Bring your salad on the go with these tasty and healthy plant-based mason jar salads. I’m sharing three delicious flavors of mason jar salads from around the world: Mediterranean, Thai, and Southwestern.
Let’s face it: brown bag lunches can get boring. It’s all too easy to make the same meal day after day. Especially if you’re trying to stick to a healthy diet and eat a light, vegetable-packed lunch.
Salads are a great lunch that keeps you full without weighing you down during the afternoon. Of course, there are some caveats when it comes to packing salads on the go.
Salads can get soggy. Plus, you have to keep the dressing in a separate container, and how often does that container end up leaking? There’s nothing worse than opening up your lunch bag, ready to dig in, only to find everything covered in greasy vinaigrette.
That’s why I started meal prepping my lunchtime salads in large mason jars. They keep everything sealed in. All I have to do when hunger strikes is shake and eat!
Today I’m sharing my three favorite quick and easy recipes for mason jar salads. I bet you’ll love them as much as I do!
Why Make Salads in Mason Jars?
There are a number of good reasons to make salads in mason jars.
If you’ve ever had a salad that was dressed for too long, you know why it’s important to dress a leafy green salad just before serving. Lettuce gets weighed down easily. If you dress your salad in the morning, by lunchtime you’ll have a wilted mess.
With a large mason jar, you can add the dressing to the bottom of the jar along with heartier ingredients that won’t wilt. You don’t need to pack your dressing separatley or worry about wilted lettuce.
Plus, mason jars are reusable and easy to clean. They also pack neatly into a refrigerator or lunch box.
Finally, mason jar salads make the prettiest lunches! You get a beautiful, clear view of your colorful lunch. With these three mason jar salad recipes, you’ll be the envy of the office come lunchtime.
What Size Mason Jar Is The Best For Storing Meal Prepped Recipes?
These three recipes for mason jar salads are made to fit in 32-oz mason jars. Look for the jars with a wide mouth, which makes it easier to eat out of.
How To Layer A Mason Jar Salad For Lunch
When it comes to meal prepping a mason jar salad to bring for lunch, it’s all about layering. I like to use a wide-mouth funnel to fill my mason jars with salad ingredients. They’re often used for canning, so they fit perfectly inside the wide-mouth mason jars.
To meal prep a mason jar salad, always start with the dressing. You can mix it up right in the mason jar if you like, or make a large batch of salad dressing separately and divide it between mason jars for meal prep.
Next, add your heaviest and hardiest salad ingredients. For example, the Mediterranean Mason Jar Salad recipe starts with a layer of crunchy celery and hardy beets. These veggies can last for a while in the salad dressing without sacrificing texture.
Our Thai Mason Jar Salad calls for crispy red radishes and tender brown rice on the bottom. The rice picks up tasty Thai flavors from the peanut-ginger dressing. And our third mason jar salad recipe, Southwest style, starts with a layer of sweet delicata squash, crisp green beans, and protein-packed pinto beans.
Continue building your mason jar salad from the bottom up, adding ingredients in order of weight and heft. The top layer should be your fresh herbs and soft lettuces.
What Ingredients Should I Use For Mason Jar Salads?
A filling and healthy salad should have a good mix of protein, crunchy vegetables, and color. These three recipes are full of fresh produce that provides a range of vitamins and minerals.
Meals that include a range of colors, such as our Mediterranean Salad Jar with green celery and cucumber, deep red beets, savory black olives, and creamy white beans, are a good indication of a highly nutritious dish.
How Long Will These Salads Stay Fresh?
Once your rainbow of a salad is layered and sealed into your mason jar, they’ll keep fresh in the fridge for 3-5 days. When you’re ready to eat, give the jar a good shake to mix everything together and dig in!
More Jarred Meals to Try
Now that you've invested in some high-quality mason jars, add these colorful recipes to your lunch menu:
- Butternut Squash and Quinoa Mason Jar from Greenevi is not only festive and colorful, it's a tasty pairing of sweet squash with zesty arugula.
- Pack up my Winter Crunch Salad in a mason jar for easy on-the-go eating.
- These Vegetarian Mason Jar Burrito Bowls from She Likes Food are another fun vegan recipe that makes the most of your glass jars.
What's your favorite meal to eat out of a mason jar? Let me know in the comments!
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Mediterranean Mason Jar Salad
Ingredients
- 2-3 tablespoons of your favorite salad dressing - I used a balsamic vinaigrette
- ½ cup celery, diced
- ½ cup cooked sliced golden or red beets
- ½ cup diced cucumber
- ½ cup diced red onion
- ½ cup pitted black olives
- ½ cup cooked white beans
- Fresh parsley as desired
- 1 cup salad greens
Instructions
- On the bottom of a glass mason jar, place the salad dressing.
- Using a wide-mouth funnel, add your other ingredients, starting with the celery. On top of that add a layer of beets, then cucumber, red onion, black olives, and white beans.
- Last, add the parsley and salad greens on top.
- Cover and store in your fridge. This will keep for a couple of days. Just before serving, shake it up to coat the salad with the dressing. Enjoy right out of the jar or transfer it to a plate or bowl to serve.
Thai Mason Jar Salad
Ingredients
Salad dressing:
- 1 tablespoon brown rice vinegar
- 1-2 tablespoons water, or as needed
- Pinch garlic powder
- Pinch fresh grated ginger or ginger powder
- 2 to 3 tablespoons natural peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon coconut aminos (or tamari or shoyu)
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
Jar Ingredients:
- ½ cup red radish, sliced or diced
- ½ cup cooked brown rice
- ½ cup cilantro, chopped
- ½ cup cucumber, diced
- ½ cup mung bean sprouts, rinsed well
- 1 cup salad greens
Instructions
- Mix all salad dressing ingredients together and adjust seasoning to taste. The dressing should be a creamy, smooth consistency. On the bottom of a glass mason jar, place a few tablespoons of this salad dressing.
- Using the wide mouth funnel, add your red radish and brown rice. Then add cilantro and cucumber. Add the mung bean sprouts and top it off with your salad greens to fill.
- Cover and store in your fridge. This will keep for a couple of days. Just before serving, shake it up to coat the salad with the dressing. Enjoy right out of the jar or transfer it to a plate or bowl to serve.
Southwestern Mason Salad Jar
Ingredients
Tahini Orange Salad Dressing:
- 2 tablespoons fresh squeezed orange juice
- 3 tablespoons sesame tahini (sesame seed butter)
- A few pinches sea salt
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice or apple cider vinegar
Jar Ingredients:
- ½ cup green beans (cooked and chopped)
- ½ cup delicata squash, diced and precooked and diced
- ½ cup cooked pinto beans or black beans
- ½ cup cooked quinoa
- ½ cup endive, chopped
- ½ cup cooked organic corn kernels (pre-cooked and cooled)
- ½ avocado, pitted, scooped out and diced
- 1 cup salad greens
- ½ cup sliced almonds or chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Mix all salad dressing ingredients together and adjust seasoning to taste. The dressing should be a creamy, smooth consistency. On the bottom of a glass mason jar, place a few tablespoons of this salad dressing.
- Using the wide mouth funnel, add the green beans and delicata squash. Then add the beans, and quinoa. Add endive, corn, avocado and salad greens, topped off with some nuts.
- Cover and store in your fridge. This will keep for a couple of days. Just before serving, shake it up to coat the salad with the dressing. Enjoy right out of the jar or transfer it to a plate or bowl to serve.
Dessert Parfait Mini Mason Jar
Description
- Use a pint size glass mason jar (the type used to can jam)
Ingredients
- ½ cup whole grain rice pudding (cooked with almond milk and maple syrup)
- ½ cup cooked fruit (mixed berries, maple syrup, kuzu or cornstarch to thicken)
- ¼ cup sliced almonds or walnuts
- 1 kiwi fruit, peeled and sliced or diced
Instructions
- In the glass, place ¼ cup of the rice pudding. Add ¼ cup of the cooked mixed berries. Add some nuts, and top it off with kiwi.
- Repeat the layering until the jar is filled.
- Cover and store in your fridge. Keeps for a few days.
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