Thai Chickpea Mason Jar Salad

Thai chickpea mason jar salad has a tangy peanut dressing, quinoa, zucchini, carrots and cabbage and is topped with honey roasted peanuts! Ready in under 25 minutes.

Summer, please never leave.

I am squeezing every last drop out of summer with this Thai chickpea salad in a jar recipe!

Not only are they gorgeous, but they are full of plant-powered protein to keep us full and satisfied. No zero-calorie leafy salads here!

And also? Honey roasted peanuts! Because YUM.

How to build a mason jar salad

Why are we making salad in a jar? Because LAYERING! That’s right, it’s not just because they look so pretty (let’s face it though, that does help!), but it’s actually for functionality.

By keeping the sturdier ingredients like chickpeas and quinoa at the bottom of the jar in the dressing, we are protecting the more delicate ingredients like zucchini noodles, which wouldn’t last nearly so long if they were sitting in the dressing.

Here are my rules for layering a mason jar salad:

• Dressing- always goes on the bottom
• Sturdy ingredients- like chickpeas, chicken, quinoa go on top of the dressing. Anything that can sit in the dressing for several days without getting mushy is going to be great here
• Delicate ingredients- like leafy greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese etc go higher up. Choose ingredients you want to keep out of the dressing to go higher up.

For this Thai chickpea mason jar salad recipe, I put the honey roasted peanuts at the top. They will lose their crunch a bit, but they at least won’t be completely soggy like they would if they sat in the dressing for several days.

What size of jar do you use for this mason jar salad? I use 1 pint mason jars, and really smush things in there. To serve, I will dump it out into a bowl. If you want to eat out of the jar, I suggest a 1 quart mason jar, and you can give it a good shake up before serving.

How do you eat the mason jar salad? When you’re ready to serve, dump the salad out of the jar into a large bowl. The dressing pours from the bottom of the jar over all the ingredients and dresses the salad for you! As mentioned above, you can also eat right out of the jar but will need a larger 1 quart mason jar to do so.

How long do these mason jar salads last? These are good for up to 4 days in the fridge!

Can I swap the dressing? Absolutely! Aim for about 2 tablespoons per jar. I’d suggest this Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing, this Creamy Maple Tahini Dressing, or something basic like this Balsamic Vinaigrette.