Cut the calories with a buffalo chicken salad

Eat healthy with this delicious recipe from Ellie Krieger

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>>> we're taking a walk on the lighter side with a salad makeover. some restaurant salads can have as much fat as a cheeseburger. elie krieger is here to give us tricks to keep the calories in check. good to see you.

>> good to see you, al.

>> you think i'm going to be good, order a salad, and boom. what are the things that add all those calories?

>> first of all, the numbers are shocking. like over 1,000 calories.

>> wow!

>> for an entree-sized salad in many restaurants.

>> that's nuts.

>> and more than two days' worth of sodium. it's mostly coming from the dressi dressing, the cheese, the bacon, all the add-ons. one of the most popular is buffalo chicken.

>> sure.

>> i'm going to show you how easy it is to get all that flavor so you're not sacrificing that for literally a fraction of the calories. just 250 calories.

>> that's amazing. starting with a chicken breast .

>> and this is a great trick for chicken in general. whenever i'm grilling or cooking chicken, i found it out so it's even thickness. and this way it cooks evenly.

>> could you use chicken thighs if you wanted to?

>> absolutely. just get skinless chicken thighs. pound it out to an even thickness like that.

>> a jet went overhead.

>> and then just cut it into, you know, half-inch strips like this. just like this. and it cooks so quickly so it's one of these things you can make a rush-hour meal.

>> so this really speeds up the cooking, the uniform thickness and the fact that they're strips. how do you get that buffalo chicken flavor?

>> cayenne pepper sauce. simple. now, typical cayenne pepper sauce, and this is one of the things that ratchets up the calories, it has an equal amount of butter and pepper sauce . i'm just putting some pepper sauce in there and then just two teaspoons of oil. one. and that's all you need. you don't need more, you know?

>> and then you marinate the chicken strips in there?

>> marinate it right in there.

>> how long?

>> you can do it up to two hours. you tonight really need to let it sit. if you're in a rush, pop it on the grill right away. i'm going to turn these over.

>> now, if you don't have a grill, could you broil it?

>> you could absolutely broil it, yep, absolutely.

>> so these cook quickly.

>> three minutes persei side.

>> another thing that adds calories is the bleu cheese dressing.

>> usually it's mostly mayonnaise. so what i do, and this is a great trick for creamy dressings, in general. do a little mayonnaise, right, for that richness. and a little yogurt.

>> oh, that's interesting.

>> it really works. you get the richness from the mayonnaise, the creaminess from the yogurt. and you can do this for like a ranch dressing .

>> caesar?

>> totally.

>> wow.

>> you can do that for a creamy caesar. this is a little buttermilk for the tanginess. i like to keep it -- kind of gives it a nice texture. a little bit of white wine vineg vinegar, you could use lemon juice , too. some salt. if you were doing a ranch dressing , you might put garlic powder , onion powder . you can use this base.

>> and then the bleu cheese .

>> and then real bleu cheese .

>> real bleu cheese .

>> i find that you use a little bit of the real thing, and it goes a long way.

>> put that in now?

>> put that right on in there. a little bit of real bleu cheese . you don't have to send a search party to find the bleu cheese for your bleu cheese dressing. then all the crispy goodness you want in your buffalo chicken salad . so we've got lettuce here. hello, ladies. good to see you. got some --

>> carrots.

>> sscallions, carrots. i amped up the vegetables here with color. celery.

>> you just toss it.

>> shred it. toss it. let's hour that dressing in and give it a little toss.

>> that's healthy?

>> yeah. if you had watched, you might have seen it was a healthy dressing. thanks so much.

>> it is. it has real bleu cheese .

>> it looks so delicious.

>> it's all healthy.

>> one serving --

>> how many calories?

>> one serving of this has 255.

>> lunch is served. perfect.

>> thanks so much. savannah might watch the rebroadcast.

>> i was watching.

>>> kathie lee and hoda up next.

Show transcript

TODAY recipes

updated 5/9/2012 6:03:43 PM ET

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Enjoy the tasty salad you crave without worrying about the calories with this healthy recipe from Ellie Krieger.

Recipe: Buffalo chicken salad (on this page)

Recipe: Buffalo chicken salad

From The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger (Taunton 2009)

http://www.elliekrieger.com/

Ingredients

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper hot sauce (or other hot sauce), plus more to taste
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 large heart of romaine, cut across into 1-inch-wide strips (about 8 cups)
4 stalks celery, thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
2 medium carrots, coarsely grated (about 1 cup)
2 scallions (green part only), thinly sliced
1/2 cup blue cheese dressing (recipe follows)
Blue cheese dressing
3 tablespoons plain nonfat Greek yogurt
1/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preparation

To make the blue cheese dressing, whisk the yogurt, buttermilk and the mayonnaise until smooth in a medium bowl. Add the vinegar and sugar and continue to whisk until well combined. Stir in the blue cheese and season with salt and pepper.

For the buffalo chicken salad, preheat the broiler. Put the chicken between two sheets of waxed paper and pound with a mallet or hammer to an even thickness of about 3/4 inch, then cut the chicken crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick strips. In a large bowl, combine the hot sauce and oil, add the chicken, and toss until it is well coated. Arrange the chicken on a baking sheet and broil until it is cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes total, turning once. In a large bowl, combine the romaine, celery, carrots, and scallions and toss with the dressing. Divide the greens between 4 plates and top with the warm chicken. Serve with extra hot sauce on the side.

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