Fresh and flavorful BBQ chicken salad is always a crowd pleaser! It’s topped with juicy chicken, creamy ranch and tangy BBQ sauce.
This 30 minute salad is a great way to use up leftover odds and ends. Sometimes we’ll clean out the fridge after making this dish or this soup and we can toss in those small amounts of random ingredients—another win!
Tasty Tex-Mex Salad
If you’re looking for a delicious AND healthy tex-mex style salad, look no further. This one is great for busy weeknights or entertaining. It easily feed a crowd or be portioned out into containers for weekly meal prep.
I know some people think salads are boring, or even impossible to serve to little kids, but you just have to choose your ingredients wisely.
Just fill this delicious salad with all of your favorite fixings. We topped with fresh corn, black beans, finely diced red onion, avocado, cilantro, tortilla strips, shredded cheese, our favorite chicken, BBQ sauce, and ranch dressing. All of which got big thumbs up!
Making the salad
CHICKEN. Follow instructions for cooking chicken breast.
CORN + BEANS. While the chicken is baking, in a small skillet set over medium-low heat, add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the corn and cook for 2-3 minutes, then stir in the black beans. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
TOPPINGS. In an extra large bowl or four individual salad bowls, add the greens, onion, cilantro, tortilla strips, cheese, avocado, corn, and black beans. Cube chicken and add on top.
DRESSING. Drizzle with ranch and BBQ sauce, serve immediately.
Storing Info
To STORE BBQ chicken salad, do not pour dressing over all the salad. Instead just add dressing to individual servings. This will make it so much easier to store the salad without it getting gross and soggy.
You can make different parts of this salad ahead of time: chop the chicken and mix together your greens ahead of time.
Right before serving, mix everything together and drizzle the dressing over individual servings.
You could even make a BBQ Ranch dressing combo to put on your salads.
For More Salad Recipes, try:
- Apple Harvest Salad
- Cobb Salad
- Cranberry Apple Pecan Salad
- Chickpea Salad
- Orzo Arugula Salad
- Antipasto Salad
BBQ Chicken Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 5 oz. mixed spring greens - washed and dried
- 2 tsp. olive oil or avocado oil
- 1 c. fresh or frozen corn
- 1 c. black beans - rinsed
- 1/4 c. finely diced red onion
- 1/4 c. chopped cilantro
- 2/3 c. tortilla strips
- 1 c. shredded colby jack cheese
- 1 avocado - cut into 1/2-inch chunks
- 1/4 c. BBQ sauce
- 1/4 c. ranch dressing
Instructions
- While the chicken is baking, in a small skillet set over medium-low heat, add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the corn and cook for 2-3 minutes, then stir in the black beans. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
- In an extra large bowl or four individual salad bowls, add the greens, onion, cilantro, tortilla strips, cheese, avocado, corn, and black beans. Cube chicken and add on top.
- Drizzle with ranch and BBQ sauce, serve immediately.
This is so good!! My whole family really loved it!
Yay! So glad to hear they enjoyed it!
I can never say no to a salad that features tortilla strips and chicken! Double yum! Thank you for sharing.
You bet!! I’m a sucker for tortilla strips too! 😉