The Best Buffalo Chicken Salad Recipe || Easy To Make

This buffalo chicken salad recipe is made completely from scratch. Right down to the buffalo sauce and the dressing. And yet, it doesn’t take very long to put together at all.

It can all be prepared ahead of time. It takes just 20 minutes or so to prep the ingredients the night before. And it can be assembled and ready for the table, the next evening, in just 10 minutes.

Full disclosure … I am very particular about how I eat my buffalo chicken salad. If you’ve been hanging around the blog for some time you know that I love good food. And I’m willing to try just about anything.

There are few things that I get hung up on and prefer prepared one certain way. Buffalo chicken salad is one of the things I am hung up on, for sure. I will eat it different ways if I’m out or someone has taken the time to prepare it for me.

I’m not that person. But I make it one way at home. For me, it is the only way.

 I’m going to share other ways it can be enjoyed for those who don’t trust the delicious simplicity of my personal preference (or, ya know, for those have preferences of their own). 

BUT … I encourage you to give my version a try. It is the very best way to enjoy a buffalo chicken salad. I’m certain of it.

Ingredients Needed To Make This Recipe

The following list of ingredients is what is needed to make this recipe. 

• ROMAINE LETTUCE – Garden fresh lettuce is always the very best way to go when making a salad. It’s not available throughout the entire year where I live. So, I just pick up some organic romaine lettuce in the grocery store when I can’t get my hands on garden fresh. Spring mix, leafy green, or red leaf lettuce work well too.
• RED BELL PEPPERS – I prefer red bell peppers to make this salad. I also use yellow or orange when that’s all I have. Green bell peppers change the flavor profile pretty significantly. They’re not a good substitution. Avoid them if you can.
• RED ONION – Red onion is my preference for this recipe. Any onion can be used successfully.
• CHICKEN BREAST – Organic chicken breast is a great way to go here.
• LEMON – A squeeze of fresh lemon juice perfects the flavor profile of this salad. Don’t skip this ingredient if you can help it.
• BUFFALO WING SAUCE – I make my own buffalo wing sauce for this recipe. I prefer homemade to store bought. The flavor is better. You can buy premade buffalo sauce in the store, if there is one that you like to use.
• SALAD DRESSING – I prefer to make my own salad dressing for this recipe. I’ll share how I do that with you in the instructions for the recipe. You can use your favorite dressing to top your salad. Blue cheese dressing or ranch dressing would be the most common choices to compliment this salad.

Making The Chicken For This Recipe

The way chicken is cooked can change the flavor and the texture of the meat. For that reason, there are two cooking methods that work best for this recipe; grilling and frying.

They are also quick and easy. And they don’t heat the house up on hot summer days when you are most likely to be making salads. My preferred method is grilling. I currently don’t have a grill. So, I use a cast iron grill pan on the stovetop. It does the trick nicely.

Rolling the chicken in a little olive oil along with some salt, pepper, and granulated garlic will give it that little bit of oomph that we all want to show up in the dishes we put out of our kitchens. 

When I have extra time, and I’m in the mood for breaded chicken on my salad, I roll it in some eggs and breadcrumbs before it hits the frying pan. For best results, repeat this process twice to get a double coat of breadcrumbs.

It’s really tasty prepared this way. It makes a few more dishes. It’s a little messy. And it requires more time in the kitchen. But every now and then, I make the effort … because … well … breaded chicken!

If you are inclined to go another route when preparing your chicken, you can bake it, cook it in a crockpot, or roast it in the oven. You could pick up some breaded chicken fingers in the frozen section of the supermarket.

Or snag a rotisserie chicken from the deli. If you go this route, try to make the healthiest choices possible. The quality of prepared chicken from the store is generally pretty low.

Choosing The Buffalo Sauce And The Dressing For This Salad

I warned you ahead of time that I am silly particular about the way I prepare this recipe. I go all out. And that is especially true when it comes to the buffalo sauce and the salad dressing. 

I make my own buffalo sauce using Frank’s Red Hot and butter. For me, there will never be a better buffalo wing sauce. This one is the best.  

I also make my own salad dressing. I use blanch dressing. This recipe marries fresh homemade ranch dressing and blue cheese crumbles to produce the most delicious dressing creation around. It is an absolute favorite with everyone I’ve shared it with for sure.

I encourage you to give my way a try. It really is fantastic. But with that said, you can certainly pick up your favorite buffalo sauce and/or salad dressing to use when making this recipe if that’s what you prefer.

Putting The Buffalo Chicken Salad Together

If you decide to go with homemade sauce and dressing, it is recommended that you make those the day before. This will give the flavors time to marry together. This is especially true for the salad dressing.

The buffalo sauce recipe is already on the blog. It was posted some time ago. You can snag it there.

The salad dressing recipe is pretty basic. Pick up a 1 oz packet of ranch dressing mix at the store. Mix it with 1 cup mayonnaise, 1 cup buttermilk, and 1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles. Simple as that.

This will make more dressing than you need for just a dinner salad or two. BUT … you won’t mind, trust me!

The next step is to prepare the chicken. You want to end up with cooked chicken cut into bite-size pieces here. See above for more info on ways to make the chicken. 

I slice a chicken breast into strips, toss it in a little olive oil along with some salt, black pepper, and garlic, and then fry it in a cast iron grill pan.

Once it’s fully cooked, I cut it into bite size pieces. Then I toss the chicken and the buffalo sauce together in a large bowl to coat the chicken thoroughly.

Cut the leafy greens into bite size pieces and place them in individual serving dishes. Squeeze just a bit of fresh lemon juice over the greens.

Slice the red bell pepper, and the red onion, into very thin strips and lay them over the greens.

Top with the buffalo chicken. Drizzle some blanch salad dressing on top … and ENJOY!

Variations For This Recipe

I’ve covered all of my favorite ways to make this salad. And, one last time, I’ll put it out there that you should give it a try just the way I’ve suggested. The lemon juice, buffalo sauce, and blanch dressing play perfectly together.

And the zing of the bell pepper marries beautifully with the light bite of the onion. It’s a really great dish. Still, if you want to add something to it that you feel will make it better suited to your own tastes … you certainly can.

Maybe you want to add some sliced celery, shredded carrot, halved cherry tomatoes, or sliced cucumbers. Really any fresh vegetables, that you adore, would likely work well in this dish.

You might want to replace the sliced red onion with some chopped green onions. Or maybe you want to add some fresh herbs to the mix. I highly recommend trying some fresh dill, if that’s the case.

You could top the salad with a bit of shredded red cabbage, a few chopped hard boiled eggs, or some creamy avocado slices too. I’ve had some pretty good buffalo chicken salads that were topped with shredded cheddar cheese as well.

There’s a lot of great options for making this dish your very own. So, you do you. And I’ll just sit over here with my ‘perfect’ buffalo chicken dinner salad shaking my head, LOL!

How To Serve Buffalo Chicken Salad

Honestly, I think this is going to become one of your favorite salads. It’s pretty likely that it will find its way to your dinner table on the regular. And it really doesn’t need anything else to go with it. It’s a great meal all on its own.

You could serve it with a fresh baked dinner roll, a few homemade crackers, or a slice or two of warm artisan bread if you like. If you’re having company for dinner a side of bread is an especially nice touch.

A rich, creamy bowl of soup would complement this salad well. Another nice touch when you’re having guests for dinner. Or, for you and your family on a chilly fall night.

A smaller portion of this salad makes a delicious lunch. Or you can make a bigger portion and serve it on a large platter for a big get together.

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