This drool-worthy bang bang chicken salad is creamy, perfectly sweet & spicy, and ready in 30 minutes! Made with shredded rotisserie chicken, golden crispy rice, and crunchy veggies, all drizzled in a lightened-up homemade Greek yogurt bang bang sauce (no bottled sweet chili sauce needed!), it’s got over 25g of protein for a meal-prep friendly bowl that is guaranteed to have you craving your greens!

A large scalloped bowl filled with a colorful salad of shredded chicken, sliced cucumber, pickled red onions, grated carrots, chopped greens, and fresh cilantro, drizzled with a creamy dressing. Tongs rest on the side of the bowl.

If you’ve ever side-eyed those people who claim to “love salads”, I get it. They’re not always something to get excited about…until you’ve tried this bang bang chicken salad. It’s truly got everything. Bold flavour, protein-packed so it will actually keep you full, and in my opinion, one of the most important aspects to a truly satisfying meal, texture! (Also have to shout out my Thai-Inspired crispy rice salad here, it’s the gateway to my addictive salads).

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Bang bang anything always catches my eye on a restaurant menu, so I wanted to create a PFF version for us (protein, fiber, nourishing fats) that’s as nourishing as it is absolutely crave-worthy! Because a pile of soggy greens with a few shredded carrots does not a balanced meal make. 

Trust me when I say, this is about to become your new go to weeknight summer meal (but seriously, you’ll wanna make it all year round)!

A flat lay of ingredients in bowls for a salad, including mixed greens, shredded carrots, sliced cucumbers, cooked chicken breast, rice, pickled red onion, cilantro, soy sauce, sesame oil, mayonnaise, Greek yogurt, sriracha, honey, rice vinegar, and salt.

Key Ingredients That Make This Bang Bang Chicken Salad the Best

Homemade Bang Bang Sauce: One of the major uplevels here is my homemade Bang Bang sauce. Most are made with Thai chili sauce, which is delicious, but it’s never in my fridge when I need it. So I built this dressing from pantry staples I’ve always got kicking around, Greek yogurt, mayo, sriracha, honey, and rice vinegar. It hits every single note of the original, takes 5 minutes to whip up, and the Greek yogurt does double duty, adding extra protein, while providing that thick, tangy cling you want coating every bite (it’s the same swap I use in my meal prep buffalo chicken salad, and you truly can’t tell the difference) 

Shredded Rotisserie Chicken: the ultimate busy mom protein short-cut. I like to remove the skin for this salad and typically use the breast, but the thighs and drumsticks work too! 

Crispy Rice: The crispy rice is truly what makes this recipe stand apart from the rest. It adds that perfect texture balance to the creamy dressing and the salty crunch is just so satisfying. We make this crispy rice A LOT and after multiple rounds of testing, I found that day old rice works best. Whenever I’m making rice now, I purposely make extra so it’s ready to toss in the oven when the craving strikes!

A hand drizzles creamy white dressing over a bowl filled with shredded chicken, pickled onions, cucumbers, carrots, greens, and cilantro. Other similar bowls and a jar of pickled onions are on a light pink surface.

Success Tips From my Dietitian Test Kitchen

Chop the greens: This bowl has a lot going on, and big floppy lettuce leaves make it impossible to get a balanced bite. Roughly chopping the greens means everything mixes together and every forkful has a little bit of everything. So worth the extra 30 seconds!

A note on the spice-level: You can always add, but you can’t subtract! Start on the lower end with 1 tsp and adjust to taste as needed.

Assemble just before serving: The crispy rice will lose its crunch and the greens will wilt once dressed. If you’re meal prepping, keep the rice and dressing separate and toss together when ready to eat! 

Let’s Make This Bang Bang Chicken Salad

A hand uses a wooden spoon to scoop up crispy, golden-brown fried onions on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Surrounding bowls contain chopped herbs, lemon, pickled onions, and shredded carrots.
Step 1: Get that rice crisped if you haven’t already!
A hand uses a whisk to mix white creamy sauce and reddish-brown seasoning in a white bowl on a light pink marble surface.
Step 2: Whisk up the dressing until smooth and creamy
A close-up of a salad with shredded chicken, sliced cucumbers, pickled red onions, carrots, cilantro, greens, crispy fried rice, and a creamy white dressing drizzled on top.
Step 3: Build the bowls
A bowl filled with shredded chicken, sliced cucumbers, pickled onions, shredded carrots, fresh greens, fried onions, and chopped cilantro, surrounded by small dishes of herbs and a creamy dressing on a marble surface.
Step 4: Finish with the dressing and more cilantro it you like
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A large scalloped bowl filled with a colorful salad of shredded chicken, sliced cucumber, pickled red onions, grated carrots, chopped greens, and fresh cilantro, drizzled with a creamy dressing. Tongs rest on the side of the bowl.

Bang Bang Chicken Salad with Crispy Rice

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  • Author: Bea Villanea
  • Prep Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 4 1x
  • Category: Lunch, Mains, meal prep recipes, Salads
  • Cuisine: Asian Inspired
Print Recipe

Description

This drool-worthy bang bang chicken salad is creamy, perfectly sweet & spicy, and ready in 30 minutes! Made with shredded rotisserie chicken, golden crispy rice, and crunchy veggies, all drizzled in a lightened-up homemade Greek yogurt bang bang sauce (no bottled sweet chili sauce needed!), it’s got over 25g of protein for a meal-prep friendly bowl that is guaranteed to have you craving your greens!

Ingredients

Scale

Bang Bang Dressing

  • ⅓ cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 3 Tbsp mayonnaise
  • 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1–2 tsp sriracha
  • 2 tsp honey
  • ¼ tsp salt

Bowls

  • 1 batch crispy rice
  • 2 cups cooked chicken breast, shredded
  • 8 cups mixed greens, roughly chopped
  • 4 mini cucumbers, sliced into rounds
  • 1 medium carrot, grated (about 1 cup)
  • ½ cup cilantro, roughly chopped, plus more for serving
  • Pickled red onion 

Instructions

  1. Prepare the crispy rice if you haven’t already.
  2. Add the Greek yogurt, mayo, rice vinegar, 1 tsp of sriracha, honey, and salt to a medium bowl. Whisk until smooth. Taste and adjust with more sriracha or salt if needed. 
  3. Divide the greens evenly among four bowls. Top each with shredded chicken, crispy rice, cucumber, carrot, cilantro, and pickled onion (alternatively make the salad in one large bowl or serving platter) .
  4. Drizzle generously with bang bang dressing, and finish with extra cilantro if desired.

Notes

Meal Prep & Storage: Store the crispy rice and dressing separately from the rest of the salad and toss everything together right before eating. 

Reheating the rice: The rice can become a bit chewy once cooled. To re-crisp it, reheat it in a dry pan over low-medium heat for a few minutes until warm and crispy!