Fifteen ingredients and thirty-five minutes, and five of the fifteen are the dressing.
There is no lettuce under it and no barbecue sauce over it. The salad is corn, avocado, tomato, red onion and feta, and the chicken sits on top.
Why This Recipe Works
- A dry rub browns and chars where a wet sauce would burn on direct heat.
- Direct high heat is what gives the charred edges the finished dish shows.
- Resting before slicing keeps the juices out of the salad.
- Blending the dressing rather than whisking it makes it pale green and smooth.
- Building without leaves keeps every component visible in the bowl.
Ingredient Notes
- Smoky BBQ dry rub
- Two teaspoons. This is where the barbecue identity lives — there is no barbecue sauce in this recipe at all.
- Plain Greek yogurt
- Half a cup, blended with coriander, lime, oil and garlic. It is the base of the pale green dressing the finished bowl shows.
- Crumbled feta and red onion
- Half a cup and a third of a cup. Neither is in the recipe title and both are visible components of the salad.
- Sweetcorn and avocado
- Two cups of kernels and one large avocado, diced. With the tomatoes they are the body of the salad, since there are no leaves.
How to Make It
Dry rub, direct high heat, 165F
Rub chicken with oil, BBQ dry rub, and salt. Grill or sear over direct high heat until charred at the edges and 165 degrees Fahrenheit; rest and slice.
Blend the pale green dressing
Blend yogurt, coriander, lime juice, olive oil, garlic, and salt into a pale green dressing.
Five components, and no leaves
Combine sweetcorn, avocado, cherry tomatoes, red onion, and feta in a bowl. Do not add lettuce or pasta.
Chicken over, dressing drizzled
Arrange sliced BBQ-rubbed chicken over the salad and drizzle with the green dressing.
The BBQ is the rub, not a sauce
Do not add brown barbecue sauce; the BBQ identity comes from the smoky dry rub and direct-heat cooking.
Two Ways a Salad Can Be a BBQ Salad
This is a BBQ chicken salad with no barbecue sauce anywhere in it. That is not an omission - the barbecue lives somewhere else, and the branches below show where.
Is the barbecue a SAUCE applied to the dish, or a RUB and a cooking method applied to the meat?
A sauce - as in a barbecue-dressed pasta salad
Barbecue sauce brushed on the grilled chicken and whisked into a creamy dressing, then tossed through cold pasta with onion and pepper.
There the barbecue is a visible, brown, sweet element that coats the whole salad - and there is pasta in it. This salad has neither.
A rub and direct heat - this recipe
2 tsp of SMOKY BBQ DRY RUB with 1 tbsp oil and 1/2 tsp salt on 1 1/2 lb of breast, cooked over DIRECT HIGH HEAT until CHARRED AT THE EDGES and 165F, rested and sliced. Step 5 states it outright: do not add brown barbecue sauce.
A dry rub is what direct high heat wants. A sugary wet sauce on a hot grill burns before the middle of a breast reaches 165F; a rub browns with it and gives the charred edges. The smoke and the char together are the barbecue.
So what goes on top instead
1/2 cup of Greek yogurt BLENDED with 1/2 cup coriander, 2 tbsp lime juice, 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 small garlic clove and a pinch of salt into a PALE GREEN dressing, drizzled over.
Blended rather than whisked - that is what makes it smooth and evenly green rather than flecked. It is the only sauce on the plate.
And what holds the salad up without leaves
2 cups sweetcorn, 1 large diced avocado, 1 1/2 cups halved cherry tomatoes, 1/3 cup diced red onion and 1/2 cup crumbled feta - with NO lettuce and NO pasta.
There is no leafy base. Five substantial components carry the bowl instead, and the feta and red onion are both in it although the title names neither.
Success Tips
- Use a dry rub on direct heat — a sugary sauce would burn before the chicken is done.
- Rest the chicken before slicing so its juices stay in the meat.
- Dress at the last moment; avocado and yogurt both suffer from sitting.
Serving Ideas
Four servings in white bowls, the charred sliced chicken over sweetcorn, diced avocado, halved cherry tomatoes, red onion and crumbled feta, drizzled with the pale green dressing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the barbecue sauce?
There isn't any. The BBQ flavour comes from a smoky dry rub and direct-heat cooking, and step 5 leaves brown barbecue sauce out.
Should there be lettuce under it?
There is no leafy salad base. The salad is corn, avocado, tomato, red onion and feta.
What is the green dressing?
Greek yogurt blended with fresh coriander, lime juice, olive oil, garlic and a pinch of salt.
