Buffalo Chicken Pasta Bake

This dish is fantastic, astounding, amazing, delicious!  (Yes, we really, really liked it!)

It has just enough heat for us, but we are not known for liking hot food.  If you do, you might want to kick it up a notch on your own.

The recipe comes from the February/March 2012 issue of Simple & Delicious.

Buffalo Chicken Pasta Bake

1 16 oz box of penne pasta
1 lb boneless chicken breast, cubed
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
2 medium carrots, finely chopped
2 celery ribs, finely chopped
3/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup blue cheese or ranch salad dressing (Chris hates blue cheese so I used ranch)
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup Louisiana-style hot sauce (I used Red Hot Buffalo flavor)
1 1/2 cups shredded swiss cheese
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
3 Tbsp butter, melted

Cook pasta according to directions and drain.  Meanwhile, sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.  Saute chicken in 1 Tbsp of the olive oil in a large skillet until no longer pink.  Remove from the skillet.  Saute carrots, celery and onion in remaining Tbsp olive oil in the same skillet until tender (mine was still a little crunchy and I really liked the texture).  Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer.  Remove from heat.

Stir in dressing, mayo and hot sauce.  Add pasta and chicken to skillet; toss to coat (I put it all in the Dutch oven I had boiled the pasta in so it was easier to stir it all together.)  Transfer to greased 13 x 9 baking dish.  Sprinkle with cheese and bread crumbs,  Drizzle with melted butter.

Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees or until heated through and the cheese is melted.