Strawberry Spinach Mason Jar Salad

This spinach mason jar salad features strawberries, grilled chicken and a citrus poppyseed dressing. Layer all of the ingredients into a mason jar for a healthy, portable lunch!

Have you hopped on the salad in a jar trend yet?!? Please say yes.

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 citrus poppyseed dressing.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• This salad is the perfect meal prep recipe – just layer all of the ingredients into a mason jar for a healthy, portable lunch!
• It’s a quintessential spring salad, featuring seasonal produce like asparagus and strawberries and a citrus dressing!
• It’s totally customizable – feel free to make this salad your own!

Ingredients Needed

• baby spinach – the greens in this salad. Baby spinach has a mild flavor and texture that works perfectly in this salad. You can easily swap with any greens.
• red onions – to add a little zest!
• cucumbers – for some added crunch.
• asparagus – I love fresh asparagus when it’s in season! Asparagus is a nutrient-dense food, meaning it packs a lot of nutrients and not a lot of calories. 1 cup of asparagus is only 20 calories!
• avocado – a great way to add healthy fat and creaminess.
• grilled or baked skinless chicken breast – I love making my apple cider vinegar chicken for this recipe, but feel free to make your favorite chicken recipe. You can also prep shredded chicken in the slow cooker or air fryer chicken in an air fryer in advance to add to this salad. Rotisserie chicken would also be a great option for a short-cut!
• strawberries – the star of the show here. I love the burst of flavor and sweetness fresh strawberries bring to this recipe!
• goat cheese – for a hint of creaminess and saltiness.
• sliced almonds – add more healthy fats and a necessary crunch factor to the salad. You can keep this raw or toast them for extra flavor.
• citrus poppyseed dressing – a super simple dressing made with fresh grapefruit juice, maple syrup, sea salt, ground pepper, dijon mustard, garlic, poppyseeds, and olive oil.

Notes and Substitutions

• Switch up the greens – if you’re not a spinach fan, feel free to use your favorite leafy green instead. spring mix or arugula would be my next choice of greens for this salad.
• Switch up the dressing – I love the citrus poppyseed dressing paired with this salad but any dressing would work if you’re in a pinch. Some options: balsamic dressing, white balsamic vinaigrette or lemon vinaigrette.
• Use different mix-ins – Feel free to switch up your mix-ins for this salad… I often do! Sometimes I change up the veggies based on what I have on hand. Feel free to get creative and make this salad your own.
• Add grains – I love adding grains to my salad for some extra volume and nutrients. Toss in cooked quinoa, rice or farro to make this a heartier salad.
• Swap out the nuts – Not an almond fan or have a nut allergy? Any type of nut or seed will work well in this salad. For the ultimate treat try adding candied walnuts or candied pecans.
• Dairy-free – You can swap the goat cheese for a dairy-free cheese or omit to make this salad dairy-free.
• Vegetarian – If you’re vegetarian feel free to skip the chicken and use another protein source like hard boiled eggs, baked tofu, tempeh or chickpeas (try these air fryer chickpeas for some added crunch!)

How to Make Spinach Mason Jar Salad

Once you have all your ingredients prepped, this salad comes together in just two steps and in under 15 minutes:

Make dressing – Make dressing by whisking together grapefruit juice, maple syrup, sea salt, pepper, dijon mustard, garlic, poppy seeds and olive oil. Alternatively, you can add all the ingredients to a mason jar, cover and shake until combined.

Prep salads – Take four wide-mouth 32 oz mason jars and layer salad ingredients. Start with 3 Tablespoons of dressing in each jar and then divide remaining salad ingredients into quarters and start layering in this order: onions, cucumbers, strawberries, asparagus, chicken, goat cheese, almonds and spinach.

Serving and Storing

To make it in advance: You can keep this spinach mason jar 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.

Serving: 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!

More Mason Jar Salad Recipes to Try

More Salad Recipes to Try

Be sure to check out my full collection of salad recipes and meal prep recipes on EBF!