Buffalo Chicken Salad is made with shredded, spicy Buffalo chicken, cucumbers and blue cheese all piled high on romaine lettuce and drizzled with ranch dressing. It’s a great make ahead meal for lunch or dinner and is naturally low carb and gluten free.
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Here we are again, another day, another delicious buffalo chicken recipe! This Buffalo Chicken Salad is the perfect blend of spicy chicken, cool cucumbers and tangy blue cheese.
It can be made with leftover chicken, maybe from last night’s Buffalo Chicken Cauliflower Casserole dinner?
It really is a great option for lunch or meal prep, since it packs well and you can make all of the components ahead of time. Just store them in the refrigerator, then throw it all together in just minutes when you’re ready to eat.
If you don’t have leftover chicken or a rotisserie chicken, you can bake chicken in the oven or quickly cook it in an Instant Pot which makes shredding it super easy too! Just be sure to let it cool down before adding it to the salad.
Why This Recipe Works
This is an easy recipe to prepare. You only need 6 ingredients and a few minutes to throw this meal together.
It is naturally low carb and gluten free so it can fit into many different diets or ways of eating.
You can easily adjust the salad ingredients to suit your own tastes and dietary needs. If you don’t like something, you can omit it or add more ingredients, if desired.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken (cooked and shredded or diced)
- 1/2 cup Buffalo sauce
- 1 large head romaine lettuce (chopped)
- 1/2 large cucumber (thinly sliced or diced)
- 1/2 cup blue cheese (crumbled)
- 1/2 cup ranch dressing: you can use any type of ranch dressing that you like, or even blue cheese dressing. Lately, I’ve been using avocado ranch dressing quite often.
- 2 green onions (slice thin, optional garnish)
The entire recipe and instructions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. You can print the recipe from the card, if needed.
Prep!
If you’re not using leftover chicken, you will need to cook and shred your chicken, then let it cool before using it in the salad.
Dice your cucumbers or cut them into slices or quarters. Roughly chop the lettuce.
Create!
Mix the Buffalo sauce into the chicken until well combined.
Assemble the salad by placing even amounts of the lettuce into 4 bowls. Divide the Buffalo chicken, cucumber, and blue cheese evenly among the bowls.
Present!
Top with ranch dressing and garnish with green onions, if desired.
Tips and Techniques
- You can use leftover or rotisserie chicken for this recipe to make prepping it even quicker.
- If you need to cook the chicken, using an Instant Pot is a great option. It cooks the chicken fast, but also makes it super easy to shred.
- You can easily customize the ingredients to suit your own tastes and dietary needs.
- Don’t feel like a salad? Easily transform this recipe into lettuce cups, a wrap or sandwich!
More Buffalo Chicken Recipes
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If you try this recipe, I would really appreciate it if you would please leave a comment and star rating. Thanks!
Buffalo Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken (cooked and shredded or diced)
- 1/2 cup Buffalo sauce
- 1 large head romaine lettuce (chopped)
- 1/2 large cucumber (thinly sliced or diced)
- 1/2 cup blue cheese (crumbled)
- 1/2 cup ranch dressing
- 2 green onions (slice thin, optional garnish)
Instructions
- Mix the chicken and Buffalo sauce until well combined.1 pound chicken, 1/2 cup Buffalo sauce
- Assemble the salad by placing even amounts of the lettuce into 4 bowls. Divide the Buffalo chicken, cucumber, and blue cheese evenly among the bowls.1 large head romaine lettuce, 1/2 large cucumber, 1/2 cup blue cheese
- Top with ranch dressing.1/2 cup ranch dressing
- Garnish with green onions, if desired.2 green onions
Notes
Tips and Techniques
- You can use leftover or rotisserie chicken for this recipe to make prepping it even quicker.
- If you need to cook the chicken, using an Instant Pot is a great option. It cooks the chicken fast, but also makes it super easy to shred.
- You can easily customize the ingredients to suit your own tastes and dietary needs.
- Don't feel like a salad? Easily transform this recipe into lettuce cups, a wrap or sandwich!
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published on March 19, 2018. It was updated with new images, step-by-step instructions, tips and techniques in May 2025.
Mary Meadows says
Sounds and looks delicious! I will be serving this for lunch today!
Caroline says
Love how easy this is – a great way to repurpose some leftover chicken or else get those flavors in a slightly healthier way.
Claudia Lamascolo says
I love buffalo chicken salads I order them out all the time, now I don’t have to thanks to you, on my list to make this week!
Courtney | Love & Good Stuff says
What a great way to repurpose leftover chicken! I have a house of Buffalo sauce lovers and I know they would all love this salad!
Andrea Metlika says
I really like this chicken salad using buffalo sauce instead of mayonnaise. Sounds so flavorful and delicious.
Beth Pierce says
Love buffalo recipes! I will be adding this to my dinner line up for the week; looks amazing!
Sonal says
Loved how you made it low carb.. the flavors sound amazing.
Neriz @ food and journeys says
We always have leftover chicken in our house, so this is the perfect solution for us — and the best part, it’s ready in a flash! YUM!
Thanks for this recipe! 🙂
Catherine says
What a delicious chicken salad! It’s light and easy to throw together especially when the temps are high. Looks delish!
Neli Howard says
I have to try this! Looks amazing! Perfect. This is a great idea. Thank you for sharing this great recipe.