Recipe details
Ingredients
For the Dressing:
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp lime juice
Salad Ingredients: (make it veggie by adding tofu, pan fried paneer or halloumi instead of chicken)
Leftover cooked chicken
Noodles of your choice, prepared as per packet instructions (25g dried weight)
1 carrot, spiralled or julienne
1 Grilled red pepper strips
Edamame beans
20g peanuts
A handful of freshly chopped coriander
Instructions
- Firstly, start by pouring all of the dressing ingredients into a bowl and mixing well until the honey has dissolved. Set to one side.
- If you need to cook your protein and are not using leftovers, now is the time to do this step so you can allow the ingredients to cool before putting them in the jar
- Cut your pepper into thin strips and pan fry in a little oil for 5-10 minutes until softened
- Cook your noodles as per packet instructions and allow to cool slightly
- Pour your dressing into the base of the jar
- Add a layer of spiralled carrot, followed by a layer of noodles, the chicken, edamame, grilled pepper, peanuts and fresh coriander.
- Seal the jar and store in the fridge until needed. Once ready to consume I like to flip the jar, give it a light shake to coat everything in the dressing and enjoy!
A good salad jar starts with, well, A GOOD SALAD JAR! The one I have used here is from Zara Home and is larger than most. Mason Jars are a very good choice too, inexpensive and have other uses like a make shift cocktail shaker, portable smoothie jars and great for home made jams so a pretty good all round purchase!
What is the point of a salad jar?
Not only is it an easy way to prepare several meals in advance and save you making poor choices when short on time, but they are a mess free way of eating, are great for using leftovers up and good for saving money on buying lunch daily. Not to mention the versatility and and variety of ingredients, making them a good nutritional choice too. They also stay fresh in the fridge for a good 3-4 days if left unopened, so why not paper a few days at once?
Why don't the greens go soggy?
The lighter, fresh ingredients go on top, meaning they are far from the dressing and stay crisp. With harder, heavier, less absorptent ingredients going on the bottom, you can avoid having soggy vegetables. When you are ready to eat just flip the jar and give it a little shake to mix everything together.
How to pack the perfect salad jar:
- Salad dressing first. Always.
- Hard vegetables. Here I have used carrots, but things like cucumber, red onion, fennel, peppers etc would also work well.
- Pasta / grains / beans. For this jar I have used noodles.
- Your protein. I have used chicken, but other meat, fish or cheese would go here.
- Softer vegetables. I have used peppers and edamame but feel free to make it your own!
- Leafy greens and herbs. Always end with these as they are most prone to going soggy and most delicate.
- Firstly, start by pouring all of the dressing ingredients into a bowl and mixing well until the honey has dissolved. Set to one side.
- This recipe is great for using up leftover chicken, but if you are cooking fresh I recommend butterflying a chicken breast (make an incision on one side, half way through and cutting through almost all the way so you can open out - like a butterfly - thin with a rolling pin and season) This makes cooking quickly and allows for thinner strips in your salad. You will need to let the chicken cool whilst you prep the other ingredients or it will condensate in the jar, making fresh ingredients soggy. You can also swap the chicken for other ingredients like pan fried tofu, paneer, prawns, halloumi - the choice is yours and that is what is great about salad jars!
- Whilst you can use raw red pepper, I find cutting into fine strips and pan frying in a little oil for 5-10 minutes makes it so much ore tasty!
- I used fresh protein noodles, which required pan frying in sesame oil for a few minutes, but feel free to use noodles of your choice, cooked as per packet instructions.
- Now for the fun part - layering! Using the method above, layer up your salad jar and seal tightly.
