Description

Buffalo chicken salad satisfies the craving for buffalo chicken wings only with more veggies. It’s packed with crunch, spicy buffalo sauce, and homemade cooling Greek yogurt ranch dressing. So tasty!

Ingredients

Units Scale

2 to 4 eggs*
Greek Yogurt Ranch Dressing
1 cup fat free Greek yogurt (or sue full fat for a richer taste)
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
3 to 4 tablespoons filtered water
1 teaspoon agave nectar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dried dill (or sub 1/2 teaspoon fresh dill, roughly chopped)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon dried chives (or sub 1/4 teaspoon fresh chives, roughly chopped)
Buffalo chicken
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 chicken breasts
salt
1/2 cup hot sauce ( I like Frank’s Red Hot)
2 tablespoons butter
Salad
2 to 3 hearts romain lettuce, chopped
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced
2 to 3 ribs of celery, sliced
Optional: Blue cheese, crumbled (you could sub shredded cheddar cheese)

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Instructions

boil the eggs: Place eggs in a small sauce pot with a tight fitting lid. Cover with cold water – pop the lid on. Bring to a boil and immediately remove from the heat. Allow the eggs to sit in the hot water for 10 minutes. Rinse with cold water and peel while they’re still warm. Refrigerate until you’re ready to use them. Remember you can make these up to 1 week in advance.
make the Greek yogurt ranch: Add the yogurt, lemon zest, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar and to a food processor. Blend until smooth – add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until you reach your desired consistency (it should be thick, but pour-able). If you accidentally add too much liquid than add 1 to 2 tablespoons of yogurt to thicken it up again. Next add all of the spices and pulse or blend on low just until they are incorporated and broken down a little, specks of the green herbs should still be visible. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired. Transfer to an air tight container or mason jar and pop in the fridge until you are ready to use it.
Cook the chicken: Heat a medium sized non stick skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle one side of the chicken with salt. Once the pan is hot add the oil, then the chicken salted side down – sprinkle the upside with more salt. Cook the chicken 5 to 8 minutes per side or until the the chicken is mostly cooked (internal temp at 155 degrees Fahrenheit). Add the hot sauce and butter over the chicken, allow the sauce to cook into the chicken another minute or two rotating the chicken in the sauce. Remove the chicken onto a cutting board once the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cut the chicken: allow the chicken to rest for 5 minutes. Slice or cut into bite sized pieces. Drizzle any remaining sauce in the pan over the chicken (if desired).
Make the salad: While the chicken is cooking prepare your veggies as instructed above and slice the heard boiled eggs . Divide the romaine between bowls (or into one large serving bowl). Toss the romaine with some of the ranch dressing until it’s well coated (you may have some dressing left over). Top it with the celery, red onion, green bell pepper, hard boiled eggs, and crumbled blue cheese.
Finish: Add the sliced buffalo chicken to the salad and serve with the ranch dressing on the side for extra dresssing as needed. Eat immedieatly.
Store leftovers: Store any leftover veggies in separate containers with out dressing. Store chicken in a separate container. The veggies will keep without dressing for up to 1 day. Reheat the chicken in the microwave, or eat cold, it’s good cold too. 🙂

Notes

Hard boiled eggs: For a short cut you could either make these up to one week in advance, peel and store in the fridge. OR you could purchase some at the salad bar or “short cuts” section of your grocery store. If you prepped you eggs ahead of time then you can reduce the cooking time by 10 minutes.

Bacon would be a delicious addition to this dish, if you want!

Greek Yogurt Ranch Dressing: You may have dressing leftover, it’s good on pretty much any kind of salad. I found the dressing had a stronger ranch taste when it sat in the fridge for 24 hours so that the flavors could develop – it’s still good when eaten right away.

Also, I know that the photos show that I made the ranch dressing in a blender but I later found a food processor allows me to achieve a thicker dressing so I changed the recipe to reflect that.