• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

HealthyHappyLife.com logo

  • about
  • RECIPES
  • LIFESTYLE
  • BLOGGING
  • VIDEO
  • SHOP
  • Cookbooks
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Recipes
  • Lifestyle
  • My Books
  • Videos
  • About
  • holiday
    • Bloglovin
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » recipes » salad » Vegan Salad in a Jar. Make-Ahead Bliss.

    by Kathy Patalsky · updated: Mar 23, 2020 · published: Jun 4, 2012 · About 4 minutes to read this article. Leave a Comment

    Vegan Salad in a Jar. Make-Ahead Bliss.


    Salad. In a jar. I totally get this one.

    A while back (and maybe still) there was a spirited “foods in a jar” trend hovering around the food blogs. Mostly, cupcakes in a jar. And while I love dabbling in cupcake-making, they aren’t really my passion. I’ll leave cupcakes to a few vegan experts like Erin and Chloe.

    ..But salad in a jar? Inspired! Thanks to The Daily Muse for inspiring this post…

    The Daily Muse’s post “The Best New Way to Bring Your Lunch” introduced me to the “Mason Jar Salad” concept. They asked me if I wanted to take a crack at creating some vegan Mason Jar Salads on my blog. My mind was dizzy with ideas. Grains, beans, greens, nuts, seeds, fruit, veggies, dressings .. so many ingredients to layer, stack and arrange.

    And as I showed in my Vegan Cobb Salad, I love lining salad ingredients up in an orderly fashion.

    ..actually, doing a “vegan cobb in a jar” would be pretty fantastic. (See it here!)

    Fresh Factor? So while I was inspired, I was still a tad skeptical. Why salad .. in a jar? Sure, it looks super cute. But what was the practical part of this concept? Well, here is what The Daily Muse said..

    “The best part is you can make five salads at a time, and they’ll stay fresh for the whole week—just grab and go on your way out the door! When lunchtime rolls around, you’ll be sitting pretty with your delicious salad ready to be shaken up.”

    ..considering my crazy book writing schedule lately, the part that really stuck out was the “make ahead” concept. Could I really make a slew of these babies on Sunday night – with all my farmer’s market produce – and eat them all week long?? Would they really stay fresh?

    Well just so you know, it hasn’t been a week yet. But I’m going to save at least one of my jars for later this week and see what happens. I’ll let you know.

    But as of now these salads look and taste AMAZING. UPDATE: Part Two – the results here.

    Here are the four jars I assembled. But REALLY, you don’t need a recipe. Just follow this method, loosely:

    Layering Salad Jars:

    1) BOTTOM – dressing/liquid
    2) Heavy ingredients that hold up well when submerged in dressing – beans, cucumbers, radishes, onion..
    3) Heavy items that you may not want directly touching the dressing when stored.
    4) Leafy greens/light ingredients that take up a lot of space – spinach, kale, chard, arugula..
    5) A small amount of heavy accent items – nuts, seeds, dried fruit, croutons, accent spices
    6) TOP – colorful ingredients to perk up your taste buds when you pop open the jar – fruit, edible flowers, herbs..

    Other: grains and pasta are nice add ins. I like to put these on top of the plentiful salad so that it doesn’t get soggy in the dressing but helps to weigh the greens down a bit so I can fit more yummy stuff in each jar.

    There are no exact “rules” and that is the fun part. Let creativity take over.

    My recipes…

    * I made some spicy Cajun quinoa (quinoa + dried Cajun spice blend) for these jars and used fresh farmer’s market produce and nuts.

    * I used balsamic + EVOO + peppercorn spice blend for the dressing in all of my jars. You can try oil/lemon, creamy dressings, tahini/lemon/oil, citrus and more as your liquid infusion.

    #1 Green Garden
    EVOO/Balsamic/Peppercorn spices dressing
    diced persian cucumbers
    diced tomato
    arugula + baby spinach
    raw pistachios
    edible flowers
    diced dried apricots

    #2 Butter Bean Bliss
    EVOO/Balsamic/Peppercorn spices dressing
    sweet Maui onion, diced
    butter beans
    arugula + baby chard
    raw walnuts
    Cajun Spiced Quinoa
    diced dried apricots

    #3 Sunny Kale Kruncher
    EVOO/Balsamic/Peppercorn spices dressing
    radish, diced
    sweet Maui onion, diced
    walnuts
    kale + shredded carrots + cabbage, chopped
    seedless tangerine segments

    #4 Quinoa Oasis
    EVOO/Balsamic/Peppercorn spices dressing
    red onion
    Cajun Spiced Quinoa
    kale + carrots
    walnuts
    edible flowers

    What would you put in your salad jar???

    More recipes you may enjoy

    • Win a Vitamix! PunchTab Powered Giveaway.
    • 10 Vegan Lunch Ideas.
    • Black Eyed Sweet Potato Sliders + La Jolla Cove
    • Back to School Vegan: Videos with Kathy & Gena!

    About Kathy Patalsky

    Hey there! I'm Kathy, lover of kitty cats, weekend baking, 90's movies, travel, beach fog and foamy lattes. Since 2007, I have been sharing my vegan recipes and photos. My goal is to make your cooking life a little easier, delicious - and plant-loaded - while sharing some LIFE and conversation along the way.

    Vegan Linzer Cookies

    5 Ingredient Vegan Chocolate Pie

    Vegan Pumpkin Bread with Streusel Topping

    Vegan Oatmeal Cookies, Lunchbox-Ready

    Primary Sidebar

    • Bloglovin
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

    newsletter:

    Trending

    my cookbooks

    my cookbooks

    Disqus Latest Comments

    1. s

      s: Absolutely one of the best things I've ever baked. Used dairy butter…

      Commented on: Cinnamon Toast Morning Muffins, gluten-free and vegan

    2. JanetS

      JanetS: Neither of those non-grain flours will substitute for oats or wheat. As…

      Commented on: Cinnamon Toast Morning Muffins, gluten-free and vegan

    3. disqus_LfP7ofaP87

      disqus_LfP7ofaP87: Earth Balance brand HAS PALM OIL, as do most of the vegan…

      Commented on: Sticky Banana Bread Quinoa Breakfast Bowl

    about kathy

    kathy patalsky

    featured: peach coconut water smoothie

    browse recipes

    Breakfast  |  Entrees  |  Desserts  |  Smoothies  |  Sandwiches  |  Salads  |  Beverages  |  Soups |  Appetizers |  Snacks  |  Sauces  |  Sides   /  Cooking Videos  |  Round-Ups  |  Fan Favorites  |  Holiday  /  All the Recipes

    browse:

    • reviews
    • travel
    • vegan topics
    • people
    • videos
    • beauty
    • wellness
    • Mom Life

    my ttc + baby journey

    Footer

    BROWSE BY:

    Category:

    DATE:

    looking for something?

    contact   |   about   |   kathy’s cookbooks  |  press  |  findingvegan  |  meal plans  |  shop  |  vegan recipe index  |  privacy policy  | start a blog

    • Bloglovin
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions

    Newsletter

    • Sign Up! for emails and updates

    Contact

    • Services | Work with me