Buffalo Chicken Salad w/Homemade Ranch

Tonight’s dinner was a spin on one of The Husband’s FAVORITE things ~ Buffalo Wings. I took his favorite, put a healthy spin on it and put it over salad. I do think that this combination would make an even BETTER Wrap.

I always LOVE ranch dressing, but, I don’t usually LOVE the nutritionals and the package mix is pretty darn scary (check out the ingredient listing). Making your own homemade ranch is super easy and I personally think it tastes BETTER than anything you can mix up or get in a bottle. I put a spin on THIS Eat Well, Live Better - Buttermilk recipe to create my own lower fat version & because I didn’t have all the spices they used :D

Low-Fat Buttermilk Ranch

1/2 c. Low-fat buttermilk
1/2 c. Light or Fat Free Mayonnaise
1/4 tsp. Trader Joe’s 21 Season Salute or dried parsley flakes
1/2 tsp. dried dill weed
1/2 tsp. minced garlic (1/2 clove)
1/8 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Combine all in a bowl with your whisk, or shake well in your shaker cup. That’s all. You can adjust the buttermilk to mayonnaise ratio in order to get the consistency you like best. Keep it thicker for a dip or add additional buttermilk to thin out for dressing. Refrigerate for a few hours. This dressing should last at least a week in your fridge.

Makes ~ 1 cup

8 Servings - 2 Tbsps each, 1 Weight Watcher Point!
Amount Per Serving
Calories 33, Total Fat 2.7 g, Saturated Fat 0.5 g, Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0 g, Monounsaturated Fat 0.0 g, Cholesterol 3.3 mg, Sodium 153.1 mg, Potassium 34.7 mg, Total Carbohydrate 1.7 g, Dietary Fiber 0.1 g, Sugars 1.1 g, Protein 0.6 g (calculated at Sparkrecipes.com)

With the dressing prepared, I moved on to prep the “Buffalo Wings” for the salad. I LOVE Hungry-Girl as I am sure you all saw a few months back when I attended her book signing. This recipe is inspired by her “H-O-T” Boneless Buffalo Chicken Wings.

Healthy Buffalo Chicken Salad

Buffalo Chicken Bite Ingredients

12 ounces raw boneless skinless lean chicken breast, cut into 15 nuggets
1/2 cup Trader Joe’s HIgh Fiber Cereal (I like it better than Fiber 1 b/c it actually “crumbs”)
1 ounce Garden Salsa Flavored Sun Chips, about 15 chips
3 tablespoons Tapatio Hot Sauce
Dash onion powder
Dash garlic powder
Dash cayenne pepper
Dash black pepper
Dash salt

Cooking Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a blender or food processor, grind TJ’s HIgh Fiber Cereal and Sun Chips to a bread crumb-like consistency.

In a small dish, mix crushed crisps with cereal crumbs. Add onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne, black pepper, and salt, and mix well.

Place chicken pieces in a separate dish. Cover with Tapatio and toss to coat.

Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray.

Give each chicken piece a shake so it's not dripping with sauce, and then coat evenly with crumb mixture. Lay crumb-covered nuggets on the baking sheet.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

Flip nuggets over and bake for 10 more minutes, or until outsides are crispy and chicken is cooked throughout.

Trader Joe’s High Fiber Cereal Crumbs

Garden Salsa Sun Chip Crumbs

Crumbs mixed together with the spices.

Chicken with Tapatio

Drop the spicy chicken bits in the crumbs and place them onto your cookie sheet. Here they are heading into the oven.

Baked, Crispy, Healthy Spicy Buffalo “wings”

While your chicken is cooking, prep all your salad ingredients.

Organic Romaine Lettuce, chopped

1 scallion, minced

1/2 organic cucumber peeled and sliced

2 stalks organic celery, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and shredded

1/2 orange bell pepper, chopped

1 ear of corn with the kernels removed

Organic grape tomatoes

1/2 Avocado, chopped

3 oz lowfat mozzarella, chopped

Put all your veggies on your plate, top with chicken and homemade ranch. Enjoy!

Makes 3 nice size salads - 8 Weight Watcher Points each without dressing, 9 with!

Amount Per Serving (Calculated at Sparkrecipes.com)
Calories 401.2, Total Fat 13.5 g, Saturated Fat 4.4 g, Polyunsaturated Fat 2.2 g, Monounsaturated Fat 5.8 g, Cholesterol 82.2 mg, Sodium 668.4 mg, Potassium 1,517.0 mg, Total Carbohydrate 34.6 g, Dietary Fiber 11.6 g, Sugars 7.6 g, Protein 40.1 g

I LOVED the chicken ~ it had sooo much flavor and it was “crispy” – yeah!

Topped with a thick drizzle or two of homemade ranch dressing!

Spicy Crunchy Chicken + Avocado + LF Ranch = LOVE!

Can you tell I really LOVED this salad?! LOL…..The Husband gave it 4 out of 5 stars, I give it 5 all around! I am too tired tonight to point it out and all, but, I will update you all in the morning with the stats! I highly recommend it if you are looking for a healthy spin and another way to mix up your greens!

I am off to read and relax ~ soooo glad the weekend is almost here – two days and counting – Yeah!!!