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Buffalo Chicken Salad is a lighter, lower carb take on the popular buffalo wings recipe that is 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 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
- Greek Orzo Salad
- Tuna Pasta Salad
- Chickpea Couscous Salad
- Avocado Blueberry 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
Video
Ingredients
Dressing
- ½ cup low fat plain 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 Lettuce 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.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
I am so in love with your website. It started with the stuffed peppers, date&pecan tarts, zucchini enchiladas (TWICE) and now this delightful dinner that fed 5 hungry teens (my 3 and 2 of their friends) plus me and my hubby…. the plates were clean! Thank you so much for producing such great content of healthy, colorful, and flavorful foods Yumna. We’re grateful
Aww that makes me so happy!! Appreciate you taking the time to share that sweet comment with me. It made my day!! Thank you!!
It’s delicious keep them coming. I’m a diabetic and I could really use ur recipes.
Do u have recipes for diabetes?
Glad these are helpful! I don’t have them specifically mentioned as diabetes friendly unfortunately.
Was looking for a healthy recipe for lunch and found this one! It was delicious. This was my second, VERY yummy recipe from this site. Will search for others!
So happy to hear that!! Thank you!
Love this recipe! I will definitely be making again! I used green onions and cilantro in the sauce and used an immersion blender to mix it all up. Super easy and healthy. 5 stars from me!
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much for sharing!
My family has been trying to eat healthier and love anything buffalo chicken. I was a little afraid of the Greek yogurt because I am normally not a fan. I was pleasantly surprised. These tasted great. I’m glad to now have a healthier option when it comes to buffalo chicken.
So glad you were pleasantly surprised! Thank you!
Tried this recipe.It turned out super delicious .
I didn’t have Red cabbage so instead of red ,I added green cabbage.
So glad to hear it!! Thanks so much for sharing!