Buffalo Chicken Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

This Buffalo Chicken Salad is quick and easy to make because it uses rotisserie chicken and the homemade blue cheese dressing is quick to stir up.

I love salads, and my family eats them often. Sometimes it's the pre-made bagged salads that I tend to keep on hand, and sometimes it's improvised salads made from ingredients that I have lying around the fridge.

And sometimes, it's salads that I'll intentionally create with ingredients I've purchased solely for the purpose of making the salad. The first time I made this salad, it was exactly that kind of intentionally planned salad - Buffalo Chicken Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing.

This buffalo chicken salad is inspired by one of my favorite restaurant salads ever. It was made by a now-closed Barbecue restaurant that was in my neighborhood.

Since it was a barbecue place, their salad was topped with their own smoked chicken. And let me tell you, that extra smokiness with the hot sauce and blue cheese dressing really sets it off. But, since most people aren't smoking a bunch of chicken at home, we'll use rotisserie chicken.

Speaking of rotisserie chicken, if it's not something you usually buy, I would encourage you to try it out. I'm in the habit of buying one every time I go to Costco. It's only $4.99 and I can get several meals out of it.

I take it home, stick it in the fridge, then when I have a few extra minutes, take all the chicken off the bones. Then I use it for salads, quesadillas, sandwiches or whatever. No cooking needed!

How to Make Buffalo Chicken Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing:

Since I use store-bought rotisserie chicken to make this salad, it's exceptionally quick-and-easy to make. It gets even easier if you use bagged, pre-washed lettuce!

Yes, you'll be making the dressing from scratch, but it's easy and only takes a few minutes. To make the dressing simply whisk the blue cheese and kefir (or buttermilk or plain yogurt) together until it looks like cottage cheese. Stir in the remaining ingredients, and it's ready. Put it in the fridge until you're ready to use it.

If you haven't already done so, remove the chicken meat from the bones and cut or shred it into bite-sized pieces. Measure out 2 cups of chicken and warm it if it's not already warm. Toss the chicken with some butter and hot sauce.

To make the rest of the salad, tear or cut up some romaine (or green leaf) lettuce and wash and dry it - a salad spinner will make this easier (or use some bagged lettuce). Fill your bowls mostly full of lettuce. Top the lettuce with some tomato wedges and shredded carrots. Drizzle the salad with some of the blue cheese dressing, and top with a cup of buffalo chicken. Enjoy!

Buffalo Chicken Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing Ingredients:

• Plain kefir: you can also use buttermilk or plain yogurt
• Crumbled blue cheese
• Mayonnaise: I use regular mayonnaise, but light would work for this recipe too
• Plain Greek yogurt
• White wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• Salt
• Garlic powder
• Black pepper
• Romaine hearts or green leaf lettuce, or bagged lettuce of your choice
• Large tomato
• Carrots
• Rotisserie chicken: or use leftover cooked chicken, or cook and shred 1-2 chicken breasts
• Unsalted butter
• Hot sauce: I like Frank's for this recipe, but another similar brand will work too.

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Buffalo Chicken Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing Nutrition Notes

This salad is quite high in sodium, due to the cheese in the dressing and the hot sauce. Using rotisserie chicken will also likely add extra sodium, which is not accounted for in the above nutrition facts. To cut down on sodium, cook your own chicken without adding extra salt, and/or omit salt from the dressing.

Serve this salad with a roll or some garlic bread to make a complete meal.

Carissa Serink

Buffalo Chicken Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

5 from 1 vote

This buffalo chicken salad is quick and easy to make because it uses rotisserie chicken and the homemade blue cheese dressing is quick to stir up.

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Servings: 4

Course: Salad

Cuisine: Universal

Calories: 334

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 15 minutes mins

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients Equipment Method Nutrition

Equipment

• Salad Spinner (optional - not needed if using bagged lettuce)

Ingredients

  

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Dressing

• ¼ cup plain kefir or use buttermilk or plain yogurt
• ¼ cup crumbled blue cheese eg. Roquefort or Stilton
• ¼ cup mayonnaise
• ¼ cup plain Greek yogurt
• 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• ⅛ teaspoon black pepper

Salad

• 3 Romaine hearts
• 1 large tomato cut into wedges
• 2 large carrots grated or julienned
• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter melted
• ¼ cup hot sauce eg. Frank's Red Hot or similar
• 2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
• additional blue cheese for topping (optional)

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Instructions

 

Dressing

1. Whisk ¼ cup plain kefir and ¼ cup crumbled blue cheese together vigorously until the mixture resembles small curd cottage cheese. Stir in ¼ cup mayonnaise,¼ cup plain Greek yogurt,2 teaspoons white wine vinegar,¼ teaspoon salt,¼ teaspoon garlic powder, and ⅛ teaspoon black pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use, up to 3 days.

Salad

1. Tear 3 Romaine hearts into bite-sized pieces. Wash and dry the lettuce.
2. Divide the lettuce equally among 4 bowls. Top with tomato wedges and carrot. Drizzle each bowl with blue cheese dressing.
3. Whisk together 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter (melted) and ¼ cup hot sauce in a medium bowl until uniform. Add 2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken and toss to coat. Top each bowl of salad with ½ cup of hot sauce coated shredded chicken. Garnish with additional blue cheese, if desired.

Nutrition

Calories: 334kcalCarbohydrates: 9gProtein: 26gFat: 22gSaturated Fat: 8gPolyunsaturated Fat: 7gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 92mgSodium: 1010mgPotassium: 639mgFiber: 3gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 13058IUVitamin C: 21mgCalcium: 135mgIron: 1mg

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