Buffalo Chicken Salad (sort of) with Goat Cheese Dressing

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I have moments where I definitely question my foodie status.   I hope I’m not shunned from the food community by mentioning these moments, but a few include a preference for milk chocolate over dark (though I like both),  liking truffles enough but not being blown away by them, hating cilantro except in incredibly small doses, and not eating blue cheeses.

Are you still with me? Phew.

I guess it goes without saying that I don’t really like blue cheese dressing.  Buffalo chicken salads usually come with blue cheese dressing (or the occasional ranch) so I never really order them in a restaurant. But, I was thinking that with the little leftover goat cheese & buttermilk I had in my fridge, I could take the concept of blue cheese dressing and apply it to a goat cheese dressing.  If you’ve read my blog at all, you know I have a major love of the goat cheese.

Now, a lot of blue cheese dressings are made with mayo, which I also despise. I decided to use some Greek yogurt instead. It’s still creamy but it’s better on my palate, and healthier, too. Besides the fact that I made goat cheese dressing insead of blue cheese, the reason I say “sort of” in my post title is because I think a buffalo chicken salad usually has things like carrots & celery and not much else, besides lettuce. I did use celery (no carrots), but I also used tomatoes and cucumbers.

Making buffalo sauce is incredibly easy. It’s just a mixture of a red pepper sauce (like Frank’s) and butter. The most common ratio seems to be 1:1 but I like spice (and, conveniently, am not that crazy about saturated fats) so I use more like a 2:1 or even 3:1 ratio. It’s really your preference. You just  need to heat those two ingredients to your liking in a small saucepan and then just slather on the cooked chicken (which, in this case, was seasoned very minimally with salt & pepper and just cooked stove-top with a little oil).

This was great! The cool, creamy, slightly tangy dressing paired well with the spicy buffalo chicken. Plus, I am all about minimal cooking in the summer.

Buffalo Chicken Salad (sort of) with Goat Cheese Dressing

23 thoughts on “Buffalo Chicken Salad (sort of) with Goat Cheese Dressing

  1. Elly, I’m in the same boat when it comes to chocolate…I prefer the milk variety too and I can barely stomach very smelly blue cheeses! This salad has a real summery feel to it and I love that combination of greek yoghurt and goats cheese. Delightful!

  2. I have a few non-foodie hangups too. I don’t get the truffle craze, and sometimes cool whip makes me inexplicably happy…
    I am a HUGE fan of replacing mayo with yogurt. I did it with egg salad and I’m definitely going to try it in salad dressing!

  3. Thank God we are all different and so I’m ok with you not liking certain things, I share your thoughts about cilantro, but I have learned to love it in hot dishes like Thai curries!!! I LOVE goat’s cheese however so I will be having my buffalo salad with this dressing too!!

  4. That salad looks fabulous – and especially so without the moldy cheese!

    Many years ago, when I cooked wings in a restaurant, we added extra cayenne to our “hot” sauce, as well . . . .

  5. I’m pretty sure we need to meet each other and have a goat cheese party of some sort. I would have never thought to make a dressing with goat cheese, but that looks and sounds fabulous! You know I will be making this soon!

  6. Ooooh, this is definitely something my husband and I can get behind. He makes (grills) his own wings almost every weekend (the sauces differ) and we are eating lots of salad, thanks to our garden and the rainy month of June! This will be a welcome addition to our rotation!

    I found you on TasteSpotting and am writing to say that if you have any photos that aren’t accepted there, I’d love to publish them. Visit my new site (below), it’s a lot of fun! I hope you will consider it.

    Best,
    Casey
    Editor
    http://www.tastestopping.wordpress.com

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