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Updated July 14, 2021
Healthy Grilled Buffalo Chicken Salad
During these hot summer months, it can sometimes be hard to make your way through a full meal.
That’s why salads are such a common choice, but sometimes they can be so bland-tasting.
We ended up trying something new and ended up with an amazing, fresh, and flavor-packed salad for any time.
This Healthy Grilled Buffalo Chicken Salad is a really great choice, with a huge variety of flavors while being super filling.
It’s super quick and easy to make, and you can even use leftover chicken breast from the night before if you’d prefer!
Now, onto the actual process of making this delicious salad!
The recipes are fairly straightforward salad material, but the real star is the grilled chicken that’s perfectly seasoned and sauced.
The sauce itself is a pretty standard buffalo sauce, which certainly isn’t a bad thing!
Of course, don’t forget the actual point of this, the salad!
The fresh greens and other veggies tie the whole thing together, adding a big mix of flavors that can’t be beaten.
For the grilled chicken:
For the chicken, we went the standard route of using boneless skinless chicken breasts!
The marinade is pretty straightforward, with the wet ingredients being hot sauce, honey-lime juice, and olive oil.
The spice mix is simple as well, with garlic powder, chili powder, salt, black pepper, paprika, and onion powder.
For the exact measurements and amounts, look below!
Grilled Buffalo Chicken
- 1.5-2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1/3 cup hot sauce (we used Frank’s)
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
For the salad:
As most salads are, this one is composed of a couple of key ingredients.
We used fresh baby spinach, as it adds a little bit of flavor but isn’t needlessly crunchy or watery.
Of course, you need texture in a salad to make it desirable, and we added plenty with some of the other veggies.
A bell pepper, cucumber, small red onion, and a stalk of celery add a huge variety of flavors and a lot of texture to this amazing salad.
Garnish with a little parsley and you’re ready to go!
Salad
- One bag of fresh baby spinach leaves
- One red bell pepper, sliced
- One large cucumber or 4-5 mini cucumbers, sliced
- Half of a small red onion sliced thinly
- 1 stalk of celery, sliced
- Parsley, for garnish
For the dressing:
Of course, you can’t have a salad without dressing!
That’s why we ended up with this delicious, slightly spicy dressing that really ties the whole salad together.
We used greek yogurt but you can use sour cream instead as the base, it’s entirely up to personal preference.
With some salt, dried dill, paprika, onion powder, salt, pepper, and garlic powder, you won’t be lacking flavor here.
On top of that, there’s some additional chili powder and a few tablespoons of hot sauce for some added kick.
For the exact measurements, look below!
Spicy dressing:
- 1 cup greek yogurt (or sour cream)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon dried dill
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 3-5 tablespoons of hot sauce, depending upon your heat preference
Directions:
In a small mixing bowl, combine the lime juice, honey, and hot sauce while whisking to combine.
Then, add in the garlic powder, chili powder, salt, black pepper, paprika, and onion powder.
Combine them thoroughly and you’re ready for the next step!
Whisk in the olive oil and your marinade is done.
Pour the marinade into a Ziploc bag and add your chicken breasts.
Marinate in the fridge for three to four hours, making sure they don’t stay too long.
Now that your chicken is done marinating, it’s time to finally grill it!
Preheat your grill, we want it nice and hot to develop some nice grill marks on the chicken.
Place the chicken onto the grill and cook for 5-7 minutes, flipping when the time is up.
Grill for another 5-7 minutes or until a thermometer reads 165 degrees F.
Remove the chicken from the grill and allow it to rest.
Once cooled, slice the chicken for topping the salad.
How you want it sliced it somewhat up to you, we just did some fairly standard, relatively thick slices.
Chop your vegetables, you don’t need to be perfect but you want bite-sized pieces.
In a large bowl, combine the chopped vegetables with the baby spinach.
Try and avoid getting any seeds from the pepper in the mix.
Once this step is done you’ll want to move relatively quickly if you’re serving the salad immediately.
Layer the sliced chicken over the top of the salad, don’t worry about overcrowding the top as the dressing will find its way down just fine.
Mix the dressing ingredients and drizzle generously over the salad.
If you’re just making this for yourself or as a meal prep dish, you can mix the salad here if you’d prefer.
You’re just about ready to serve this delicious salad, if you’re going to make any additions here is the best time to do it.
Croutons are a salad classic, though we personally felt they added a bit TOO much crunch.
Garnish with parsley to serve.
Keep some of the dressing in case anyone wants extra.
Serve in a bowl or plate, and dig in!
Store leftovers in a covered bowl or large Tupperware container, and keep them in the fridge.
More epic summer salads you need to try!
Final Thoughts
This refreshing grilled chicken salad is SO refreshing and really hits the spot on those dry, hot summer days.
It pairs well with most outdoor summer BBQ or grilling foods and is a great choice for a party. (scale up the ingredients!!)
As mentioned in the recipe, you can very easily meal prep this salad and enjoy it throughout the week.
If you’re looking for some things to pair with this delicious salad, we have plenty of wonderful summer-appropriate recipes available for you!
Thank you so much for reading, we hope you try and enjoy this recipe as much as we did, whether it’s just for you or for your whole family!