Take your taste buds to the southwest with this loaded salad topped with a creamy barbecue salad dressing! Packed with chopped, shredded or last night's leftover grilled chicken and tossed with fresh lettuce, black beans, olives, and more this easy summer dinner comes together in a snap!
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Why Choose This Recipe
- Quick and easy dinner recipe!
- Full of healthy ingredients like chicken, black beans, hard boiled eggs, lettuces and avocados!
- Can be prepped ahead of time so all you have to do is add the dressing later!
Ingredient Notes
- Barbecue Sauce - I prefer Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue because it's a little sweeter but any brand with work.
- Ranch Dressing - I only use Hidden Valley Ranch made from the mix that calls for milk. Pre-bottled or the kind made with buttermilk has a bitter tang to it that I don't care for.
- Chicken- You can use any kind of cooked chicken you would like. Rotisserie chicken, baked chicken, or leftover chicken all work great!
- Lettuces - You can add chopped Spinach to the chopped iceberg and chopped romaine lettuces if you would like.
- Hard Boiled Eggs - these are easiest to prepare in an Instant Pot.
- Avocados - here's some instruction on how to cut and peel an avocado.
- Cheese - you can grate your own or just pick up a bag of shredded cheese from the store. I like the fiesta blend.
Step by Step Instructions
- You can either make this in one big bowl or prepare in individual salad or low bowls.
- Chop and clean the iceberg and romaine lettuces
- Add the lettuces to the bowls.
- Grate the cheese if you're not using pre-shredded and sprinkle over the lettuces.
- Drain and rinse the black beans and sprinkle them on the salad.
- Halve, peel, and slice or chop up the avocados. and add them over the black beans. I usually chop mine up but reserve some slices of avocado for garnish.
- Slice up the olives if necessary and add them to the salad.
- Remove the shells from the hard boiled eggs and either slices or chop up the eggs and add them to the top.
- Add the cooked chopped chicken and the chopped red onions.
- Whisk together the ranch dressing and the barbecue sauce.
- If you are preparing this salad for later don't add the dressing yet. Cover the salad and the dressing separately with saran wrap, put them in the fridge until you're ready to serve the salad.
- Add the barbecue ranch dressing to the salad.
- Top with chili lime tortilla strips!
Recipe FAQs and Expert Tips
I would go with some 90 Minute Dinner Rolls or some hot Breadsticks!
Yes but be sure to drain it well.
Click on over to my recipe for Spicy BBQ Ranch Dressing for a version with a kick!
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Southern BBQ Chicken Salad Recipe
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 Dinner Salads 1x
- Category: Salad
- Method: Chopping
- Cuisine: American
Description
Take your taste buds to the southwest with this loaded salad topped with a creamy barbecue salad dressing! Packed with chopped, shredded or last night's leftover grilled chicken and tossed with fresh lettuce, black beans, olives, and more this easy summer dinner comes together in a snap!
Ingredients
- One head lettuce
- One Head Romaine Lettuce
- 3-4 cups Cooked Chopped Chicken
- 2 Avocados, peeled, pitted and chopped up
- 1 Can Olives, thinly sliced
- 1 Can Seasoned Black Beans, drained
- 4 Hard Boiled Eggs, shelled and chopped
- 2 cup Fiesta Blend Cheese
- ½ of a Large Red Onion Chopped up
- 4.5 oz Bag of Chili Lime Flavored Tortilla Strips (Trust me, you've got to add these)
- 1 cup Ranch Dressing (Made from the Hidden Valley Ranch Mix)
- 1 cup BBQ Sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray's)
Instructions
- Chop up and wash the iceberg and romaine lettuces.
- Drain and rinse the black beans.
- Peel, chop or slice up the avocados.
- Shell, slice or chop up the hard boiled eggs.
- Chop up the red onions.
- Chop up the cooked chicken.
- Divide the lettuces into 4 dinner salads or into one large bowl.
- Top the lettuce layer with shredded cheese, black beans, avocados, hard boiled eggs, chicken and red onions.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the ranch dressing and barbecue sauce together. Drizzle over the salads.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- For a kicky version the dressing try this Spicy BBQ Ranch!
- Barbecue Sauce - I prefer Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue because it's a little sweeter but any brand with work.
- Ranch Dressing - I only use Hidden Valley Ranch made from the mix that calls for milk. Pre-bottled or the kind made with buttermilk has a bitter tang to it that I don't care for.
- I personally love to serve these in Low Bowls!
Keywords: BBQ chicken salad, southwest chicken salad, panera bbq chicken salad
Any nutritional analysis on this Site is based on an estimate, calculated by Nurtifox plugin (or other third-party source) from the individual ingredients in each recipe. Variations may occur for various reasons, including product availability and food preparation. We make no representation or warranty of the accuracy of this information.
