Buffalo Ranch Chicken Salad
This buffalo chicken salad has a homemade buffalo ranch dressing, shredded chicken and crispy crunchy celery. It’s perfecto for meal prep as you can add it to wraps, salads, sandwiches or serve with fresh vegetables.
This creamy ranch dressing is made with Greek yogurt, non-dairy-milk and hot sauce for the classic spicy buffalo flavor. It’s every bit as rich as traditional chicken salad only lighter in calories and fat. It needs to marinate for 30 minutes so give yourself enough time.
Meal prepping for the week? Add Beef and Chicken Meatballs and Nutrient Dense Green Protein Smoothie (freezer prep) to your plans.
Why you’ll love this recipe
- 42g of protein per serving.
- Make into salads, sandwiches or wraps.
Ingredients and Substitutions:
These are the main ingredients and substitutions. See recipe card below for full ingredients list and instructions for buffalo ranch chicken salad.
- Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts: or leftover chicken or rotisserie chicken.
- Red Onion
- Celery: for added crunch.
- Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk: any non-dairy unflavored milk.
- Non-Fat Yogurt: low fat cottage cheese or low fat sour cream.
- Hot Sauce: Frank’s is my favorite but any will work.
- Lemon Juice: always go fresh for the best flavor.
- Dijon Mustard
Variations
- Add green onions, blue cheese crumbles or feta cheese.
- Add homemade ranch seasoning to your dressing.
- If you want to lower the spice level, omit the hot sauce for a homemade ranch dressing.
Dietary Modifications
- This recipe is gluten-free as written.
- To make dairy-free, use a non-dairy yogurt of your choice. Forager makes a great dairy free yogurt that has a similar flavor and consistency to Greek yogurt.
How to make the Buffalo Ranch Chicken Salad:
Step 1: make the dressing
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the almond milk, yogurt, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, minced garlic, dried dill, dried parsley, onion powder, salt and pepper until smooth and creamy. Leave as is for ranch dressing and add the hot sauce to make it into buffalo ranch sauce.
Taste the dressing and adjust seasonings as needed. Transfer the dressing to a jar or airtight container and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to allow flavors to blend.
Step 2: cook the chicken
Add the raw chicken to a pot and cover with enough water to cover the top of the chicken. Bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, lower heat to medium. Let the chicken boil for 20 minutes or until cooked through and no longer pink. Once cooked, remove the chicken from the water and shred with 2 forks.
Step 3: combine chicken salad
In a medium bowl, combine the shredded chicken, buffalo ranch dressing, celery, red onion, parsley, chives, salt and pepper. Mix everything well to combine.
Step 4: assemble
Toast your bread or use lettuce cups, if you prefer. Place a lettuce leaf on the bottom half of each bread slice, if using. Spoon the buffalo ranch chicken salad on top. Serve immediately with some extra dressing.
Expert Tip!
Use rotisserie chicken for a quick and easy meal prep.
Recipe FAQs
Any way you like! Turn it into a sandwich, wrap or lettuce wrap. I like to eat it just as is or with some celery sticks and carrots.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Check out our other easy recipes!
If you make this recipe, please leave a rating and/or comment! Tag me on Instagram @ohsnapmacros, I love hearing from you!
Buffalo Ranch Chicken Salad
📱 MyFitnessPal & MacrosFirst App Users
You can find this recipe and many others on MyFitnessPal and MacrosFirst by searching: Ohsnapmacros – Buffalo Ranch Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast
- 1/2 cup Buffalo Ranch Dressing 120g
- 1 stalk celery diced
- 1/4 cup red onion chopped
- 2 Tbsp. fresh parsley chopped
- 2 Tbsp. fresh chives chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
Buffalo Ranch Dressing
- 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk or other non dairy alternative 120ml
- 1/2 cup plain unsweetened non fat Greek yogurt 112g
- 1/4 cup Frank's Red Hot Sauce
- 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 tsp. dried dill
- 2 tsp. dried chives
- 1/4 tsp. onion powder
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together the almond milk, dairy-free yogurt, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, minced garlic, dried dill, dried parsley, onion powder, salt and pepper until smooth and creamy. Leave as is for ranch dressing and add the hot sauce to make it into buffalo ranch sauce.
- Taste the dressing and adjust seasonings as needed. Transfer dressing to a jar or airtight container and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to allow flavors to blend.
- Add the raw chicken to a pot and cover with enough water to cover the top of the chicken.
- Bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, lower heat to medium. Let the chicken boil for 20 minutes or until cooked through and no longer pink. Once cooked, remove the chicken from the water and shred with 2 forks.
- In a medium bowl, combine the shredded chicken, buffalo ranch dressing, celery, red onion, parsley, chives, salt and pepper. Mix everything well to combine.
Notes
- Nutritional information is an estimate and will vary with substitutions.
- For plain ranch, omit the Frank’s Hot Sauce.
- Use rotisserie or leftover chicken to make this even easier.
I really couldn’t believe how fast the chicken cooked – made this so easy! And delish. I paired with siete wraps from Costco.
This was super easy and delicious! I was pleasantly surprised at how well the flavors balanced each other out! The dressing was DELICIOUS and truly made the dish!
This was simple and delicious for a family dinner on a busy night. I cooked the chicken in the instant pot (my favorite way for shredded chicken) as I tend to like it better that way vs boiled. And I made about 3 lbs of chicken at once, but only 1x the dressing, and had plenty of dressing for the whole batch of chicken. Quick dinner + leftovers for lunches during the week, in one simple recipe, is a huge win for busy families.