Quick Look: Bang Bang Chicken Salad
- Ready In: 50 minutes
- Serves: 6
- Protein Packed: 20+ grams per serving.
- Main Ingredients: grilled chicken thighs, crisp romaine, fresh vegetables, homemade bang bang dressing and optional crispy rice.
- Dietary Info: Easily made gluten-free and dairy-free.
- What Makes It Special: Optional crispy rice adds an irresistible crunch that’s similar to croutons—but even better.
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Why I’m Always in The Mood for This
Chicken Bang Bang Salad
- The Texture is Everything: Every bite has crisp romaine, crunchy veggies, juicy grilled chicken, creamy bang bang dressing, and optional crispy rice that adds the best crunch.
- Light, Fresh & Filling: It’s packed with fresh vegetables and protein, making it hearty enough for dinner while still feeling light and refreshing.
- Easy to Make Your Own: Skip the crispy rice, use rotisserie chicken, swap in your favorite veggies, or wrap it all up in a tortilla for an easy lunch.
Key Ingredients & Substitutions
Be sure to see the recipe card below for a full listing of ingredients, instructions, and estimated nutritional information.
- Chicken: The dark meat in chicken thighs are the perfect match for the crunchy veggies in this recipe. They also are quicker to grill. Or follow our instructions on how to grill chicken breasts, if that’s what you have on hand. In a pinch? Use rotisserie chicken instead. Want more of a nugget situation? Follow our air fryer chicken instructions in the notes section of our bang bang chicken rice bowl recipe!
- Crispy Rice: This ingredient is optional but truly makes this salad stand out from the rest. They bring a nice crunch similar to a crouton but in rice form. We’ve got oven and air fryer instructions included depending on what you have the time for.
- Dressing: Inspired by our popular Bang Bang Sauce, this creamy homemade dressing is the perfect balance of sweet, spicy, and tangy. It coats every bite without overpowering the fresh vegetables, making it one of our favorite salad dressings. It is also featured on our bang bang shrimp, bang bang chicken skewers, and on our bang bang salmon bowl.
How To Make Bang Bang Chicken Salad + Crispy Rice
Step 1 – A quick soy sauce marinade seasons the chicken from the inside out while helping it stay tender and juicy on the grill.
Step 2 – Toss cooked rice with sesame oil and chili garlic sauce, then cook until golden brown and perfectly crisp. It’s completely optional, but adds the most incredible crunch to every bite.
Crispy Rice – Oven Method
While the air fryer is our favorite way to cook crispy rice, it can also be cooked in the oven. Follow the steps below and check out our crispy rice video.
- Preheat your oven to 435°F.
- Spread cooked rice out on pan and toss with sesame oil, chili garlic sauce, kosher salt, and pepper.
- Cook in oven for 15 minutes and then toss. Place back in oven and toss every 5 minutes for a total of 30-40 minutes until you’ve reached your desired crispiness.
Step 3 – Mix the mayonnaise, sweet chili sauce, chili garlic sauce, and water until smooth and creamy. It’s sweet, slightly spicy, and brings all of the fresh ingredients together.
Step 4 – Grill chicken until lightly charred and cooked through, then let rest before cutting it into bite-sized pieces. Resting helps keep every piece juicy.
Step 5 – Layer the romaine, fresh vegetables, grilled chicken and the crispy rice.
Step 6 – Drizzle on the homemade bang bang dressing, then toss until everything is evenly coated and ready to enjoy.
What We Learned Testing this Recipe
- Use Leftover Rice – While the crispy rice is optional, it really does bring this recipe to the next level in texture and flavor. To save yourself time, make a recipe that calls for rice earlier in the week, like our summer salmon rice bowl, and make a double batch of rice to have on hand for your crispy rice.
- Veggies – We experimented with a handful of different veggies and landed on a mix that can easily be found at your grocery store, but feel free to swap them out with your favorites.
- Storage – Crispy rice has the best texture immediately after cooking, but if you need to store it overnight, store it separately from the dressing. We found that it lost is crunch if stored in the same container.
Why Add Crispy Rice?
Crispy rice is completely optional, but it’s what makes this salad stand out. Think of it as a crunchy, flavor-packed alternative to croutons that pairs perfectly with the creamy bang bang dressing and fresh vegetables. Short on time? Simply leave it out—you’ll still have a fresh, satisfying bang bang chicken salad.
How to Cook Chicken for Bang Bang Chicken Salad
We love using grilled chicken thighs for this salad because they’re juicy, flavorful, and cook quickly. That said, this recipe is incredibly flexible, so use whichever chicken option works best for you.
- Rotisserie Chicken: Need a shortcut? Shredded rotisserie chicken is a great option when you want to get these spring roll bowls on the table quickly.
- Grilled Chicken Breasts: you can make grilled chicken breasts – we love doing just a quick soy sauce marinade first and then season lightly on the grill. You could also do grilled chicken cutlets, if you want to speed things up.
- Leftover Chicken: if you made a chicken recipe lately (maybe a grilled chicken salad) and have leftover chicken, this would be a great recipe for that.
- Other Options: We also have air fryer chicken breasts, stove top boneless chicken thighs, Blackstone chicken thighs, Blackstone chicken breasts and smoked chicken breasts.
Bang Bang Chicken Salad + Crispy Rice FAQs
Store the chicken, veggies, and dressing in separate containers to keep the greens as fresh as possible. If you choose to add crispy rice, store it in a separate container as well.
Of course! Just omit the chicken and load up on the veggies and crispy rice.
No. The salad is delicious without it, but the crispy rice adds incredible texture similar to crunchy croutons.
Yes, shredding a store-bought rotisserie chicken is an excellent shortcut for this salad.
Other Bang Bang Recipes You Might Like
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Ingredients
Grilled Chicken Thighs:
- 4-6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, about 1¼ pounds
- ⅓ cup soy sauce, sub tamari for gluten-free
- kosher salt and ground black pepper
Crispy Rice:
- 3 cups cooked rice
- teaspoons chili garlic sauce
- ¾ teaspoon sesame oil
Bang Bang Dressing:
- ½ cup mayo
- 1 tablespoon sweet chili sauce
- 1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce
- 1½ tablespoons water, adjust amount, if needed
Other Salad Ingredients:
- 4 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
- 1½ cups mini cucumbers, quartered
- 1 cup purple cabbage, shredded & chopped
- 2 avocados, diced
- ¾ cup matchstix carrots
- ⅔ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- ⅓ cup green onions, chopped
Instructions
- Quick Chicken Marinade: Put 4-6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs in a large bowl or shallow baking dish and pour ⅓ cup soy sauce over the top. Toss to coat and let marinate while you prep the rest of the ingredients (approx. 10-15 minutes).
- Make Crispy Rice: In a large bowl, add 3 cups cooked rice, teaspoons chili garlic sauce, ¾ teaspoon sesame oil, and a pinch of kosher salt and ground black pepper. Toss to combine. Line the basket of the air fryer (if needed) and spread the seasoned rice in an even layer in the bottom. Air fry at 400℉ for about 15 minutes (stirring every 5 minutes) or until it reaches your desired crispness.
- Prep: Preheat the grill to a medium-high heat (450-500℉) and make sure the grill grates are clean.
- Make Dressing: In a small bowl, add ½ cup mayo, 1 tablespoon sweet chili sauce, teaspoons chili garlic sauce, and 1½ tablespoons water (adjust amount, as needed, to reach desired consistency). Mix and set aside.
- Grill Chicken: Remove the chicken thighs from the marinade, allowing excess to drip off. Spray grill grates with a non-stick spray and place the chicken thighs right on the grates to cook over direct heat. Turn the heat down slightly and let cook for 5 minutes. Flip and let cook for another 3-5 minutes or until the internal temperature at the thickest part of the meat reaches 162℉ (use a meat thermometer).
- Rest: Let the chicken rest on a cutting board for 5-10 minutes and then cut into bite-sized pieces.
- Assemble Salads: In a large bowl, add chopped romaine, cucumbers, purple cabbage, diced avocados, ¾ cup matchstix carrots, ⅔ cup fresh cilantro, chopped green onions, and the cut-up chicken. Toss to combine.
- Serve: Add the crispy rice to the salad, pour the dressing over the top, and toss it all to combine. Enjoy!
Notes
- Crispy Rice: Crispy rice is totally optional for this recipe, but it is super fun and adds a fun crunch and texture. Highly recommend making crispy rice in your air fryer, if you have one, but if you don’t checkout our tutorial on how to make crispy rice for oven instructions.
- Chicken Options: If you don’t have a grill or don’t feel like grilling you can go the super-easy route and use shredded rotisserie chicken. Other options include making some grilled chicken breasts, grilled chicken cutlets, cast iron chicken thighs or smoked chicken thighs. Love using the air-fryer? Follow our instructions for bite sized air fried chicken from our bang bang chicken rice bowls.
- Gluten-Free: simply use tamari to marinate the chicken thighs instead of soy sauce.
- Serving: Note that if you dress the salad right away and then store leftovers, the rice will naturally get softer – so if you are meal prepping or anticipate leftovers I would recommend having everyone add dressing to their own salads and then store leftover dressing separately from the leftover salad.
- Storage: leftover salad can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for about a day, but the rice will start to soften. To keep everything fresh & crisp, wait to add the dressing until ready to eat and store separately.
Nutrition
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