This Copycat recipe for Cheesecake Factory’s Ranch BBQ Chicken Salad is going to become your new favorite salad. Tender chicken breast smothered in bbq sauce on a bed of romaine with avocado, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, corn, and homemade onion strings.
The homemade BBQ Ranch dressing is the perfect finish to this amazing salad recipe!
Chicken Salad Recipe-
One cannot go wrong with a hearty salad. Chicken breast as a protein in this recipe is so filling and the salad can be enjoyed as a meal in itself. Searing the chicken on both sides adds crispiness to the chicken, then, turning the heat down allows the chicken to become tender and adds juiciness to the center resulting in a phenomenal chicken salad.
The combination of chicken with crispy romaine, sauteed corn, tomatoes, cucumbers is just perfect. The added sliced avocado, crispy fried homemade onion strings and homemade Ranch BBQ dressing seal the deal on this recipe.
How to Make Ranch BBQ Chicken Salad-
Making the Cheesecake Factory’s CopyCat salad is so easy! You will be so surprised how quickly this salad comes together.
- Prepare homemade BBQ Ranch dressing, set aside.
- Prepare 1 recipe of the pan-seared chicken.
- In a different skillet, add the corn and butter, saute until corn is lightly browned. Sauteeing the corn adds so much flavor to the salad. Set aside to cool (or corn may be added warm to the salad).
- Meanwhile, prepare the salad.
- Cut or break up the romaine lettuce and add to the serving platter (or plates).
- Halve the tomatoes. Slice the cucumbers, avocado and onion.
- If adding onion strings, fry the onion with THIS recipe.
- Add cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, corn and beans over the Romaine.
- Cut warm chicken slices, coat with barbecue sauce, add to salad.
- Drizzle with homemade dressing. ENJOY!
Cheesecake Factory inspired-
We don’t have a Cheesecake Factory Restaurant in our vicinity, so whenever I’m in a city that has the restaurant, eating there is a must! I love just about everything I’ve ever had there. The food is wonderful. I will never forget my very first time trying this salad. I was in the mood for a salad but wasn’t sure what to try. The waitress recommended this Ranch BBQ Chicken Salad and it was love at first bite!
I couldn’t wait to get home and recreate the salad. It’s soo unique with the chicken in barbecue sauce but SOO delicious. I normally leave out the beans, just not a fan of beans. However, that’s how the traditional salad is served and I had to add it to this recipe. 🙂
Healthy option-
For a healthier version of the salad, skip the dressing and do olive oil with lemon instead. Leave out the fried onions completely.
Try these other Salad recipes:
- Bacon Cauliflower Salad– Delicious bacon cauliflower salad recipe.
- Romaine Tomato Avocado Salad– The best romaine salad with tomatoes and avocados,
I hope you loved this CopyCat Cheesecake Factory recipe for BBQ Chicken Salad. Don’t forget to comment below and tag us on social media with your feedback, we so enjoy hearing from you.
GETTING TO KNOW YOU: What’s your favorite salad combination? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. 🙂
Ranch BBQ Chicken Salad Recipe
Ingredients
salad-
- 2 romaine lettuce hearts, chopped
- 1/3 cup sweet baby ray's barbecue sauce
- 8 oz cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 mini cucumber, sliced
- 1/2 cup canned corn, sautéed
- 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/2 large avocado, sliced
- 1/3 cup canned kidney beans, drained
- 1/4 red onion, sliced
- onion strings, optional
bbq dressing:
- 2 Tbsp mayonnaise
- 2 Tbsp sour cream
- 1 ½ tsp barbecue sauce
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 ½ tsp dry ranch dressing mix
- ¼ tsp ground paprika
- ⅛ tsp ground black pepper
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- 1 Tbsp oil
Instructions
- On high heat, heat 1 Tbsp oil in a skillet. Sear chicken 2 minutes on both sides. Turn heat down to low, close lid of the skillet and cook another 5-6 minutes, until chicken is tender.
- In a different skillet, add ½ Tbsp butter and corn. Sauté for a minute on medium/high heat.
- Fry onions if you will be adding onion strings.
- In a small bowl, add all the ingredients for the dressing and mix until creamy.
- In a large serving bowl, add all of the ingredients for the salad (minus the dressing).
- Slice cooked chicken and smother in barbecue sauce. Add to salad.
- Drizzle salad dressing over salad. Toss gently. Enjoy!