Easy and quick BBQ chicken salad loaded with healthy ingredients like tomatoes, avocado, corn, black beans, red onion, and cilantro. This salad has a quick “shortcut” for the chicken and the best creamy cilantro-ranch dressing.
- Prep time: 30 minutes
- Total time: 30 minutes
- Servings: 4 servings
- Calories: 788kcal
- Cost: $11.05
BBQ Chicken Salad Shortcut Ideas
Rotisserie chicken: Using rotisserie chicken is a huge time saver! And speaking of a quick prep time, you can buy rotisserie chicken meat that has already been pulled from the bones and shredded to make this salad even faster.
Pre-made BBQ sauce: Store-bought BBQ sauce is also a huge time saver (especially with the rotisserie chicken — it takes only a few minutes of prep time!). If you want to make your own or have some leftover, then by all means use it! I highly recommend Stubbs® or Sweet Baby Ray’s® in this recipe (not sponsored).
Dressing: The dressing is pretty quick to whip together, but if you’re in a pinch I recommend Bolthouse® Cilantro Avocado dressing (not sponsored). It’s the most similar to the homemade dressing I’m sharing in the recipe card.
Guacamole: If you don’t have the time to chop up an avocado or can’t find a ripe one, store-bought guacamole will work in a pinch. You’ll still get that creamy element and flavor from the guacamole.
INGREDIENTS
Chicken
2 and 1/2 cups rotisserie chicken, shredded
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons BBQ sauce Stubbs (or similar high-quality)
Salad
1 head of green lettuce (~8 cups lightly packed salad)
1 cup black beans, drained & rinsed
1 cup frozen corn, (or use canned southwestern corn)
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup chopped cilantro, finely chopped
1/2 cup red onion, diced (See Note 1)
1 large ripe avocado
Optional: Cheddar cheese, store-bought tortilla strips (See Note 2)
Dressing
3/4 cup cilantro, gently packed into measure (~1/2 of a large bunch)
1-2 large limes (2 tablespoons lime juice and 1/2 tsp. zest)
2 tablespoons prepared ranch mix (dry, unprepared)
1/2 – 1 full jalapeno
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 cup regular full-fat mayo
1/2 cup buttermilk
Salt and pepper, to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
RECIPE NOTES
-
NUTRITION FACTS
- Serving: 4servings
- Calories: 788kcal
- Carbohydrates: 48g
- Protein:50gFat: 46g
- Saturated Fat: 9g
- Polyunsaturated Fat: 16g
- Monounsaturated Fat: 11g
- Trans Fat: 1g
- Cholesterol: 159mg
- Sodium: 1200mg
- Potassium: 889mg
- Fiber: 11g
- Sugar: 18g
- Vitamin A: 1092IU
- Vitamin C: 23mg
- Calcium:98mg
- Iron:2mg
- We do our best to provide accurate nutritional analysis for our recipes. Our nutritional data is calculated using a third-party algorithm and may vary, based on individual cooking styles, measurements, and ingredient sizes. Please use this information for comparison purposes and consult a health professional for nutrition guidance as needed.Source: chelseasmessyapron.com ~ Image: chelseamessyapron.com