Freezer Chicken Buffalo Chicken

I promised you three different freezer chicken meals, and that's exactly what you're going to get!

The first of these meals is a take on an old dining hall hack from my college days.

Day 1: Buffalo Chicken Pasta

Now, this recipe is pretty simple.

The first step is to thaw your chicken overnight.  If you didn't plan ahead, there are ways to defrost chicken quickly, but the food safety nut in me would really like it if you didn't tell me if you used any of those.  I like to freeze my chicken in single servings of 2-3 tenderloin pieces or 1 small chicken breast or cutlet, which seems to be the perfect single serving size for me.

Throw the thawed chicken, quickly salted on both sides, into a crockpot, along with one cup of chicken broth.  Never use a slow cooker without some liquid, or you'll wind up with a super dry finished product.

To that, I also like to add about a quarter cup of buffalo sauce and a tablespoon of cream cheese.  If you don't have buffalo sauce on hand, you can combine your favorite hot sauce with equal parts butter.  If you don't have hot sauce, I don't know if we can be friends.

If you feel like adding veggies to the mix, this is the time to do so.  I use a lot of frozen veggies because I can get them $1 a bag, and they last longer than their fresh compadres.  If you'd like, I can follow up later with a Dos and Don'ts list of which veg to buy frozen and which you HAVE to buy fresh.  I'm using corn here, because I have it and because I think it  pairs well with spicy food.

Set your slow cooker to low for 6 hours (or high for 2), and walk away.

The last steps here are to make your pasta (I really like penne for this, though here I'm using Ziti because I bought it by accident) and toss the final product.  Scoop your chicken out of the slow cooker, and shred.  Spoon sauce and veggie mixture over pasta.  Finally, toss with some ranch or bleu cheese, depending on your spice-cutting sauce of choice (to taste).

It didn't photograph super well...

Grad Student Eats Tip:

This recipe also works great with leftover chicken.  Just heat the chicken through in a toaster oven or microwave and toss with the sauce (minus the chicken broth) for a shortcut version.