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    Home » Main Dishes » Poultry » Chicken

    Buffalo Chicken Salad

    Published: Feb 15, 2022 · Modified: May 2, 2022 by Jessica Fisher

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    close up of buffalo chicken salad with text overlay.

    Salads never need be boring! Liven up your salad plate with spicy chicken and tangy Blue Cheese Dressing in this delicious Buffalo Chicken Salad. Chopped celery, tomatoes, cilantro, and green onion round out the flavors for a salad that is truly out of this world.

    This Buffalo Chicken Salad is perfect for Meal Prep Salads. What a great Lunchtime Meal Prep to Help You Save Money!

    overhead shot of a large salad with buffalo chicken and blue cheese dressing. this …
    Jump to:
    • Why Make This
    • Ingredients
    • Step-by-Step Instructions
    • FAQs & Recipe Costs
    • More 30-Minute Meals
    • Tell us what you think!
    • Buffalo Chicken Salad

    Buffalo wings are a wonderful party snack, but there isn’t a whole lot of substance to them. As good as they are, they do not make a meal. Not unless you each twenty of them.

    I’ve taken it upon myself to take delicious favorite flavors of traditional dishes and tweak them to make them doable at home and easy on the wallet.

    Jalapeno Poppers Potatoes? Yes, please.

    Nicoise Salad Wraps? Sign me up.

    One of my favorite tweaks: Buffalo Chicken. I took typical buffalo wing seasonings and doused them on boneless, skinless chicken breast. You can grill it or bake it in the oven for a Buffalo-themed dinner that is delicious!

    Cook up extra and toss that chicken on a bed of greens with grape tomatoes, chopped celery, and blue cheese dressing? Yum! And throw on a good handful of cilantro, just for kicks. Yum-O!

    That’s what you get with this Buffalo Chicken Salad – all the flavors of the classic Buffalo Wings plate — and then some.

    Why Make This

    It’s good. This Buffalo Chicken Salad combines all the great flavors of an appetizer plate in a nutrient-dense salad. Sooo very tasty!

    It’s cheap. Can you believe that you can make FOUR main dish salads for the price of one plate of wings?! Just $1.58 per person!

    It’s easy. With your chicken already cooked, this salad comes together in minutes.

    Ingredients

    Here’s what you’ll need to make a tasty Buffalo Chicken Salad at home:

    ingredients for buffalo chicken salad laid out on black table.

    baby greens – Pre-washed baby greens help you pull this salad together in a flash. If you prefer, you can use baby spinach or your favorite lettuce, torn or chopped into bite-sized pieces.

    celery – Celery sticks are a classic accompaniment to Buffalo Chicken, making chopped celery a great addition to this salad.

    tomatoes – You can use chopped tomatoes or small, bite-sized ones. Grape or cherry tomatoes are best if you’re going to pack salads for work or school as they won’t drip juice on the salad greens.

    Buffalo Chicken – You can top your salads with Buffalo Chicken Bites, sliced pieces of Grilled Buffalo Chicken, or commercial buffalo flavored chicken meat. If you like, you can simply toss chopped, cooked chicken in buffalo sauce before adding to the salad. A rotisserie chicken will help you save time.

    Blue Cheese Dressing – This is the traditional dipping sauce for Buffalo Chicken. I like to make homemade Blue Cheese Dressing as it’s so easy, but you can use your favorite bottled variety or substitute ranch dressing instead.

    green onion – Chopped green onion gives a nice little kick to the salad. You can substitute it with sliced red onion or chopped sweet onion.

    fresh cilantro – I love the flavor fresh cilantro brings to salads, but you can also use fresh dill or basil instead.

    Step-by-Step Instructions

    Here’s how to make your Buffalo Chicken Salad:

    • greens and veggies on white salad plate on black table top.
    • chicken added to the veggies on the plate.
    • blue cheese dressing drizzled over the salad on the plate.
    • chopped cilantro and green onions topped on the dressing on the salad.
    • Divide the salad greens among 4 dinner-size plates. Distribute the celery and tomatoes evenly among the four plates.
    • Top each plate with the cooked chicken. At this point, you can cover the salads and refrigerate for later.
    • Drizzle the salads with the dressing.
    • Top with scallions and cilantro and serve.

    FAQs & Recipe Costs

    Can you make Buffalo chicken without blue cheese?

    You either love blue cheese dressing… or you don’t. If you fall into the latter category, serve your buffalo chicken salad with ranch or your favorite creamy dressing. Some people enjoy more buffalo sauce on top as well.

    Can you make a Buffalo chicken salad with rotisserie chicken?

    A rotisserie chicken is a great shortcut for adding protein to a salad. Carve the chicken away from the bone, chop into bite-sized pieces, and toss the chicken with a bit of buffalo sauce to add a bit of Buffalo flavor before adding the chicken to the salad.

    What to do with leftover Buffalo chicken?

    Leftover chicken is great in salads, on pizza, and made into Buffalo Chicken Wraps.

    Recipe Costs

    Knowing how much it costs you to prepare a recipe can help you decide if it’s the type of recipe to make regularly or one you might want to save for special occasions. Let’s crunch some numbers and see how this recipe pencils out.

    • baby greens – $1.99
    • celery – $0.30
    • tomatoes – $0.30
    • Buffalo Chicken Bites – $2.09
    • Blue Cheese Dressing – $1.33
    • green onion – $0.20
    • fresh cilantro – $0.10

    While your costs may vary depending on where and how you shop, you can expect to pay about $6.31 for four Buffalo Chicken Salads, about $1.58/serving.

    How to make this good and cheap:

    Here are some of the strategies you can use to make this recipe more economical:

    • Stock up on ingredients when they are on sale. The chicken is the high price items in this recipe. Watch for sales and stock up.
    • Make your own dressings. Bottled dressings are either way too expensive or full of junk. I love to make my own dressings. Not only are they quick and economical to prepare, but they allow me to control the ingredients that I use.
    • Save your cilantro. Store your cilantro properly so it doesn’t go to waste as a mass of brown goo in the vegetable drawer.
    close up of buffalo chicken bite on a salad with blue cheese dressing.

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    Tell us what you think!

    We love to hear your experiences with Good Cheap Eats. Click the STARS on the recipe card or leave a STARRED comment to let us know what you think of the recipe.

    chopped cilantro and green onions topped on the dressing on the salad.
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    5 from 1 vote

    Buffalo Chicken Salad

    Salads never need be boring! Liven up your salad plate with spicy chicken bites and tangy Blue Cheese dressing in this Buffalo Chicken Salad.
    Prep Time15 mins
    Cook Time10 mins
    Total Time31 mins
    Course: Main Course, Salad
    Cuisine: American
    Diet: Gluten Free
    Servings: 4
    Calories: 256kcal
    Author: Jessica Fisher

    Ingredients

    • 1 6-ounce package baby greens
    • 2 ribs celery chopped
    • 1 cup grape tomatoes
    • 1 batch Buffalo Chicken Bites cooked
    • 1 batch Blue Cheese Dressing
    • 2 green onion (chopped)
    • fresh cilantro (chopped)
    US Customary – Metric

    Instructions

    • Divide the salad greens among 4 dinner-size plates. Distribute the celery and tomatoes evenly among the four plates. Top each plate with the cooked chicken. At this point, you can cover the salads and refrigerate for later.
    • Drizzle the salads with the dressing. Top with scallions and cilantro, and serve.

    Notes

    Promptly store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator, for up to 4 days.
    Nutritional values are approximate and based on 1 salad.
    Chicken options: You can top your salads with Buffalo Chicken Bites, sliced pieces of Grilled Buffalo Chicken, or commercial buffalo flavored chicken meat. If you like, you can simply toss chopped, cooked chicken in buffalo sauce before adding to the salad.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 256kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 22g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 85mg | Sodium: 101mg | Potassium: 372mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 622IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 29mg | Iron: 1mg
    Tried this Recipe? Tag Me Today!Mention @goodcheapeatsblog or tag #goodcheapeats!

    This post was originally published on May 14, 2011. It has been updated for content and clarity.

    « Buffalo Chicken Bites
    Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing Recipe »
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Christina

      June 11, 2013 at 5:52 pm

      My family loves buffalo chicken. If I attempt to make a salad without buffalo flavoring on the chicken, my husband and sons *must* doctor their salads to make them buffalo. They love my buffalo chicken pizza, too.

      Reply
      • Jessica

        June 13, 2013 at 8:11 am

        How do they doctor them?

        Reply
    2. Brenda

      May 18, 2011 at 5:09 pm

      When I make buffalo pizza, I use ranch dressing instead of sauce and I also throw some bacon bits on.

      Reply
    3. Martha Artyomenko

      May 16, 2011 at 10:09 am

      I love to see a green salad with sort of a greek bent to it. I like Romaine or leaf lettuce with spinach, olives, tomatoes, Pepperoncini peppers, feta cheese, fresh ground pepper, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, sea salt and some cucumbers….
      Yummy!

      Reply
    4. Katie

      May 16, 2011 at 8:22 am

      This sounds sooo good. I have been wanting to try a buffalo chicken salad for a long time! I do the same as you…turning all of my favorites into pizza or a salad 🙂

      Reply
    5. Holli

      May 15, 2011 at 12:30 pm

      As far as the buffalo chicken pizza goes, what is the base sauce people use? Thanks whoever has ideas!

      Reply
      • Jessica

        May 15, 2011 at 2:24 pm

        I haven’t tried it yet, but when I do, I’m going without sauce.

        Reply
      • Dana

        May 31, 2011 at 4:21 am

        When I make buffalo chicken pizza I season the chicken breasts with salt, pepper, granulated garlic, italian seaoning, whatever you like then bake till done. Chop into little pieces and set aside. For the sauce I take FRANK’S Red Hot Sauce, and some butter not a lot but a some and pop it into the microwave, when its done I stir it well use it as a base sauce and then assemble my pizza. Once its done baking I use a little more of the base sauce as a drizzle then serve with ranch or blue cheese dressing as a dipping sauce. Mmmmmmm I love hm pizza night at our house!!!

        Reply
        • Holli

          June 02, 2011 at 3:31 pm

          @Dana, that made my mouth water!

        • claire

          October 28, 2011 at 3:50 pm

          @Dana, I am from Buffalo and we just call them chicken wings, LOL. Put them on Pizza and yumma! We have a weekly pizza night and I make Chicken wing pizza about once a month. Just the way Dana suggested. I do add a regular amount of pizza sauce on the bottom. You could just put blue cheese dressing on for a sauce. Man recipes suggest that. It is soooooooooooooooo gooooooood!

    6. P Reis

      May 15, 2011 at 10:12 am

      I just love the idea of buffalo wings flavor on REAL pieces of chicken. Wings don’t cut it for me either! This looks great and I will definitely be trying it.

      Reply
    7. Anna

      May 15, 2011 at 9:48 am

      That looks delicious. The picture made my mouth water!

      Reply
    8. amanda

      May 15, 2011 at 7:33 am

      It’s my day for a blog hop, I’d love it if you came over and shared one of your great recipes at savory sunday!! Have a great day 🙂

      Reply
    9. Mo'Betta

      May 15, 2011 at 4:55 am

      Buffalo chicken pizza is my favorite pizza, so I’m thinking this salad would be a great, healthier alternative!

      Reply
    10. Julie H

      May 14, 2011 at 7:46 pm

      I have been making Pioneer Woman’s Buttermilk Chicken Strips and them dousing them in hot sauce and using them to top our salads….we love buffalo chicken! I think we’ll be adding this to the menu again very soon!

      Reply
    11. Debbi Does Dinner Healthy

      May 14, 2011 at 6:31 pm

      This sounds great! Love buffalo flavored anything!

      Reply
    12. Nickeletta

      May 14, 2011 at 1:41 pm

      Wow that looks fabulous! I love buffalo chicken and blue cheese, so I’m DEFINITELY going to try this recipe. I wonder if shredded carrots would be a good addition also?

      Reply

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    Hi, I'm Jessica! I believe anyone can prepare delicious meals -- no matter their budget.

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