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This BBQ chicken salad is one of my favorite salad recipes. It is the perfect meal for a hot summer day and a great lunch any day of the week.
Main Dish Salad Idea
We’ve been having a heat wave in Portland. And one thing is for sure, when the temperatures get above 90 degrees the last thing I want to do is turn on my oven! Salads seem to be the meal of choice around here when the temperatures are high.
Ideas for Leftover Chicken
This BBQ Chicken Salad is the perfect solution to leftover chicken. You can also buy a rotisserie chicken at the store. If you absolutely have to cook the chicken yourself, be sure and check out my post on how to cook chicken in the microwave or my favorite slow cooker shredded chicken recipe. Just add some BBQ sauce to the cooked chicken and you have what you need for this BBQ chicken salad.
How to Make BBQ Chicken Salad
Chicken. Take shredded or diced cooked chicken and coat with BBQ sauce.
Corn. I usually used canned corn but if you had fresh you could cut it off the cob. I like to roast it first on the grill.
Black Beans. Use canned or you can make your own with this Instant Pot Black Bean recipe.
Fresh Chopped Tomatoes. You could also use cherry tomatoes cut in half.
Cheese. We like Monterey Jack but Colby Jack or Cheddar works great too.
Avocado. Sliced or diced or you could use a scoop of guacamole instead.
Lettuce. We prefer romaine and sometimes add in some baby spinach too.
Dressing. Make a dressing of half Ranch dressing and half BBQ Sauce. Or you could just drizzle the salad with ranch dressing and then with BBQ sauce separately instead of mixing the two together first. Either way it’s delish!
Tortilla Strips. If I want a little more crunch I will add a handle full of tortilla strips, or broken tortilla chips work too.
This salad is so easy to put together. Just combine all your ingredients on top of a bed of lettuce. Drizzle with dressing and enjoy!.
This is one of those salads I can eat over and over again all summer and not get tired of it. I always top it with some tortilla strips for a little extra crunch. I’m a big fan of crunch in my salads.
Check out more of my favorite salad recipes:
- Easy Arugula Salad
- Strawberry Poppyseed Salad
- Strawberry Spinach Salad
- Steak Salad, and
- Crunchy Asian Chicken Salad
For all of my other favorite kitchen products and tools visit my Amazon Store.
Did you know I wrote a cookbook? Check out the Holiday Slow Cooker Cookbook for 100 delicious recipes
BBQ Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts shredded chicken covered in your favorite BBQ Sauce
- 1/3 cup bbq sauce
- 6 cups Romaine lettuce
- 1 cup corn drained
- 1 cup black beans drained
- 1/2 cup Monterey Jack cheese grated
- 1 tomato diced
- 1 avocado diced
- Tortilla strips
- 1/4 cup ranch dressing
- 1/4 cup bbq sauce
- 1 cup tortilla strips
Instructions
- Cook and shredded chicken. Cover in 1/3 cup of bbq sauce or more if needed.
- Combine romaine lettuce, corn, black beans Monterey Jack cheese, tomato, avocado.
- Mix together 1/4 cup ranch dressing and 1/4 cup bbq sauce and add to salad, stir to coat. I prefer to just drizzle the two separately over the salad and then toss.
- Garnish with tortilla strips
k a t y says
Hehe, don’t know how it happened, but your chicken breast link takes you to my blog! 😉
FoodontheTable says
Looks yummy and healthy!
MelanieL says
Sorry about your “off” day but your salad looks amazing! I have half a rotisserrie chicken in my frig that would be perfect mixed with bbq sauce then added to this salad! Thanks for another great “ingredient list”!!
kelly says
i will be making this, i have a southwestern one that is similar, just cook the chicken in broth and some cumin.
paradise cafe has a great bbq chopped salad but i think it would so much better at home.
favorite summer salads are strawberry spinach and a good greek salad!
sorry about your plate and lunch!
Beth says
I am making this soon! Looks so good!