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This delicious restaurant-quality Buffalo Chicken Salad Recipe is packed with flavor and tons of healthy ingredients like crunchy veggies, avocado, chopped chicken, and crumbled bleu cheese. Drizzled with creamy buffalo sauce and ranch dressing, it’s the perfect main dish salad or game-day side dish.
One of my favorite ways to enjoy spicy buffalo chicken is via a big bowl filled with crunchy greens and fresh veggies. Of course, there are other must-have additions to this incredible buffalo chicken salad (though all are optional). Things like avocado, green onion, a little bit of sweet corn, crunchy celery, and finally, cheese.
Tangy and crumbly, a “perfect” buffalo chicken salad needs either bleu cheese or feta cheese. I usually reach for feta cheese, but more often lately, I’ve been trying to tickle my tastebuds with more pungent bleu cheese (or even gorgonzola).
Other delicious additions that I often include in my homemade rendition of (what I consider to be) one of the best salads ever are bacon bits, tortilla strips, shredded carrots, diced apples, hard-boiled eggs, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, or roasted chickpeas.
There’s also the dressing, but that’s an entity all on its own and really comes down to personal preference. In this recipe, we’re coating the chicken in a mixture of bleu cheese, sour cream, and buffalo sauce that can also double as a dressing for the salad, or you can drizzle your assembled salads with ranch dressing (or both). I tend to do the latter. This way, I get a little bit of everything.
When you put it all together, the contrasting textures of crispy veggies with spicy coated chopped chicken and creamy dressing turn a regular chicken salad into something SO amazing!! Definitely worth sharing with friends and family at your next barbeque, potluck, or Superbowl party.
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
Find the printable recipe with measurements in the recipe card below.
- Bacon – Sometimes, I like to cook a few pieces of bacon until crispy and then crumble them over each salad bowl. If you’re not a fan, feel free to skip the bacon or swap it with something else, like roasted chickpeas or hard-boiled eggs.
- Chicken – You can purchase chicken breast cutlets (thinly sliced chicken breasts) or slice them in half horizontally yourself. You could also use leftover baked buffalo chicken breasts or chopped rotisserie chicken and skip cooking the chicken from scratch.
- Olive oil
- Seasonings – A combination of paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and ground black pepper. If you really want some spicy chicken, go ahead and add a pinch of cayenne pepper for an extra kick of heat.
- Salad dressing/sauce – This combines buffalo sauce (store-bought or homemade), sour cream, and bleu cheese dressing. If you aren’t a fan of bleu cheese dressing, ranch dressing is a great alternative.
- Salad ingredients – A combination of chopped romaine lettuce, sliced avocado, corn, shredded carrots, diced celery, and sliced green onions.
- Crumbled blue cheese – If you don’t like blue cheese, feel free to use another soft cheese, such as crumbled feta, goat cheese, or gorgonzola cheese.
- Tortilla strips – Personally, I prefer tortilla strips, but plain croutons are also great, and making your own homemade croutons has never been easier!
- Ranch dressing – Store-bought or homemade ranch dressing.
How to Make Buffalo Chicken Salad
1. Cook the bacon: Add the bacon to a large skillet set over medium heat and cook until crisp and the fat is rendered – about 5 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving about 2 tablespoons of rendered bacon grease in the pan.
2. Season the chicken: As the bacon cooks, coat the chicken with the olive oil and seasonings in a medium bowl.
3. Pan-sear the chicken: Set the same skillet that was used to cook the bacon over medium heat (adding additional oil if necessary). Once hot, cook the chicken for 4-6 minutes on both sides or until golden and cooked through.
4. Let the chicken rest: Remove the cooked chicken breasts from the skillet and allow them to rest for 5 minutes, then chop the chicken into 1-inch pieces.
5. Make the buffalo dressing/sauce: In a separate bowl, add the buffalo sauce, sour cream, and blue cheese dressing and whisk to combine well. Reserve about 1/2 cup of this mixture if you’d like to use it for dressing.
6. Add the chicken: Add the chopped chicken to the dressing mixture and toss to fully coat. Set it aside.
7. Assemble the salad: Add the chopped lettuce to a large salad bowl as the base for this buffalo chicken salad, followed by the chicken, avocado, corn, carrots, celery, green onions, blue cheese crumbles, tortilla strips, cooked and crumbled bacon, and ranch dressing. Serve and enjoy!
Make-Ahead Tips
For faster assembly, have the following ready ahead of time:
- Buffalo Sauce: Super easy to make, all you need is Frank’s RedHot Original Cayenne Hot Sauce, butter, white vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and cayenne powder (optional). It’ll take you about five minutes to make and should last about 5 days when stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
- Ranch Dressing: Make your own homemade ranch dressing up to five days ahead of time.
- Bacon and Chicken: Cook the bacon and chicken ahead of time or use leftover baked chicken or rotisserie chicken.
Serving Chopped Buffalo Chicken Salad
Enjoy as a filling lunch or dinner with a seasonal fruit salad or as a side dish with grilled veggie skewers, grilled burgers, crispy chicken wings, cornbread, and so much more!
Storing Leftovers
This buffalo chicken salad is best served immediately after assembling to prevent the crisp salad ingredients from turning soggy.
Store leftover chicken in a separate airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Any leftover salad dressing should be stored in a separate airtight container or jar and will last for up to 5 days in the refrigerator.
More Amazing Salad Recipes
- Cherry Tomato Salad
- Caesar Salad Recipe
- Cobb Salad Recipe
- Grinder Salad
- Israeli Salad
- Nicoise Salad
- Easy Tomato Salad Recipe
- Green Goddess Salad
- La Scala Salad
If you try making this Buffalo Chicken Salad Recipe, please leave me a comment and let me know! I always love to hear your thoughts.
Buffalo Chicken Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 strips bacon, chopped
- 1 pound chicken breasts, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup buffalo sauce
- ½ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup blue cheese dressing, or ranch dressing
- 6 cups Romaine lettuce, chopped
- 1 large avocado, sliced
- ½ cup corn
- ½ cup shredded carrots
- ½ cup celery, diced
- ½ cup green onions, diced
- ½ cup blue cheese, or feta cheese, crumbled
- ½ cup tortilla strips
- ½ cup ranch dressing
Instructions
- Add the bacon to a large skillet set over medium heat and cook until crisp and the fat rendered, about 5 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving about 2 tablespoons of rendered bacon grease in the pan.
- Meanwhile, Combine the chicken, olive oil, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl.
- Set the same skillet that was used to cook the bacon over medium heat (add additional oil if necessary). Once hot, cook the chicken for 4-6 minutes on both sides or until golden and cooked through.
- Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes then chop it into 1-inch pieces.
- Whisk the buffalo sauce, sour cream, and blue cheese dressing together in a medium bowl. (Reserve about 1/2 cup if you’d like to use it for dressing.)
- Add the chicken, toss to coat, and set aside.
- Assemble the salads using the lettuce as a base, followed by the chicken, avocado, corn, carrots, celery, green onions, blue cheese, tortilla strips, cooked bacon, and dressing in whatever order you like then serve.
Notes
- This salad is best served immediately after assembling.
- Store leftover chicken separately in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I didn’t make it exactly like the recipe, but the combo of Buffalo chicken, blue cheese, avocado and bacon set the tone for a wonderful salad. Thanks for the inspiration!