These 3 Mason Jar Salads with Chicken are a great healthy lunch idea! They are so quick and easy to put together and are full of wholesome delicious ingredients!
Healthy Salads in a Jar
I love mason jars. And by love, I mean there is a whole corner cabinet in my kitchen dedicated to them! H thinks I need to get rid of some but I think he’s wrong.
So because I love mason jars, it’s only logical that I love mason jar salads! They’re so easy to make and they transport easily for meal preps or even picnics. Plus they’re pretty compact so they don’t take up much room in your bag.
Anyways, today I’m sharing with you what I like to call “same but different” meals. I get a bunch of questions about how to not get bored of eating the same meal prep everyday so here’s a delicious solution!
In these “same but different” mason jar salads ideas, we have a bunch of overlapping ingredients but there’s also a difference in each jar so you don’t get bored eating the same salad every day. Either the dressing is different or there’s a different combination of the vegetables. To keep things simple, I stuck to just one protein so you don’t have to get too fancy prepping up multiple things on the weekend.
What Jars are Best for Mason Jar Salads
I don’t know about you but I like my salads big. So in order to fit more than like 2 pieces of chicken in my mason jar, so I use either a 750mL mason jar or a 1L jar. I used to use smaller pint jars but I much prefer the larger ones. In the photos of this post, I’m using 1L jars (this is close to the one I have).
I also prefer jars to be the wide mouth ones so there’s a larger opening to put your ingredients in as well as pour out of! You can use the metal lids that came with your mason jars or use these plastic ones.
However, don’t feel obligated to run out and buy jars to make mason jar salads! One of my favourite alternatives are pasta sauce jars! The jars are usually between 600-700mL so they work great.
How to Pack Mason Jar Salads
To ensure that your mason jar salads stay fresh, layering your ingredients correctly is important. Here’s how to layer salad in a mason jar:
- dressing
- hard vegetables
- protein
- grains
- leafy greens
How to Eat a Mason Jar Salad
If your workplace has a kitchen with bowls or storage, I usually just dump them out into the bowl. As I pack my mason jars pretty tightly, it can be difficult to eat it straight from the jar.
If you don’t have access to a bowl, flip your jar upside down before eating. This will let the salad dressing work its way through the jar. Give it a good shake as well. The larger the jar, the easier it is to mix everything inside as you’ll probably have a bit of headspace. Also, if you plan on eating directly from the jar, you should probably roughly chop your leafy greens so they’re more bite-sized.
How Long Does a Mason Stay Fresh?
My mason jar salads usually last for 4-5 days when stored properly in the fridge. The further away your leafy greens and grains are from the dressing, the less likely they’ll become soggy and lose their crispness.
What You’ll Need to Make These 3 Mason Jar Salads
Ok, so now that you’ve got the run down of mason jar salads, here are my three mason jar chicken salads! The measurements in the recipe card at the bottom are for each jar. So feel free to double or triple it to make enough servings for the week!
Mason Jar 1:
- hummus dressing – see my post on how to turn hummus into a hummus dressing!
- red onion
- carrots – I like to ribbon mine, it’s just prettier lol
- shredded chicken
- quinoa
- mixed greens
Mason Jar 2:
- peanut sauce (you can use a store-bought one or make your own. My go-to is the peanut sauce from this thai noodle salad)
- edamame
- carrots
- scallions
- chicken
- rice noodles
- mixed greens
- nuts + seeds – I just did a combination of sunflower seeds and silvered almonds
Mason Jar 3:
- peanut sauce or miso peanut sauce (mix 1-2 tsp of white miso paste into the peanut sauce)
- red onions
- edamame
- carrots
- scallions
- chicken
- quinoa
- mixed greens
How to Make These 3 Chicken Mason Jar Salads
- To assemble the jars, place them into your mason jars in the order they’re listed.
- Store immediately in the fridge until ready to eat.
Tips
- The shredded chicken in these mason jars can easily be swapped for chickpeas as a meatless option.
- I like using these bottle cleaners to clean my mason jars so I don’t have to shove my hand into the mason jar with a sponge.
Mason Jar Salads with Chicken 3 Ways
Ingredients
Mason Jar 1
- ¼ cup hummus dressing, or ½ cup
- ½ cup red onion
- ½ cup carrots
- 1 cup shredded chicken
- ½ cup quinoa, or 1 cup
- 1 cup mixed greens, or more
Mason Jar 2
- ¼ cup peanut sauce, or ½ cup
- ½ cup edamame
- ½ cup carrots
- ½ cup scallions
- 1 cup chicken
- 1 cup rice noodles
- 1 cup mixed greens
- 2-3 tbsp nuts + seeds, sunflower seeds and silvered almonds
Mason Jar 3
- ¼ cup peanut sauce or miso peanut sauce
- ½ cup red onions
- ½ cup edamame
- ½ cup carrots
- ½ cup scallions
- 1 cup chicken
- ½ cup quinoa, or 1 cup
- 1 cup mixed greens, or more
Equipment
- Mason jars
Instructions
- To assemble the jars, place them into your mason jars in the order they’re listed.
- Store immediately in the fridge until ready to eat.
Notes
- To make the peanut dressing, combine 1 cup peanut butter, 2 tbsp rice vinegar, 5-6 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp lime juice, and 1/4 cup olive oil. Thin with a bit of water if desired. Stir in 1-2 tsp of white miso paste if you want a miso peanut dressing.
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