5-Star Recipe! 🌟 Ree Drummond’s Chicken Taco Salad

Missy's my sister-in-law, so I did something I hardly ever do. I called Missy and said come over for lunch She and I never get together on our own and today was the perfect opportunity So I'm gonna whip up a delicious chicken taco salad just for the two of us I've been seasoning two boneless skinless chicken breasts, and I'm gonna get them into the pan This chicken taco salad is one of my 16-minute meals. It's really really fast really easy and so flavorful I'll sprinkle the other side Then I won't have to touch the chicken with my hands I'm just using prepared taco seasoning, and it's great for really quick meals. There's a lot of flavor You don't have to take the time to mix different spices. It works really well Okay, I'm letting this cook in oil and butter to give it great color and flavor The chicken's gonna cook about four minutes per side I'm using bottled ranch to make a spicy ranch dressing for the taco salad I'll start with about a quarter cup or so and then I'll spoon in a couple tablespoons of jarred salsa All right now just to give the dressing a little bit of freshness some cilantro Missy doesn't live very far away, but we both get so busy We hardly ever get together just the two of us, so we're gonna have so much fun Now the chicken should be ready to turn Whoo looks great nice and flavorful I'll just put it on a plate Yummy, and it's just gonna rest for a little bit now I have two ears of fresh corn, and I'm gonna grill the corn, but before I put it on the grill pan I'm just gonna roll it around in the skillet that I cooked the chicken in and it's just gonna get some of that yummy flavor on the outside Okay, the corn is ready. It's got a little bit of color a few grill marks on the outside Now I'll just slice the corn kernels right off the cob. They're not too hot to handle I Love fresh corn because then you can control how much you cook it I like corn to be pretty crunchy not totally raw, but not totally cooked either Now I'll just grab the chicken dice it up It looks really really good Everything in this salad is sort of bite-sized. That's what I love about it Every bite is fun. It has a lot of different things going on I'm so looking forward to getting together with Missy and of course we love getting together with the whole family But sometimes we just want to kind of get over in a corner have some girl talk Okay, everything's ready now. I just need to assemble the salad. I've got a whole bunch of shredded green leaf lettuce I literally shaved it with a really sharp knife now I'll sprinkle on the diced chicken and Then I diced up just some Roma tomatoes and then the grilled corn delicious I'll sprinkle on some pepper jack cheese Sliced green onions avocado Well speak of it. Hi, Missy You're here How weird for us just to get together for lunch? No kids. No husband. Oh, I'm just finishing our salad So I just got to put the dressing on there's tomatoes in there. Did you say healthy? Well, I'm gonna sprinkle a few chips on if you don't mind I'm gonna make an Asian noodle salad It's so flavorful so easy to make and it's bursting with pretty much every color under the rainbow Now there's a lot of prep to this salad, but nothing is complicated at all. I just sliced up some purple cabbage Otherwise known as red cabbage depending on who you ask Now I've got some cucumber slices I used an English cucumber and just seeded it and sliced them into crescent moon shapes and Then kale kale is my life these days. I don't know why it's just so delicious It holds together really well in salads I just pulled the leaves off of stalks of kale and then I shaved it really really thin Now a bag of sweet peppers. I love these little things They have a teeny bit of spice, but they're really really beautiful Super tasty now, there's another kind of cabbage in the salad Napa cabbage Also one of my favorite salad ingredients. It's nice and crunchy and curly and pretty I love colorful food and pretty food and then some shredded carrots and Then I have a nice pile of bean sprouts Really you can use any veggies you want for this salad pretty much anything goes and I also have some sliced scallions. I'll get those in there. There is so much flavor in this salad. I absolutely love it Now got to have noodles in this salad. That's part of what makes it so delicious I've got some thin cooked spaghetti You can use linguine you can use rice noodles pretty much any noodle you have in your pantry The point is you have noodles you have colorful veggies and it always turns out gorgeous The salads all tossed together now for the delicious dressing which is a major part of how delicious this is It starts with olive oil about a half a cup or so. I Love jars when it comes to making salad dressing It makes everything so easy and then about a third a cup of low-sodium soy sauce I'm just guessing I'll also add about 1 4th a cup of oyster sauce. It's really thick and rich adds a little bit of sweetness That's a good amount and then for some bite and tang about 1 4th a cup of rice wine vinegar You can just use regular white distilled vinegar if that's what you have. You can just use what you have in your pantry Now I love toasted sesame oil I think I'll add about two tablespoons, which is quite a lot, but I love the flavor of this stuff. It's so good Now speaking of flavor. I've got some minced ginger out of this world and Then several cloves of chopped garlic. I Definitely need some sweetness. So I'll put about three big tablespoons of brown sugar You can also use honey. That's really delicious, too. I Love brown sugar. What can I say? Now I'll just get the lid on and give it a shake until it's all mixed together Okay, that's it for the dressing. So it just gets poured over this gorgeous colorful crispy crunchy salad Now I'll just toss it around. Oh, this is looking good You basically want to have as many vegetables as you do pasta noodles You don't want to have too much of any one ingredient Now that's looking great. I just have a couple of more things to add This will send the flavor over the top. I've got some fresh cilantro and Then peanuts. I love the crunch of peanuts in this salad. I'll just get about half a cup or so You can just leave them like they are. I Like to chop them up a bit. So the pieces aren't quite so big Those look good. So they go right into the salad and I'll just toss it You can also save a few extra cilantro leaves and peanuts to sprinkle over at the end. I think everything looks just perfect Now this is a lot of salad So I usually grab the biggest platter I can find if you start with a small platter You're gonna have salad all over your counter So it just goes right on. I Nothing about it that isn't gorgeous. I Tell you what if you love color This is definitely the salad for you A lot of people say, you know, I love steak, but I don't want to eat steak and potatoes every night I always direct them to the big steak salad. It's one of my favorite beef recipes it's pretty much a huge salad with a big juicy steak on top and then Another thing on top and I'll wait before I tell you about that. It's a pretty decadent dish I've got two rib-eye steaks putting them in a plastic bag and I'm gonna let them sit for just a short amount of time in this delicious marinade It's an Asian influenced marinade. The first ingredient is canola oil red wine vinegar and also balsamic vinegar some Worcestershire sauce soy sauce and then for some zip a couple of tablespoons of fresh lime juice a Little sugar for a hint of sweetness garlic some minced fresh ginger hot chili oil salt and black pepper Believe me. It's good Now I'll just pour half the marinade into the bag with the steaks and the great news about this is it doubles as the salad dressing So I'll save that for later. I'll just seal up the bag I'm gonna let the steaks marinate for about five to ten minutes You can let them go longer if you have the time But you don't have to now one of the best parts about this salad is I top the whole thing with thin fried onion rings I've got two onions and I sliced them really really thin and I'm just gonna do a quick soak with some buttermilk It's just gonna moisten them up take a little bit of the pungent onion flavor away and while they're sitting I'll make the dry mixture and that's just two cups of flour and A good amount of salt just about a tablespoon or so About a half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. It gives them a little kick and then just some regular pepper and then I'll whisk this together Okay. Now I've got some oil going it's about 350 360 So I'm gonna stir the onion rings around just a little bit and then I'll just take a little bunch Let the buttermilk drip off Drop them into the flour mixture and then I'll pick them up and hit the tongs on the side of the pan and That just helps the excess flour drop off and then I'll just plunge them into the oil And these are gonna fry in no time I'm gonna do them in batches So they'll cook really evenly and they are gonna be golden and crisp and out of this world The onion rings are just about done. I'm just taking out the last of them All right, I'll turn that off now I'll get the steaks going for the big steak salad, I've got a grill pan That's a nice shortcut way to grill things gives things nice grill marks without having to go outside and light a big fire All right one steak Two steaks now, I'll let those sit. They're gonna go about two to three minutes per side So I'll get started on the salad ingredients. I've just got a big old box of mixed greens Arugula radicchio, you can use any lettuce you want All right. Now I'll just throw in some whole grape tomatoes. I'm not even gonna cut him up. Okay spread all that out now I'm gonna slice the steaks. I'll go against the grain and just slice sort of thin strips I love warm steak and cold salad. It's one of life's real pleasures Okay, and then of course the grand finale I'll just grab a nice handful of onion strings and put them right on top of the salad. I Know I am breaking a few rules here, but I don't care. This is so delicious Lads got all the kids at their respective sports practices and I'm all by myself on the ranch I thought I'd challenge myself to make some of my favorite recipes in less and less time Okay, I'm making buffalo chicken salad and I've got to get the chicken cooking so I'm gonna throw just a tablespoon of butter in a small skillet and then I'll add just a little bit of olive oil and While that's heating up I've got one boneless skinless chicken breast and I'm just gonna cut it in half and this will help it cook a little faster So I'll just lay my palm flat on top of the chicken and I just Slice it in half. It helps to have a really sharp knife All right. Now, I'll just grab some salt pepper Sprinkle it on top. Okay. Now I'll just put it into the skillet with the butter and olive oil Okay, I'm gonna whip up a really quick blue cheese dressing for the buffalo chicken salad and it starts with half a cup of mayonnaise Okay, and then I'll add a quarter cup of sour cream quarter cup of milk Then I'll mix this together and get it really really smooth now to the dressing I'll add a couple of dashes of Worcestershire and Then of course since it's blue cheese dressing about a quarter cup of blue cheese a Little bit more if you're like me, I like tangy tangy tangy blue cheese dressing. Okay, I'm gonna add just a little bit of pepper Okay, the dressings all done so I'll start working on the salad greens I'm gonna chop up some romaine lettuce I'll just cut off the tough end and then I'll just make small cuts Okay, I think that ought to be enough. Now the chickens just about done So I'm gonna pour some Louisiana hot sauce right over the chicken. This is also called cayenne pepper sauce It's the sauce I use to make buffalo wings Now I'll let that sit for a sec Now I'll throw the romaine into a bowl and then I just have a box of mixed greens I want the salad to have some variation in color and texture. So I'll just throw a few of these in there and then I'll just mix this up and Now I'll just pour some of the dressing over the top any dressing I have left over I'll just use as a veggie dip now the chickens done So the last thing I'm gonna do is just slice it up to put over the top of the salad Okay Okay chicken to be unmistakably Buffalo wing in nature, so I'm just gonna spoon a little bit more of the sauce over the top. I wanted to be really saucy Okay. Now I'll assemble the salad Got a serving bowl and I'll just pile all the greens in there Got that yummy blue cheese dressing. Let me check the clock. Oh boy. I better hurry. I knew this one would be close Okay, and then I'll just grab the chicken Arrange it over the top Okay. Now the last thing I'm gonna cut the bottom off of the head of celery open it up and grab a few Celery hearts with the little leaves. This is just a nod to buffalo wings and eating celery with blue cheese dressing And then I'll just sprinkle on a little bit of extra blue cheese Okay, I got to check the clock. Oh Just a little over 10 minutes that counts, right? Bring grain salad starting with the grains. So I'm taking a couple of shortcuts in this recipe these are two microwavable pouches of grains and this is really a great mixture of farro and quinoa and Barley and millet and all those good things So then I've got some beautiful peas and then goat cheese. You could also do feta. Whatever is Your favorite or whatever you happen to have in the fridge radishes perfect spring salad ingredient and then some halved cherry tomatoes grape tomatoes different colors some chopped herbs and then my second shortcut is Bottled dressing and this is the lemon garlic dressing. Oh just perfect. Oh my goodness You can totally make your own dressing, but this is such a great shortcut and then just toss To your heart's content This is how I like to serve it. I have a big beautiful bowl of arugula And I'm just gonna try to get it into a pile in the center of the arugula. I Forgot to add the pine nuts to the salad. I figured you're gonna do it on top. I am that was my plan all along Toasted pine nuts to me This is what spring is all about and how easy was that? That's a triumph