Before you order a $10 Buffalo Chicken Salad on campus, consider assembling this.
If you have leftover cooked chicken in the fridge, a few vegetable staples, Ranch dressing, and Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce, you can make your own version of this flavorful-and-filling Buffalo Chicken Salad for just under…wait for it…$5. 💥
Here’s how:
1. Chop and Shred
Chop about 2 cups of romaine lettuce or whatever lettuce you happen to have-on-hand.
Also, chop any vegetable toppings. We went with cucumber, tomato, and red onion. If you decide to use red onion as well, slice it thin so it won’t over-power the rest of the salad.
Then shred about 1 cup of last night’s cooked chicken with a fork. No leftover chicken? No problem. Here is a quick way to cook a chicken breast in the skillet.
2. Make The Buffalo Wing Dressing
Simply mix 1/4 cup of low-fat Ranch Dressing with 1 tablespoon of Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce.
Sriracha sauce would work as a substitute for the wing sauce – but then this salad wouldn’t be a Buffalo Chicken Salad. It would be a Sriracha Chicken Salad – sounds delicious as well!
Add a pinch (or two) of black pepper and you’ll notice the flavors in the dressing really liven up!
3. Assemble and Dig-In!
Set the chopped veggies and shredded chicken on top of the crisp lettuce and you instantly get THE BEST looking salad EVER!
Add the dressing and it looks even better!
4. Level It Up!
Finally, a handful of shredded cheese takes this hearty salad over-the-top – if you like cheese on your salad.
According to our basic math skills, this D.I.Y version will run you about $5 in ingredients vs. paying double (or more) for the on-campus version.
Keep scrolling for the recipe below. ⬇
Happy Cooking!
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Buffalo Chicken Salad with Ranch-Wing-Sauce Salad Dressing
MAKES: 1 Salad TIME: About 10 Minutes COST: Approx. $2.80
Ingredients
2 cups chopped romaine lettuce
1/2 cup diced tomato
1/2 cup diced cucumber
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
1 cup cooked chicken breast, shredded with a fork
1/4 cup low-fat ranch dressing
1 tablespoon Frank’s Buffalo Wing Sauce
Pinch or two black pepper
1/4 cup shredded cheese (optional)
Steps
Add chopped lettuce to a serving bowl. Top with tomato, cucumber, sliced red onion and shredded chicken.
To make the dressing, in a small bowl whisk together the ranch dressing, wing sauce and black pepper. Pour dressing over salad and add shredded cheese (if using). Enjoy!
🌟BEFORE YOU GET STARTED!!! If you make it, we’d truly appreciate your rating for this recipe at the top of this post. No names, no fuss—and it helps us know how we’re doing. Thanks!
Brent Garell – (hey that’s me) is founder of College Recipe Cafe, and author of The Cook-a-Palooza Experience. He also teaches how to blend cooking 101 with today’s AI tools at Cooking Pro Jumpstart.
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