Every one of these recipes in a jar needs exactly one piece of equipment, and it is the jar. I have owned a lot of fancy appliances over the years and figured out that you do not need most of them, which is probably why mason jar recipes have stayed in my rotation for so long. So here are layered salads that hold up until Thursday, soup mixes you shake into a pot with water, overnight oats that make themselves while you sleep, and little jar desserts that look like you fussed. Some are lunch, some are breakfast, and a good number of them are quietly the easiest homemade gift you will hand anybody all year. The whole trick is what goes in the bottom and what goes on top, and every recipe below tells you.
1. Vegan Salad In A Jar
Start here, because this one is a method more than a recipe. Dressing goes in the bottom, then the heavy things that do not mind sitting in it, beans and grains and chopped vegetables, and greens go on last where they stay dry. Build five jars on a Sunday and lunch is handled through Friday. Once you have the order down you can build any salad you want without looking anything up again.
Get the full tutorial at Healthy Happy Life.
2. BLT Salad In A Jar
A BLT with the bread left out and a jar in its place. Bacon, tomatoes, croutons, scallions and romaine go in over a creamy dressing thinned with milk and sour cream, so the crunch survives the commute. It is a Weight Watchers friendly version, which mostly means the dressing is doing the heavy lifting instead of a half cup of mayonnaise. Good for anyone who thinks salad for lunch sounds grim.
Get the full tutorial at It All Started With Paint.
3. Taco Salad In A Jar
Salsa and taco meat in the bottom, black beans and corn over that, cheese and tortilla strips next, lettuce crammed in last. That order is the whole recipe, because the greens have to sit as far from the salsa as the jar allows. The meat is easiest in a slow cooker while you do something else. Taco Tuesday and four packed lunches out of one afternoon.
Get the full tutorial at Pocket Change Gourmet.
4. Chef Salad In A Jar
Under half an hour of chopping gives you four lunches, which is the best return on this whole list. Romaine, tomato, cucumber, ham, turkey, hard boiled egg and two cheeses stack up over a Parmesan vinaigrette. Boil the eggs the night before and the assembly is genuinely fast. If you are the person who skips lunch and then turns unpleasant by three, this is the fix.
Get the full tutorial at Comfortably Domestic.
5. Greek Zucchini Salad In A Mason Jar
Raw zucchini is the surprise here. Spiralized it behaves like a noodle, so a Greek salad built on zucchini with cucumber, cherry tomatoes, Kalamata olives and feta travels to the park or the ballfield without wilting into anything. The dressing is the other surprise, avocado blended with plain yogurt, lemon, garlic and shallot, spooned into the bottom of the jar where it stays put. The zucchini goes in last, right at the top, so it keeps its bite until you eat it. Twenty five minutes builds four.
Get the full tutorial at BODi.
6. Mexican Salad In A Jar
Same taco flavors, different build, and the tip on this one is worth stealing: the tortilla chips go in right below the lettuce, not down in the middle. Anywhere lower and they turn to paste. Cheddar is what the recipe calls for, though queso fresco is better, and grilled or roasted corn instead of plain is a real upgrade. Swap spinach for the lettuce if you want more out of lunch.
Get the full tutorial at A Zesty Bite.
7. Canned Summer Salad
This is the jar recipe that lasts past next Tuesday. Cucumbers, thin sliced onion and bell peppers go into jars with thyme, oregano and dill, then a brine of water, white vinegar, oil, sugar, salt and pepper, and into a water bath. You need a canning bath with a basket, a wide mouth funnel and jar tongs, all of which cost very little. Open one in February and summer comes back.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
8. Asian Noodle Salad Jars
Soba noodles, crisp vegetables, roasted peanuts and a creamy peanut dressing with lime, ginger and sriracha. The reason it survives three days in the fridge is that part of the dressing is held back and the vegetables go in near the end, so nothing sits there getting soft. Cook the soba properly, meaning rinse it cold the second it is done, and the noodles stay chewy instead of gummy.
Get the full tutorial at Foxes Love Lemons.
9. Cherry Pies In Mason Jars
The dough gets pressed up the inside wall of the jar, filled with fresh pitted cherries cooked down with lemon zest, brown sugar and cornstarch, then capped with a dough lid, sealed with a fork and vented with a knife. That is a whole cherry pie, per person, in glass. Freeze them unbaked and you are twenty minutes from dessert whenever someone turns up.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
10. Mason Jar Cheesecake
No oven, and the crust is the good part: pecan shortbread cookies crushed instead of graham crackers, which adds a nuttiness that plain crumbs never had. Cream cheese, sugar, cream and lemon juice go over it, then strawberries on top, and it chills while you do something else. Make them the night before company comes and you have dessert that looks considered and took ten minutes.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
11. Mason Jar M&M Cookie Mix
Flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt go in first, then brown sugar, granulated sugar, chocolate chips and a layer of red and green M&Ms on top so the stripes show. Use a paper plate rolled into a funnel and the inside of the glass stays clean, which is the difference between a gift and a mess. Tie the baking instructions on a card and you are done.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
12. Gooey Caramel Brownie Pudding In A Jar
Cut circles out of a pan of brownies using the jar itself as the cutter, press one into the bottom, then caramel, chocolate pudding, whipped cream, more caramel and a pinch of sea salt. Four ounce jars are the right size, because this is richer than it looks and a big one defeats people. Box mix brownies are completely fine here and nobody will ever know.
Get the full tutorial at Food Fun Family.
13. 5-Ingredient Lemon Curd
Six ingredients if you count the vanilla, eleven minutes start to finish, and it is worth making for the smell alone. Lemon juice, whole eggs, extra yolks, sugar and butter go over gentle heat and thicken into something you will put on everything. Jarred, it turns into a gift, and it is also what fills the trifle jars a few items down. Beginners get perfect results here.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
14. Moroccan Lentil Soup In A Jar
Red lentils, dried onion flakes, garlic powder, cinnamon, coriander, turmeric, cumin, parsley, bay leaves, salt and pepper, dry in a jar. At dinner you tip the whole jar into a pot with seven cups of water and that is the entire instruction. Red lentils are the reason it works, since they collapse into the soup in about twenty minutes without any soaking. Give one away and it will get used.
Get the full tutorial at The Healthy Maven.
15. Spicy Black Bean Soup In A Jar
One wide mouth quart jar feeds six, and unlike most mix-in-a-jar soups this one holds everything it needs, right down to the bouillon cubes, so water really is the only addition. Dried black beans with a band of white beans through the middle, then cumin, chili powder, celery seed, bay and red pepper flakes. The white beans are purely for the stripes, and she says so, which I appreciate.
Get the full tutorial at Wholefully.
16. Sushi In A Jar
Sushi rice seasoned with lemon and grated ginger, carrot, cucumber peeled into ribbons, green onion and torn nori, layered up with coconut aminos on the side for dipping. Do not skip the nori, it is what makes the whole thing taste like sushi rather than a rice bowl. No rolling, no mat, no bamboo anything. Deeply satisfying to look at, which is half the reason to make it.
Get the full tutorial at Feasting on Fruit.
17. Fruit And Egg Quinoa Breakfast Parfaits
Quinoa, fruit and egg in the same jar sounds odd right up until you eat it, and then it makes complete sense as breakfast. It is one serving per jar, built ahead and kept a few days, and you reheat it by unscrewing the lid and putting the jar in the microwave. Cold works too. Protein and fruit in one hand on a morning you are already behind.
Get the full tutorial at Marla Meridith.
18. Mason Jar Oatmeal
The base never changes: a third of a cup of oats, a tablespoon of chia seeds, a quarter cup of milk and a quarter cup of Greek yogurt in the jar. Everything after that is flavor. The carrot cake one, with maple syrup, cinnamon, shredded carrot and pecans, is the one to make first. Build five on a Sunday and breakfast takes two minutes every morning that week.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
19. Banana Bread In A Jar
Banana bread baked straight in half pint jars at 325, about ten minutes of prep and forty five in the oven, and the loaves slide right out with a shake if you grease the insides properly. One batch makes a dozen. Sealed well they keep for months in the freezer, which makes this the jar recipe to run in November when you suddenly need eight small gifts.
Get the full tutorial at This Grandma Is Fun.
20. Sausage Spinach Pepper Omelette In A Jar
Sausage, peppers, spinach, cheddar, eggs and cream, baked and kept in the fridge for grab and go breakfasts all week, at roughly three grams of net carbs and sixteen grams of protein each. Worth knowing before you start: the author has since moved this off mason jars and onto tempered custard cups, because people are nervous about baking in glass jars. Follow her there and skip the worry.
Get the full tutorial at My Life Cookbook.
21. Banana Blueberry Overnight Oats In A Jar
Oats, plain Greek yogurt, vanilla almond milk, chia seeds and a spoon of honey or brown sugar go in the jar the night before, and that is the whole job. The fruit is the part people get wrong: banana and blueberries go on in the morning, not overnight, so the banana never goes brown and the blueberries stay firm. No cooking happens at any point. If you have never made overnight oats before, start with this one and you will keep going.
Get the full tutorial at A Pumpkin And A Princess.
22. Almond Joy Overnight Oats In A Jar
One jar, one serving: half a cup of gluten free rolled oats, unsweetened almond milk, a tablespoon of maple syrup, ground flaxseed, shredded coconut and a scatter of mini chocolate chips. Stir it, refrigerate it, eat it cold straight out of the jar in the morning. It is vegan and gluten free without trying to be, and it tastes like the candy bar it is named for.
Get the full tutorial at Eat More Rabbit Food.
23. Yogurt Parfaits In A Mason Jar
The simplest thing on this list and still the one you will make most: yogurt, fruit and granola, layered in a jar the night before. Keep the granola in a small bag on the side and tip it in at the last second if you care about crunch, which you should. Ten of these on a Sunday means nobody in the house leaves without breakfast for a week.
Get the full tutorial at Treehugger.
24. Fresh Fruit Salad
Cut fruit into jars on the day you shop, put them on an obvious shelf in the fridge, and the afternoon snack problem solves itself. That is the whole idea and it works because visible food gets eaten and forgotten food does not. Squeeze a little citrus over anything that browns. Cheaper than the vending machine and considerably better than whatever is in it.
Get the full tutorial at This Gal Cooks.
25. Rainbow Fruit Salad
Pineapple, strawberries, kiwi and blueberries layered in rainbow order over a dressing of Greek yogurt, orange juice and zest, honey and vanilla. Dressing goes in the bottom and the sturdiest fruit sits on it, same rule as the salads. Pint jars split it neatly into four. Two days is the limit in the fridge, so make these for the picnic rather than for the whole week.
Get the full tutorial at Whole And Heavenly Oven.
26. Lemon Raspberry Trifle Jars
Ten minutes, four jars, no cooking. Use the ring from a mason jar lid to punch discs out of a store bought angel food cake, then layer cake, lemon curd, Cool Whip and fresh raspberries, twice. A third of a cake and half a tub does all four. Shortcuts are the whole point here, and if you made the lemon curd earlier on this list you have earned the shortcut everywhere else.
Get the full tutorial at Mom Endeavors.
27. Pomegranate Cherry Parfait
Pomegranate arils and chopped fresh cherries with a splash of pomegranate juice, warmed for about fifteen minutes into a compote, then layered with plain Greek yogurt and topped with granola. No honey, no sugar, and it does not need any, which surprised her too. To get the arils out fast, halve the pomegranate under water and they sink while the membrane floats.
Get the full tutorial at Upstate Ramblings.
28. Peanut Butter Cup Overnight Oats
Rolled oats, cocoa powder, peanut butter, a scoop of vanilla protein powder, vanilla extract, Greek yogurt and milk, stirred in a jar and left in the fridge. Two to three hours is enough if you are impatient, overnight is better. It tastes like a peanut butter cup and reads like breakfast, which is a rare combination and the reason this one sticks.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
29. Easy Overnight Refrigerator Pickles
Cucumbers, white vinegar, sugar, salt, peppercorns, garlic and fresh dill, and no canning equipment anywhere. The one step you cannot skip is bringing the brine to a boil, because that is what keeps the sugar and salt from separating back out of the vinegar. English cucumbers make a better pickle than regular ones, sweeter and less watery. Ready by tomorrow.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
30. Burrito In A Cup
Black beans, leftover taco meat, cheese, salsa and sour cream layered into small jars, with nothing cooked and nothing to fall apart in your hand. It came out of a crabbing boat cookbook, where a producer worked out he could skip the tortilla while wearing gloves, which is my favorite origin story on this page. Six servings from one can of beans and last night’s dinner.
Get the full tutorial at NancyC.
