Add more salads into your weekly meals and make this delicious Chicken Mason Jar Salad for the entire week in just a matter of minutes. Trust me that you'll want to slurp up this killer honey mustard dressing!
If you're looking for more meal prep recipes, try checking out my Beet & Goat Cheese Salad with White Wine Vinegar Dressing, Healthy Taco Salad Recipe, and Chicken Cobb Mason Jar Salad.
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To be honest, it took me a shockingly long time to get on the whole mason jar salad bandwagon. Not that I have anything against Mason Jars… I use them for mason jar recipes, like my Chocolate Chia Pudding and Banana Nut Overnight Oats ALL the time. And I love Salad Recipes and Meal Planning. Mason jar meal prep is so fun and easy. But, for whatever reason, I never tried mason jar salad recipes.
Then, one day, I just decided to make a salad in a jar and see what all the fuss was about. And I’m SO glad I did. GUYS! Mason jar salads are amazing – they’re super easy, delicious, and really do keep everything nice and fresh until you’re ready to eat them. Salad meal prep was something I never used to do because I hate soggy lettuce. I mean – soggy lettuce = eww, right?
Jar salad recipes completely solve this problem because you put the lettuce at the very top so you don’t have to worry about it getting touched by all the dressing and entering the dreaded mush zone.
So, when it’s time to enjoy your salad, just grab it out of the fridge and shake it out into a bowl. Your salad will taste like you just made it and you’ll continue on your delicious, Clean Eating Lifestyle — one that gets to enjoy tasty and clean salads for lunch. Woot!!
Check out my tips on this post for how to pack your mason jar salad to keep everything as fresh as possible – I’ve learned there is definitely a strategy to it, but it’s pretty straightforward and you’ll be on your way to enjoying mason jar salads in no time.
Ingredients For Mason Jar Salad
Chicken Breast: Lean and protein-packed, chicken breast makes the salad more filling and satisfying. It sits well in the middle layer and pairs perfectly with the honey mustard dressing. You could swap for chicken thighs if you prefer, however.
Cherry Tomatoes: I love a good cherry tomato in a salad recipe. I recommend getting smaller, whole cherry tomatoes and leaving them whole so they don't get too soggy.
Cucumbers: Crisp and hydrating, cucumbers hold up well against the moisture in the jar. They provide a refreshing crunch and help keep the salad light. I recommend getting English cucumbers because they don't ave a bitter, waxy skin, like most other cucumbers.
Red Onions: Sharp and flavorful, red onions add a bite that balances the sweetness of the tomatoes and dressing. They're hearty enough to go in the lower layers without getting mushy. You can omit them if you'd prefer, though.
Step By Step Instructions
Step 1: Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Season the chicken breasts on both sides with the kosher salt, ground black pepper, and garlic powder, and then add to the hot pan. Cook, flipping occasionally, until the chicken is well-browned on both sides and cooked through, about 10-12 minutes, or until the inside reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Once cooked through, remove from the pan and let cool. Then, dice into bite-sized cubes.
Step 2: To make the honey mustard salad dressing, in a small bowl, combine the plain Greek yogurt, clean yellow mustard, raw honey, and freshly squeezed lemon juice. Whisk until this is very smooth.
Step 3: To assemble the mason jar salads, start with the dressing at the bottom. This will keep it as far away from the lettuce as possible and will allow us to add in other items later that can avoid getting mushy. You can add about 1-4 tbsp. of the dressing, depending on how much you prefer and how many other ingredients you’re going to add.
Step 4: Follow the dressing layer with the grape tomatoes, followed by the diced chicken breast. In the next layer, add the cucumber, followed by the sliced almonds. Top this layer with the crumbled goat cheese. Finally, for the remainder of the jar and always on top, add as much baby greens as you can squeeze into the jar.
Step 5: When you're ready to eat your salad, just unscrew the cap and shake the contents out into a bowl. Everything gets pretty compacted in the jar, so some vigorous shaking might be needed. This shaking also helps to toss the salad ingredients with the dressing. Once the salad is in the bowl, you can toss it some more with your fork to make sure everything is evenly coated.
Step 6: With the lid sealed tightly and packed like I showed you, mason jar salads last 4-5 days in the fridge and are perfect for grab and go lunches or dinners during the week.
FAQs
Salad Meal Prep Tips
Here are my tips for making healthy mason jar salad recipes.
- Choose your container for salad in a jar wisely - any glass canning jar with a lid can be used, but wide-mouthed jars are the easiest for both packing the salad into the jars and shaking them out again when you’re ready to eat. I use these quart-sized jars for larger lunch and dinner salad portions because I like to have a lot of extra veggies and goodies in my salads. If you need help finding meal prep containers, check out my Ultimate Guide To Meal Prep Containers.
- Chop the veggies, cook the protein and the grains if you have to, prep the salad greens, use your kitchen scale for portion control and divide the ingredients into separate piles.
- The most important step of this salad in jar process is layering. Learn how to build a mason jar salad and embrace those salad layers. Tips for how to layer a mason jar salad in the next section.
How To Layer A Mason Jar Salad
Why did I say that this part is the most important one? Because learning how to layer a mason jar salad properly will keep your salad fresh. This is the key to successful mason jar salad meal prep. No more soggy lettuce. Just fresh, delicious ingredients.
To build a mason jar salad…
- Start with the dressing. At the bottom, add 1-4 tablespoons of dressing, depending on how many ingredients you’re going to add and how much dressing you prefer in your salad. In this way, you’ll prevent the lettuce and veggies from getting mushy. WIN!
- Continue to assemble the mason jar salad by adding the hard veggies and fruits.
- Follow the hard veggies and fruits by a layer of grains, if you’re using any.
- Add protein.
- Then add soft veggies, fruits, roasted nuts or seeds.
- Top this layer with cheese, if using.
- Add salad greens. Salad greens such as lettuce have to always be on top. Add as much as you can squeeze into the jar.
How To Eat A Mason Jar Salad
Ok, obviously, you cannot eat salad out of a jar. I mean, you could try but it won't be easy. For sure. So, how do you eat a mason jar salad?
Well, when you are ready to eat the mason jar salad, just…
- give the mason jar salad a vigorous shake to mix the dressing with the rest of the ingredients;
- unscrew the cap;
- shake the salad into a bowl or a large plate;
- toss to combine, as needed.
How Long Do Mason Jar Salads Last?
This recipe, as written, will get you through an entire work week of enjoying a tasty mason jar salad each day for 5 days!
In general, mason jar salads last for 4-5 days in the fridge if you store them properly. By that, I mean placing them in the fridge and making sure the lid is tightly sealed.
Perfect grab-and-go lunches for a week ready in less than 30 minutes!
Can I get a HECK YEA?
