BBQ Chicken Salad

Ingredients You’ll Need

For the BBQ Chicken Salad

• Chicken breasts: Boneless, skinless chicken breasts soak up the barbecue sauce and cook quickly on the grill. Try our Grilled Honey BBQ Chicken.
• BBQ sauce: Use your favorite Homemade BBQ Sauce or bottled barbecue sauce for marinating, basting, and flavoring the dressing.
• Romaine lettuce: Crisp romaine holds up well under the chicken, toppings, and creamy dressing.
• Corn: Thawed frozen corn is convenient, but fresh grilled or drained canned corn also works.
• Cherry tomatoes: These add color, freshness, and a little sweetness to the salad.
• Black beans: Drain and rinse the beans well before adding them to the salad.
• Green onions: These provide mild onion flavor without overpowering the other ingredients.
• Cheddar cheese: Shredded cheddar pairs especially well with barbecue sauce.
• Tortilla chips: Crushed tortilla chips or tortilla strips add a salty crunch to every serving.

For the Creamy BBQ Dressing

• Creamy base: Mayonnaise, milk, and buttermilk make the dressing smooth, rich, and easy to drizzle.
• Fresh flavors: Cilantro, lime juice, white vinegar, and garlic balance the sweetness of the barbecue sauce.
• Seasonings: Sugar, salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and cumin give the dressing its sweet, tangy, and lightly smoky flavor.
• BBQ sauce: Use the same sauce you use for the chicken so the flavors work well together. I like to use our Homemade BBQ Sauce.

Ingredient Additions and Substitutions

This is an easy salad to change based on what you have in the refrigerator.

• Chicken thighs: Boneless, skinless chicken thighs are a juicy alternative to chicken breasts.
• Cooked chicken: Toss rotisserie chicken or leftover grilled chicken with BBQ sauce for a faster option.
• Corn: Use fresh grilled corn, drained canned corn, or thawed frozen corn.
• Cheese: Substitute Monterey Jack, pepper Jack, Colby Jack, or a Mexican cheese blend.
• Greens: Replace some or all of the romaine with chopped green leaf lettuce, spinach, or mixed greens.
• Crunchy toppings: Try tortilla strips, corn chips, crispy onions, or crushed barbecue-flavored chips.
• Additional vegetables: Avocado, red onion, bell peppers, cucumber, jicama, or corn salsa are all good additions.
• Quick dressing: Combine prepared ranch dressing with BBQ sauce when you do not have time to make the homemade dressing.
• Lighter dressing: Replace part of the mayonnaise with plain Greek yogurt and thin it with milk as needed.

How to Make BBQ Chicken Salad

1. Marinate the chicken: Place the chicken and BBQ sauce in a resealable bag. Refrigerate for at least one hour or up to eight hours.

2. Make the dressing: Whisk the dressing ingredients together until smooth. Cover and refrigerate while the chicken marinates.

3. Grill the chicken: Remove the chicken from the marinade and discard extra sauce. Grill over medium to medium-high heat, brushing with reserved BBQ sauce. Cook until the center reaches 165 degrees F.

4. Prepare the salad: Toss the chopped romaine with the corn, tomatoes, black beans, and green onions in a large serving bowl.

5. Add the chicken: Let the grilled chicken rest for five minutes, then slice it and arrange it over the salad.

6. Finish and serve: Top with shredded cheese and crushed tortilla chips. Drizzle with creamy BBQ dressing just before serving.

Recipe Tips

• Use a DIGITAL meat thermometer. Checking the thickest part of the chicken is much more accurate than cutting into it repeatedly. Chicken is safe to eat at 165 degrees F.
• Cook over moderate heat. A grill that is too hot can burn the barbecue sauce before the chicken cooks through.
• Reserve sauce for basting. Do not brush the chicken with sauce that has touched raw meat.
• Let the chicken rest. Give it about five minutes before slicing so the juices can settle back into the meat.
• Pound thick chicken breasts. Bringing them to an even thickness helps them cook at the same rate.
• Wait to add the chips. Add tortilla chips immediately before serving so they remain crisp.
• Dress individual servings. If you expect leftovers, serve the dressing on the side rather than tossing it with the entire salad.
• Grill the corn. When fresh corn is in season, grill it beside the chicken and slice the kernels from the cob.

Frequently Asked Questions

Make Ahead and Storage

• Make ahead: Prepare the dressing up to three days ahead. The chicken can be marinated for up to eight hours and cooked up to two days in advance.
• Prep the vegetables: Wash and chop the romaine and prepare the toppings up to one day ahead. Store everything in separate airtight containers.
• Store leftovers: Undressed salad can be refrigerated for up to three days. For the best texture, store the chicken, dressing, and tortilla chips separately.
• Dressed salad: Once the dressing has been added, the lettuce will begin to soften. Refrigerate leftovers and eat them within one day.
• Freezing: The assembled salad should not be frozen. Cooked BBQ chicken can be frozen separately for up to three months.

Pairing Ideas

This BBQ Chicken Salad makes a filling meal on its own, but I love serving it with homemade watermelon lemonade, easy cornbread, tomato soup, garlic bread, or a fresh fruit salad. It also makes a great side salad for a summer cookout with boiled corn on the cob, baked beans, or Mom’s potato salad.

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