I woke up the other day with a mad craving for a McDonald’s Buttermilk Crispy Chicken Sandwich. Have you ever had one of those? Or are you one of those people who thinks you’re too good for McDonald’s? As Jim Gaffigan says, “It’s fun telling people you go to McDonald’s. They’re always like, Oh! I didn’t know I was better than you!” See, isn’t it nice to feel morally superior to me today?? You’re welcome.
But for the REST of us mere mortals, those chicken sandwiches are freaking delicious. I am not discriminatory in my chicken sandwiches: I will take a Chik-fil-A chicken sandwich or a Popeye’s chicken sandwich, or basically any chicken sandwich I can get my hands on. (My friend Melissa just told me today that Shake Shack has a killer chicken sandwich. Anyone tried it??) But I feel nostalgic about the McDonald’s one because it’s my mom’s go-to order and has been my entire life. I remember her ordering it, every time asking for extra mayonnaise. See, my mother raised me right you guys.*
I honestly considered topping this salad version of the Crispy Chicken Sandwich with straight up mayonnaise. Mayonnaise is totally underrated in America if you ask me. I did an internship in Peru in college, and let me tell you, the Peruvians GET IT. They slap mayonnaise on everything, and it’s glorious.
But I thought you all might seriously take issue with me dumping mayonnaise on my salad and spreading it on my fried chicken, so I used the next best thing: buttermilk ranch dressing. I did a whole post for the ranch, because the ingredient list on this recipe was getting way too long! Plus ranch dressing is amazing and deserves it’s own post, so head on over for all the details.
Here is the description for the sandwich: “Buttermilk crispy chicken sandwich made with all white meat chicken fillet. Layered with crisp leaf lettuce, tasty tomato and mayonnaise, all on our delectable artisan roll.” Doesn’t it sound so good?? I’ve been counting calories lately and decided to make it at home. I decided I could make do without the bun and turn it into a salad. But there was no way I was giving up on the fried chicken. Heck no.
My brother came over for dinner when we had this, and said “how did you make this chicken? You don’t have a deep fryer.” I told him that I just poured some oil into a high-sided skillet and flipped it half way. So just in case you thought you needed special equipment to make fried chicken, good news! You don’t! You just need a whole lotta oil. Yesss.
How to make Crispy Chicken Salad
It’s not hard to make! Just mix up some buttermilk and spices with an egg, toss in your fried chicken, and let it marinate a while.
Then add all your dry ingredients to a ziplock bag. You only need to put it in a bowl if you plan to take a picture of it and post it on the internet so that people know what tempura mix looks like. The tempura mix is on the right in the bowl of dry ingredients, and looks just like flour. It gets you the crispiest fried chicken! But flour will do if you can’t find it. Beside the bowl on the right is the dry chicken bouillon I used. It adds great chicken flavor!
Add the chicken to the bag of dry ingredients and shake it up. Then stick it in the freezer while you let your oil heat up! Cold batter going into hot oil makes for the crispiest fried chicken, especially when using tempura batter. It also helps the batter stick to the chicken a little better.
Then fry ’em up! Deep frying in a pan is not as intimidating as it seems. And it really only takes 20 minutes or so. And it’s SO GOOD.
Then chop up all your veggies and devour!! I know that most chicken sandwiches sold in fast food restaurants don’t have avocado, but that’s only because avocados are expensive and it wouldn’t make sense for them business-wise. I mean, right? Why WOULDN’T you add avocado to your chicken sandwich if you could?? So into our sandwich-salad it goes. Cucumber is another ingredient you won’t find on a chicken sandwich, but I just love the crunch it adds to the greens section of the salad. Take it or leave it. Don’t let me tell you how to make your salad. Another ingredient I didn’t add but would be good: thin sliced red onion, just a little bit. Yum. It would add great color too. Why didn’t I think of this before my photo shoot?
*Update: I texted my mom before posting this and randomly asked her what she would order from McDonald’s if she were getting lunch. After explaining to her that no, I wasn’t about to bring her lunch (sorry Mom!!) she said “A chicken sandwich, with lettuce and tomato, no mayo but ask for ranch, small fry, medium chocolate shake.” So obviously I have no clue about my mother’s mayonnaise preferences, have rewritten my own memories, and am clearly projecting. BUT I WAS RIGHT ABOUT THE RANCH!!
More salad recipes you are going to love!
Creamy Buttermilk Ranch Dressing « the best homemade ranch! It’s the one I use for today’s salad. My Favorite Green Goddess Salad « so tasty, so healthy, and very vibrantly green! Crunchy Asian Cabbage Salad with Crispy Fish « Use frozen fish filets. It’s so good! Pineapple Spinach Salad « like strawberry spinach salad, but with pineapple! Raspberry Avocado Salad « So simple and really lets the ingredients shine! Apple Gorgonzola Salad « just like the one at Buca di Beppo! Beer-Battered Fish Burrito Bowl with Orange Avocado Salsa « Crispy fish or chicken would be good with this! Strawberry Panzanella Salad « fried bread. DO IT! Sonoma Salad from A Classic Twist Chef Salad Recipe from Diethood Ultimate Cobb Salad from Tried and Tasty Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram
