Bacon Ranch Chicken & Broccoli Salad – A Low Carb Summer Salad

This bacon ranch chicken & broccoli salad is a scrumptious low carb salad that is perfect for a hot summer day or to take to a picnic. Loaded with chicken, bacon, ranch, cheese and the brightness of chopped broccoli to make a filling low carb lunch with only 3.7g net carbs per serving. The chicken makes it more like a low carb meal.

You might also like this keto loaded broccoli cauliflower salad.

I love broccoli salad that you get in the summer time. Do you know the one that’s a bit sweet and has cheese and bacon? I made a low carb version with cauliflower that was a big hit on the blog so today I changed it around a bit made a combination chicken & broccoli salad.

The result was this bacon ranch chicken & broccoli salad. You only need 6 ingredients and 10 minutes to make this tasty low carb side dish and it has only 3.7g net carbs. It’s a very tasty and filling dish that’s perfect for a low carb lunch or picnic salad.

Bacon Ranch Chicken & Broccoli
Recipe In A Nutshell

• Either use raw or blanched broccoli. To blanch broccoli cook in the microwave for a minute or two and then douse in ice water.
• Mix all the rest of the ingredients and refrigerate until ready to eat. 
• Scroll to the bottom for the full recipe card you can print and save for later. 

Low Carb Summer Picnic Salads

We seem to go to a lot of get togethers and parties in the summer and I love all the different salads people bring. Here are 3 of my favorite low carb salads that you can sure others will enjoy too! layered cobb salad, Kung pao chicken salad and creamy cilantro lime coleslaw. 

Should I Use Raw Or Blanched Broccoli?

Usually I like leave the broccoli raw for a salad like this. It just makes it more crunchy and filling. However last time I made it I decided to cook it for a minute or two in the microwave and then quickly douse it in ice cold water so it would retain it’s color.

The broccoli was still very firm but easier to chew. It seemed to go better with the other elements of this chicken salad.  So if raw broccoli gives you any problems with digestion you may want to blanch it. 

Let’s Make The Bacon Ranch Chicken & Broccoli Salad

The rest of this recipe is straight forward. I often buy rotisserie chicken from Costco, clean the meat off the bones and freeze for dishes like this, soups or casseroles. The bones I use to make a bone broth. They are both great staples to have on hand.

So today I used cooked chicken, cooked bacon and bottled ranch. Now all I had to do was chop and toss the salad and let set in the refrigerator for a few hours. 

Recipe Tips & Notes

• You can use raw or blanched broccoli in this salad. If broccoli is hard for you to digest, blanch it. Place it in the microwave for a few minutes and then douse it in a bowl of ice water to blanch it.
• If you use cooked bacon and rotisserie chicken you can make this in 5 minutes. 
• I used ranch dressing but if you prefer the sweet, creamy dressing of broccoli salad use it.
• This salad is more like a meal than a side dish so feel free to make it for a summer dinner or lunch.

This is a more of a meal than a side salad since it has the chicken in it. I think it would be great to take to a summer party but I ate it as a filling lunch. I hope you like this as much as I did. The nutritional information for 1 serving is:

254 cals / 16.5g fat / 4.9g carbs / 1.2g fiber / 19.8g protein = 3.7g net carbs

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Bacon Ranch Chicken & Broccoli Salad (low carb)

Yield: 6

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

This bacon ranch chicken & broccoli salad is a scrumptious low carb salad that is perfect for a hot summer day or to take to a picnic. Loaded with chicken, bacon, ranch, cheese and the brightness of chopped broccoli to make a filling low carb lunch with 3.7g net carbs per serving.

Print

Ingredients

• 10 oz chicken breast, cooked chopped
• 2 cups broccoli florets, chopped
• ½ cup red onion, minced
• ½ cup ranch dressing
• 4 pieces bacon, cooked and crumbled
• ½ cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Instructions

1. If blanching the broccoli, add the broccoli to a microwave safe bowl. Cook for 1 -2 minutes. Then quickly add to a bowl of ice water to blanch it. Dry off the broccoli and add to a large bowl. 
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate for about an hour before eating. 

Notes

1 serving is:

254 cals / 16.5g fat / 4.9g carbs / 1.2g fiber / 19.8g protein = 3.7g net carbs

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 254Unsaturated Fat: 0g