Fresh summer greens, veggies, and sharp cheddar cheese, topped with crispy onion tangles, chopped BBQ chicken, and ranch dressing.
Ingredients
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced into VERY thin rings
1½ cups buttermilk
3 cups cooked chopped chicken (a leftover rotisserie or roaster works great; grilled chicken is also delicious)
⅓ cup BBQ sauce (plus a tad more for serving)
12-16 ounces of lettuce and greens
Tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, corn, and whatever other salad toppings you love, about 1 cup of each
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (pictured: Cabot Sharp White Cheddar)
sliced jalapeno peppers (optional)
buttermilk ranch dressing
For the Onion Tangles:
(onions + buttermilk listed above)
oil for frying
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Place the onion slices in a medium bowl and pour the buttermilk over them. Set aside to soak while you prepare the other things.
Toss the chicken with the BBQ sauce (Tip: I always use leftover chicken for this salad so I lay the chicken pieces on the cutting board, pour the BBQ sauce over the top, and then chop it all together using my knife). Set aside.
Chop all your vegetables. Lettuce & greens should be in about 1 - 1½ " pieces. Dice your tomatoes and cucumbers. Shred your carrots and cheese. If you are using frozen corn, rinse it in a colander to thaw it.
Go ahead and build your salads by piling the greens, chopped vegetables, and cheese on each plate (or in a large dish if you are doing family-style).
Heat about 1½ cups vegetable oil in a 2 quart saucepan. When a drop of water crackles in the oil it's ready.
While the oil heats, combine the flour, paprika, garlic powder, and salt and spread it out on a plate. Taking several strands of onion rings at a time, dredge them in the flour mixture to coat and then drop them in the hot oil. I do them in several batches, lifting each batch of crispy onion tangles from the hot oil with a fork and placing them on paper towels to drain. Each batch will cook for 1-2 minutes. (SEE NOTE)
Place the drained onion tangles on top of each salad. Top with the chicken. Drizzle each salad with the ranch dressing and just a tad more BBQ sauce for serving.
Notes
Don't look for a really deep golden color in the onion tangles if you are using clean oil. I save my fryer oil and reuse it as many times as I can. Clean oil will not produce that same deep golden hue that re-used oil does, but they will still have the same crispy texture and great taste.
Recipe by Sugar Dish Me at https://www.sugardishme.com/chopped-bbq-chicken-salad/