Buffalo Chicken, Bacon and Sweet Potato Noodle Skillet is 30 minute dinner recipe full of flavor and spice! Quick, easy, and filling.
Got a seriously tasty, 30 minute skillet supper for you today – Buffalo Chicken, Bacon and Sweet Potato Noodle Skillet. Just like The Greatest Showman soundtrack, I’ve got this spicy, craveable dish being served on repeat around here lately!
Speaking of, I need a TGS soundtrack support group or something because it’s all I want to listen to, all day long. Thank goodness my kids are on board otherwise my open arm twirling whilst scream-singing along might be a point of contention.
Anyway, I got a craving for buffalo flavored ANYTHING last week but instead of sizzling up chicken wings to douse in sauce, I made this healthier, swirly skillet to drizzle buffalo sauce on instead.
Buffalo Chicken, Bacon and Sweet Potato Noodle Skillet combines chicken, sweet potato noodles, and bacon with a simple homemade, ranch-inspired dried herb seasoning mix and plenty of spicy buffalo wing sauce.
Not only am I loving this recipe because it’s easy and delicious – the combination of spicy buffalo sauce, sweet potatoes, and salty bacon is perfection! – but also because every component can be prepped ahead of time. (I recommend these Pyrex glass dishes with lids for food prep and storage.) It’s a busy weeknight dinner dream come true! Whenever you do your food prep for the week you can:
- Pre-chop the bacon
- Pre-chop the chicken
- Spiralize sweet potatoes into noodles then store in a gallon-sized Ziplock bag, squeezing all the air out first
- Mix together the homemade dried herb seasoning mix
- Pre-chop the green onions
All that’s left to do is drop everything into a hot skillet then cook!
Start by peeling then spiralizing 2 small or 1 jumbo sweet potato. Look for sweet potatoes that are long and straight. Of course I love the long curly-Q noodles, though this recipe works best if you give the noodles a trim with kitchen shears every 6″ or so while spiralizing. Again, you can do this a day or two ahead of time then store the noodles in a Ziplock bag with all the air sucked out.
I have used a Paderno Spiralizer for many years and have been super pleased with it’s performance!
When it’s time to cook, crisp 4 slices chopped bacon in a large skillet over medium heat. Scoop the bacon onto a plate then drain all but 1/2 Tablespoon fat (just eyeball it) into a dish and reserve.
Turn the heat up to medium-high then add 1lb chicken breasts (2 medium-sized) cut into bite-sized pieces. Season with homemade seasoned salt and pepper, then add 1 teaspoon Herb Seasoning Mix, cook through and scoop onto a plate.
This is the homemade, ranch-inspired herb seasoning mix, btw! Super easy to make – it’s just 1-1/2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes, 1/2 teaspoon each garlic powder, onion powder, dried minced onion, and dried chives, plus 1/8 teaspoon dried dill. You’ll use this mixture to season both the chicken and sweet potato noodles and will have a tiny bit leftover which you can use to season literally anything else – potatoes, seafood, shrimp, corn – whatevah!
Turn the heat down to a touch above medium then add 1 Tablespoon reserved bacon fat to the skillet. If you don’t have enough bacon fat, add extra virgin olive oil to reach 1 Tablespoon total. Add the sweet potato noodles then season with more homemade seasoned salt and 1 teaspoon herb seasoning mix. Saute for 3 minutes, using tongs to toss the noodles around frequently to ensure they’re cooking evenly.
Add 1/4 cup water to the noodles then cook until al dente, 1-2 more minutes, then add the chicken back into the skillet along with 1/3 cup gluten-free buffalo sauce and 2 Tablespoons chicken broth. Saute for one more minute or until the noodles are tender.
Last step is to sprinkle the cooked bacon on top along with 2 chopped green onions. I consider the green onions to be a necessary ingredient vs optional garnish as they add a great fresh flavor to the skillet. So don’t skip it, ya’ hear! ;) I hope you love this spicy, seeeriously delicious skillet supper – enjoy!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon, chopped
- 1 lb chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
- homemade seasoned salt and pepper, see notes
- 1 jumbo OR 2 small sweet potatoes, peeled then spiralized using thinnest noodle blade
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/3 cup buffalo wing sauce, I like Frank's or Sweet Baby Ray's
- 2 Tablespoons chicken broth
- 2 green onions, chopped
For the Herb Seasoning Mix:
- 1-1/2 teaspoons dried parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried onion flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon dried chives
- 1/8 teaspoon dried dill weed
Directions
- Add ingredients for herb seasoning mix into a small bowl then stir to combine and set aside.
- Add bacon to a large skillet over medium heat then brown. Scoop bacon onto a paper towel-lined plate then drain all but 1/2 Tablespoon bacon fat from skillet (eyeball it), reserving extra bacon fat. Turn heat up to medium-high then add chicken to the skillet. Season with homemade seasoned salt and pepper then add 1 teaspoon herb seasoning mix and cook through. Scoop chicken onto a plate then set aside.
- Turn heat down to a touch above medium then add 1 Tablespoon reserved bacon fat into the skillet (add extra virgin olive oil if needed to reach 1 Tablespoon fat.) Add sweet potato noodles then season with homemade seasoned salt and 1 teaspoon herb seasoning mix, and then saute for 3 minutes, tossing with tongs frequently to ensure even cooking. Add water then continue to saute until noodles are al dente, 1-2 more minutes.
- Add chicken back into skillet then add buffalo sauce and chicken broth. Saute until chicken is heated through and noodles are tender, 1 minute. Remove skillet from heat then top with crisped bacon and green onions. Serve drizzled with ranch dressing, if desired.
Notes
- Click here for my Homemade Seasoned Salt recipe.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are estimates only. Please read our full nutrition information disclaimer.
If I were to use pre-spiralized noodles. What’s The approx qty I need?
The ranch-inspired herb seasoning mix in this recipe is spot on, and takes the dish to another level! Kristin’s suggestions to prep some of the items in advance are very helpful in getting this on the table a bit faster during the week.
Advice to others: I don’t have what I would call a “nice” spiralizer, and instead tried to use a cheaper handheld one. This didn’t work well so I shredded the sweet potatoes with a box grater. This was easy enough, but I think the texture of the shreds was a bit off compared to what it would have been if I had been able to get some thicker spirals. Live and learn!
Made this for lunch today and omg! So good! Definitely in the rotation! I didn’t have onion flakes for the spice mix so I added half a diced onion when I cooked the chicken!
Could I substitute BBQ sauce or ranch dressing in place of the buffalo sauce?
Sure! I’d probably go with the BBQ Sauce and maybe a drizzle of Ranch.
We have made this twice in 2 weeks! It will definitely be added to our monthly rotation. I’m not eating dairy right now, but I think it would be really good with feta. I make pampered chef’s magic chicken in my instapot and freeze it every month. I have used that chicken instead of chopped, raw chicken so it’s really easy to put together!
AMEN to TGS soundtrack!! NONSTOP in my car/office/home. Try and stop me! :)
love all of these ingredients, sweet potato most especially and such a nice change from zucchini noodles, the color alone is worth using noodle-ized sweet potatoes, and of course bacon plus buffalo chicken is just too much, in a good way, thank you
I hope you get a chance to try the dish, Sabrina! :)
This both looks and sounds incredible! The sweet potato noodles are so innovative and would add great flavor and nutrition!
Hi Kristen,
Even tho I am an 80 year old granny, I too have a dilemma about changing the focus of my food blog. I have IBS which affects every recipe I post. Now I would like to change the focus of my blog to IBS friendly recipes. Was it hard for you to change your blog from regular recipes to gluten free? Can I just redesign my classic comfort food recipes and make them IBS friendly? It is a dilemma, but I can’t continue making food that I can’t actually eat myself when there are people out there just like me who would welcome the help. Did you change your theme or your blog name or did you just go on using the same blog, but now focusing on only gluten free? Thank you for listening and I can’t wait to hear your reply.
I can’t wait to try this! My 15 year old daughter literally squeals when I announce that we are having your sausage, broccoli and sweet potato noodle dish for supper.
Oh my gosh, warms my heart to hear that!! I hope you guys love this version – I think Tessemae’s makes a mild buffalo sauce version just FYI!