BBQ Chicken Salad is a better-than-the-original riff of the discontinued Panera fan favorite. Loaded with Tex-Mex flavor, color, and texture, it’s a delicious solution to a satisfying salad and makes a well-balanced lunch on-the-go.
A truly good salad should be chocked full of yummy ingredients while keeping the cost down. Luckily, I’ve nearly perfected the art! With a repertoire that includes enticing selections such as Winter Fruits Salad, Strawberry Poppyseed Salad, Traditional Cobb Salad, and homemade dressings to match.
What’s to Love about this Salad…
Chock full of high protein ingredients, BBQ Chicken Salad satiates and sustains your hunger. No more falling victim to the I-ate-a salad-for-dinner-only-to-be-hungry-a-few-hours-later cycle.
Not only will this homemade BBQ Chicken Salad make you do a double take for the discontinued Panera BBQ Chicken Salad, but it's also loaded with more toppings than the original!
It’s sweet, tangy, and full of tantalizing textures. All the archetypal summer backyard barbecue flavors accessible year-round. Bye-bye winter blues.
Ingredients and Notes
Core Salad Ingredients:
- Chicken. Boneless, skinless chicken breast grilled to perfection and slathered with delicious barbecue sauce. If you don’t want to grill outside, use sauté chicken breasts or rotisserie chicken for even faster prep.
Sauteed Chicken Substitution. Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium high heat. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper to taste. Saute in skillet, flipping once until cooked through, about 3-4 minutes per side. Let cool before dicing into bite-size pieces.
- Barbecue Sauce. The flavor star of this salad! We like Sweet Baby Ray’s around here but use your favorite brand.
- Green Leaf Lettuce. The buttery crispness of green leaf pairs perfectly with the satisfying variety of tex mex toppings.
- Diced Tomatoes. For this particular salad, I prefer diced vine-ripened tomatoes over cherry tomatoes. The texture and sizing works better with the rest of the flavors.
- Black Beans. Canned black beans are an easy addition that brings oodles of fiber and potassium to the salad.
- Corn. Since most of us don’t have access to fresh corn year-round, I've suggested using frozen corn kernels for the recipe. (It’s a trick I use in my Black Bean Corn Salad too!)
- Ranch Dressing. Your preferred brand or make a Healthy Yogurt Ranch for fresh taste minus the calories.
Optional Toppings. Pick what you like & leave the rest.
- Crispy Tortilla Strips.
- Red Onion or Green Onion.
- Avocado Slices.
- Chopped Cilantro.
- Shredded Cheddar Cheese and Monterey Jack.
- Crispy Onion Strings.
Serving Ideas
It’s just so versatile!
- Hot or Cold. Some days I like to serve the chicken and black beans warm over a cold bed of greens. Other times, I prefer the entire recipe served cold.
- Perfect for meal prep. Pack a few days in advance for school lunch and/or work. I pack the tortilla strips and dressing separately.
- Pair with a Soup. Although more than filling all by its lonesome, pair it with Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Add more Tex-mex. Serve with tortilla chips & Queso Blanco or Avocado Crema
- Rolls. Soft dinner rolls, or a breadbasket with butter, would be an elegant addition to serve guests.
FAQs
Refrigerated chicken, even when used in salads, may not be as juicy and flavorful as desired. While certain salads have such a diversity of flavors where this integrates well, warming the chicken before adding it into your salad makes the best tasting recipe.
Whether it’s a lettuce chicken salad or a mayo one, it comes down to texture preference. Sauces and dressings will stick better to shredded chicken than to diced cubes.
While we should all strive to eat a good amount of vegetables, salad’s “healthiness level” is more dependent on the toppings and dressing. Boneless, skinless chicken breast adds protein and is low in saturated fat. This Grilled Chicken Salad fits well into a healthy eating lifestyle, as long as the ingredients are balanced.
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BBQ Chicken Salad
Ingredients
Chicken
- 2 chicken breasts boneless, skinless
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- salt & pepper
- BBQ Sauce
Salad Mix
- 1 cup Shredded Cheddar & Jack Cheese
- 1 can Black Beans 14.5 ounces
- 1 cup Corn Fresh or Frozen
- 10 ounces Lettuce Romaine or Green Leaf
- 1 ½ cup Diced Tomatoes
- ¼ cup Red Onion diced
- ½ avocado chopped or sliced
- 2 tablespoon Cilantro Optional
- ½ cup Ranch Dressing
- Tortilla Strips
Instructions
- Chop, rinse and spin 10 ounces Lettuce and arrange on a platter or in a large salad bowl. Arrange remaining salad ingredients (1 can Black Beans, 1 cup Corn, 1 ½ cup Diced Tomatoes, ¼ cup Red Onion, ½ avocado sliced). Sprinkle 2 tablespoon Cilantro and 1 cup Shredded Cheddar & Jack Cheese over lettuce.
- Preheat a grill to medium-high heat. If desired, pound 2 chicken breasts to an even thickness. Brush both sides of the chicken breast with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill on one side for 4 minutes, flip, brush the grilled sides with barbecue sauce, then grill the other side for 3 to 4 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Remove to a serving plate and brush the other grilled side with barbecue sauce. Cover and let rest for 5 minutes, then chop into bite-sized pieces.
- Top the salad with chicken. Pour ½ cup Ranch Dressing and BBQ Sauce on top of the salad and gently toss to combine. Serve immediately, topped with Tortilla Strips
Recipe Notes
- You can use a variety of dressings, from blue cheese or French to vinaigrettes. Just be sure to wait to add the dressing just before serving.
- Season with salt or pepper. Freshly cracked pepper on a salad makes the flavors pop!
- Keep all of the ingredients bite sized. You can finely chop the bacon, but everything else should be about the same size for the perfect bite.
Gwen says
Really enjoyed this salad.
David says
Used blue cheese instead of ranch but still good.
Charles says
Yum! Perfect textures.
Sally says
Made this salad last night and it was absolutely delicious.
Tamaira says
Thank you for the recipe!