Buffalo Chicken Salad features avocado, tomatoes, lettuce and tangy blue cheese! It’s a hearty, filling salad that always hits the spot for either lunch or dinner. Use my homemade buffalo sauce for the BEST flavor!
What’s in this Buffalo Chicken Salad Recipe
This Buffalo Chicken Salad is perfect for lunch or dinner! The best part is that you can have all the ingredients prepped ahead of time so it can come together in a flash.
- Butter: Unsalted butter is preferred to keep the buffalo sauce from being too salty.
- Hot Sauce: Use whatever your favorite hot sauce is! Any brand will work well.
- White Distilled Vinegar: This is needed to give the buffalo sauce the necessary tang.
- Worcestershire Sauce: This gives the necessary savory note to the buffalo sauce.
- Seasonings: You’ll need onion powder and salt for the buffalo sauce.
- Chicken: Boneless skinless chicken breasts are my favorite to use for this salad recipe.
- Shredded Lettuce: Swap this with any other leafy green that you prefer.
- Tomatoes: Cherry or grape tomatoes work best since they’re easy to cut in half and pierce with a fork.
- Celery: Make sure to rinse your celery before chopping, as celery tends to have residue on it from where it was farmed.
- Red Onion: The bold flavor of a red onion compliments the buffalo flavor perfectly.
- Avocado: Make sure your avocado is fresh by giving it a gentle squeeze prior to cutting. It should have a little give to it but not be too soft.
- Ranch Dressing: For the best results, consider using my homemade ranch dressing!
PRO TIP: Control the heat by the amount of glaze you brush on the chicken after it is cooked. More glaze, more heat, less glaze, less heat.
Is buffalo chicken salad spicy?
It all depends on what you consider spicy! There’s enough hot sauce in the mix to definitely heat things up, so take that into consideration if you’re sensitive to spicy ingredients.
You can use a rotisserie chicken and toss it with some of the buffalo sauce to taste. This is a great idea if you’d like to save a little time!
You can make your chicken and store it in an airtight container. Chop all your veggies ahead of time and store in airtight containers as well in your refrigerator so all that’s left is to add your avocados.
Feel free to get creative with your veggies! Corn, cucumbers, cauliflower and more are all great additions.
How to Store
Once the whole salad is tossed together with buffalo chicken and ranch dressing, it should be served right away.
Serving Suggestions
This salad can be a meal on its own, but you can totally level up with some sides! Here are some ideas:
- Easy Cheesy Garlic Bread
- Spinach Artichoke Dip Pull Apart Bread
- Garlic Cheese Bread Roll Ups
- Easy Ranch Dip Biscuits
More Buffalo Chicken Recipes We Love
- Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
- Buffalo Chicken Soup
- Stuffed Buffalo Chicken
- Buffalo Chicken Casserole
- Grilled Buffalo Chicken
- Buffalo Chicken Pinwheels
Buffalo Chicken Salad Recipe
Ingredients
For Buffalo Sauce
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- ½ cup hot sauce
- 2 tsp white distilled vinegar
- ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
- ½ tsp onion powder
- pinch of salt
For Chicken
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast
For Assembling Salad
- 6 cups shredded romaine lettuce
- Buffalo Chicken
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- ½ cup celery chopped small
- ¼ cup red onion sliced thin
- 1 whole avocado pitted and sliced thin
- ½ cup ranch dressing
Instructions
For Buffalo Sauce
- Add the butter to a small, heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat
- Once butter is melted add the remaining sauce ingredients, whisk
- Remove from heat, set aside
For the Chicken
- Preheat oven to 400°F
- Pat chicken breasts dry and lay on a baking sheet
- Brush the chicken with ½ of the buffalo sauce
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until chicken is done inside (reaches internal temperature of 165°F
- Remove chicken from oven
- When it is cool enough to handle, slice into 1” strips
- Add chicken strips to a bowl, toss with the remaining buffalo sauce
- Put in refrigerator to cool at least 10 minutes
To assemble the Salad
- Divide the lettuce up into 4 large salad bowls
- Top each with ¼ of the buffalo chicken strips
- Divide the tomatoes, celery, red onion, avocado and blue cheese evenly between the bowls
- Drizzle with ranch dressing
- OR
- Toss everything together in a large salad bowl and serve from there
Judith Sparrow says
What do you use for the “hot sauce”?
Becky Hardin says
You can use any hot sauce you’d like 🙂