Mason Jar Salads – WellPlated.com

Meet your new go-to lunch: meal prep Mason Jar Salads! They’re simple, contemporary, and flavorful; extremely transportable, customizable, and just about all the pieces you need in a salad, conveniently layered right into a jar.

Why You’ll Love Meal Prep Mason Jar Salads

• The Excellent Meal Prep Lunch. They final within the fridge for days, they’re simple to place collectively, and so they’re tremendous satisfying. What extra are you able to ask for?!
• Colourful and Flavorful. These are salads you’ll stay up for consuming! All these colourful substances layered into the jars makes you wish to seize a fork and dig in—plus, every layer brings totally different flavors and textures to the desk, providing you with a pleasant selection in each chew.
• Customizable. I share some particular salad concepts for inspiration beneath, but in addition some mix-and-match concepts that can assist you give you your personal.

How you can Make Mason Jar Salads

Whilst you may simply throw all the pieces right into a jar and hope for the very best, mason jar salads require just a little little bit of technique.

Placing the dressing on the underside retains your lettuce and crunchy bits from getting soggy; plus, whenever you dump the jar right into a bowl, which means the dressing will pour over all the pieces else.

Any dimension of jar will work, relying on how massive (or small) you need your salad, however I exploit a wide-mouth quart-sized jar as a result of I like a BIG salad. Pint jars are good for smaller salads. No want to purchase jars, both—jars from pasta sauce, jam, mayo, and so forth., will work.

You possibly can select just a few choices from every class (properly, apart from the dressing—keep on with one there!), however you should definitely layer all the pieces within the order outlined beneath for good meal prep salads.

Layer 1: Dressing

Add about 2 tablespoons of store-bought or home made dressing. Listed below are some dressings that I really like utilizing in my mason jar salads:

Layer 2: Sturdy Veggies and/or Legumes

These are greens that may stand as much as (or are improved by) soaking in dressing:

• English or Persian cucumbers
• Thinly sliced crimson onions or shallots
• Sliced mushrooms
• Shredded or sliced carrots, radishes, or beets
• Thawed frozen peas or corn
• Broccoli or cauliflower florets
• Diced or sliced bell pepper
• Complete grape tomatoes
• Diced or sliced celery
• Shredded cabbage or Brussels sprouts
• Chickpeas, black beans, lentils, edamame, and different legumes

Layer 3: Proteins

You don’t want a protein should you’re serving your salad alongside a sandwich or leftovers, however I all the time like so as to add one thing from this class if my meal prep salad goes to be my whole lunch.

Layer 4: Grains

Once more, not a should, however a good-to-have should you’re making it a meal!

Layer 5: The Accoutrements

Think about this the layer of substances value getting enthusiastic about. 

• Nuts and seeds
• Dried fruit
• Recent fruit that gained’t brown (mango, plums, citrus, blueberries)
• Solar-dried tomatoes
• Cooked crumbled bacon (Baked Bacon, Air Fryer Bacon)
• Chilly leftover roasted greens
• Tortilla or wonton strips
• Croutons

Layer 6: Greens

Pack these into the remaining house on the high, however don’t pack them in too tightly, or they gained’t be crisp and contemporary.

• Romaine
• Spinach
• Kale
• Spring combine or different bagged salad greens
• Shredded Brussels sprouts or cabbage (should you favor extra uncooked taste and crispiness; to mellow the flavour and texture, add them within the second layer)

My Favourite Recipes for Mason Jar Salads

You may make nearly any salad right into a meal prep mason jar salad, however these are those I’ve on frequent repeat:

Asian Cabbage Salad. I alter up the unique recipe by including complete wheat noodles and add just a little further oil to the dressing to skinny it out. For those who’ve ever had Ramen Salad (a Midwestern staple!), you may completely add a few of these ramen noodles too for further crunch.

Black Bean Corn Salad. To bulk up this recipe, I add romaine lettuce. The frozen roasted corn from Dealer Joe’s can be fan-freaking-TASTIC on this Mexican-inspired salad.

Mediterranean Chickpea Salad. That is one other the place I add romaine; actually, you are able to do this with any bean salad recipe to take it from a facet dish to a full meal. Letting the chickpeas sit within the dressing marinates them and makes them further delish!

Italian Chopped Salad. For a flavorful, filling salad, this Italian chopped salad recipe can’t be beat. It’s simply so good, with olives, chickpeas, mozzarella pearls, salami, and a zippy French dressing. For those who’re not a fan of the chew of uncooked crimson onion, place it immediately within the dressing to mellow it.

Extra Salads to Assemble in Mason Jars