Everyone loves chicken salad and Barbecue Chicken Salad is one of the best. In this chicken salad recipe hot grilled chicken is sliced and laid on top of fresh greens mixed with black beans, corn and crunchy fried onions.
The super easy dressing is a combination of your favorite barbecue sauce and ranch dressing.
There’s lots of room for individual adaptations, so be sure to mix and match ingredients to suite your tastes. This chicken salad recipe will stay on your “winners” list forever!
Just A Note – This recipe serves 8 as a side salad. Make an entrée for 4 by simply making larger portions. Serve with hot cornbread for a satisfying mid-week meal.
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 head of red leaf lettuce washed and torn into bite sized pieces
- 1 head of green leaf lettuce washed and torn into bite sized pieces
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro chopped
- 1 large ripe tomato diced
- 1 can 15.25 ounces black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup frozen corn niblets thawed and drained
- 1 can 2.8 ounces canned fried onions
- 1/2 cup ranch dressing
- 1/2 cup barbeque sauce - your choice
- Kosher salt and ground black pepper
- Light a charcoal barbeque or heat a gas grill for medium heat. Lightly oil the grate.
- Season the chicken breasts with the kosher salt and ground black pepper.
- While the grill is heating, assemble the salad ingredients: toss the red and green lettuces with the corn, black beans and diced tomato. Add the cilantro but hold off on the fried onions.
- Whisk together the barbeque sauce with the ranch dressing and set it aside.
- Grill the seasoned chicken breasts about 6 to 8 minutes per side, turning once, until they are no longer pink in the center and the juices run clear. Set them aside to rest for a few minutes, then cut them into long slices or thin medallions.
- Mix the dressing with the prepared greens and top with the fried onions. Portion out the salad on 8 plates and top each portion with some of the grilled chicken.
Food For Thought – Add a little smoke and spice to your salad by adding a well minced chipotle pepper and a tablespoon of the adobo sauce from the can to your salad dressing.
Replace the fried onion with broken up tortilla chips and top with some diced avocado and you have a terrific fiesta chicken salad.
Good To Know About Barbecue Chicken Salad – Use your favorite salad greens to suit your tastes – some of the lettuce combinations that come pre-mixed a great idea to use in this salad.
Look for a blend that suits you – iceberg and romaine add great crunch.
You can use a “light” version of the ranch dressing and omit the fried onions to save a few calories.
The dressing also makes a great dip for raw veggies and/or chips.
If you don’t use all of it on the salad, save the remainder in an airtight container.
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