Honey Hot Chicken Salad is nothing short of a showstopper. This irresistible salad has been an obsession of mine for nearly two decades, and it's as mouthwateringly delicious now as it was the very first time I made it. At its core, it's a basic and simple salad made with fresh, ordinary ingredients-but what truly takes this salad to the next level is the fiery, sweet, hot honey chicken that is piled on top. Once you've tasted this salad, you'll be hooked, and there's no going back.
Jump to:
- Homemade Honey Garlic Sauce & Buffalo Wing Sauce
- What is Honey Hot Chicken Salad?
- Why You'll Love This Recipe
- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Reader Reviews
- Honey Hot Chicken Salad Ingredients
- Recipe Modifications
- How to Make Honey Hot Chicken Salad
- Recipe Tips
- Storing Leftovers & Make Ahead Instructions
- Frequently Asked Questions
- More Tasty Salad Recipes
- 📖 Recipe
- ⭐️ Leave a Review
If you love salad recipes as much as I do, you have to check out this delicious strawberry salad with goat cheese, this perfect harvest spinach salad, these truly iconic Big Mac burger bowls, this dreamy crunchy broccoli salad, or my easy Italian grinder deli salad!
For a sweet little treat after dinner, try my recipe for a small batch of chocolate chip cookies! It makes the perfect amount without a mountain of leftovers!
Homemade Honey Garlic Sauce & Buffalo Wing Sauce
For this recipe, you will also have to grab my homemade honey garlic sauce recipe. It is super easy. It takes only 7 ingredients and 10 minutes to whip up!
The buffalo wing sauce is optional but highly recommended! It only takes two ingredients to make, and it is so buttery and delicious!
What is Honey Hot Chicken Salad?
Honey Hot Chicken Salad is a big pile of fresh romaine lettuce tossed with (preferably) ranch dressing, but feel free to use any dressing you like. Then, it is topped with a ton of fresh chopped veggies and cheddar cheese.
Next comes the good part; this is where the magic happens. Top it off with some diced chicken breast that has been tossed with hot honey sauce!
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Honey hot chicken salad is like a marriage of a crisp fresh salad, paired with mouth-watering honey hot wings on top. There is nothing not to love about this salad!
- It is a quick and easy recipe that is ready in under 30 minutes.
- It showcases one of the most delicious sauces you will ever make at home: honey garlic sauce!
- This is the best salad recipe on the internet, with over 210,000 shares and 100+ five-star ratings, readers agree!
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Reader Reviews
When I tell you this is truly one of the best salads you are ever going to eat... don't take my word for it; these reviews speak for themselves!
"I am not a big salad person, but I CRAVE this salad! It is so fresh tasting and don't even get me started on the hot honey garlic sauce! Absolutely delicious!"
"This is going to be my new hyper fixation food. This was so good. Omg!"
"This salad is unbelievably good. I made it according to the recipe, no subs, and it was perfection."
"One of the best salads I have ever made."
Honey Hot Chicken Salad Ingredients
- Chicken Breast - Any kind of chicken will work for this recipe; you can use chicken thighs, whole roasted chicken, rotisserie chicken, or chicken tenders! Try velveting chicken breast for extra-tender chicken.
- Honey Garlic Sauce - While we highly recommend using honey garlic sauce in this recipe, if you do not like honey garlic sauce, it can easily be swapped for teriyaki sauce.
- Cheddar Cheese - Any shredded cheese will work for this recipe. Crumbled blue cheese, gorgonzola, or feta can also be used.
- Ranch Dressing - Can be substituted for caesar dressing, blue cheese dressing or any other creamy dressing you choose.
- Romaine Lettuce - Can be substituted for iceberg or green leaf lettuce.
A full ingredient list with the exact quantities can be found in the recipe card below.
Recipe Modifications
- Vegetables - Feel free to use whatever vegetables you have on hand. A few ideas are chopped mushrooms, radishes, cherry tomatoes, shredded carrots, and even some fresh jalapenos, which are delicious (if you like it spicy).
- Make It Vegan - Instead of chicken, use a delicious crispy tofu, swap the ranch dressing for a creamy vegan alternative, and use vegan shredded cheese.
- Wrap It Up - If you want to make this salad more substantial, turn it into wraps or sandwiches!
How to Make Honey Hot Chicken Salad
Hot Honey Chicken
Prepare the honey garlic sauce and the buffalo wing sauce.
Toss the cooked diced chicken breast with the hot honey sauce and set aside.
Note: Buffalo sauce is optional. You can also use a plain hot sauce like Frank's Red Hot.
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Dress The Salad
Toss the chopped romaine lettuce with ranch dressing.
Assemble The Honey Hot Chicken Salad
On a large serving plate or smaller individual plates, place the dressed romaine lettuce on the bottom and top with chopped red bell pepper, cucumber, red onions (or shallots) and cheddar cheese. Top with honey hot chicken breast and serve immediately.
Recipe Tips
- We highly recommend making our homemade honey garlic sauce; it is the star of the whole salad and is perfect for this recipe.
- Use Franks Red Hot Sauce or this buffalo wing sauce (or equivalent) for this recipe.
- Use your discretion when it comes to adding the hot sauce. This recipe is spicy but not insanely spicy. If you want it spicier, use a hotter hot sauce; if you want it milder, use less hot sauce or even no hot sauce at all.
- Any type of chicken can be used for this recipe: chicken thighs, whole roast chicken, shredded rotisserie chicken, crispy chicken, chicken tenders, or even a crispy tofu can be used!
Storing Leftovers & Make Ahead Instructions
If fully prepared, this honey hot chicken salad will not store well.
To make the salad ahead of time:
- Store the lettuce, onion, cucumber and peppers in a container.
- Separately store the chicken breast tossed with the hot honey sauce, the dressing and cheese.
- Store all components in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- When you are ready to eat, combine all of the separate containers and enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Substitute the chicken breast for chicken tenders. Cook the chicken tenders and toss them with the hot honey sauce before adding them to the salad. You'll need about ½ cup of diced chicken tenders per salad.
Of course! Some other sauces we recommend using are teriyaki sauce, straight buffalo sauce, or even bang bang sauce, which is delicious! You can also combine teriyaki sauce with buffalo sauce for a mouth-watering hotty-yaki sauce!
Any creamy salad dressing works perfectly for this salad. Consider using ranch, caesar, blue cheese or a creamy honey mustard dressing.
Yes- this recipe makes a wonderful sandwich filling! I suggest using a flour tortilla and making this into a honey hot chicken wrap or filling a toasted hoagie bun with the prepared salad for a delicious sandwich.
Absolutely! Any type of chicken or turkey can be used. Some great options are a whole roasted chicken, chicken tenders, or thighs. You could even use leftover turkey to make this salad recipe!
Crispy tofu is the perfect substitute for chicken; just toss it with the hot honey sauce- it is so delicious.
Yes! Romaine lettuce may be substituted for thinly sliced iceberg lettuce, green leaf lettuce or kale. If you are using kale, gently massage the kale leaves with a tiny bit of olive oil beforehand; it makes it easier to digest and softens it up a bit!
Any type of vegetables can be used on top of this salad, such as broccoli, shredded carrots, chopped snow peas, fresh mushrooms, whatever suits you fancy!
If you forgot to take out your chicken breast ahead of time (like I always do), you can cook it from frozen, and it only takes about 40 minutes! To cook chicken breast from frozen, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place frozen chicken breast on top. Lightly salt and pepper the chicken breast and bake at 400°F for about 40 minutes, or until 165°F internally.
More Tasty Salad Recipes
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If you made this honey hot chicken salad or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating, leave a 💬 comment and share it on Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook!
📖 Recipe
Honey Hot Chicken Salad
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Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
- 2 Chicken Breasts cooked and diced
- ¼ cup Honey Garlic Sauce
- ¼ cup Buffalo Wing Sauce or plain hot sauce (like Frank's Red Hot)
- 2 heads Romaine Lettuce chopped and washed
- 3-6 Tablespoons Ranch Dressing or any dressing of choice
- ½ medium Red Onion diced
- 1 large Red Bell Pepper diced
- ½ large Cucumber diced
- Cheese shredded (optional)
Instructions
- In a small bowl add the cooked and diced chicken, honey garlic sauce and buffalo wing sauce. Toss to fully combine.
- In a separate large bowl toss the chopped romaine with your choice of dressing.
- Transfer the salad to two large plates or bowls. Top with diced red onions, bell pepper, cucumber, cheddar cheese (optional), and the honey hot chicken. Serve immediately.
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Notes
- Homemade honey garlic sauce and buffalo wing sauce are highly recommended.
- Any kind of chicken can be used for this recipe, such as chicken tenders, chicken thighs, whole roasted chicken, shredded rotisserie chicken, and even leftover turkey!
- Make it vegan by substituting the chicken for crispy tofu, using a creamy vegan dressing and omitting the cheese.
- Use this salad as a sandwich filling in either a tortilla wrap or a toasted hoagie roll.
- Use your discretion when it comes to adding the hot sauce. This recipe is spicy but not insanely spicy. If you want it spicier, use a hotter hot sauce; if you want it milder, use less hot sauce or even no hot sauce at all.
- Assembled, this salad does not stand up well to storing. If you want to make this salad ahead, prep all of the individual ingredients, store them separately and assemble the salad when you are ready to eat.
- If you don't like honey garlic sauce, you can use homemade teriyaki sauce instead!
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided is an estimate based on an online nutrition calculator and it will vary based on the ingredients that you use.
Kellie Wigelsworth says
Whoa! That looks and sounds delicious nutritious! My fam would love this-
Jessica says
I hope they love it! This salad is my FAVOURITE! 🙂
Jessica Smith says
Yummmmmy!!! I made this last night for my brother and I and we absolutely loved it! I had some homemade hot honey a friend made for me, so I used that in the honey garlic sauce and man oh man it was wonderful! Thank you so much for this recipe! I can't wait to try out more of them. ❤️
Jessica says
I am glad that you and your brother loved the salad!
georgia says
this was soooooo hot and we love hot food....maybe I should not have used tobacco hot sauce....
georgia says
I meant tobasco
Jessica says
Yes, Tabasco hot sauce would be a little too hot for this recipe, I would recommend using a sauce like Frank's Red Hot!
Clinton says
😂
Laura Randell says
I love the salad bur does anyone have any ideas how to make it more healthy but just as tasty?
Tye says
I would try adding either brown rice or cauliflower rice to make it into a bowl and still add the toppings to it. I was gone try it that way as well soon
Jessica says
Hi Tye,
That sounds like such a wonderful idea! We would love to know how it turns out when you try it!
Judy says
More healthy??? The salad is as healthy as it gets! If you choose, don't make the garlic sauce. or add the Ranch dressing or the cheese...or just a little bit of each. Honey and brown sugar are the culprits for calories here. Everything in moderation. As long as you don't drench the salad with the sauce, you should be fine and you will have eaten a delicious and wonderful salad!
Anna says
Are you serious? This salad is as healthy as it gets? It sounds delicious, but this isn't a salad you eat if you're trying to be healthy.
Courtney says
depends on what you're trying to avoid.
16 grams of fiber is nearly 3/4 of the daily recommended and depending on protein goals-58 grams is excellent. That makes up over 1/4 of the caloric total. If you are concerned with the sugar content-honey is a great option for blood sugar stability, but you are still going to get those carb calories from it. Like someone else said-it's all about moderation. This salad is a great option for macro content and whole food meals.
Tina Gonsalves says
Is the chicken served hot or cold? Thanks
Jessica says
It can be served both ways, whichever you prefer!
Lacey says
I am not a big salad person but I CRAVE this salad! It is so fresh tasting and don’t even get me started on the hot honey garlic sauce! Absolutely delicious!
Jessica says
Right!?! I have been making this salad for over 10 years and same, I crave it! I am happy that you loved the recipe!❤️
Rock star says
I decided to make this last night it was probably the best $40 spent, I love how I followed each and every step and everything turned out perfectly fine, after tasting the honey garlic sauce I was just really amazed at my cooking skills, thank you so much for posting such an amazing recipe I look forward to seeing more soon this is probably the best salad I've ever had
Jessica says
Wow, thank you for the amazing review! I am so thrilled that you loved this salad!
Shanti says
This is going to be my new hyper fixation food. This was so good. Omg!
Jessica says
I get it- I was obsessed for years! 🤩
Lisa says
Absolutely one of the best salads ever. Delicious 😋 thanks for sharing.
Jessica says
We agree- we are happy that you like the recipe!
Joanne says
This salad is unbelievably good. I made according to recipe, no subs and it was perfection.
Jessica says
Hi Joanne,
Thank you for the amazing feedback! We are so happy that you love the salad as much as we do!
Cyndi says
Made this tonight for dinner, definitely a repeat!!
Jessica says
Yay!
shirley S says
One of the best salads I have ever made. I get so happy when I have this planned for dinner. I was doing some carpet cleaning and my husband walked in the room and asked me what I was smiling about. I didn't even realize I was smiling. I just love this recipe soo much. Thank you.
Jessica says
I am so happy that this salad makes you so happy!❤️
Linda says
This was really delicious. That honey garlic sauce is so good. I used Siracha for the hot sauce and it was perfect with the Ranch dressing.
Jessica says
Yay! I am so happy that you loved the recipe, thank you for leaving a review!
Sheila Kent says
Where is hot honey garlic sauce recipe?
Jessica says
Hi Shelia, here is the link to the honey garlic sauce recipe: https://whippeditup.com/honey-garlic-sauce/
It is also linked in the recipe card.
Thanks!
Jessica
Dawn Williams says
This was very delicious. Loved all the flavors together.
Jessica says
Thank you! I am so happy that you liked the recipe 🙂
Courtney says
Excellent on every level! This is now our warm weather/summertime go to! Thanks for the great idea!
Jessica says
Yay! 😍
Becky Altman says
So good and hubby approved!
Jessica says
Woohoo!
Kt says
Loved it! I love the spicy aftertaste. Next time I’m going to add crunchy rice or maybe make it a bowl. Yum yum.
Jessica says
Yummmm, crispy rice would be 10/10 on this salad! Thank you 😃
Kenzie Neufeld says
This was delicious I made your homemade honey garlic sauce which turned out great and used franks extra red hot sauce mixed in to in before tossing the chicken in and mixing. My fiancé and I thoroughly enjoyed this recipe inside of tortillas wraps, thanks a bunch for the recipe!
Jessica says
One of my favourite ways to enjoy this is in a tortilla wrap! Thank you for a wonderful comment, we are so happy you enjoyed the recipe!
- Jessica