Buffalo Chicken Salad with Avocado Ranch Dressing

Buffalo chicken has to be one of my favorite foods ever.... and of course it's one of my boyfriend's favorites! I love it in pretty much any incarnation, whether it be the classic buffalo chicken wings, or a twist on the classic, such as a topping on a pizza, inside egg rolls, in potato skins, etc. If it has buffalo chicken in the title, it can pretty much be guaranteed that I'll try it.  When this recipe popped up on Smells Like Home a month ago, I immediately put it at the top of my "make after this detox" list. Ron was all for it because even though it's a healthy salad, buffalo chicken makes everything exciting!

The buffalo chicken in this recipe is baked, which cuts the guilt down even further. It's breaded in a toasted panko breadcrumb coating, and baked on a wire rack, which ensures that the chicken will stay crispy, rather than soggy.  The creamy avocado ranch dressing is a perfect accompaniment to the salad, although if you wanted, you could certainly serve it with a regular ranch or blue cheese dressing. I will most definitely be making this regularly. Ron has already requested a repeat of this meal, and I will be fulfilling that request soon.

Buffalo Chicken Salad
Serves 2-4 (Depending on how hungry you are!)

Ingredients:
1 recipe buffalo chicken (recipe follows)
Avocado ranch dressing (recipe follows)
Lettuce
Cherry or grape tomatoes
Blue, feta or cheddar cheese
Crumbled bacon(optional)
Scallions or red onions (optional)
Celery (optional)

Directions:
1. Assemble individual salads. Place buffalo chicken on top. Drizzle dressing over salad.

Buffalo Chicken
Ingredients:
2 cups panko breadcrumbs
2 Tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
3 large egg whites
1 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp Dijon or whole grain mustard
1 tsp minced fresh thyme or 1/4 tsp dried thyme
Cooking spray
1 lb chicken tenderloins ( or boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into 3/4-inch strips
1 cup buffalo wing sauce (I used Frank's Red Hot Original)
3 Tbsp salted butter

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Line a baking sheet with tinfoil, and place a wire rack on the sheet. Spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Place a large skillet over medium-high heat, and add canola oil and breadcrumbs. Toss together and stir until the breadcrumbs are golden brown, about 8-10 minutes. Place in a shallow dish or pie plate when toasted.
3. In a second dish or pie plate, stir together the flour, garlic, salt and cayenne pepper, if using. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg whites, water, mustard and thyme.
4. To prepare chicken, dredge each piece in the flour mixture, then the egg whites, then the breadcrumbs. Place on the prepared wire rack on the baking sheet. When all the chicken is coated, spray the tops with nonstick cooking spray. (I highly recommend getting an oil mister- that way you can use your own oil, without all the other ingredients that the cooking spray usually contains.)
5. Place the chicken in the oven and make for 10-12 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through, and the coating is golden brown.
6. While the chicken cooks, place the butter and the wing sauce in a microwave safe bowl and microwave in 30-second increments until the butter is melted. Whisk together to combine.
7. When chicken is cooked, dredge each piece carefully in the buffalo sauce to coat.

Avocado Ranch Dressing

Ingredients:
1/2 avocado, removed from skin and diced
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup sour cream
2 tsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
Up to 1/2 cup buttermilk
1 small bunch of chives, or 1 scallion, roughly chopped
2 Tbsp parsley, chopped
1 small clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Place avocado, mayonnaise, sour cream, olive oil, lemon juice, 1/4 cup buttermilk, chives (or scallions), parsley, garlic, salt and pepper to taste, in a blender. Blend for about 10 seconds. Scrape down side, add more buttermilk if desired to change consistency, and blend until completely smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Source: Smells Like Home

Buffalo Chicken Previously: Buffalo Chicken Melts

Here are some other buffalo chicken recipes from around the web that I'd love to try!
Buffalo Chicken Monkey Bread (Confections of a Foodie Bride)
Buffalo Chicken Bites (Tracey's Culinary Adventures)
Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls (Smells Like Home)
Buffalo Chicken Sliders (Country Cleaver)
30-Minute Buffalo Chicken French Breads (How Sweet It Is)

Buffalo Chicken Melts

There is a wonderful restaurant near where I live, Mortensen's.  It's a casual establishment that started out as a dairy, then started making  ice cream, and this eventually morphed into a casual restaurant where you seat yourself and only cash is accepted.  They still sell the ice cream they make themselves, with about a bazillion awesome flavors, and the best Ice Cream Sundae known to man- the Peanut Butter Brownie Supreme- a couple (2,3,4- who's counting) huge scoops of whatever ice cream you want (chocolate is my pick), with peanut butter sauce, hot fudge, whipped cream and a cherry, all on top of a warm brownie.  It is divine.  Someday, when I get an ice cream machine I will attempt to recreate this masterpiece (or I suppose I could just buy chocolate ice cream at the store), but for now I'll stick to the food.  Whenever I go, my food of choice is the buffalo chicken melt.  It's messy but oh so delicious, and so after getting this sandwich too many times to count, I thought to myself... hmmmm.... this is something that should be relatively easy to recreate.  Grilled or sauteed chicken breast with buffalo sauce with Swiss cheese melted on it, on toasted sourdough bread... with lettuce, tomato and mayo, and served with a side of blue cheese dressing.  They serve it with fries on the side- some of the most delicious fries I've ever had.

This is a messy dinner, but I think that's okay sometimes!  Just keep lots of napkins handy.

Buffalo Chicken Melts
Serves 1- infinity (but the hot sauce mixture is good for about 4 sandwiches)


Ingredients:
For chicken:
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts pounded thin, or chicken cutlets
Olive Oil
Paprika
Chili Powder
Salt
Pepper
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup Frank's Red Hot (or other cayenne pepper sauce)

For Sandwiches:
Swiss Cheese
Sourdough bread, sliced
Lettuce
Tomato
Mayonnaise
Blue Cheese Dressing

Directions:
1. Heat about 1 tbsp olive oil in a skillet (you can use nonstick if you have a working one) over medium-high heat.
2. Season both sides of chicken with salt, pepper, paprika and chili powder.
3. Add chicken to skillet.  Cook about 3 minutes on each side, until chicken is done.
4.  Melt butter in microwave (30-45 seconds until melted, but has not exploded- keep a close eye on it!).  Add hot sauce to butter and mix.  It may congeal a little if the butter is way hot and the hot sauce is cold.  That's okay, just put it in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds, and stir.
5. Add the chicken to the hot sauce mixture, and turn to coat.
6. Heat a nonstick skillet, or griddle over medium heat.
7. Butter each side of your bread, and place one piece butter side down.  Place chicken on bread and then Swiss cheese on top of the chicken.  Cook as you would a grilled cheese sandwich- a couple minutes or so, until brown on one side, then flip and brown the other side.
8. Repeat as many times as you want, depending on how many sandwiches you are making.  On a big griddle you could cook more than one at a time.
9. When done, add desired toppings- lettuce, tomato, mayo, and serve the blue cheese dressing on the side to dip the sandwich to.  Or you could do as my boyfriend does and replace the mayo with blue cheese dressing instead of dipping.

Source: Inspired by Mortensen's Restaurant in Newington, CT, and slightly adapted from Rachael Ray's Hot Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

Notes:

• So my sandwiches were a little plain as my lettuce went bad, and I used my tomatoes to make Mexican rice, but sometimes being plain is okay, and these sandwiches were more than okay.  My boyfriend, Ron, doesn't like to put any veggies on his sandwich anyway- he says he's through fooling himself about trying to be healthy.
• When seasoning the chicken you can leave out the paprika and chili powder if you want.  It's not necessary as the hot sauce gives plenty of flavor, but I like it because it just kicks the chicken up another notch.
• Make sure you watch your sandwiches as they are grilling closely.  If you walk away and forget about them, they may burn.... not like I know from experience or anything.  P.S. They can be messy to flip, but you'll get the hang of it.
• I think fries on the side are a perfect accompaniment.  I served these with Chipotle sweet potato fries because they are my personal favorite.
• I've been cooking these in a pan because I like the flavor that the toasted butter gives, but you can certainly pop them in the oven once the sandwiches are assembled (minus the veggies and mayo), to melt the cheese instead, and I'm sure they'd be less messy.  If you do this, I'd suggest toasting the bread first, then putting on the chicken and Swiss cheese, and then just putting them in the oven for a few minutes until the cheese is melty, and then assembling them.