Light Buffalo Chicken Salads

Happy Thursday!

I keep seeing things about over-crowded gyms and how annoying it is for a month that folks are trying to be healthy.  I think, however, that at least it's a month, right?  Let 'em give it a shot - it's good for us to make positive goals!

One of my favorite things to make at home is bar-type salads.  I love big salads with tons of toppings and crunch and flavor. These certainly fit that bill and, if you have some salad dressing and raw veggies already on hand, can be made in 23 minutes or so, start to finish.

Oh, and, they're delicious.  So, there's that!

Here's what you need, for 2 large salads:

• 1 medium to large chicken breast
• salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons butter
• ¼ cup hot sauce, such as Texas Pete or Frank's
• 1 teaspoon Asian chili sauce, such as Sriracha (optional)
• 6 cups salad greens
• your choice salad dressing
• your choice salad toppings and veggies

I find that one chicken breast is more than enough for two people with all the other yummy things we put on our salads!  You can make one per person if you aren't into a lot of veggies, though.  That's up to you!

First, preheat a pan to medium-high heat with one tablespoon of the butter.

Salt and pepper the chicken on both sides, too.

When the butter is melted and foamy, add the chicken and let it sizzle for at least 5 minutes on the first side - until you can see white, cooked chicken around the edges.

Then, flip the chicken and let it cook on the second side for 5 - 7 minutes more until it's cooked though. If you have a thin piece of chicken you may only need 3 minutes or so per side - we want to cook it until it's just cooked though.

When the chicken is cooked through, remove it to a plate to cool and leave the pan and the juices on the stove over LOW heat.

While the chicken is cooking, assemble your salads!  I like to make a large mound of greens....

....then chop up all my veggies and toppings at once.  Look at all this yumminess!  Use whatever you'd like!

Look how yummy - so many veggies!

When the salads are assembled (the chicken will be cooling at this point), I like to go ahead and dress them.  You can use any dressing you like, but my homemade blue cheese dressing or ranch from a packet made with skim milk are two of our favorites!

Now, we have prepared, dressed salads and cooked, cooling chicken.  Onto the buffalo sauce!  To the hot pan with the chicken drippings, add the remaining tablespoon of butter and the hot sauces.

Swirl that together and YUM.  Seriously.  So good.  Taste it, and add more hot sauce if you like things spicier, or another pat of butter if you'd like a creamier sauce.

The sauce should be warm but not bubbling.  Turn the heat off completely if you need to!  Now that the chicken is cooled, tear it into large strips with your fingers.  I find the chicken absorbs more sauce if you tear it by hand, but you can cut it into more uniform strips with a knife if you'd like!

Then, add the chicken to the warm sauce and toss it around for a minute or two to get it all coated.

That's it, kids!  Dump the chicken over the salads and...

...whoa.  That's great.  Yummy, fast, easy, and totally forgiving.  You can turn the sauce pan off whenever the sauce is done and toss the chicken together later - it doesn't need to be hot, so if the salads aren't done yet or you aren't quite ready to eat you can just put everything on hold for a bit.

Enjoy these, friends!  You can make different versions for everyone eating, and everyone will love them.  You could even leave some chicken sauce-free for peeps who don't love spice.

Nom.  I want this now.