Chicken, Apple and Pecan Salad in a Jar
Easy, portable salads that can be made ahead for the week – they stay fresh so you never have a soggy salad again!
I kind of have a thing for mason jars. No wait, I’m obsessed with them, really. I just have a use for them for anything and everything – Â from drinks, to storage, to decorative purposes, and now salads.
Now if you haven’t been making mason jar salads, you are definitely missing out.
Mason jar salads can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge so you can plan out your week’s lunch as needed. It’s quick, it’s easy, it’s amazingly fresh and best of all, your coworkers will be giving you some dirty-jealous looks.
It’s obviously a win-win all around.
Chicken, Apple and Pecan Salad in a Jar
Easy, portable salads that can be made ahead for the week - they stay fresh so you never have a soggy salad again!
Ingredients
- 2 cups chopped kale leaves
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- 2 Granny Smith apples, chopped
- ½ cup pecans, chopped
- 1 cup grapes
For the chicken salad
- 2 boneless, skinless thin-sliced chicken breasts
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- â…“ cup plain Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup diced red onion
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise, optional
- 2 tablespoons sliced almonds
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, or more, to taste
Instructions
- Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper, to taste. Add to skillet and cook, flipping once, until cooked through, about 3-4 minutes per side. Let cool before dicing into bite-size pieces.
- In a medium bowl, combine chicken, Greek yogurt, red onion, celery, mayonnaise, almonds and lemon juice; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- To assemble, divide chicken mixture, kale, cranberries, apples, pecans and grapes into four wide-mouth canning jars with tight-fitting lids.*
Notes
Pint-sized jars are great for individual salads but quart-sized jars can also be used for larger quantities.
These jars will keep for 3 to 5 days.
Did you make this recipe?
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I have made this recipe many times. I love how fresh the ingredients is days after making them. I just grab a jar in the morning and put it in my lunch bag. I have a collapsable bowl that I use to dump the salad in to eat it. I use baby spinach instead of kale.
If I don’t have a mason jar, can I prep it in a Tupperware?Â
Yes, of course.
Tasty 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
All these flavors are just superb. I have made this apple salad yesterday and it turned out good. But may I store this in the refrigerator?
Yes Dustin, absolutely.
This looks delicious. There are some ingredients that I don’t have so I am thinking to substitute some of the veggies. Of course, I am planning to buy and go to the groceries this weekend.
Your kale sure looks like spinach! What kind of kale is it?
Baby kale. You can also substitute spinach.
Do you think it would taste good if I substituted the cranberries for pomegranate instead? I need to use some pomegranates. 🙂
What a great idea – yes! 🙂
Do you have to seal the jar lids as if you were canning something or just screw tight? I am making these today. Thanks!! Love your chicken salad recipe.
Screw tight! 🙂
I would like to know about meals that are good for people who have cancer. Â Just some quick meals and juices that can be made in a juicer. Thanks!
I’m buying my ingredients this weekend! This chicken salad also looks like it would be perfect with crackers in my bentonite box!
Can’t wait to try this!
I’m confused about serving size does this make 4 servings? The top of the nutrition info is confusingÂ
This recipe yields 4 servings.
Very good! I made adjustments for my convenience/preference: arugula instead of kale, doubled the sliced almonds in place of the pecans, white onions (very fine chop) instead of red, no dried cranberries, no celery, and I did use the mayo. That sounds like a lot of changes but it was what i had on hand and I find that this is a versatile base if you like waldorfs or creamy chicken salads. Oh, I also put these in plastic bags (I only made two days worth) instead as my jars weren’t available. It worked well, easy to shake up and put in a bowl. The chicken salad mix was really good and I had to stop myself from eating it while I assembled!
What size jar did you use? Looks delicious!
16 ounces.
Why use a mason jar? Does it work better as far as maintaining freshness rather than a plastic container?
Yes! 🙂
Can you eat them out the Mason jars? My daughters take their lunch everyday to school and I would love to try this for them.
Yes, absolutely.
Have you tried eating out of the jar? My son takes lunch to school everyday and this would be perfect, but I don’t see how can you mix it.Â
You can screw on the lid and shake the jar. Easy peasy!
I’m a college student who lives at home, and I’m in charge of dinner and grocery shopping. I made this today and it was delicious and SO PRETTY. Bless this blog and bless your magic food making hands
Yum, this looks delicious! I get so annoyed making salads every morning for my lunch at work, because I never want to make them in bulk incase the lettuce goes soggy. But I think since there’s a clear separation of the ingredients here it would be good to make them in advance and use jars! Good idea!
Wow, this salad looks amazing!! I love salads in a jar 🙂
I assume this is for a pint size jar?
Pint-sized jars are great for individual salads but quart-sized jars can also be used for larger quantities.
Could I use romaine lettuce and place of the kale?
Yes, absolutely, but kale would hold up a little better if this is prepped for the week.
This looks like a great idea and good for chicken leftovers, too. I like to make meals for the first day of a road trip, this would be a great carry along though I presume you have to empty the jar to truly enjoy the salad…I wondered about how well this salad would hold so thanks for that note at the end.
What size jar did you use? Looks delicious!
Pint-sized jars are great for individual salads but quart-sized jars can also be used for larger quantities.
Mhmmm! Looks yum and appealing! Love
this Maison jar on leg??
So the chicken is so moist that there is
no need for any dressing?
Xx Ice Pandora
The chicken is actually mixed with various ingredients to create more of a chicken salad:
In a medium bowl, combine chicken, Greek yogurt, red onion, celery, mayonnaise, almonds and lemon juice; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
I love your salad in a jar idea…do you have problems with your chopped apples turning brown when added to the jar & kept for the 3-4 days? Please share more terrific salad combos!!!!
A little bit of lemon juice should do the trick!