When I think of my life changing moments, it’s a short list. The chance to go abroad for the first time as a primary school student. Keeps my newborn twins as a first mother. And discover mason jar salads. You may laugh (or roll your eyes if you’re living with a teen like me), but mason jar salads really changed my eating habits.
When preparing salads for a week at a time, I’m more likely to resort to a salad for lunch or dinner than a high-sodium, saturated-fat, generally unhealthy frozen meal. And in case you haven’t heard it, people who live over 100 in Blue Zones around the world opt for a Mediterranean diet of vegetables, fruits, lean protein and healthy fats, non-frozen burritos, frozen pizzas and modern television dinner.
What is a mason jar salad?
Mason jar salads layer ingredients in a wide-mouthed jar in a specific order to ensure that all ingredients stay fresh for up to five days. And while anyone could spoon potato salad into a mason jar and keep it at its peak for a week, mason jar salads keep romaine lettuce, fresh spinach leaves, baby cabbage and other leafy greens crunchy.
Pro tip: These 32-ounce wide-mouth mason jars are best for mason jar salads.
How do you make and store the perfect mason jar salad?
Do you hate pulling out a bunch of fruits, veggies, and leafy greens every time you want to make a salad? (I do.) That’s why mason jar salads were so life changing for me! All you need to do is wash, slice, mince and chop the ingredients once to cook healthy meals for a week!
While I’m sharing some of my favorite Mason Jar Salad recipes below, you can easily turn any salad recipe into a Mason Jar Salad by filling the mason jar in a specific order.
Wise Scott
First, pour your desired dressing onto the bottom of a large mason jar with a wide mouth. Then add in the savory ingredients like proteins and crunchy vegetables, followed by eggs or cheese. Next are more delicate ingredients like tomatoes, peas, fruits, and berries. Then fill the rest of the jar with greens. (I shoot at least 40 to 50 percent green in my mason jar salads.) Put the lid on tightly and store the salad jars in a refrigerator or cooler where they’ll stay fresh for up to a week!
While you should always dry as much leafy greens as possible when preparing a salad, this is especially important when putting together the perfect mason jar salad. In addition to adding the greens as the final layer in the mason jar, removing any remaining water will help keep the salad crispy.
Pro tip: What if you (or someone you love) doesn’t like lettuce or other leafy greens? You can still use the handy mason jars – with a replacement. A high-protein, high-fiber alternative to salad is quinoa. Each of these four salads focus on (instead of vegetables) as the main ingredient.
The delicious life
More tips for making mason jar salads
Here are some more tips to help you master mason jar salads in no time:
- While it’s easy to see the benefit of twisting lettuce once for a week’s salads, using pre-washed bagged lettuce, spinach, spring mix, or other vegetables will save you even more time.
- When you turn a regular salad recipe into a mason jar salad, don’t worry too much. Just don’t put anything on the dressing that can get mushy, mushy, or slimy (like croutons and nuts) and add the leafy greens as the last layer.
- Mason jar salads are a great way to breathe new life into leftovers. Do you have some extra fried chicken, shredded pork, taco meat, salmon, black beans, or chickpeas? Use these ingredients for your protein layer!
- Shorten the formation of your protein layer by tossing a piece of fish, lightly seasoned chicken breast, or frozen breaded chicken patty in the oven or pressure cooker while you wash and cut the other ingredients. Or, speed things up by buying a roast chicken or thawing pre-cooked chicken strips to dice or shred. Canned tuna and chicken are quick options for meat lovers, and a can of rinsed black beans, cannellini, or chickpeas will do for vegetarians and vegans alike.
How do you eat a mason jar salad?
When it’s time for lunch or dinner, simply shake the mason jar vigorously a few times and tumble the ingredients onto a plate or large bowl. The greens will be down, followed by all of your favorite mix-ins, and the dressing will top it off. And whether you choose romaine lettuce, leaf spinach, kale, or another option, the lettuce greens stay crisp and fresh for up to five days (assuming you put them in the mason jar last)!
Road trip with jar salads
My family loves exploring the local food scene while traveling. In fact, we spend as much time researching where we’re going to eat as we are going to be in the cities we visit! But we also try to have at least one meal a day of food that we packed from home or bought from a local grocery store, usually breakfast or lunch. Not only does this help us stretch our travel budget, it also enables us to make healthy choices in a country where portion sizes in restaurants are consistently oversized.
A selection of mason jar salads fit nicely in our large cooler along with healthy breakfast and snack options like boiled eggs, yogurt, cheese sticks and fresh fruit. It’s easy to clear out the empty mason jars every night, and to save space on our adventures, we often fill them with extra healthy snacks that we buy on the go.
My favorite mason jar salads for road trips
Mason Jar Taco Salad
Whoever invented the taco salad is a genius! As with all mason jar salads, it’s easy for every family member to customize a mason jar taco salad. Browning a pound of ground beef provides protein for two to four mason jar taco salads. My meat lover likes to replace her taco meat with canned chicken or a shredded chicken breast on occasion, and I usually open a can of black beans for mine. And the rest of the mason jar can be designed by any of us to our hearts’ content.
Burrito bowl in mason jar
Starting with a delicious creamy chipotle sauce, I love layering the ingredients of this easy burrito bowl recipe with the handy dandy graphic on top in mason jars so I have takeaway options for a week.
Healthy yum
Mason jar greek salad
The same mix-and-match flexibility is available with this mason jar Greek salad. It’s easy for us to tweak proteins like pre-packaged gyro meat slices, chicken breasts, and chickpeas before layering them in our desired mix of tomato, cucumber slices, red onion slices, and crumbled feta cheese.
Mason Jar Cobb Salad
With a creamy blue cheese dressing base, crunchy vegetables and lots of delicatessen items, boiled egg and pieces of bacon, a classic Cobb salad is a very filling meal that is packaged in a mason jar.
Strawberry Spinach Mason Jar Salad
Nothing signals summer (and summer road trips) like seasonal strawberries and garden-fresh spinach. That’s why this strawberry and spinach salad is another favorite. First, pour the poppy seed vinaigrette into a mason jar, then layer the crumbled goat cheese, pecan pieces, quartered strawberries, and spinach.
Pro tip: Make this salad faster by using prepackaged sweet and flavored pecans (I love the ones at Trader Joe’s) and prepared poppy dressing.
Quiche My Grits
Rainbow salad in a mason jar
You’re sure to get a rainbow of fresh vegetables when you prepare this salad in a mason jar. Start with the dressing of your choice, then layer on top of orange carrots, red tomatoes, green cucumbers, and other vegetables before topping the jar with spring salad.
Mason Jar Chef Salad
Not only does a mason jar chef’s salad easily suit any diner’s tastes, but it also helps you clean the fridge as you prepare for your road trip. Do you have a few slices of turkey left, half a chicken breast or some shredded pork? These are perfect proteins for a mason jar chef salad.
Do you have a kid who hates tomatoes or a man who can’t get enough olives? Provide an assortment of vegetables, cheeses, fruits, and other salad ingredients, and let each person create their salad as they please. Remember that the most important rule of success is to layer the ingredients in the order listed above and finish with the salad on top.
Irena Macri
Salad with grilled vegetables in a mason jar
When the weather turns colder and vegetables like cauliflower, sweet potatoes and pumpkins are in season, this grilled vegetable salad is just the thing. Roast or grill the vegetables, then layer them between balsamic dressing on the bottom and baby spinach or other leafy greens on top.
Mason jar salads are a quick and easy way to cook up salads for a week and wrap your road trip meals with leafy greens, greens, and fruits.
Here are some more ideas to make your road trip more enjoyable:
