This Healthy Buffalo Chicken Salad is an easy veggie-packed lunch – it's topped with a homemade ranch dressing that's low in calories!
Ingredients and substitutions
- Olive oil – or another neutral cooking oil like canola oil or avocado oil.
- Chicken breasts – you can also use boneless skinless chicken thighs but it will increase the calorie count.
- Buffalo wing sauce – use your favourite store-bought brand. I personally like using Frank’s Red Hot.
- Romaine lettuce – substitute for another leafy green like bibb lettuce.
- Red onion – white or yellow onion would also work here but will have a milder flavour.
- Cucumber – substitute for another veggie of your choice.
- Celery – swap out for any other veggie of your choice.
- Carrot matchsticks – grated carrot would also work or you can swap this out for another vegetable.
- Frozen corn – fresh corn or canned corn can also be used or you can leave this out entirely.
- Feta cheese – use blue cheese or any other kind of cheese you like.
- Avocado – leave this out altogether if you don’t like avocado.
Lighter ranch dressing
- Sour cream – try using a bit of non-fat Greek yogurt instead.
- Lemon juice – freshly squeezed lemon juice is best but the bottled variety will work in a pinch.
- Dill – tarragon has a similar flavour to dill but you won’t get that authentic ranch flavour.
- Garlic – use freshly minced garlic or jarred minced garlic.
- Salt & pepper – to taste.
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How to make buffalo chicken salad
Step 1: Make the dressing.
Make the ranch dressing by mixing the sour cream, water, lemon juice, dill, minced garlic and salt and pepper together in a small bowl and set aside.
Step 2: Season the chicken.
Cut chicken breasts in half lengthwise then season generously on both sides with salt and pepper.
Step 3: Sauté until fully cooked.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and then saute chicken for 3-4 minutes each side until fully cooked through.
Step 4: Slice up the chicken.
Remove from heat and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing up
Step 5: Toss in the sauce.
Toss in the buffalo sauce. While chicken cooks, prep the veggies. Add chopped romaine lettuce to large salad bowls, topping with sliced red onion, chopped cucumber, chopped celery, carrot matchsticks, defrosted corn, crumbled feta or blue cheese and sliced avocado.
Step 6: Assemble your salad and serve.
Top salads with chicken and drizzle with dressing when ready to serve. Alternatively, add chicken to (1L) mason jars followed by cheese and remaining veggies to meal prep these salads.
Meal prepping mason jar salads
One of my favourite ways to meal prep salads is using mason jars. All you have to do is layer your ingredients into the mason jars and stick them in the fridge until you’re ready to eat!
When it comes to mason jar salads, layering is critical to making sure all the ingredients stay fresh. If you want to meal prep this buffalo chicken salad recipe, here’s the order to layer the ingredients in the mason jars:
- Lighter ranch dressing
- Buffalo chicken
- Cheese
- Veggies including carrots, cucumber, celery, red onion, avocado and corn
- Lettuce
You can also store the dressing separately. When you’re ready to enjoy, just shake up the mason jar, dump everything onto a plate and dig in!
Frequently Asked Questions
There are 470 calories per serving in this healthy buffalo chicken salad. If you want to cut down on the calorie count a bit more, you can leave out the cheese.
For this recipe, I used a lighter homemade buffalo chicken salad dressing. Bottled ranch dressing is notorious for being packed with calories, fat and preservatives, but this version is way healthier – especially since you’re making it at home with fresh ingredients. All you need is some sour cream, water, lemon juice, dill, minced garlic and salt and pepper.
Buffalo chicken definitely has a bit of kick to it, but the spice level can vary based on the type of wing sauce you use. If you don’t like too much spice, try and pick a milder flavoured buffalo sauce or use some melted butter to cut the spice (although it will increase the calorie count of this buffalo chicken salad recipe).
Storing and reheating
This buffalo chicken salad recipe will stay good in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. I suggest storing them in mason jars, which are one of my favourite ways to meal prep salads, but you can also store them in glass meal prep containers with the dressing kept separately.
If you prefer to have your chicken warmed up, store it on its own. Sprinkle some water over top so it doesn’t dry out then microwave for 1-2 minutes. Add to the rest of your salad ingredients, drizzle on some of the ranch dressing and voila.
Freezing the buffalo chicken
While you can’t freeze this healthy buffalo chicken salad for obvious reasons, you can freeze any leftover buffalo chicken for later. Store it in an airtight glass container or freezer-safe Ziploc bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
When you’re ready to use it, stick it in the fridge overnight to defrost then reheat it in the microwave for 2 minutes. You can use it for salad, wraps or even as a topping for loaded fries!
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More buffalo chicken recipes
Meal Prep Tools
- Get a meat thermometer to make sure your chicken is cooked through.
- Pack these salads in larger 32oz mason jars for meal prep!
- I like this salad dressing shaker to make homemade dressings easier.
- These colourful mason jar lids are so fun and perfect if you lose your lids.
- **Get my full list of tools here**
Healthy Buffalo Chicken Salad {Easy!}
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb chicken breasts
- 1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce such as Frank's buffalo sauce
- 1 head romaine lettuce washed, dried and chopped
- 1 red onion thinly sliced
- 1/2 cucumber chopped
- 2 stalks celery chopped
- 1 cup carrot matchsticks or 1 grated carrot
- 1 cup frozen corn defrosted
- 1 cup feta or blue cheese crumbled
- 1 avocado sliced
Lighter ranch dressing
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp dried or fresh dill
- 1 clove minced garlic
- 1 pinch each salt & pepper
Instructions
- Make the ranch dressing by mixing the sour cream, water, lemon juice, dill, minced garlic and salt and pepper together in a small bowl and set aside.
- Cut chicken breasts in half lengthwise then season generously on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and then saute chicken for 3-4 minutes each side until fully cooked through. Remove from heat and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing up and tossing in buffalo sauce.
- While chicken cooks, prep the veggies. Add chopped romaine lettuce to large salad bowls, topping with sliced red onion, chopped cucumber, chopped celery, carrot matchsticks, defrosted corn, crumbled feta or blue cheese and sliced avocado.
- Top salads with chicken and drizzle with dressing when ready to serve. Alternatively, add chicken to (1L) mason jars followed by cheese and remaining veggies to meal prep these salads.
Notes
Nutrition
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