Buffalo Chicken Salad

Ah, March. The most wonderful time of the year. The best of college basketball & nutrition messages all rolled into one month.

Not only do we celebrate college basketball this month, but March is also National Nutrition month! The theme is “Enjoy the taste of eating right.” Well, if this is eating right, then I don’t wanna be wrong. I’d like to think that if Coach Miles (head basketball coach for Nebraska) was coming to lunch, this is what I would serve him. It’s healthy, colorful, and tastes like something a champion would eat.

I have always been a fan of buffalo chicken. Combine that with a salad and I’ll be your best friend for life. One of my favorite local restaurants serves the best buffalo chicken salad, but it’s usually swimming in a sea of blue cheese dressing. I love blue cheese, but my blood pressure does not. This salad is a fresh take on buffalo chicken, because you don’t have to fry chicken or dump a pound of blue cheese on it for it to taste good. Hot sauce is also a great way to add flavor to your foods without adding a lot of calories or sodium. And you don’t have to use the entire bottle….a little goes a long way!

Buffalo Chicken Salad

If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll notice that I’m a little obsessed with college basketball. For the last 6 years, my husband and I have had season tickets for the Nebraska men’s basketball games. The funny thing is, 6 years ago this was not really cool because our team was not that great. Now 6 years later, we have some of the best seats in the house and a really talented team. I grew up watching both my brothers play high school basketball and I traveled with my parents all over the state watching game after game. Every year my family would fill out our brackets and watch the NCAA tournament. It was quite the tradition! Now that I’m teaching at Nebraska, I feel even more dedicated to cheering on my huskers. We’ll see if they can make it to the NCAA tournament this year. It would be the first time in 16 years!

Light Ranch Dressing

The dressing I make for this salad is divine. Yes, you can make your own ranch dressing using light mayo and greek yogurt. It’s light, fresh, and will definitely cool your mouth after the buffalo chicken hotness.

I’ll definitely be serving this up for our NCAA basketball watch parties this month. Happy National Nutrition month!

Buffalo Chicken Salad

25 minutes
17 ingredients
4 steps

Ingredients

Salad:
8oz Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
2 teaspoons hot sauce
1 Tablespoon chopped green onions
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup shredded red cabbage
1/2 cup diced fresh tomatoes
1 hard boiled egg, sliced
4-5 cups romaine lettuce
Dressing:
1/4 cup 1% milk
2 tablespoons light mayonnaise
1 (6oz) container nonfat plain greek yogurt
1/2 teaspoon dill
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried chives
1/4 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

Instructions

In a medium size saucepan, cover uncooked chicken with water and bring to a boil. Once chicken is fully cooked, remove from heat and let cool. Once chicken has cooled, shred chicken in large pieces.
Combine shredded chicken, hot sauce, and green onions.
Build your salad bowl using lettuce, carrots, red cabbage, diced tomatoes, sliced eggs, and top with buffalo chicken mixture.
To make the dressing,mix together milk, mayonnaise, greek yogurt, dried dill, pepper, dried chives, and worcestershire sauce. This makes enough for 2. Nutrition per serving (divide batch in half) Calories: 99, Sodium 188 mg, Carbs 7 g, Fat 4 g, and Protein 10 g.

Buffalo Chicken Salad

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