Grilled BBQ Chicken Salad

A creamy, perfectly tasty grilled BBQ chicken salad full of great textures, colors, and flavors that are perfect for spring and summer.

Chinese chicken salad or a chopped chicken blue cheese salad are tasty alternatives, or you might like cheesy chicken orzo.

Why You’ll Love It

Restaurant favorite: Make your very own BBQ chicken salad at home. There’s nothing better. It’s also easy to customize depending on what’s in your fridge.
Scale it up to a build-your-own: Create a buffet with all the lettuce, chicken, and toppings. Everyone can help themselves.
Leftovers: If you happen to have leftover grilled BBQ chicken in the fridge, this is a great recipe for it.
It’s so easy: Once the chicken is cooked and cooled and the salad ingredients are ready, all that is left to do is combine everything.

Ingredients For Grilled BBQ Chicken Salad

A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.

Chicken: Boneless skinless chicken breasts are great for grilling. Use leftover rotisserie chicken and dress it in a little barbecue sauce.
BBQ sauce: Use any BBQ sauce you like – whichever brand you’d usually reach for.
Monterey Jack cheese: Shredded cheese is distributed easily through the other salad ingredients.
Corn: Fresh, canned, or frozen corn can all work. What’s important is that it’s cooked before adding it to the salad.
Canned black beans: These add extra protein and body to the salad.
Bacon: Adding cooked and diced bacon to the BBQ salad adds a salty, smoky flavor. Smoked turkey is delicious, too.
Avocado: Avocado is the perfect creamy ingredient to contrast the other salad ingredients.
Tortilla strips: For texture and as a fun layer of tortilla chips or slices in this BBQ chicken salad. Crushed tortilla chips are great, too.
Jalapeno slices: These are optional, but add the most incredible zing.
Ranch dressing: Use a store-bought variety or a homemade ranch dressing recipe in this hearty salad.

How To Make Grilled BBQ Chicken Salad

For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card.

Prepare the chicken: Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel. Drizzle oil over the chicken and season both sides with salt and pepper.
Cook the chicken: Heat a grill pan and brush with oil. Add the chicken and grill it on one side. Flip and continue cooking until done. Brush BBQ sauce on the chicken, cover, and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
Prepare the rest of the ingredients and combine: In a large serving bowl or platter, combine the romaine, tomatoes, cheese, corn, beans, red onion, bacon, avocado slices, and sliced chicken.
Dress the salad and serve: Toss the salad ingredients in ranch dressing and BBQ sauce. Serve topped with tortilla strips, cilantro, and jalapeno.

Substitutions and Variations

Garnishes: Try French fried onions, hard-boiled eggs, green onions, lime wedges, or jicama.
Protein swaps: Grilled salmon or shrimp would be delicious with BBQ sauce instead of chicken.
Vegetarian: Roasted chickpeas or tofu would work as a vegetarian option. Skip the bacon in this case, or use a veggie alternative.
More vegetables: Add in cabbage, bell peppers, celery, cucumbers, broccoli slaw, iceberg, or leaf lettuce.

Serving Suggestions

Appetizer: Serve this grilled BBQ chicken salad as the perfect start to a light summer meal.
Main: Try cowboy sliders as a fun, casual main or this American chop suey. Baked creamy spaghetti is another easy, kind of dreamy main to follow grilled BBQ chicken salad.
Dessert: How delicious does a platter of orange bars sound? A slice of this coffee cake is another deluxe dessert to end with.

How to Store Grilled BBQ Chicken Salad

Store: Any leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. If you plan to meal-prep this recipe, don’t dress the salad until it’s ready to be served.
Freeze: This grilled BBQ chicken salad recipe is not suitable for freezing.