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Most of us are perpetually on a journey to improve our health. And while we’re all in different seasons and have different health goals, a good salad is a pretty universal way to have a healthy meal that includes all the nutrients you need. The only problem I find with having regular salads is all the chopping and prep work. I am already making food for other people every day, and it can be hard to want to take the time and effort to do that every day. A great hack is to make Mason jar salads, which are just all the ingredients of a salad layered in a Mason jar. The way you layer them keeps the salad from becoming soggy, and the airtight jar keeps them fresh for up to a week!
How to Make Mason Jar Salads
The most important aspect of making Mason jar salads is… Mason jars! The bigger ones are the perfect size for fitting all the ingredients you want in your salad.
The next step is to decide what kind of salad you want to make. I chose to try Budget Bytes’ kale salad with cajun spiced chickpeas and buttermilk dressing. This is a salad I’ve loved before and I was in the mood for, so I wanted to try to modify it into a mason jar salad.
I usually make 4-5 salads at a time, which lasts me through a week, since some days we have other plans or eat leftovers.
The key to a good Mason jar salad is to put the toppings in the jar in the right order. You always want to put in the dressing and any wet ingredients first, then create a barrier between the wet ingredients and the lettuce by using the other toppings.
Here are the ingredients for this salad: kale, chickpeas, onion, buttermilk dressing, and parmesan cheese. The buttermilk dressing is the only wet ingredient, so we’ll put the chickpeas, onion, and parmesan in between the dressing and the kale.
I put the onion in first, then added the chickpeas and the parmesan. The chickpeas covered all of the dressing, so they’ll keep it away from the kale.
This is actually only one bunch of kale! I washed it and cut it up into tiny pieces so it would be easier to fit into the jars.
I actually had to really press the kale down in there. In this picture you can see the layers, from bottom to top: dressing, onion, chickpeas, parmesan, kale.
When it comes time to eat the salad, you’ll need a nice big bowl. Because I packed this salad so tightly, I had to use a spoon to get all that kale out!
Once you get the contents in your bowl, just toss with a fork and it’s ready to eat. This is really such a great way to prep salads, and makes it much more likely for me to actually eat a salad for lunch every day.
Remember: you want to layer wet ingredients, then other toppings, then the greens. Vegetables are best to put directly on top of the dressing, then add your protein and cheese before you add the greens.
What’s your favorite salad? Let us know in the comments!
