This delicious low carb Buffalo Chicken Salad is great to serve as an appetizer or a main dish. It is quick and easy to make with leftover shredded chicken!
Buffalo Chicken Salad is a lighter, lower carb take on the popular buffalo wings recipe that are typical happy hour food. It’s made with shredded chicken breast and a lightened up spicy buffalo sauce topped with crunchy cabbage, celery and carrots and served in lettuce cups!
This recipe is from Joy Bauer’s Superfood cookbook. She is the health and nutrition expert for NBC’s Today show and the author of 12 bestselling books. The book is full of 150 recipes with wholesome food containing one or more nutrients.
How to make buffalo chicken salad
- Measure out all of the ingredients for the buffalo sauce dressing in a large bowl.
- Combine until everything with a whisk until it is well mixed.
- Add the shredded chicken on top of the sauce right in the bowl.
- Stir to combine.
Now you can fill the lettuce cups with 3-4 tablespoons of the buffalo chicken salad mixture. Top with celery, cabbage and carrots on the side so everyone can add as they like. Serve with the remaining dressing on the side for extra drizzling.
Tips for making buffalo chicken
- Don’t skimp on the fresh herbs. The recipe calls for fresh chives, fresh parsley and/or fresh dill. While you can use some dried herbs in place of fresh ones, try to use at least one fresh herb to really help tie everything together.
- Shred the chicken into smaller pieces. This helps to coat the shredded chicken well with the buffalo ranch dressing so it delivers the best flavor!
- Buy pre-shredded carrots and cabbage to save time. I shred the cabbage using a wide vegetable peeler and use a grater for the carrots, but you can certainly buy them pre-shredded.
- Save the celery leaves. When slicing the celery, you might be tempted to toss the celery leaves, but they can add so much flavor to the buffalo chicken salad. Make sure to wash them, chop them up and use them to garnish the lettuce cups.
Frequently asked questions
I like to use shredded chicken breast for this recipe, but it’s also a great way to use up leftovers from a roast or rotisserie chicken. If you prefer, you can use chicken thighs that you can cook quickly in the air fryer.
The buffalo chicken will keep well in the fridge for up to 3 days. Keep it in an airtight container and it can be scooped right onto the lettuce cups.
Serving the chicken in the lettuce cups is great for an appetizer or low carb meal, but if you want a larger meal it’s great when piled on a burger bun with all of your favorite toppings.
For more summer salad recipes:
- Avocado Blueberry Salad
- Greek Salad
- Caesar Salad
- Corn Tomato Avocado Salad
- Cucumber Lemon Orzo Salad
- Tomato Caprese Salad
If you’ve tried this healthy-ish feel good Buffalo Chicken Salad recipe or any other recipe on FeelGoodFoodie, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some shots of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can repost on my stories!
Buffalo Chicken Salad
Ingredients
Dressing
- ½ cup low fat plan Greek yogurt
- 4 tablespoons hot sauce
- 2 tablespoons low fat mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped chives or parsley
- ¾ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon dried dill
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Chicken Salad
- 4 cups shredded cooked chicken breast
- 1 head Boston Bib or iceberg lettuce (about 16 leaves)
- 2 stalks celery thinly sliced
- 1 cup shredded red cabbage
- 1 cup shredded carrots
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine all the dressing ingredients and stir until well incorporated. Set ¼ cup of the dressing aside in a small serving bowl.
- Add the shredded chicken on top of the dressing and stir well to combine.
- Fill the lettuce cups with 3-4 tablespoons of the chicken salad mixture. Top with celery, cabbage and carrots, as desired. Serve with the remaining dressing on the side for drizzling.
