Buffalo Chicken Salad with Oven Baked Fries: Baked chicken strips that have been seasoned with buffalo seasoning are tossed into a salad topped with oven baked fries.
Who puts french fries on their salad?
That would be me, a self-proclaimed healthy eater. And it is my favorite salad EVER!
How is this considered a “Healthy Recipe?” Putting fries on a salad seems to negate all healthy aspects that a salad can offer.
Nope, do not be fooled. You can top your salad with french fries and maintain your healthy lifestyle. Oh, and have a new favorite salad! This baby is insane!
The Back Story:
In college, I ate out. A LOT! Not because I didn’t like to cook or didn’t have the time, but because it is what drove a large portion of my social life. I was constantly grabbing a bite to eat with a friend or two.
One of my most favorite restaurants close to my campus was a small pub, and it was not because of the beer!
It was because it has a salad with grilled chicken, homemade ranch, and get this….a large serving of crispy deep-fried fries piled high on top. It was insanely good. But I am sure was not the wisest of choices health wise–especially considering how often I devoured this salad.
Healthifying My Favorite Salad
Making this restaurant favorite healthier could not have been any easier! I took my homemade ranch dressing, oven baked fries, and added on some baked Buffalo Chicken and BAM!! My favorite salad.
And a salad that gets my kids STOKED to eat their veggies–come on, we are talking about fries on a salad!
Back to the salad.
- So, start with dark leafy greens. The darker the green, the more nutritious. I use a base of romaine and spinach typically.
- Accent the greens with diced cucumbers, shredded carrots, diced bell peppers and sliced tomatoes.
- Prepare lean grilled or oven roasted chicken breasts that are tossed in a bit of cayenne pepper sauce. (AKA Red Hot)
- Cool the spice of the meat with a homemade ranch dressing made with a Greek yogurt base.
- And finish the salad with oven baked fries.
- Drool.
- Devour.
And there you have it. Vegetables, lean protein, and flavor without the greasy fat of fried chicken, fried fires, or super rich ranch dressing.
That is what you call a healthy and satisfying salad.
Buffalo Chicken Salad with Oven Baked Fries
Ingredients
- Oven Baked Fries
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts pounded thin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- salt and pepper
- 1/4 cup Red Hot
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 head romaine lettuce washed and dried
- 2 oz baby spinach washed and dried
- 1 red or yellow bell pepper diced
- 1 English cucumber diced
- 2 large carrots shredded (or diced)
- 2 vine-ripened tomatoes diced
- Homemade ranch dressing
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425.
- Make myEasy Oven Baked Fries.
- Meanwhile, season the chicken with the paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Bake the chicken for 25-30 minutes. Alternatively, grill the chicken over medium-high for 8 minutes per side.
- When the chicken is done cooking, slice into 1/2 inch strips.
- Combine the honey and Red Hot and toss with the chicken.
- Toss the vegetables for the salad and plate the veggies.
- Top with the sliced chicken (drain off extra Red Hot liquid).
- Drizzle with homemade ranch dressing.
- Top with french fries.
Notes
So spice your salads up and wow your families by serving up this Buffalo Chicken Salad topped with Oven Baked Fries.
Additional Healthy Salads For Your Family:
Grilled Panzanella Salad with Chicken Sausage
Kristen Chidsey
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I thought I was the only person in the world that loved french fries ON my salad! SO glad to see that I’m not alone!
Great minds think alike 🙂
I am OBSESSED with all things buffalo! I honestly feel that non wing buffalo dishes are the best.
I agree with you 100%
I add rice to my salads sometimes, weird I know! I had a chicken casear salad with rice in it once at a local takeout place and never looked back! This salad looks great!
Not weird at all, and now I am totally trying this as well.
Mmm… french fries on salad. Now there’s an inducement to eat my greens!
LOL!
wow – this looks GREAT. I ‘ve seen this salad with fried chicken a lot and I can’t have it that way. I love this version!
Thanks Marye. And I feel your pain, no fried foods for me either!
Kristen,
That’s brilliant, to top a salad with fries. The temperature and textural contrast nails it for me, and I bet the flavor combination is amazing.
Most of my college meal memories are liquid . . . except for the time in Meat Processing that I learned what a Rocky Mountain Oyster was.
Thanks!
HA! You are cracking me up Kirsten!
Ok I am coming to your house this weekend. I need to try this! I do oven fried potatoes all the time and the buffalo chicken looks so GOOD!
Come on over anytime Brandy! I love to cook for others and make new friends 🙂
Love the fries on top! Definitely need to try this one.
Totally will rock your world!!
What a delicious and healthy meal! This is the kind of food my hubby enjoys! Pinned. 🙂
This is my husbands favorite salad and truly one of his favorite meals period–my son as well!
I LOVE fries on salad! Truthfully I love fries without salad too, but on the salad I feel a bit better about eating them 🙂
And when they are oven baked fries, the guilt is EVEN that much more less! Enjoy.
I can definitely see this as pub food, though I like the “healthier” aspects of it. Alas, I myself don’t do fries of any kind (Unless they’re from In-N-Out.) My wife, however, would probably love this recipe, so I’m going to surprise her with it later this month.
Jerry..your wife is going to be one lucky and happy later. I hope she enjoys. And you will love thw salad minus the fries.
Love anything Buffalo style! Great idea!
Thanks. I seriously adore this salad.
Seriously, someone hand me a fork! I totally want to dig into that! Pinning! Thank you so much for linking up with us at Saturday Night Fever!
Ashlyn. I wish I could send you some over the web, but you will have to just make them. They are so good!! Thanks for pinning!
What a great salad that we would really enjoy! Thanks so much for sharing your awesome post with Full Plate Thursday. Have a great week and come back soon!
Miz Helen
It looks delicious to me. You had me of course at buffalo chicken…one of my all time favorites. I wish my family felt the same way about it. They do like my buffalo chicken dip though, so there is hope.
Michelle,
My daughter can not stand the spiciness of Buffalo Chicken! For her, I just did not dip the chicken strips into the Red Hot mix and she loved them!
This looks so yummy. Thanks for linking up at the Bloggers Brags Pinterest Party.