Your plate called. It wants you to make this Buffalo Chicken Taco Salad, stat!
Guys, I think I found an express pass to my husband’s heart.
It’s buffalo chicken anything. Pizza, won-ton cups, spaghetti squash, wings, dips, stuffed peppers, bananas… anything! Ok fine, I made that last one up. But seriously, this man LIGHTS UP when I break out the Frank’s Red Hot.
Pun intended.
Today I get to add another buffalo chicken dish to our arsenal that won’t result in a purchase of new stretchy pants for yours truly. It also won’t result in me doing any actual cooking since I can snag leftover chicken breast from the fridge and have this bad boy on the table in a matter of minutes.
Buffalo Chicken Taco Salad: it’s a game changer, folks!
I feel like us food bloggers say that way too often… but in what world would a tasty buffalo chicken taco salad not jazz up your salad routine? If you’re vegetarian? Vegan even? Buffalo Chickpea Taco Salad. BAM! Game changed.
Fine, I’ll go sit in the corner… but I still really want to buffalo my chickpeas.
Not to be confused with my chickpea.
I’ll behave one of these days. Until then, let’s show Taco Tuesday what we’re all about with this buffalo chicken taco salad recipe!
Buffalo Chicken Taco Salad
This buffalo sauced chicken salad is a must-make and I’m so stoked for you to try it!
Jazz it up with all your favorite toppings. Cilantro, rice, bell peppers, and guacamole… anything goes! Empty your crisper and put all those tasty veggies to good use.
Let’s get our recipe on!
Buffalo Chicken Taco Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked chopped/shredded chicken
- 3 TBSP Frank’s Red Hot sauce or equivalent
- 2 TBSP butter
- 6-8 oz chopped romaine lettuce
- 1 jalapeno sliced
- 1/2-1 cup chopped/diced tomato
- 1/4-1/2 cup black beans drained and rinsed
- 1/4-1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 6-8 cheesy tortilla chips
DRESSING OPTIONS:
- ranch with a splash of hot sauce
- blue cheese dressing
- salsa and guacamole
TASTY TOPPINGS (choose your favorites)
- fresh avocado
- sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
- fresh cilantro
- guacamole
- pico de gallo
- salsa verde
- salsa
Instructions
- Prep your chicken (see notes below) and chop your veggies for the salad.
- Melt butter and combine with hot sauce, whisking to mix.
- Pour sauce over chicken and serve over lettuce with all your favorite toppings from the list above!
- Drizzle with dressing of choice (I opted for ranch and a hearty drizzle of hot sauce) and dig in.
Notes
Nutrition
special diets and swaps
Vegetarian + Vegan friends: Guys, I was so super serious about those chickpeas! Roast up some tasty little legumes via this uber easy method (season them with salt, pepper, and garlic powder) and toss them in the homemade butter-based buffalo sauce above or swap some earth balance for the buttah ooooor go super spicy and just use the hot sauce to saucify the chickpeas. Buffalo cauliflower is also a super-tasty + super Pinterest-worthy swap if you’re in the market for some extra veg.
so . . . how was it?!
This Buffalo Chicken Taco Salad was PHENOMENAL! It’s essentially the salad counterpart of my buffalo chicken spaghetti squash bowls which makes me super giddy, because I now have TWO super tasty lightened up ways to get my buffalo chicken fix! Cue happy dance.
PS: If your local stores carry Late July tortilla chips… run, don’t walk to those bad boys! I’m a huge fan of using their Jalapeño Lime and Buffalo Queso corn chips as crunchy salad toppers. Paul and I stumbled upon them recently and are now super obsessed. The Jalapeño ones taste like a kicked-up version of Cool Ranch Doritos without the pesky + sketchy additives; I’m in love!
This delicousness is part of my Love Your Leftovers blog series.
past installments include:
- Taco Stuffed Sweet Potatoes – perfect for taco night leftovers!
- Shortcut Taco Soup
- Vegetarian Chili Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
- Spaghetti Squash Burrito Bowls
- Spicy Sriracha Lime Chicken Zoodle Soup
Questions & Reviews
My husband and I just loved this. It is so good. It is a winner. I will be making this again.
I’m so thrilled you enjoyed the recipe, Barb — thank you! The buffalo chickpeas are amazing in soft tacos too. So versatile!
This was so delicious, my husband and I couldn’t stop eating it. He said I could eat this once a week. It was easy and pretty healthy. YUMMY
Ahhhh yay! So glad y’all love it, Wilma! xo
SUCH A GREAT DISH!!!
With so many social shares, I just knew I had to try this and it didn’t disappoint.
YUM!!!!
I’m so stoked it’s been a hit, thank you Claire! xo
Your husband sounds like mine, the spicier the better! And yes to Frank’s Hot Sauce! I love to fix taco salads and next time I get around to it I am definitely going to give this recipe a whirl. It sounds easy and delicious and, since I always have some type of cooked chicken in the fridge, the perfect go-to dinner.
Hope you adore it Linda, thank you! You can even hand the hot sauce over to your hubs and let him make his extraaaa spicy! hehe
This was good and Easy. I like jalapenos but i didn scrape out the seeds and it was mUch too spicy.
Oh my! Hubby would love this! Pinning now! Thanks for sharing!! Insanely adorable and delicious!
This salad was amazing! It was a big hit in our house and will be back on the menu very soon!
So happy to hear it Mandy! Thank you!! 🙂
LOVE this go-to recipe!!! so simple, this is seriously perfect for the workweek grind
Thank you Amelie!
I already had dinner tonight. After seeing/reading this I want to eat it right now! It sounds incredibly tasty.
Thanks Sandra!!! <3 It's seriously so good, we can't wait to make it again!
This salad would definitely be the express ticket to my boyfriend’s heart! He’s all about some shredded saucey meat, and this flavor-blasted refreshing salad looks perfect for these toasty evenings we’ve been having. I could definitely see this being a staple in my house, for sure!
Aw thanks Julia! Can’t wait for y’all to try it! 🙂