Canyon Ranch Buffalo Chicken Salad
Canyon Ranch Corporate Chef Scott Uehlein shows you how to create a delicious, easy, healthy game-day party dish, Buffalo Chicken Salad. Who needs those messy bones and sticky fingers and fat calories? This has all of the flavor of wings, plus flavor and sophistication.
Ingredients
Buffalo Sauce
- ⅔ cup red bell pepper -diced
- ½ cup yellow bell pepper - diced
- ⅔ cup onion - diced
- 3 cloves fresh garlic - minced
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons chili flakes
- 2 teaspoons Sea Salt
- ¾ cup white distilled vinegar
- ¾ cup water
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
Chicken
- 4 skinless chicken breast halves - boned and defatted
- ⅓ cup buttermilk (reduced calorie)
- Pinch freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon Sea Salt
- Pinch freshly ground black pepper
Bleu Cheese Dressing
- ⅔ cup buttermilk (reduced calorie)
- ⅓ cup reduced calorie mayonnaise
- ½ cup nonfat sour cream
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 ¼ teaspoons dry mustard
- 1 ¼ teaspoons McCormick® Granulated Garlic
- 1 ¼ teaspoons onion powder
- 1 ½ tablespoons white vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon Sea Salt
- 1 tablespoon white wine
- ½ cup crumbled bleu cheese or Roquefort cheese
Salad
- 4 cups green leaf lettuce
- 2 stalks celery - cut into 2-inch by 1/2-inch sticks
- 1 large cucumber - cut into 2-inch x 1/2-inch sticks
- 1 large carrots - cut into 2-inch x 1/2-inch sticks
- ½ cup Bleu Cheese Salad Dressing
Instructions
Sauce
- Combine all ingredients except for butter in medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook until vegetables are soft and liquid has reduced by half. Cool slightly and place in blender. Add butter and puree until smooth. Refrigerate.
Chicken
- Pound chicken breasts to 1/2 inch thick. Combine buttermilk and pepper in a shallow bowl. Add chicken and marinate for at least 2 hours.
- Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. In a shallow bowl, combine flour, paprika, salt and 2nd pepper. Mix well. Dredge chicken breasts in seasoned flour and place in hot pan. Sauté over medium heat until golden brown on each side, about 3 to 5 minutes. If necessary, transfer to 400° to finish cooking.
Dressing
- In a medium bowl, combine all dressing ingredients except for cheese and mix well. Add cheese and gently stir to combine.
Assemble Salad
- Divide carrots, cucumber and celery stick into 4 equal portions. Place 1 cup greens on bottom of a large plate. Top with carrots, cucumber and celery sticks. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons bleu cheese dressing. Slice each chicken breast and place over vegetables. Top with 2 tablespoons buffalo sauce.
Video
Spa Index Kitchen Notes
Nutrition
I really dislike most bottled bleu cheese dressings, they taste fake. This was good. The chicken — good (used leftover chicken tenders I’d already made before), and made the rest of the salad with some of the hot sauce. A repeater and since I don’t even like buffalo wings, that’s saying something! Thanks Chef.
This was very good. I confess I already had some frozen breaded chicken tenderloins from Trader Joe’s which are pretty decent, and I just made the rest of the salad. My husband and son absolutely loved this and have asked for it.
awesome salad, really awesome only change i made was it’s good with sliced or chunked apples, too
Very good.