Southern BBQ Chicken Salad with Barbecue Ranch Dressing

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!

Jump to:

• Why Choose This Recipe
• Ingredient Notes
• Step by Step Instructions
• Recipe FAQs and Expert Tips
• Related Recipes
• Southern BBQ Chicken Salad Recipe

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 it in individual salad or low bowls.
• Chop and clean the iceberg and romaine lettuce
• Add the lettuce to the bowls.
• Grate the cheese if you're not using pre-shredded, and sprinkle over the lettuce.
• 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 slice 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, and 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

Related Recipes

• Caribbean Chicken Salad
• Ham and Cheese Roll Ups
• Roast Beef Salad
• Dill Pickle Potato Salad

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