These easy Mason Jar Lunches are great grab and go meal options. They are all low carb and grain free, plus they require minimal cooking and can all be eaten without reheating!
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Truth be told, I'm not a big salad eater. When I do eat salad, I like texture. I want to crunch and chew and feel like I really got some substance, and definitely not like I'm eating "diet food."
These salads are packed with flavor, and texture. They are can all be prepped ahead of time and kept in the fridge for up to 5 days, making them perfect for meal prep!
Mason jars are a great way to prep salads, because when you layer them correctly the toppings can all stay nice and fresh. With that said, you can of course make these salads without the mason jars, just mixing in a bowl instead. If you aren't using a mason jar, you will want to store the dressing in a separate container to prevent the rest of the mix ins from getting soggy.
When making these salads in Mason Jars, you will want to follow the directions for stacking the ingredients as well as you can, to keep everything as fresh as possible.
I have spelled out my five favorite low carb salads, but feel free to make them your own, or to do something totally unique!
Cilantro Lime Shrimp Salad
This cilantro lime shrimp salad is SO fresh and full of flavor. I've made it with precooked shrimp, and my homemade cilantro lime vinaigrette, but you can substitute the shrimp for chicken and use store bought dressing to make this even easier!
For the avocado in this salad, you may want to wait and add it right before you are going to eat it to prevent browning. But, I have left them overnight without any problems.
Classic Cobb Salad
This is the easiest of the salads I have listed here. The only cooking is making a hard boiled egg, but you can totally buy those precooked as well!
I kept this one super classic with ranch dressing, cucumber, hard boiled egg, ham, bacon pieces, lettuce and cheese - but again feel free to mix things up!
Greek Salad
This is the salad that inspired this post! It's one that I make all the time and it's seriously delicious.
It does require a little cooking, due to the Greek meatballs, but it is SO worth it and the meat balls freeze really well, so you can make a bunch and keep them on hand in the freezer.
Thai Peanut Chicken Salad
I knew that I had to have some sort of Asian salad in the post. I just had to. They are at the top of the salad food chain as far as I'm concerned.
This one is SO good and super easy. I used my homemade Thai Peanut dressing, but again you could substitute with just about any Asian dressing.
For this recipe and the next one, I used grilled and ready chicken from the deli section of the grocery. It is precooked and even pre-sliced which makes this super easy. You could of course grill your own chicken as well.
Chicken Pesto
Ok, when I said the cobb salad was the easiest - I was lying. It's actually this Chicken pesto salad. There is ZERO cooking involved, unless you want to heat it up, in which case a minute or two in the microwave is all it takes.
On the topic of heating it up, that is totally optional. It makes a great cold salad, but is also excellent eaten warm.
I use store bought pesto, and I love Aldi's brand. Not only does it taste great, but it's the lowest carb pesto that I've found.
Be sure to check out these other great recipes:
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Easy Mason Jar Salads | Low Carb
Ingredients
Cilantro Lime Shrimp Salad
- 2 tbsp cilantro lime vinaigrette
- 3 oz precooked shrimp (if you buy frozen, thaw before adding to salad) shells and tails removed
- ¾ cup broccoli slaw mix
- 1 small avocado
Cobb Salad
- 2 tbsp Ranch Dressing
- ½ cup cucumber cut into chunks
- 1 hard boiled egg sliced
- 2 slices of black forest ham diced
- 1 tbsp bacon pieces
- ½ cup coleslaw mix
- ¾ cup chopped lettuce
- ¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese
Greek Salad
- 2 tbsp Tzatziki sauce
- 3 Greek meatballs
- ¼ cup chopped red pepper
- ½ cup chopped lettuce
- ½ cup coleslaw mix
- ¼ cup crumbled feta cheese
Thai Peanut Chicken Salad
- 2 tbsp Thai Peanut Dressing
- 3 oz grilled chicken breast
- ¼ cup sliced cucumber
- ¼ cup chopped red peppers
- 1 cup broccoli slaw
- 2 tbsp chopped cilantro
- ¼ cup chopped lettuce
- 1 oz roasted peanuts shelled
Chicken Pesto Zoodle Salad
- 2 tbsp Pesto
- 3 oz grilled chicken breast diced
- ¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1 cup zucchini noodles
Instructions
- Layer the ingredients into mason jars, in the order they are written above. Eat immediately, or store in sealed jars in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Notes
The nutrition information listed here is only an estimate and is simply provided as a courtesy. It nor any other information within this post should constitute medical or nutritional advice. Be sure to read all packaging and ingredient labels for potential allergens.
Nutrition
Do you cook the zucchini noodles at all? Or just spiralize them? I know they can be pretty watery if they are cooked! What did you find was easier?
Hi Danielle! I don't ever precook them. For this salad, I just heat everything together for a few minutes just before eating and they end up just right, without getting watery. Hope that helps!
I made the Cobb Salad In A Jar to repay my neighbor.
She had made us a mason jar filled with her homemade Tomato Jam, so I searched for something I could make for her in return.
BINGO!
It came out our so cool, my husband thought I was a genius (although I am), I had to admit this was all your doing!
Mahalo, Thanks Sabra
Is the shrimp salad made with red peppers of tomatoe? It isn’t listed in the ingredients .