Barbecue Chicken Dinner Salad

Barbecue Chicken Dinner Salad is a perfect dinner for a hot summer day.

It’s that time of summer when my desire to cook goes completely out the window. It’s just too hot! Standing in front of the stove or turning on the oven sound like torture. And a hot meal is the last thing I want to eat! So I thought I’d share one of my favorite summer time dinners. It’s easy to throw together and always sounds good to me on sweltering days.

Barbecue Chicken Dinner Salad

• 2 chicken breasts, pre-cooked and cut into pieces or shredded
• 1 can black beans, drained
• Barbeque sauce
• Lettuce
• Bacon
• Vegetables (carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, avocado, or anything else you like)
• Grated cheese
• Ranch dressing

The first thing you need to know about this recipe is that presentation is everything. I lay out four plates (one for each member of my family) and make each salad individually so that they will be pretty. You eat with your eyes first, remember.

1.  Lay a bed of lettuce on each plate. Any kind of lettuce will do. I used iceberg because my husband doesn’t like good lettuce. haha.

2. Add vegetables… whatever you like, have or want.

3. Make up a batch of the barbecue topping: Mix together the chicken, drained black beans and enough barbecue sauce to wet everything down. Warm in the microwave, about two minutes. Spoon it neatly into the center of each salad.

4. Sprinkle each salad with grated cheese and serve with Ranch dressing.

On a related note: check out my post on how I pre-cook all my chicken to save time in the kitchen.

If you’re looking for more easy chicken dinner ideas that use leftover chicken, be sure to check out this mega list of 30 ideas!