BBQ Ranch Chicken Salad
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy
Dinner tonight is BBQ Ranch Chicken Salad! This BBQ chicken salad recipe combines crisp lettuce, fresh veggies, tender barbecue chicken, and a delicious dressing to tie it all together. It’s the perfect dinner for warm weather!
It’s summer salad season, and we’re all in!
During grilling season, it feels like we always have at least one easy side salad in the fridge, whether it’s a crunchy broccoli salad, gluten-free Italian pasta salad, or classic potato salad, but we definitely get our fill of main dish salads, too.
Take this BBQ Ranch Chicken Salad recipe. It’s a great recipe for hot weather, since it doesn’t involve much cooking (you can even use leftovers!), and comes together in a flash–perfect for longer days at the pool or when it’s just too hot to cook.
This colorful salad combines fresh veggies, black beans, chicken, barbecue sauce, and a DELICIOUS dressing to tie it all together. It’s fresh, light, and perfect this time of year! Let’s take a look at the ingredients list…
Simple Ingredients To Start
- Greens. I love a crunchy lettuce, like Romaine lettuce here, but green leaf is another great choice!
- Chicken. A great way to use leftover chicken–rotisserie chicken, roasted chicken, leftover grilled chicken…whatever you have!
- Black Beans. For some fiber, creaminess, and plant-based protein.
- Fresh Corn. Love the color & flavor of sweet corn with this salad! We usually boil corn and cut it off the cobb, but feel free to use grilled corn or even frozen charred corn for extra flavor!
- Tomatoes. I love using colorful grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes in this salad, but any ripe tomato will work!
- Red Onion. Just a little for a savory note. If red onion is too strong for you, feel free to use green onions instead!
- Avocado. I’ll NEVER say no to ripe avocados! I love the cool creaminess in this salad.
- Cilantro. For some brightness and freshness.
- BBQ Sauce. Use your favorite bbq sauce or try our homemade BBQ sauce! (Gluten-free? Make sure to use gluten-free bbq sauce, like our homemade version or a gluten-free store-bought sauce from the grocery store!)
- BBQ Ranch Dressing. Another easy option! You can stir 2-3 Tablespoons of BBQ sauce into 1/2 cup of your favorite ranch dressing, or use our easy recipe below to make your own!
How To Make BBQ Ranch Chicken Salad, Step By Step
As always, you can find the full recipe with ingredient amounts, detailed instructions, tips and more in the recipe card below!
- Combine Chicken & BBQ Sauce in a medium bowl and stir to coat well. Feel free to add more BBQ sauce if you want it more thoroughly coated.
- Layer Salad Ingredients. Add lettuce to a large serving bowl (or on plates for individual servings), layer bbq chicken, black beans, corn, tomatoes, avocado, red onion & cilantro on top of the lettuce.
- Drizzle with BBQ Ranch Dressing and toss to coat well, adding more if desired.
Variations & Extra Toppings To Try
- Crispy Chickpeas. I love the crunch of crispy chickpeas. They can be a great grain-free way to add a little extra crunch to a salad!
- Tortilla Strips. Or, go for classic crispy tortilla strips. They add a delightful crispy crunch that pairs nicely with the other flavors in the salad.
- Tortilla Chips. If you prefer bigger pieces, crunchy tortilla chips can be a great addition. Crumble them up or break into larger pieces right before serving.
- Cheese. Shredded cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, Pepper Jack cheese, or crumbled Cotija cheese can be delicious!
- Bell Peppers. Add even more veggies! Use your favorite color bell pepper for a little veggie crunch.
- Diced Jicama. If you haven’t had it before, you HAVE to try jicama! It’s delicious with these flavors.
FAQ + Tips And Tricks For The Best BBQ Chicken Salad
Make It A Meal! This main dish salad can easily work as a standalone dinner, but if you want a little something on the side, might I suggest some Fluffy Gluten-Free Cornbread or our Maple Cornbread? Or, go with these Crispy Baked Sweet Potato Fries–Yum!
Let The Slow Cooker Do The Work! One way to make this dinner a bit more hands-off is to use our Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken. It’s SUPER easy to make and works great! If you go this route, you can skip the “toss the chicken in BBQ sauce” step.
Make It Paleo! To make this barbecue chicken salad paleo, you can swap out the corn and black beans for other veggies (jicama, cucumber, bell peppers, and celery are nice!). Then, you’ll want to make sure you’re using paleo-approved ranch (I love this one!) and barbecue sauce (like Tessamae’s or Bone Suckin’ Sauce). You can even make your own Paleo BBQ sauce if you like!
Meal Prep It! This is a great salad for packing ahead. To make it into a mason jar salad, just pour the BBQ ranch dressing on the bottom of your mason jar, then add your chicken, veggies, and lettuce (in that order). You may want to leave the avocado out, or squeeze a little lime juice over it to keep it from browning. To serve, just give it a serious shake and a stir with a fork, or pour the whole thing out into a bowl and toss to combine everything.
⭐ Don’t forget to leave a star rating below when you make our BBQ Ranch Chicken Salad recipe. I can’t wait to hear how it goes!
Print
BBQ Ranch Chicken Salad
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 Servings 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Piled high with fresh veggies, BBQ chicken, and a creamy BBQ ranch dressing, this salad is summer on a plate!
Ingredients
For the Salad:
- 6–8 cups fresh greens
- 12 oz. cooked chicken breast, cubed or shredded
- 1/4 cup BBQ sauce
- 1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup corn
- 1 cup halved grape or cherry tomatoes
- 1 avocado, diced
- 1/4 cup diced red onion (or green onion)
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, minced (optional)
For the BBQ Ranch Dressing:
- 2/3 cup mayonnaise
- 2–3 Tablespoons BBQ sauce
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (or more, to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper (or more, to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon dried dill (or 1 Tablespoon fresh dill)
- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
Instructions
For the Salad:
- Combine Chicken & BBQ Sauce in a medium bowl and stir to coat well. Feel free to add more BBQ sauce if you want it more thoroughly coated.
- Layer Salad Ingredients. Add lettuce to a large serving bowl (or on plates for individual servings), layer bbq chicken, black beans, corn, tomatoes, avocado, red onion & cilantro on top of the lettuce.
- Drizzle with BBQ Ranch Dressing and toss to coat well, adding more if desired.
For the BBQ Ranch Dressing:
- In a jar or bowl, combine mayo, BBQ sauce, vinegar, salt, pepper, dill, garlic powder & onion powder. whisk together. Taste and add additional BBQ sauce or seasonings, as desired. Store in the refrigerator up to 1 week.
Notes
- BBQ Ranch Hack. If you don’t want to make my full bbq ranch dressing from scratch, you can combine 1/2 cup of your favorite ranch dressing with 2-3 Tablespoons BBQ sauce.
- More Mix-Ins. Try adding crispy chickpeas, crispy tortilla strips, bell peppers, jicama, bacon, or diced hard-boiled egg if you like. If you’re not dairy free, a little cheddar, Pepper Jack, or cotija cheese could be delicious here, too!
- Make It Paleo. To make this barbecue chicken salad paleo, you can swap out the corn and black beans for other veggies (jicama, cucumber, bell peppers, and celery are nice!). Then, you’ll want to make sure you’re using paleo-approved ranch and barbecue sauce.
- Meal Prep It! This salad is great for packing ahead. To make it into a mason jar salad, just pour the BBQ ranch dressing on the bottom of your mason jar, then add your chicken, veggies, and lettuce (in that order). You may want to leave the avocado out, or squeeze a little lime juice over it to keep it from browning. To serve, just give it a serious shake and a stir with a fork, or pour the whole thing out into a bowl and toss to combine everything.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Salads
- Method: No-Cook
- Cuisine: American
Originally posted July 2012. Updated June 2018, and fully updated again in April 2024.
Wow. I need too make this ASAP!! I LOVE Cheesecake Factory!
I think this is a salad I could get my husband to eat as a meal, especially if I get a little heavy-handed on those onion rings 🙂 Mmmm. Good things today is grocery day!
Make this again tonight! Husband just requested some nice crusty bread to go with it this time which I have no problem with. LOVE this recipe.
This is amazing! I need to make this!
Oh, this looks so yummy and refreshing!
I need to make this one soon! I like the idea of fried onion strips as well as the original. Thanks for sharing such great recipes!
This made a very tasty salad, and the dressing is delicious! Thanks!
This is one of my go to salad recipes. I love your dressing recipe (didn’t try it yet), and I’m going to make your dressing next time I make this salad. I also make this as a potluck dish, but I layer the ingredients (mimicking the 9 layer dip), and I used a thicker dressing to layer towards the top. I put black beans & mexican blend cheese on top of the dressing and then the onion rings. For a party I use the French Onion Rings, for home I make homemade or the Alexia brand too!
I love homemade salads. I read through all the ingredients and this sounds like my kind of salad, minus the avocados. I will add some jalapeno juice to the dressing to give it a little kick.