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BBQ Chicken Salad with Homemade Buttermilk Ranch

BBQ Chicken Salad with Homemade Buttermilk Ranch - fresh corn, black beans, tomatoes, cheese, avocado, BBQ chicken, & homemade ranch. It's the perfect healthy but filling meal!
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Chill Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings 8
Author Plum Street Collective

Ingredients

BBQ Chicken (see my Oven Baked BBQ Chicken Recipe here)

  • plus extra bbq sauce to coat chicken

Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 teaspoon vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons dried chives
  • 2 teaspoons dried parsley
  • 1 teaspoon dried dill
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt (Lawry's)
  • 1/8 teaspoon dry mustard powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Salad Ingredients

  • 1 head romaine lettuce
  • 1 head green leaf lettuce
  • 3-4 ears, corn on the cob (cooked lightly, chilled, and cut off the cob)
  • 10-16 ounces grape tomatoes, diced
  • 1-2 avocados, diced
  • 1/2-1 red onion, diced
  • 1-2 cups Monterey jack cheese, grated
  • 1 can black beans (strained but not rinsed)
  • 1 package tortilla strips (3.5 oz) (or you can just used crushed up tortilla chips)
  • 2-3 limes, to squeeze fresh lime juice onto salad before serving

Instructions

BBQ Chicken

  • If you're using leftover BBQ Chicken, slice it up cold and set aside. Leftovers make it really easy to throw this salad together.
  • If you're making the BBQ chicken the day of making this salad, make the chicken first (and preferably earlier in the day if you have time). If you make it up early then you can have it easily sliced and ready to go when it's time to build the salad.
    After you slice the chicken, toss it in extra bbq sauce.
  • Once you have the BBQ chicken sliced and ready to go, you can begin prepping the rest of the salad.

Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

  • Once the chicken is ready, you'll want to start on the dressing because it tastes best chilled. You can even make a day before.
  • To make, simply blend all the ingredients in a high-speed blender or food processor until smooth.
  • Pour into an airtight container (I like to use a glass jar with a lid), and keep in the fridge until chilled.
    Tastes best when chilled for at least 1 hour.
  • We LOVE this dressing and it tastes great stored for up to a week in the fridge, in an airtight container.

Assembling the Salad

  • Start by washing and chopping your greens.
  • Once cleaned, dried, and chopped, place in a large salad bowl. I like to mix the greens together.
  • Next, add the chopped corn off the cob, the strained black beans, the chopped tomatoes, cheese, red onion, and tortilla strips. You can add the avocado last if you'd like to keep the avocados from getting mushy while you toss the salad.
  • Generously drench the salad in the Homemade Buttermilk ranch, and toss to combine! (Then add the avocado if you haven't already.)
    Squeeze fresh lime juice on top before serving.
  • Because there are so many sticky components of this salad, it can be a bit messy when tossing it, so if you're serving it to guests for dinner, you could make up small bowls or plates of this salad for everyone and let them toss their own. Or you could just lay out all the ingredients and they can build their own.
    Just don't forget the delicious homemade ranch! It's always a hit. Enjoy!