Buffalo Chicken Salad

Delicious, and even better the second day! So easy and so satisfying on a blazing hot summer day. For maximum easiness, use some pre-shredded chicken from your grocery store deli section! Needs nothing to be perfect. But of course I tweaked it, very lightly, to suit my tastes: – I used 1/3c ranch and maybe 1/4c of mayonnaise (a big glob, really), instead of just the 1/2c of ranch called for. I didn’t want the salad to be dry, but I also didn’t want the dominant flavor to be ranch, and I thought this was a really good balance. If mayo isn’t your thing, sour cream could also be good here, but I think Greek yogurt would be too overpoweringly tangy. – I used equal parts of the frank’s and the creamy stuff. No regrets. (Caveat: my store was out of regular frank’s, so I got frank’s buffalo sauce instead. I don’t know what the difference is really, but I think the heat level is lower for the stuff I used, so use your best judgment here if spicy is a concern.) – I used a sweet onion and some extra celery, for extra textural crunchiness. No regrets, very pleasing. – I added some seasoning (garlic powder and onion powder) but honestly it didn’t really come through in the final product. Don’t overthink this recipe, like I did, cuz it won’t matter. Just some fresh black pepper will do you fine. – I added shredded cheddar to the mix, but it didn’t really add anything noticeable so don’t bother. Next time I’ll sprinkle some blue cheese crumbles over the top though, I think that funky brightness will suit it well. – serve on crusty hoagie rolls for maximum tastiness. If one-bowl-meals appeal to you as much as they do to me, I think this could also be banging as a pasta salad.

I love this recipe. My family still thinks that it takes hours of prep to create. Doesn’t take long except that I smoke the chicken to cook it. I brought some to work enough for 8 people to have 2. Everyone got one and then they would ask me if they could have another one. Thanks for helping me make my team happy. I never have any leftovers so I always make a couple more for my fiancee and I.

Thank you so much, Nikki, for this! I’ve made it at least 20 times. It’s a healthy go-to and I love it. Thanks again.

Such an easy recipe the whole family loves! I pop chicken breasts under the broiler for 15 mins each side (depending on size) and then let cool. I use a an “Ulu” a type of chopper to quickly cube the chicken after it cools. Minor chopping for the celery and scallions (good with shredded carrot as well!) – throw it all together and yum!! I eat mine on gluten free rolls and the sauce moistens the rolls up really well. Highly recommeded!!

This is now my go to recipe for buffalo chicken salad. The only change I made was the quantities, as it was only for me. I will definitely make this for my next book club. Thank you for sharing this fantastic recipe.

has my wife asking for leftovers! win!

What a fantastic idea. I love love hot wings so I was drawn to this recipe. I added one hard boiled egg (to make it more of a traditional chicken salad) and some finely chopped carrots for a little more crunch. I also added a little shredded cheddar. Kinda reminded me of crack dip 🙂 it was very yummy will make it again. Thank you!y Oh and let it sit to let all the flavors merry!

We really liked this. I did not add the onions to this because my husband doesn’t like onions. I think I might do as another suggested and add a little diced carrot next time. We ate this as a sandwich but I think it would be great over some Romain lettuce too.

Thanks for sharing! My family loved this.

Love this recipe!! Using some of the tips, 1/4 cup of ranch, buffalo sauce, chopped carrots & bit of bleu cheese crumbles and trading chunks of chicken for canned chicken, it was fantastic!! Make it weekly thanks to all!

I used my leftover chicken for this super quick buffalo chicken salad. I whipped it up with some chopped salad and green onions and VOILA, instant chicken salad! This reminded me of buffalo wings with a side of ranch and celery. YUM!

I tried this as a quick lunch for my 6 and 7 year old and they LOVED it!!!!!

Used 2c. of leftover rotisserie chicken, 1/2 c. ranch and 1/2 c. Franks RedHot Buffalo Sauce. I didn’t have green onion so I used white onion. YUMMY! Will definitely make again. Served with Romaine Lettuce. Blue Cheese crumbles on top would make it worth 5 stars!

A great way to use leftover chicken wings! (If you have the patience to debone them etc)

I think the people mentioning blue cheese dressing as opposed to ranch were on track. The flavors in this just didn’t meld.

My fiancé LOVES this recipe!!!

Delicious! I used leftover fried chicken(all I had at the time) that I ground up in a food chopper and added a little fresh Rosemary, equal amounts of Frank’s wing sauce and Ranch dressing, 2 boiled eggs, and some dill relish and sweet relish. I needed to stretch mine out. I made the recipe as called for the first time I made it and loved it. Just added a twist this time. It was great both ways!

i left out the green onions. used sweet relish instead of celery. loved it.

Great basic recipe. I added more hot sauce (Frank’s of course!) but followed the recipe other than using garlic salt instead of regular salt. My favorite wing flavor is spicy garlic :o) DH loved this one, I added real bleu cheese crumbles to his sandwich. Yum!

Delicious. I used more onion and some asiago peppercorn dressing rather than ranch and the result was pleasing.

I threw in one large diced carrot with the rest of the ingredients (to add to what would be on the platter for a buffalo wings AND to make it stretch just a little further for more “filled out” sandwiches) and I used my own homemade lowfat ranch dressing. GREAT balance of ingredients. The boys made quick work of this sandwich stuffer–they LOVED it. My husband asked me why I hadn’t made it before and please could I make it more often……..and why aren’t there leftovers? 😉