A delicious and Easy Chipotle BBQ Chicken Salad with chipotle BBQ sauce and cilantro lime ranch. A creamy and delicious salad topped with pico de gallo, roasted corn, Monterey jack cheese, and avocado!
Looking for more Summer Salads? Try our Grilled Shrimp Salad or Summer Farro Salad!
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Why This Recipe
My wife and I met at a Cali-Mex restaurant (sort of)—long story for another time. But the restaurant has since closed and this salad was one of the staples that people ALWAYS ordered. It was a creamy and delicious salad with a zesty dressing. We had to nail the BBQ Sauce and the Zesty Ranch which was the hard part (find those recipes in our ingredient section). After that, putting the Chipotle BBQ Chicken Salad together was easy! Just serve it with our classic Chicken Tortellini Soup!
We always use that experience for our recipe development and have other recipes that were born from that restaurant like our volcano shrimp tacos and chimichurri steak tacos.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Dressing. We have a delicious recipe for cilantro lime ranch. It's creamy and zesty and perfect for this salad! Or you can use a zesty ranch for the store if you can find something similar!
- BBQ Sauce. We also have a great chipotle BBQ sauce that pairs perfectly with this salad. Both the BBQ sauce and the ranch dressing were made with this salad in mind!
- Corn. Roasted corn is usually the way to go but it's a step you can skip if you feel like it. I've tried the salad both ways. I prefer salted cooked corn with a little bit of caramelization to it.
- Pico de Gallo. You can go store-bought, but pico de gallo is simple to make and much cheaper if you make it yourself!
*Please see the recipe card below for more information on ingredients
Step-by-Step Directions
Step 1: Butterfly the chicken breast and season with salt and pepper. Brush with chipotle BBQ sauce and marinate for up to 2 hours.
Step 2: Preheat oven to 425℉. Add corn to the baking sheet. mix with 1 tablespoon olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
Step 3: In a medium bowl, combine all pico de gallo ingredients and place in the fridge covered.
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Step 4: Turn the grill to medium heat. Place chicken on the grill for 5 minutes per side. Before flipping, brush the chicken with more BBQ sauce, then flip and brush again with more sauce. Cook until temperature reaches 165℉ about 8-10 minutes total. Set aside to rest.
Step 5: Clean and chop romaine lettuce. Combine with cilantro lime ranch dressing and separate onto 4 plates. Top with pico de gallo, corn, cheese, and avocado. Slice chicken into strips and toss in BBQ sauce. Add chicken to the salad and serve this delicious bbq chicken salad for lunch or dinner.
Pro-Tips
- Only combine the lettuce with ranch and top it with the rest of the ingredients. This will ensure it doesn't get watered down by the pico de gallo before it gets mixed with the rest of the ingredients.
- When grilling BBQ chicken, the key to getting the sauce to stick to the chicken is painting in on again while the chicken is grilling. Cooking the chicken at a medium to medium-low temperature lets the sugar caramelize to the chicken and stick well. It's not easy to do with a chicken breast without drying it out which is why I suggest tossing in BBQ sauce again.
Enjoy this chipotle bbq chicken salad with an appetizer like Easy Italian Fried Green Tomatoes or Air Fryer Zucchini Fritters.
Or go with a soup and salad variety and serve with Curry Chicken and Rice Soup or Creamy Potato and Onion Soup.
Recipe FAQs
Whenever you use a creamy dressing, romaine or iceberg are the best types of lettuce. They are stiffer and crispier than spring mixes and perfect for a creamy dressing.
The best way to store this would be to store the pico de gallo separately and not toss all the lettuce in the dressing. This will make sure the salad doesn't get all soggy!
Recipe Video
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📖 Recipe
Easy Chipotle BBQ Chicken Salad
Equipment
- 1 grill or cast iron pan
- 1 medium bowl
- 1 baking sheet
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts, butterflied
- ½ cup chipotle or spicy bbq sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 2 heads romaine lettuce
- 1 cup corn
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup monterey jack cheese, shredded
- 2 cups pico de gallo
- 1 avocado, sliced
- 1 cup cilantro lime ranch dressing
Pico De gallo
- 5 roma tomatoes, chopped
- ¼ white onion, chopped
- ½ jalapeno, chopped
- 2 tablespoon cilantro, minced
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425℉. Butterfly chicken and season with salt and pepper. Brush with bbq sauce and marinate for up to 2 hours.
- In a medium bowl, combine all pico de gallo ingredients and place in the fridge covered.
- Add corn to the baking sheet. mix with 1 tablespoon olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
- Turn the grill to medium heat. Place chicken on the grill for 5 minutes per side. Before flipping, brush the chicken with more bbq sauce, then flip and brush again with more sauce. Cook until temperature reaches 165℉ about 8-10 minutes total. Set aside to rest.
- Clean and chop romaine lettuce. Combine with cilantro lime ranch dressing and separate on to 4 plates. Top with pico de gallo, corn, cheese, and avocado. Slice chicken into strips and toss in bbq sauce. Add chicken to the salad and serve.
Notes
- Use our cilantro lime ranch dressing or buy something similar from the store!
- Use our smoky chipotle bbq sauce or a spicy bbq sauce from the store!
- Re toss the chicken with more bbq sauce after cooking for best-tasting results.
Vinny
I modeled this salad recipe after a salad at a restaurant I used to work at. It was an employee favorite so I had to recreate it!