Summer Salads For Lunch and Brunch

Jar salads prep tips + 9 recipes

Jar SaladPhoto by Mariana Medvedeva/Unsplash

#Foodie Friday — Jar Salads

Jar salads are one of the easiest, most versatile, and most convenient ways to prep, pack and eat delicious and nutritious eco-friendly meals. They are easy and portable for a busy person's lunch or can be dressed up for cute and classy brunch item.

I’ve made fresh and light all-veggie jar salads and I’ve also made pasta and bean salads.

Here are my Top 3 Tips

1. Prep is key

Have clean, sanitized jars and lids ready and prep all your ingredients including your sauce or dressings for safe, easy assembly. Secondly, dressing is best at the bottom to keep things fresh and prevent sogginess.

2. Eat immediately for peak freshness and the best presentation

Try to eat your salads in 24-48 hours for peak freshness and flavor. Anything after 48 hours may be a little risky, especially with fresh vegetables.

3. Recycle, reuse, reduce waste and save money

Of course, using Mason and Ball jars are the first choice if you're having an event. However, an eco-friendly and cost-effective way to collect jars is to use washed and sanitized spaghetti sauce, fruit, and jelly jars. They tend to be thicker and sometimes have measuring markers on the side.

Tomatoes from my garden and caprese jar saladsFrom writer's kitchen

I’m not a recipe developer, so I will only list the salads I know, love, and have personally made. I’ve also included a link to recipes I’d like to try. Here are my top 2 favorites and most often used.

1. Caprese Salad — super simple and so beautiful in a jar. I love this salad because of its simplicity. The picture below features ingredients basil, tomatoes, and garlic from my own garden. The tomato variety I used was called a pineapple tomato. It was a wonderful garden experiment that was pleasing to my palate.

Jar SaladTeressa P., Writer

2. Greek Salad with or without orzo or couscous. I’m sorry I don’t have a picture of one of my jar salads, but these are some prep and other plating ideas.

Orzo Greek SaladTeressa P., Writer

Orzo Greek SaladTeressa P., Writer

For more Jar salad ideas, check out:

Spruce Eats’ — 6 Jar Salads featuring a Burrito Bowl in a Jar

Wide Open Eats’ White Bean and Tomato Jar Salad

Thank you for reading and please let me know if you tried any of these recipes.