Bottom Line: The Buffalo Ranch Chicken Salad from Whataburger brings some heat (especially my kicked-up version) along with plenty of fresh vegetables.
Whataburger is a fan favorite here in Texas, and among those who love the chain there are several menu items that are fan favorites themselves. And of course, those come and go because that is the way of the fast food industry. One of those is the Buffalo Ranch Chicken Sandwich which just so happens to have recently returned to the menu. I’m somewhat fed up with chicken sandwiches, though, but I noticed that they also brought back the Buffalo Ranch Chicken Salad, so I decided to give that a try. It’s still chicken which I have been complaining about having to eat a lot lately (hey guys, there are other proteins you can spice up as well), but at least I am eating my veggies.
The salad includes the breaded and fried Whatachick’n filet, blue cheese crumbles, bacon slices, grape tomatoes, grated carrots, red roma blend, Buffalo sauce, and Ranch dressing. I kicked mine up a little by switching to the spicy Whatachick’n filet (no extra charge) and adding grilled jalapenos (65 cents extra), thus the “Extra Spicy” I added in the title above.
The chicken is not too thick but has a good breading-to-meat ratio and the crust has some crunch. Since this is the spicy filet, it brings some extra heat to the plate. The veggies are plenty fresh (which is a challenge in the drive thru) with the lettuce and carrots providing some more crunch while the grape tomatoes deliver a nice pop of tartness. The bleu cheese is plentiful which you don’t always find with this type of salad and adds a nice sharpness to the mix.
The Buffalo sauce adds the expected tang and it has some heat. The jalapenos are grilled slices of the pickled peppers and they bring some tang plus a burst of heat. The bacon is the least plentiful ingredient (and it was crumbled not strips as promised), but the bites with that add some salt and a hint of smoke. The fact that there was not too much bacon did not bother me because everything else comes together quite well.
The Buffalo sauce is close to Medium heat by itself, and when you throw in the spicy chicken filet and jalapenos, this salad sets your mouth ablaze. The veggies and blue cheese offer some counterbalance to the burn, but my tweaks to spice it up push the salad to the Hot level on my scale. You better have a cold drink (or bread with butter) close by to dowse the flames. I’m guessing that if you order the salad as is, it will still come in close to the Medium heat level.
Nutrition-wise, this may be a salad, but it ain’t no diet food! It comes in at 710 calories with a whopping 51 grams of fat which is on the heavy side for a single meal, and don’t even ask about the sodium. For some reason, the spicy Whatachick’n filet is fifty calories less than the regular version (do all those spices burn away some of the calories?) and the grilled jalapenos hardly add anything back. I resisted the urge to get a side (they have some darn good onion rings), so I wasn’t doing too bad. But this one still tips the scale somewhat for a salad.
Both the salad and the Buffalo Ranch sandwich will be heading back to Limited-Time-Only-Ville before too long, so get them while you can. Whataburger is located throughout Texas and they are expanding to other states as well. You can check for a location near you on their website.
Nutrition Info:
Calories: 710
Fat: 51g (19g Sat/0g Trans)
Protein: 40g
Carbs: 25g
Sodium: 2440mg