Crispy Buffalo Chicken Salad

This Crispy Buffalo Chicken Salad is inspired by a salad that I’ve actually never tried for myself, but rather I fell in love with it just by seeing it on Instagram. A few friends that I follow, who happen to live in New York, shared about a restaurant called MeMe’s Diner that unfortunately went under due to the pandemic. Having never visited the place, let alone heard of it, I went down a rabbit hole and looked through their IG page, and then I got really sad that I’d never have a chance to try it because all of their food looked amazing. This salad though changed my entire life and I knew then and there that I needed to recreate it at home immediately. So I finally got around to it and I decided to share it here with you so that we can all enjoy this masterpiece together.

To make the dressing, combine all of the ingredients in a medium bowl, whisking until smooth. Transfer to an airtight container or jar with a tight fitting lid and chill for at least 1 hour.

**Note: The dressing can be kept in fridge for up to 3 days. This recipe is from my cookbook The Slider Effect, and it’s my go-to ranch dressing, I love it! If you don’t want to go through the steps of making it from scratch, you can totally just use your favorite store-bought dressing instead. I love the yogurt ranch that you can find in the refrigerated section of the stores these days. It’s a great!**

Season the cutlets, on both sides, with salt and pepper to taste. In a shallow dish, combine the flour, a large pinch of salt and pepper, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon onion powder and 1/2 teaspoon paprika. In a separate shallow dish, whisk the eggs until smooth. In a third shallow dish, combine the Panko, bread crumbs, a large pinch of salt and pepper and the remaining garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika. 

**Tip: You know that I’m always going on and on about seasoning every layer and I still stand by that. It’s the only way to ensure that your entire dish is seasoned properly. It might seem like seasoning the flour and bread crumbs is an added step that is unnecessary, but I promise you it makes all the difference!** 

To coat the chicken, dip each cutlet into the flour first, shaking off excess, and then dipping into the egg and finally into the breadcrumbs. Make sure to pat the chicken well on both sides so the breadcrumbs evenly coat the chicken. Place on a wire rack set over a baking sheet. Continue coating the remaining chicken in the same way.

**Tip: Allow the coated chicken pieces to rest for at least 10 minutes to ensure that the coating sticks. Frying is such a scary task for some people and one of the complaints I often hear is that the coating just falls off during frying. Allowing it to air dry for it a bit before going into the oil will eliminate that for you!**

Set a medium sauté pan over moderate heat. Add 2 tablespoons of oil, once hot, add one piece of chicken. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes on the first side, or until golden brown and crispy, flip over and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a clean wire rack set over a baking sheet, to prevent them from getting soggy. Continue to cook the remaining chicken, adding more oil as needed.

**Note: If the little bits of bread crumb in the pan begin to burn, carefully wipe it out with a few paper towels and add fresh oil. You don’t want to fry the chicken in burnt bread crumb oil because then it’ll stick to your chicken.**

To assemble the salad, in a very large mixing bowl, toss together the lettuce, radishes, cucumbers, carrot ribbons, celery, chives and feta (or blue cheese).

**Note: I’m not a fan of blue cheese (I actually really dislike it) so I used crumbed feta for the salad. If you like blue cheese and want to have this be more of a traditional buffalo salad, by all means use blue cheese instead of feta.**

Add in as much of the homemade (or store-bought) ranch as you’d like. I like my salads heavily dressed so I added more than most people probably will like. But that’s the best part about cooking at home for yourself, you can call the shots and decide and do what you want.

Give everything a big ol’ toss until evenly combined and everything is evenly distributed. Season light with salt and pepper too at this stage. 

Divide among four large plates and top each salad with a crispy chicken cutlet. To make the buffalo topping, heat the hot sauce with the butter until melted and warmed through. Then drizzle over each piece of chicken.

**Tip: I just use the same skillet I fried the chicken in to make the topping. Just wipe with a paper towel and you’re good to go. No need to dirty another pan.**

The salad is of course best served immediately after you toss it so that everything stays crispy, crunchy and fresh. The chicken doesn’t necessarily need to be hot. I actually really like it at room temperature, which makes this super easy to make ahead of time.

If you do want to make this ahead of time, you can prep all of the salad ingredients and keep them (undressed) in a large ziplock bag or in a large container in the fridge. Then make the dressing ahead of time and keep it in a separate container. And you can even fry the chicken, allow to cool, store in a separate container and then just reheat in the oven until crispy once again. Then just combine it all together when you want to serve it!

If you’re like me and just aren’t satisfied with super healthy salads, and are looking for something heartier and more substantial, then this crispy buffalo chicken salad is for you. It’s for you and I, really, but for you too. It’s probably the best salad I’ve ever made and eaten…which is saying a lot. And I know I say that often, but this time I really mean it. Give it a try for yourself and let me know what you think. Stay safe out there my friends.