Fall-Inspired Mason Jar Salads

End-of-Season-Ingredients

Using end-of-season ingredients like squash and pears give these salads a fall-inspired taste, and packing them up in mason jars allows the salads to be made ahead by about a week. Gather all the ingredients for chopping and layering at once, then pull out a finished jar whenever you’re ready, shake out into a bowl for serving, and enjoy a delicious, simple meal.

Jar Layering

Have you made mason jar salads before?

When making a mason jar salad, the trick is to layer the ingredients from bottom to top with the wettest, most dense ingredients at the bottom, and the most absorbent or wilting at the top. For each of these salads, the ingredients are listed in the order they should be layered in the jar in order to keep well for up to a week in the fridge. Omit the dressing ingredients if you’d like to add your own on top later.

Pretty Project

Not only are these salads really amazing, but this project was so much fun to style and shoot! I shared the whole process on my Instagram Story as I worked on it, and my friends loved seeing the behind-the-scenes of the process.

As much of a maker as I am, I also really identify with being a visual designer and appreciate the opportunities I have to create beautiful scenes to photograph and share. I remember years ago finding out that bloggers were making “fake parties” to take pictures of for their blogs and I was shocked! Ha! Of course I love a good, real party, and these days I also very much appreciate the process and art of styling, set and shoot design, and sharing things in the best way for people to feel inspired by them. 

Recipes

After scrolling back through this post I am now thoroughly hungry, and can’t wait to go make myself some yummy salads.

Find all of the full recipes over at the World Market Blog.