Barbecue Ranch Grilled Chicken Salad
on Jul 25, 2012, Updated Aug 21, 2024
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Barbecue ranch grilled chicken salad is the most flavorful salad you’ll ever eat, complete with a smoky and sweet dressing, grilled chicken, avocado, tomato, corn, romaine, and a whole lot of other vibrant veggies.
This Barbecue Ranch Chicken Salad recipe is wonderful. My kids eat it so well, which is great because feeding kids is hard! See here for some tips on feeding picky kids! I attribute my family’s love of this salad to the divine dressing, and no one complained about it as a main dish because the beans, corn, and chicken really make it a satisfying meal. I hope you try it because it is delicious and could very well change your mind about salad for dinner, too! You may also wan to add some Instant Pot Brown Rice and make it more of a Mexican rice bowl if you really wanted to!
Table of Contents:
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe:
- Easy to put together
- Simple ingredients you may already have, or are easy to find at the store
- Can be made to how you want to eat it! It’s a flexible recipe
- The dressing can go on practically anything or become a dip
Ingredients:
For the Dressing:
- Sour Cream– or Greek Yogurt
- Mayonaise
- Buttermilk
- Barbecue Sauce
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
- Dried Dill
- Salt and Pepper– to taste
For the Salad:
- Romaine Lettuce
- Cucumber
- Corn– Canned or Frozen. Even fresh if you have it!
- Tomatoes
- Avocado
- Black Beans
- Green Onions
- Grilled Chicken
See recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities
Frequently Asked Questions:
Dressed salad really doesn’t keep very well because it often gets soggy sitting in the dressing overnight. If you have leftovers that are without dressing, I recommend placing the veggies in a container lined with a paper towel to absorb liquid. They’ll keep for up to 2 days. Store the chicken and dressing separately, in their own containers. Each will keep for 5 to 7 days in the fridge.
This dressing is just divine and goes well on literally everything. I love it as a dip for fries, a topping for Easy Chicken Skillet Nachos , on top of eggs, and even roasted potatoes! I might even be tempted to eat it plain; it’s that good!
Yes! These ingredients are typical of a Southwestern salad, but take out any ingredients that don’t suit your palate. You can also add in other components that you like including radishes, bell peppers, or even jalapenos.
More Salad Recipes to Consider:
Did you make this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ review and share it on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest!
Barbecue Ranch Chicken Salad
Ingredients
For the barbecue ranch dressing:
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup buttermilk
- 1/3 cup barbecue sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon dried dill
- Salt and pepper to taste
For the salad:
- 2-3 hearts romaine lettuce, chopped
- 1 cucumber, diced
- 1 cup frozen or canned corn, thawed or drained
- 1 cup fresh tomatoes, diced
- 1 avocado, diced
- 1 14.5- ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 green onions, diced
- 1-2 cups grilled chicken, sliced thin
- Additional barbecue sauce for serving
Instructions
- For the dressing, simply add all of the ingredients to a medium bowl, and whisk until smooth.
- For the salad, just add all of the veggies and beans to a large bowl, and toss to combine. Add the chicken on top. Lightly dress and toss right before serving.
- Serve with additional dressing and barbecue sauce to fit individual tastes.
Notes
- To quickly thaw frozen corn, just rinse it in a sieve under warm water until it is thawed, about 30 seconds.
- I used original-style Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ Sauce and loved the level of sweet it had. Plus, it was on sale.
- The leftover dressing is amazing as fry sauce and on about anything else you can think to put it on.
I made this tonight for my family and they LOVED it!! Thank you!
Wooohooo! Thanks for the feedback Tiffany!
Salad bar is one of my favorite dinners (my kids probably wouldn’t agree…) and so I was so excited to try this, it was amazing! I loved it! It was so satisfying and Max said it was his favorite salad ever! Thanks!
Yea for kids who love salad! This one is any easy on to love though…
Holy smokes! This looks amazing!
yum! in a pinch do you think mixing ranch dressing & bbq sauce would work?
Yeah I think it would work great, but do try the dressing when you get a chance! It’s too good…
Hi Melissa! Thanks for linking up on my FB page! this looks delicious and I have pinned it for future reference!
Thanks for the pin! I heart free advertising 🙂
Beautiful photos Melissa! Your blog is awesome! I love the way you’ve designed it!
Now you just have to tell me all your Foodgawker secrets, they still hate me 🙂 Suggestions welcome!
This looks GREAT, I’m totally going to try it. And may I just say – WORLD CLASS food photos, girl! Excellent work!
It’s on the menu at our house tonight 🙂 With no stove or oven to cook with, this will be perfect!
This looks amazing… I LOVE salads as the main dish (I do have to do a good hearty bread as a side or the kids don’t do so well… :P) and this just looks too yummy. I’ll have to break it out soon!
I want to eat this right now! I hear you about salad as a main dish. I have only tried it a few times and every time I think Richard just chokes it down and then heads to McDondald’s while I sleep.
I normally plan on dessert when it is a veggie heavy meal… no one minds either.