 8 ounces of cooked chicken to yield 2 cups of shredded meat.
• Ricotta Cheese: You can use either full fat or part skim ricotta cheese for this recipe.
• Mozzarella Cheese: I recommend buying a block of mozzarella cheese and grating it yourself. Pre-packaged shredded cheese contains added starches to keep the cheese from clumping up. This will negatively impact the way the cheese melts over the top of your shells.
• Hot Sauce: My preferred and recommended hot sauce for this Buffalo chicken stuffed shells recipe (and all Buffalo chicken anything recipes) is Frank's Red Hot Sauce.
• Jumbo Pasta Shells: You'll need jumbo pasta shells for this recipe. Other sizes of shells will not work. I've used a variety of brands in the past for stuffed shells, including Barilla, Pastene, and Ronzoni. You'll only need half a12 ounce package for this recipe.
• Blue Cheese or Ranch Dressing: I am a blue cheese lover, so I like to slather these shells in blue cheese dressing. You can also use ranch dressing if that's more your style. Either will work, and both will provide a creamy finish. I like to make my own homemade blue cheese dressing. It also saves a lot of calories over bottled if I use light mayo and sour cream. I like to make the dressing a day or so in advance to give it time for the flavors to develop. Refrigerate until needed.
  • To make ¾ cup homemade blue cheese dressing, combine ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons sour cream, 3 tablespoons mayonnaise, 3 tablespoons buttermilk or milk, 3 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese, ½ tablespoon red wine vinegar and ½ teaspoon kosher salt (or more to taste).
• Crumbled Blue Cheese: As I mentioned above, I love blue cheese! I not only top my Buffalo chicken stuffed shells with homemade blue cheese dressing, but I add more crumbled blue cheese to the filling, making it quite blue cheesy. Consider the crumbled blue cheese in the filling an optional element. For me, the more blue cheese the merrier.

How to make it

Preheat the oven to 375°F with the oven rack in the lower third of the oven. Lightly grease a 13-by-9-inch baking dish and set aside.

Boil the jumbo shells in generously salted water according to the package directions. Drain and remove the shells to a tray or baking sheet so they are spread out and don't stick to each other. Allow them to cool.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a skillet. Add the celery, cooking for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until crisp-tender.

Remove from the heat and add to a medium mixing bowl along with the shredded chicken breast, ricotta cheese, shredded mozzarella, hot sauce, an egg, and crumbled blue cheese, if using (PHOTOS 1-2).

Spoon the chicken mixture into the cooked pasta shells dividing the mixture evenly between 20 shells. You'll have a couple extra cooked shells in case any of them rip, or if you have a little extra filling.

Place the shells into the greased baking dish and drizzle the tops of the shells with blue cheese (or ranch) dressing and hot sauce. Top the shells with shredded mozzarella cheese.

Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Then uncover and continue to bake another 10 to 15 minutes or until bubbly and heated through. Serve immediately topped with sliced scallions for garnish.

Please scroll to the bottom of the post for the full recipe (in a printable recipe card) including ingredient amounts and detailed instructions.

Expert tips

If you want these Buffalo chicken stuffed shells to be extra spicy, increase the hot sauce to ¾ cup, and add ½ cup to the filling and drizzle the remainder over the top.

If you're allergic to eggs, you could omit the egg in the filling, but the result will be a bit of a looser filling.

As I mentioned above, these shells are quite blue cheesy (which makes me happy) but if you aren't into that, omit the optional crumbled blue cheese in the filling, and use ranch dressing to drizzle over the top.

Other recipes you may like

• Buffalo Chicken Nachos
• Buffalo Chicken Dip
• Baked Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese
• Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad
• Buffalo Deviled Eggs
• Crab Stuffed Shells with Orange-Scented Tomato Sauce
• Loaf Pan Lasagna for Two (or Three)

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