Buffalo Mac & Cheese Bites

Looking for the perfect Super Bowl Party Snack? Drizzled with ranch and buffalo sauce, these buffalo mac & cheese bites are the perfect combo of creamy, cheesy, and crunchy. They make a great game day appetizer for a crowd!

Ingredients

• Macaroni – elbow macaroni noodles work best for this recipe.
• Butter – Any salted or unsalted butter will work just fine for this recipe. I prefer the Kerrygold brand
• Flour – unbleached all purpose flour
• Milk – the milk is added to the melted butter & flour mixture to create a roux for the cheese sauce. Regular milk definitely works the best, but you can use unflavored almond milk if you have that on hand.
• Cheese – using freshly shredded cheese from a block is the PRO TIP here. The coating that is found on store bought, pre-shredded cheese simply does not melt the same. For this recipe, I like to use a combination of sharp cheddar and mozzarella, but you can use whatever cheese you like.
• Buffalo Sauce – I am a Sweet Baby Rays fan when it comes to buffalo and bbq sauce, so that is my go to!
• Bread Crumbs – the bread crumbs are optional, but I think they give the perfect crispy texture to the top of the bites. I used panko bread crumbs for this recipe!

How to make Buffalo Mac & Cheese Bites?

This recipe makes enough for a large gathering. You will start out by boiling water and cooking the macaroni noodles according to the package. Set aside. In a large pan, make a roux sauce by melting butter and stirring in flour. Let that simmer for about a minute and then slowly add in the milk while continuously stirring. Once combined, simmer for a few minutes until it reaches a thick sauce consistency.

Once the sauce is thickened, add shredded cheese and stir until combined. Add cooked noodles to the pan until fully incorporated into the cheese sauce. Scoop into your favorite muffin or mini muffin tins and top with panko bread crumbs. Bake in the oven at 375F for 15-20 minutes, or until the tops and edges start to get crispy and brown.

Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes before removing from the muffin tin. I like to use a knife or fork to help work the buffalo mac & cheese bites out without breaking. Drizzle with your favorite buffalo sauce and/or ranch and enjoy!

Substitutions/Suggestions

• Add blue cheese crumbles for a delicious buffalo blue cheese flavor
• Toss in some bacon crumbles (I love to cook bacon in the air fryer)
• Add in chopped up rotisserie chicken or chicken tenders for a buffalo chicken mac & cheese
• If you don’t like buffalo sauce, leave it out and make original mac & cheese bites

Print Pin

5 from 1 vote

Buffalo Mac & Cheese Bites

The perfect game day snack to feed a crowd!

Course Appetizer

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 18

Ingredients

• 16 oz box elbow macaroni
• 5 tbsp butter
• 4 tbsp all purpose flour
• 2.5 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/3 cup buffalo sauce
• panko bread crumbs

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375F
• In large stock pot, cook entire box of noodles per instructions, set aside
• In large pan, melt butter over medium low heat
• Add flour, stir, and simmer for 1 minute
• Slowly add in milk and simmer for 3 minutes, until thick
• Add cheese to mixture until melted
• Add cheese sauce and noodles back into large stock pot and combine well
• Stir in buffalo sauce
• Spoon mac & cheese mixture into muffin tin (regular or mini)
• Sprinkle with bread crumbs
• Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes

Notes

Note: Let the mac & cheese bites sit for about 10 minutes before removing from the muffin tins. This will give them a chance to cool a bit so they are less likely to fall apart.

Tools I Used to Make Buffalo Mac & Cheese Bites

• All Clad Stainless 8 Qt Stock Pot – If you know me at all, you know that I can’t live without my All Clad cookware. This stock pot is great for large recipes, has professional heat distribution, and works on all cook tops.
• Silicone Mini Muffin Pan – I love this mini muffin pan! It is easy to use, easy to clean, and you can push on the bottom of the pan to “pop out” the muffins when they are done!