Buffalo Chicken Salad Recipe

Southern Living Buffalo Chicken Salad on a platter to serve — Photo:
Robby Lozano, Food Stylist: Chelsea Zimmer

Active Time:

20 mins

Total Time:

40 mins

Servings:

Buffalo chicken salad is a fun and peppery riff on one of our all-time favorite salads: a blackened chicken salad.

The salad toppings are similar to what would be served with a classic 10-piece buffalo chicken wing plate: crispy coolness from fresh celery, color and crunch from purple cabbage and carrots, and sweet tanginess from Roma tomatoes. That's all finished off with the funky, creamy flavors of blue cheese crumbles, fried onions to mimic the fried wing texture, and a buffalo-dill-ranch dressing to tie it all together.

This salad is made to be enjoyed again and again, with you switching things up to your personal preferences or even just what you happen to have in the fridge that night. You'll love every bite of the salad because each one will be different—and all delicious.

Ingredients for Buffalo Chicken Salad

If you're making this buffalo chicken salad, head right for the produce department at the grocery store. Most everything you need will be there. Here's what you should buy:

For the buffalo chicken

Buffalo-style hot sauce: We like the flavor of Frank's RedHot. It's balanced with salt, heat, and pepper flavor. But use any brand you like.
Lime juice: This helps tenderize the chicken and makes the marinade a bit brighter in flavor.
Honey: A little sweetness never hurt. Plus, the sugars help caramelize the chicken during grilling.
Garlic: Hot sauce is beautifully balanced with a little bite of fresh garlic.
Chicken breast cutlets: You can buy cutlets, or cut a breast in half and gently pound it thinner. This helps the chicken cook quickly and evenly.
Canola oil: You'll use it to grease the grill grates.

For the salad

Ranch dressing: You can make your own ranch dressing, or buy your favorite bottled variety.
Buffalo-style hot sauce: You'll need a little more hot sauce to give this dressing extra kick.
Fresh dill: Used to make a semi-homemade salad dressing taste a bit fresher.
Mixed salad greens and chopped romaine: Use a variety of greens for the base of the salad. Whatever you like, or whatever is freshest at the store, is great.
Red cabbage: This adds nice crunch and some beautiful color to the salad.
Plum tomato: Add a bit of juiciness and freshness with fresh tomato.
Celery and matchstick carrots: It wouldn't be a chicken wing-inspired salad without these two staples of the wing plate.
Blue cheese: Funky, a bit earthy, and the perfect cheese for the tang of hot sauce.
Crispy fried onion: These mimic the crunch of the chicken wing skin.

Southern Living Buffalo Chicken Salad ingredients — Robby Lozano, Food Stylist: Chelsea Zimmer

How To Make Buffalo Chicken Salad

If this is your dinner tonight, good news: This is a really fast and easy chicken salad recipe. If you're making it ahead for lunch, great news: It holds well for a few days in the fridge.

Here's a brief guide to how buffalo chicken salad is made. The full recipe is below.

Step 1. Marinate the chicken: Combine the marinade ingredients (hot sauce, lime juice, honey, and garlic), then the chicken. Before you add the chicken to the marinade ingredients, scoop out about 2 tablespoons. You'll brush it on the chicken when it comes off the grill pan.
Step 2. Grill the chicken: Put the chicken onto the grill pan or skillet that is greased with canola oil, and cook until done. When it comes off the stove, brush the chicken with the leftover marinade. Without a breading or skin for the buffalo sauce to adhere to, the sauce will slide right off. It's important to brush the chicken with some reserved buffalo sauce right before slicing the chicken to get that tangy buffalo flavor.
Step 3. Make the salad dressing: Combine the ranch dressing, hot sauce, and fresh dill in a bowl, and set aside.
Step 4. Build salad: On a large platter, layer the salad greens and veggies. Then, slice the chicken, and place on top of the salad. Drizzle with the ranch dressing, and sprinkle on the crispy fried onions.

How To Serve Buffalo Chicken Salad

A salad like this is really a full meal. It's loaded with vegetables and chicken. But if you want to add something else to the plate, we'd suggest a side dish like Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries or Green Bean Fries.

Make-Ahead and Storage

Buffalo chicken salad is a great make-ahead meal for lunches or fast and easy dinners on busy weeks. There are just a few things to keep in mind as you're planning and packing:

Keep dressing separate. You can layer the salad greens and veggies in an airtight dish, but don't add the spicy ranch dressing and crispy fried onions until you're ready to eat it. The dressing will make everything limp, and the onions will be soggy.
Make the dressing in advance. You can speed up dinner prep and make the dressing up to a week before you plan to eat the salad. Just keep it in an airtight container.
Cook chicken in advance. Get in on the meal prep craze by cooking the chicken a day or two before you plan to eat the salad. Then, it's just a matter of assembly at dinnertime.

If you have leftover salad, keep the dressing separate from the rest of the ingredients, and add it just before eating.

More Buffalo Chicken Recipes

Do you love the tart and tangy kick of recipes with buffalo sauce? You'll love these other favorite dishes, too:

Southern Living Buffalo Chicken Salad on an individual plate to serve — Robby Lozano, Food Stylist: Chelsea Zimmer

Ingredients

Grilled Buffalo Chicken:

1 cup buffalo-style hot sauce (such as Frank’s RedHot)
2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice (from 1 lime)
2 Tbsp. honey
1 tsp. grated garlic (from 2 large garlic cloves)
2 lb. chicken breast cutlets (about 8 cutlets)
1 Tbsp. canola oil

Salad:

3/4 cup ranch dressing
1/4 cup buffalo-style hot sauce (such as Frank's RedHot)
1 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh dill
4 cups spring mix salad greens (from 1 [5-oz.] pkg.)
4 cups chopped romaine lettuce (from 1 [8-oz.] bunch)
1 cup very thinly sliced red cabbage (from 1 [2-lb.] head cabbage)
1 (6-oz.) plum tomato, quartered and sliced crosswise (about 1 cup)
1 cup sliced celery (from 2 [ 2 1/2-oz.] stalks)
1 cup matchstick carrots (from 1 [10-oz.] pkg.)
4 oz. blue cheese, crumbled (about 1 cup)
1 cup crispy fried onions (such as French’s)

Directions

Prepare the Grilled Buffalo Chicken:

Whisk together hot sauce, lime juice, honey, and grated garlic in a large bowl until well combined. Set aside 2 tablespoons marinade.

Robby Lozano, Food Stylist: Chelsea Zimmer
Place chicken cutlets in remaining marinade in large bowl, and toss to coat; let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes.

Robby Lozano, Food Stylist: Chelsea Zimmer
Cook chicken:

Place a grill pan or skillet over medium-high. Add canola oil. Remove chicken cutlets from marinade, allowing excess to drip off. Place on grill pan or in skillet; cook until grill marks appear, about 6 minutes.

Robby Lozano, Food Stylist: Chelsea Zimmer
Flip chicken:

Reduce heat in skillet to medium; flip chicken, and cook until grill marks appear on other side and a thermometer inserted into thickest portion of chicken registers 165°F, 3 to 4 minutes.

Robby Lozano, Food Stylist: Chelsea Zimmer
Brush reserved sauce on chicken:

Transfer chicken to a cutting board, and brush evenly with reserved 2 tablespoons marinade. Cool for 5 minutes before slicing.

Robby Lozano, Food Stylist: Chelsea Zimmer
Make salad dressing:

In a small bowl, whisk together ranch dressing, hot sauce, and dill until smooth. Set aside.

Robby Lozano, Food Stylist: Chelsea Zimmer
Combine salad greens:

Toss together spring mix and romaine in a large bowl. Transfer to a large shallow platter.

Robby Lozano, Food Stylist: Chelsea Zimmer
Add toppings:

Arrange cabbage, tomato, celery, carrots, blue cheese, crispy onions, and sliced chicken over lettuce mix.

Robby Lozano, Food Stylist: Chelsea Zimmer
Drizzle with dressing:

Drizzle with dressing mixture, and serve immediately.

Robby Lozano, Food Stylist: Chelsea Zimmer