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Save time and eat healthy with these easy meal prep salads. Make several at once and enjoy fresh, ready-to-eat meals all week long.
If making salads isn’t your favorite thing to do, and the process feels like it takes too much time, this method will help. The key to enjoying healthy, fresh salads all week long is simple: prepare several at once. You’ll only have to wash, chop, and clean up one time, and in return, you’ll have a fridge full of ready-to-eat meals that are both satisfying and good for you. Meal prep salads are a smart solution, and there are endless ways to customize them with ingredients you already enjoy. What I’m sharing here is a basic formula that includes vegetables and protein, along with ideas for variations. It’s flexible, easy, and can be made to suit your own taste.
Prep day: gather the ingredients for mason jar salads.
- 4 wide mouth quart size mason jars or meal prep containers
- salad dressing of your choice
- chopped English cucumber
- chopped carrots
- red onions
- cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes
- pulled rotisserie chicken or chopped chicken breasts
- feta cheese, cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese, blue cheese, or goat cheese
- hard-boiled eggs
- bacon bits
- romaine lettuce or leafy greens of your choice
- mini croutons
Additional ideas for fresh vegetables and additions.
- green onions
- black beans
- chickpeas
- cooked + chopped sweet potatoes
- brussels sprouts
- green or red bell peppers
- creamy avocado slices
Assembly
- Line up your containers and work assembly-line style to save time and keep things organized.
- Start with the dressing at the bottom of each jar. This keeps the lettuce from getting soggy.
- Add hard vegetables next, such as carrots, cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, or celery.
- Layer in soft items like cooked chicken, shredded cheese, hard boiled eggs, fruit, or avocado.
- Finish with lettuce, filling the top third of the jar. Pack it in so the jars are full and the contents stay fresh.
Storage
Cap the mason jars tightly and place them immediately in the refrigerator. When stored properly in airtight containers or mason jars, meal prep salads can last up to 5 days in the refrigerator. Be sure to keep the dressing at the bottom and the lettuce at the top to maintain freshness.
Serving
When you are ready to dig into one of your delicious salads, remove it from the refrigerator, and turn the container upside down. Let the dressing flow through the salad layers for a few minutes. Dump the salad into a bowl. Make sure to scrape all of the dressing out of the jar with a spatula. Season, toss, and enjoy!
Salad Prep Tips
- A great way to avoid a soggy salad is to thoroughly drain your salad greens on a clean cotton kitchen towel, paper towel, or use a salad spinner. Make sure the greens are dry before adding to your containers.
- For best results use very fresh ingredients.
- Bottled salad dressing is perfectly fine. I use it all the time. If you prefer homemade dressing, a super easy idea is to combine 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil with 1/4 cup of one of the following: apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, or lime juice.
- Successful meal prepping depends on an accurate grocery store list, so make sure to write everything down!
- The ingredients and amounts listed in the recipe card below are simply suggestions. Meal prep salads should be made according to your family’s tastes.
- A quart sized mason jar salad is definitely a meal. The jar can also be divided into 2 or 3 side salad servings.
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- quart sized wide mouth mason jars
- wood mason jar lids
- glass meal prep containers
- cotton kitchen towels (these are the best!)
How To Make Meal Prep Salads
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons Bolthouse Farms Ranch Salad Dressing (2 tablespoons per jar. Or use salad dressing of your choice.)
- 1 1/2 cups cucumber (chopped)
- 1 1/2 cups carrots (chopped or shredded)
- 1/2 large red onion (chopped)
- 24 grape tomatoes
- 12 oz. chicken (cut into small chunks)
- 4 oz. feta cheese (crumbled)
- 4 eggs (hard boiled + chopped)
- 3/4 cup bacon bits
- 1 tablespoon mini croutons
- 2 romaine hearts (cleaned and chopped)
- 4 quart sized wide mouth mason jars
Instructions
- Prepare all ingredients.
- Begin layering the ingredients in 4 mason jars.
- At the bottom of the jars, add the salad dressing.
- In layers, add cucumber, carrots, onion, tomatoes, chicken, feta cheese, egg, and bacon bits.
- Add the chopped romaine last.
- Cover tightly and refrigerate.
- To serve, dump the entire jar into a bowl.
- Using a spatula, scrape out all of the dressing.
- Season to taste, add the mini croutons, toss, and enjoy!
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
If you make this recipe, and love it, please come back to leave a comment and a 5-star review. I would really appreciate it, and it would help me so much. Thank you!
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Thank you a really delicious, great idea!
Thanks, Ann! What a great time saver! I am going shopping tomorrow for all the ingredients and will then make up the salad jars. This is such a great idea! Thanks for sharing with us.
Question: Is the two tablespoons of dressing to be divided by four? That would only be 1/2 tablespoon per salad
Thanks for the great salad prep ideas. Will definitely try!
Lea
Hi Lea…thank you for asking about this! It’s 2 tablespoons per jar. I corrected the ingredients in the recipe card. Enjoy!
When I worked these were my go to lunches. Great idea and easy to prepare days ahead of time.
Hello I love your idea for the salads in the jars, but can I use regular Mason jar lids?
Yes for sure! Regular mason jar lids will work great. Enjoy!
These are awesome…where do you buy mini croutons?
I got mine at Kroger, but I’ve also seen them at Walmart. They are right by the regular croutons. Enjoy!
Brilliant. Why didn’t I ever think of this!