This strawberry spinach salad is loaded with roasted asparagus, grilled chicken, crunchy cucumber slices, avocado, red onion, toasted almond silvers and a citrus poppy seed dressing. Toss all the ingredients into a mason jar for a healthy, portable lunch that’s way better (and prettier) than your average restaurant salad.
Have you hopped on the MASON JAR SALAD train yet?!? Please say yes.
Everything You Need to Make a Strawberry Spinach Mason Jar Salad
This strawberry spinach salad takes advantage of the spring’s bounty with a variety of seasonal ingredients including: strawberries, roasted asparagus, grilled chicken, crunchy cucumber slices, creamy avocado, red onion, toasted almond slices and a sweet and tangy homemade poppy seed dressing.
Mason jar salads are really easy to prep, but there’s a method to the madness. Here’s how you want to layer your salads:
Dressing first
Veggies that will respond well to marinating in the dressing (things like cucumbers, onions, squash and mushrooms work great for this)
Moisture-resistant veggies
Protein
Greens (spinach, spring mix, romaine, etc)
Toppings (cheese, nuts, dried fruit, etc)
Keep the salad in the fridge until you’re ready to enjoy. Most salads will keep for about 5 days depending on what protein you’re using. I only prefer to go 1-3 days when I’m using something like grilled chicken.
The fun part comes when you’re ready to eat because you get to shake the jar to distribute the dressing. I don’t know why, but this is my favorite part! Once shaken, pour the salad into a big plate or bowl and enjoy. If for some reason you find yourself without a serving dish you can eat the salad straight from the jar but unless you have an extra-long fork, it’s kind of difficult. I speak from experience. haha
If you make this Strawberry Spinach Mason Jar salad be sure to leave a comment and star rating below. Your feedback is super helpful for the EBF team and other EBF readers!
This salad is loaded with roasted asparagus, grilled chicken, crunchy cucumber slices, avocado, red onion, toasted almond silvers and a citrus poppy seed dressing.
Scale
Ingredients
6 Tablespoons citrus poppy seed dressing
1/4 cup red onion slices
1/2 cup cucumber slices
4 large strawberries, chopped
1/2 cup roasted asparagus, chopped
1/4 avocado, chopped
6–8 ounces grilled or baked skinless chicken breast
1 5 oz bag of spinach
2 Tablespoons sliced almonds, toasted
Citrus Poppy Seed Dressing
1/2 cup fresh grapefruit juice
1 Tablespoon maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
1 ½ Tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
Make dressing by whisking together all ingredients. Recipe will make a little less than ¾ cup of dressing.
Take two wide-mouth 32 oz mason jars and layer salad ingredients. Start with 3 Tablespoons of dressing in each jar, divide remaining salad ingredients in half and start layering in this order: onions, cucumbers, strawberries, asparagus, chicken, avocado, spinach and almonds.
When ready to serve, shake each jar and pour into a bowl.
Notes
If you’re vegetarian feel free to skip the chicken and use another protein source like hard boiled eggs, baked tofu, tempeh or chickpeas.
I’ve never done salads in a jar before but this looks delicious. Just wondering though, if you’re making several to have ready for the week, how does the avocado hold up? Is it squished in between everything else enough that it doesn’t get brown?
Hey Kelli! The avocado will stay good 1-2 days. If you’re planning to make the salads more advance, I’d make them without the avocado and add it on top the morning of or when you’re serving it. That said, I’m picky about my avocado and hate brown spots. 🙂
This is go to for me. I’m vegetarian, so I usually will toss in some marinated tofu or beans of some type. Getting ready to do the strawberry one RIGHT NOW. Thanks for the great ideas! Iooks like I’ve been missing out on the “shake” part I just pour it out and the dressing is on top just like if I made it fresh.
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I’ve never done salads in a jar before but this looks delicious. Just wondering though, if you’re making several to have ready for the week, how does the avocado hold up? Is it squished in between everything else enough that it doesn’t get brown?
Hey Kelli! The avocado will stay good 1-2 days. If you’re planning to make the salads more advance, I’d make them without the avocado and add it on top the morning of or when you’re serving it. That said, I’m picky about my avocado and hate brown spots. 🙂
This is go to for me. I’m vegetarian, so I usually will toss in some marinated tofu or beans of some type. Getting ready to do the strawberry one RIGHT NOW. Thanks for the great ideas! Iooks like I’ve been missing out on the “shake” part I just pour it out and the dressing is on top just like if I made it fresh.
Omg these look delicious! I don’t know why I’ve never thought to put a salad in a mason jar! It’s so cute! And portable!
Thanks Erin. It’s a fabulous way to meal prep and take salads with you to work! 🙂