Chopped Buffalo Chicken Salad

Buffalo chicken salad combines a crisp chopped salad with the zesty flavors of wings. You can use your grilled or baked buffalo chicken to make a spicy entree salad perfect for lunch or dinner.

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It’s buffalo chicken salad.

That’s all you need to know.

Somehow when we make buffalo chicken salad or we go out and I order it, I feel more virtuous than I would if I was eating bucket of wings.

I know it’s not actually lightened up- like at all.

But it’s just because there’s veggies on my plate, ya know?

It’s got all the flavors you could want- bold spicy chicken, crispy veggies, rich cheese, crunchy croutons, and creamy dressing.

And it’s definitely a time that dinner being a salad is a-ok by me!

Ingredients and Kitchen Supplies

Here’s what you need to make buffalo chicken salad:

• Buffalo Chicken – We use our own buffalo chicken recipe, but you can make your own or use a bottled sauce and cover pre-made chicken. For best results, we recommend making your own buffalo chicken, it is very easy and will not take very long.
• Greens – You can use whatever greens you like. We tend to get a mixed blend of precut and cleaned lettuce, spinach, and other varieties of leafy greens.
• Carrots and Celery – We rough chopp celery and carrots for added flavor, texture, and nutrients.
• Cheese – We use shredded cheddar cheese but blue cheese is classic. Other good choices include monterary jack, mozzarella, provolone, or your favorite variety of shredded cheese.
• Blue Cheese Dressing – Another contender for this is ranch dressing. My hubs also likes homemade Caesar dressing for his buffalo chicken salad. You can also skip dressing altogether if you prefer.
• Extra Buffalo Sauce – We use our own buffalo sauce recipe, but you can use store bought bottles of your favorite brand. For less heat, you can skip this.
• Croutons – We often make our own croutons, but you can also use your favorite brand or skip them altogether.

To get the chopped buffalo chicken salad ready, you will want to get out your:

• tongs
• large salad or mixing bowl
• sharp knife
• measuring cups

How to Make Chopped Buffalo Chicken Salad

1. Prep the veggies.

Rough chop your carrots and celery.

If using a head of lettuce, wash, dry, and chop it roughly or just pour the contents of a salad bag into a large salad bowl.

Toss in the chopped carrots and celery as well as the croutons.

2. Add in the cheese and chicken.

Sprinkle your cheese over the top of the greens and do the same with the croutons.

Carefully cut your buffalo chicken into strips or bite sized pieces and place on top of the greens.

3. Add the dressing and buffalo sauce.

Drizzle additional buffalo sauce on top of the salad.

Finally, pour the blue cheese or other dressing over the top of the salad.

How to Make Buffalo Chicken

For more information, you can follow our recipe for buffalo chicken here.

• First, clean your chicken breasts and then toss with a buffalo rub (such as our own buffalo rub just omit the baking powder), cayenne pepper, paprika, and garlic powder, or just some salt and pepper.
• Place each breast on a griddle pan or grill set over medium heat.
• Cook each piece for about 3 to 4 minutes per side, flipping about halfway through cooking. It is ready when the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165.
• Remove from the grill and toss with buffalo sauce. You can use our homemade buffalo sauce recipe or use a store bought variety.
• Allow the chicken to cool some before adding to the buffalo chicken salad.

Serving

Our chopped buffalo chicken salad is hearty enough to make a full meal.

But you are probably going to want to serve it with some homemade bread or your favorite bread.

You can also add the chicken to a wrap to make a buffalo chicken wrap.

Storing

If you think you will have leftovers, I highly recommend only making what you will need and storing the leftover ingredients in their own airtight containers in the fridge- except for the croutons.

If everything is already made, transfer it to an airtight container and store it in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Keep in mind the lettuce will wilt and the salad will get sort of soggy the longer it sits in the fridge.

Tips and Tricks

• You can serve the chicken on top cold or warm. If you choose to serve it warm, just let it cool a bit before adding to the salad. You do not want a scorching hot chicken breast on top of the salad because it will wilt the lettuce.
• You can make this buffalo chicken salad as homemade as you like. You can make your own buffalo chicken, buffalo sauce, and use veggies you need to chop. But if you don’t want to be a hero, you can just use store bought shortcut. We find the best flavor comes from making as much of the salad from scratch as possible. Except chopping the veggies, to heck with that noise.
• We strongly recommend not making the whole meal ahead. But you can make most of it ahead and assemble when ready to eat. You can cook the chicken, chop the veggies, and make your buffalo sauce and just store each in seperate containers in the fridge. When ready, you can assemble using the ingredients you already prepped. If you have leftovers, you can store them in the fridge. Just bear in mind, the croutons may get a bit soggy the longer they sit in the fridge. You can either remove them before storing or keep them in and add in additional fresh ones.
• Making this salad doesn’t have to be an exact science. Feel free to skip the veggies you don’t like, use less or more cheese, dressing, and croutons, etc. It’s not a recipe like a baked good that relies on precision.

Did you make this? Let me know!

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