Let’s talk LUNCH. Or dinner, or really any meal you want something delicious and hearty. Today I’m bringing you over 40 fresh and healthy meal prep salads that make the absolute best lunches and dinners during busy work weeks.
After updating and re-sharing these amazing 4 mason jar salads, I wanted to put together an even bigger roundup of salad recipes that are protein-packed and easy to meal prep during the week. Each of these hearty salad recipes packs at least 8g of protein and plenty of fiber to keep you full and satisfied.
Get all of my tips for meal prepping salads below, and then scroll through and pick out your fav recipes to try!
Our favorite way to meal prep salads
We LOVE loading up mason jars to make cute, delicious salads in jars for the week! Get all of my tips & tricks for making mason jar salads, plus 4 great recipes to get you started right here.
Tips for meal prepping salad recipes
Salads are probably the easiest meals to prep ahead of time, which makes them perfect for busy weekdays. Here’s how I like to meal prep salads:
- Cook your proteins: if you’re adding a protein to your salad that needs to be cooked, cook this a day ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to assemble your salad. Learn all of the best ways to cook chicken here!
- Chop your produce: do your fruits & veggies require dicing or chopping? Probably! Chop them all up one day and store them in the refrigerator for easy assembly.
- Make your dressing(s): whether you’re making multiple salads or just one, I recommend making the dressings ahead of time and storing them in the fridge as well.
Once these are complete you can either keep the ingredients separated and quickly assemble multiple salads throughout the week, or add your ingredients together in a jar or meal prep container without the dressing for an even faster option!
What’s in these meal prep salads?
The flavor combinations are truly endless in these easy meal prep salad recipes, so you have TONS to choose from. Each salad follows a similar “formula” that makes it both delicious and satisfying:
- Protein and fiber: to keep you full, of course! We have plenty of options for meat & plant-based proteins like chicken, chickpeas, nuts, seafood, beans, quinoa, pasta, and more. You can always add any of them to any salad. Yes, pasta packs a protein and fiber punch!
- Healthy fats: additional ingredients to fill you up like avocado, nuts, and cheeses.
- Fruits & veggies: is it even a salad without produce?! We love greens like spinach, arugula and romaine lettuce, veggies like broccoli, cucumber, bell pepper, carrots and red onion, and fruits like berries, peaches, tomatoes, mango, and more. This is where you can really get creative!
- Dressing: each salad is tied together with a flavorful homemade dressing. Get all of my homemade salad dressings here!
How long do meal prep salads last?
Feel free to store your salad ingredients separately from the dressing in an airtight container for up to 3-5 days. If you add dressing to your salad and have leftovers, the salad won’t stay as fresh, which is why I recommend storing your salad ingredients separately from the dressing until you’re ready to eat it.
Our favorite salad tools
- 16 ounce mason jar
- Meal prep container
- Salad chopper
- Salad spinner
- Salad dressing shaker
- Reusable storage bags
Get all of our fav kitchen tools here!
V = salads that are vegan
VT = salads that are vegetarian
Our Favorite Salads in Jars
Southwest Chicken Salad in a Jar
Balsamic Chicken Berry Salad in a Jar
Thai-Inspired Chicken Quinoa Salad in a Jar
Chickpea, Tuna & Chicken Salads
The Easiest Chopped Greek Chickpea Salad VT
15-Minute Healthy Moroccan-Spiced Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad
Vegan Curry Chickpea Salad Collard Wraps V
Honey Mustard Apple Tuna Salad
Roasted Sweet Potato Black Bean Salad with Pineapple Corn Salsa V
Vegan Pecan Apple Chickpea Salad Wraps V
Easy Mediterranean Pesto Chickpea Salad V
Green Goddess Tuna Quinoa Salad
Quinoa Salads
Vibrant Curry Cashew Chickpea Quinoa Salad V
Roasted Carrot Cauliflower Quinoa Salad with Sunshine Dressing V
Avocado Blueberry Quinoa Salad VT
Famous Crunchy Cashew Thai-Inspired Quinoa Salad V
Fresh Strawberry Basil Quinoa Salad with Goat Cheese, Sunflower Seeds & Lemon Vinaigrette VT
Fiesta Mango Black Bean Quinoa Salad V
Kale, Edamame & Quinoa Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette V
One Pot Moroccan Chickpea Quinoa Salad V
Roasted Veggie, Chickpea & Pesto Quinoa Salad V
Pasta & Grilled Salads
Damn Good BLT Pasta Salad with Creamy Jalapeño Cashew Dressing
Avocado & Tomato Chickpea Pasta Salad with Lemon Basil Vinaigrette VT
Grilled Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad
Herby Olive Italian Orzo Salad VT
Peach, Tomato & Corn Arugula Pasta Salad VT
Street Corn Pasta Salad with Cilantro Pesto + Goat Cheese VT
Spinach, Arugula & Mixed Green Salads
Grilled Carrot Arugula Salad with Fig, Goat Cheese & Avocado VT
Summer Strawberry Spinach Salad with Avocado VT
Summer Peach Spinach Salad with Avocado, Toasted Almonds + Goat Cheese VT
Roasted Sweet Potato & Arugula Salad with Turmeric Honey Mustard Yogurt Dressing VT
30 Minute Honey Garlic Salmon with Apple Dijon Green Salad
Broccoli Salads
Spicy Cashew Thai Chickpea Broccoli Salad V
Healthy Summer Broccoli Salad V
Vegan Curried Broccoli Chickpea Salad V
Chickpea Apple Broccoli Salad with Honey Dijon Dressing V
Brussels Sprouts & Cabbage Salads
Italian Chopped Brussels Sprouts Salad
Spicy Ranch Chopped Chicken Cabbage Salad
Peach Brussels Sprouts Crunch Salad with Creamy Tahini Poppy Seed Dressing VT
Cashew Crunch Shredded Brussels Sprouts Salad V
Winter Butternut Squash Brussels Sprouts Caesar Salad VT
Chopped Thai Chickpea Salad with Curry Peanut Dressing V
Shredded Brussels Sprouts & Kale Salad with Apple, Gorgonzola & Candied Pecans VT
Romaine Salads
Chicken Kale Waldorf Salad with Avocado & Goat Cheese
Vegetarian Southwest Sweet Potato Taco Bowls with Avocado Ranch Dressing VT
Summer Chicken Chopped Salad with Strawberries, Avocado + Feta
Healthy Chicken Chickpea Chopped Salad
Kale Salads
Summer Glow Chopped Kale Salad VT
Brussels Sprouts Kale Honeycrisp Apple Salad with Maple Cider Dressing VT
California Roasted Sweet Potato Kale Salad V
Butternut Squash and Kale Salad with Pomegranate, Toasted Almonds + Goat Cheese VT
15 comments
With salads in a mason jar, do you shake the jar to mix the salad? Isn’t it hard to eat out of the jar? Do you need an extra long fork?
I find it’s much easier to dump everything on a paper plate/extra container. Especially since my jars are usually packed and this ensures even distribution of everything!
I love how you labeled all of the ingredients in the pictures! Always glad to try new mason jar salads for meal prep 🙂
Yes! It helps to have a little visual when you’re layering them up 🙂
Very nice idea and it will certainly help carrying and keeping salads fresh. I am pinning up the post and trying them all for my lunch . Thanks for the share. Loved it.
Absolutely! Perfect for an on-the-go lunch 🙂
I ate the Southwest one all week long and loved it! There’s an Aldi close by to me so I got everything from there — I think I only spent around $15 total for the salad ingredients. I plan to try the Thai Chicken one next week. Thank you for sharing!
Also, something funny that happened was I misread the ingredients list and thought they were for one salad. So I bought too much and ended up with way too many ingredients, but it was okay because I had a very large salad for dinner. 🙂
Perfect – love the Southwest one! Big dinner salads are my favorite 🙂 these also make great leftovers!
how last it could be good in the fridge?
They should be good for about 3-4 days!
I made the Southwest and the Thai and they are both yummy! Great for a quick lunch or dinner. I am going to try the other two next!
So good! Glad you’re enjoying these!
These look terrific! Wondering do you shake up salad and pour onto a plate or just eat out of jar?
I usually pour it onto a plate, but you can do either!
Awesome!