Buffalo Chicken Salad with Homemade Ranch Dressing

Surprisingly simple, but totally delicious buffalo chicken salad! Complete with a homemade ranch dressing, this healthy recipe is FULL of delicious flavor. Quick and easy to make, it’s perfect for meal prep!

What You’ll Need to Make Buffalo Chicken Salad

Chicken – Start by either slicing and pounding chicken breasts until thin, or make your life super easy and buy pre-cut chicken cutlets! Or, if you’re not up for the extra step and can’t find chicken cutlets, then simply cook whole chicken breasts for your salad. If taking this option, you’ll likely need to cook the chicken for 4-5 additional minutes each side. To check if your chicken is fully cooked, insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of a breast. Once the thermometer reads 165° Fahrenheit, then you’re chicken is cooked through and ready for this salad recipe!

Buffalo Sauce – I make my own buffalo sauce for this buffalo chicken salad because it’s truly so easy. However, you can totally buy pre-made buffalo sauce instead, if you’d like. For the homemade buffalo sauce, all you’ll need is hot sauce, melted butter, and honey – that’s it!

Ranch Dressing – Again, I made my own ranch dressing for this salad. But you can buy bottled ranch instead, if that’s more your thing. If I’m short on time or looking for a short cut, I use this Primal Kitchen Vegan Ranch Dressing – it’s lighter and healthier than most other ranch dressings on the market!

Blue Cheese – Salty, tangy blue cheese crumbles are the cherry-on-top of this buffalo chicken salad! Though you can totally add any kind of cheese you’d like to this meal. Or, for a non-dairy salad, leave the blue cheese out altogether.

Tips and Tricks

• Meal prep this buffalo chicken salad ahead of a busy week! It’s the perfect grab-and-go lunch recipe. To do this, prepare the salads, then store the buffalo sauce and ranch dressing separately. When ready to eat, dress the salads and enjoy!
• Feel free to switch out/swap in any ingredients you’d like! This salad is super simple, and easy to customize – so have fun with it and don’t be afraid to make it your own.
• I always recommend dressing this salad right before serving! Leftover salad (without dressing) will stay fresh in the fridge for up to four days.

Adjust This Recipe to Your Dietary Needs

Make it Dairy-Free: For a dairy-free salad, leave out the blue cheese and make the homemade ranch dressing with mayonnaise, instead of Greek yogurt.

Make it Vegan/Vegetarian: Make some simple plant-based swaps to turn this into a vegan buffalo salad recipe! Replace the chicken with chickpeas – toss them in the chicken seasoning, then roast them in the oven at 350° Fahrenheit for 15-20 minutes, or until crispy. Also, leave out the blue cheese and use a vegan mayo or plain vegan Greek yogurt to make the ranch dressing.

Buffalo Chicken Salad with Homemade Ranch Dressing

5 from 1 vote

Recipe by Samantha Course: MainDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

5

minutes

Cooking time

10

minutes

Total time

15

minutes

Surprisingly simple, but totally delicious buffalo chicken salad! Complete with a homemade ranch dressing, this healthy recipe is FULL of delicious flavor. Quick and easy to make, it’s perfect for meal prep!

Ingredients

• For the chicken:

• 1-2 pounds chicken breasts, cut or pounded thin (or chicken cutlets)

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 teaspoon onion powder

• salt and black pepper, to taste

• 1 tablespoon oil

• For the buffalo sauce:

• 1/2 cup Frank’s hot sauce

• 1/4 cup melted butter

• 3 tablespoons honey

• For the ranch dressing:

• 1 cup mayo or plain Greek yogurt

• 2-3 tablespoons milk

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

• 2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped

• 1 tablespoon fresh chives, chopped

• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

• For the salad:

• 1 bunch romaine, chopped

• 2 celery stalks, chopped

• 1 avocado, sliced

• 1/2 English cucumber, chopped

• 1/2 cup shredded carrots

• 1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped

• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese

Directions

• Pat chicken breasts dry with a paper towel, then season on both sides with garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and black pepper.
• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, then sear chicken breasts 4-5 minutes per side or until cooked through.
• Make the buffalo sauce by whisking together the hot sauce, melted butter, and honey in a small bowl.
• Make the ranch dressing my whisking together all dressing ingredients in a small bowl.
• Assemble the salad with romaine, celery, avocado, cucumber, carrots, blue cheese, and the cooked chicken, then top with a drizzle of buffalo sauce and ranch dressing.

Recipe Video

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