Two delicious worlds coming together for a macro-match made in heaven: grilled chicken Caesar salads, and pasta! These grilled chicken Caesar pasta mason jar salads are ideal for meal prep: these mason jar salads are layered with bright, fresh and flavorful grilled chicken strips, cooked pasta, and romaine lettuce. Served with your favorite bottled Caesar dressing, this recipe couldn’t come together more easily all while hitting all your key macros in one meal: carbs, fat, and protein. Use bottled dressing for the perfect shortcut and to ensure that it suits your individual macro goals or dietary needs.
What you’ll need to make these Grilled Chicken Caesar Pasta Mason Jar Salads:
- chicken breast
- approximately 1.5-2 lbs of chicken breast works for this recipe
- the chicken will be cut into four equal pieces to make four salads
- romaine lettuce
- pasta
- for gluten-free, I recommend using Banza Pasta which is made with chickpeas and adds great protein and fiber
- Caesar dressing
- for a lower calorie option, I recommend the Bolthouse Farms brand
- if you are looking for a dairy free or egg free alternative, this is the dressing I used: Organic Caesar Dressing | Follow Your Heart®
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- kosher salt
- Italian seasoning
- fresh lemon
Why mason jar salads are one of my favorite meal preps
If you have looked through my website, you may have noticed that I have a handful of mason jar salad recipes. Nothing beats the ease and convenience of a filling salad for meal prep. For me, the best way to store salads to keep them the freshest is by layering the ingredients from most dense to lightest.
I am also a sucker for anything aesthetically pleasing. Being able to see all of the different components and colors of a salad make me so excited to eat it.
This salad is stored in 32 oz wide-mouth mason jars, but that is optional. You can also store them in glass meal prep containers if you prefer that. I enjoy using mason jars to store my salads because it allows me to layer the ingredients in order from dense and wet, up to the lightest ingredients, which preserves the freshness of all of the components. I promise, the salads stay fresh all week when stored this way.
Many times I get the question “but do they really stay fresh?” The answer is: yes! The salads stay fresh when using this method. Note, I do not add the dressing to these mason jars, I keep it to the side and add it right before serving.
I also do not eat the salads from the mason jars directly, because I find it hard to reach the ingredients all the way at the bottom. Instead, I dump the salad into a bowl right before eating and then add my dressing. You can eat them right out of the mason jar, though, if you are able to reach all of the ingredients.
This salad is huge, and the mason jars are packed to the brim!
How to make these mason jar salads
To make these salads, start out by preparing the chicken. Cut the chicken breasts into four equal thinner pieces. In a small bowl, combine the spice blend: onion powder, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and kosher salt. Rub the spice blend all over the chicken pieces. Preheat a grill pan over medium high heat and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Add the chicken breasts to the pan, and cook for about 5 minutes on one side. Flip the chicken pieces, and then cover the grill pan with a lid (over medium heat) so the chicken cooks through to 165F (for about 5-8 minutes). Remove the lid to finish cooking the chicken to a golden brown color. Set the chicken aside and finish with a squeeze of lemon.
In the meantime, bring a pot of water to boil and add a generous amount of kosher salt. Add the pasta and cook for 6-8 minutes or until al dente. Strain and set aside.
Chop the romaine and wash and dry it. Cut the chicken breast into strips. To build the mason jar salads, layer the grilled chicken on the bottom, followed by the cooked pasta, and finally the chopped romaine. Serve the dressing on the side until right before eating.
Grilled Chicken Caesar Pasta Mason Jar Salads
Equipment
- grill pan
- large pot
- 4 mason jars; 32 oz wide mouth
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs chicken breast, cut into 4 thinner pieces
- 1.5 tsp kosher salt
- 1.5 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 lemon
- 8 oz uncooked pasta, used: Banza Chickpea Protein Pasta
- 2 heads romaine, lettuce
- 1/2 cup Caesar dressing, used: Follow Your Heart Vegan dressing
Instructions
- Cut the chicken breast into 4 thinner pieces.
- In a small bowl, combine the kosher salt, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and onion powder.
- Sprinkle the seasoning all over the chicken breast to coat.
- Preheat a grill pan over medium high heat. Spray the grill with nonstick cooking spray.
- Place the seasoned chicken on the grill pan. Cook for 5 minutes, then flip. Cover the pan with a lid for the chicken to cook through to 165F.
- Remove the lid to finish cooking. Total cook time should be about 10-15 minutes depending on the thickness of the chicken pieces.
- Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside to cool.
- Squeeze the 1/2 lemon on the chicken. Chop into strips.
- In the meantime, bring a large pot of water to boil. Add kosher salt.
- Cook the pasta according to package directions, 6-8 minutes or until al dente. Drain the pasta.
- Spray the pasta with olive oil spray or avocado oil spray to keep from clumping.
- Cut and wash the romaine lettuce.
- To prepare the mason jar salads, start with one portion of the chopped chicken, followed by 1 cup of pasta, and finally about 2 cups of romaine.
- Keep the dressing to the side, until ready to serve.
Weight Watchers
Notes
Nutrition
How-To Video
Check out these other similar recipes:
Shortcut Grilled Chicken Caesar Mason Jar Salads
Healthy Buffalo Ranch Chicken Mason Jar Salads
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This is INCREDIBLE
I make a ton of Steph’s recipes. They all are great – I’ve never had a bad one. But, I’ve never commented until now. This recipe is a total winner. The chicken is so flavorful, and the addition of lemon juice at the end is genius. Even my 16 year old son loves it and that’s quite a compliment. Thanks Steph for all you do, thanks for your wonderful recipes, and for sharing your talents with us!
I was so excited when I saw this on Steph’s Instagram, it seemed right up my alley. I made this recipe for dinner for my husband and myself – I portioned one Mason Jar salad for lunch tomorrow and divided the rest of the ingredients amongst us (his portion slightly larger than mine). It was the perfect summer dinner! Light and refreshing. I used Barilla protein pasta in penne, as well as the recommended Bolthouse Caesar dressing. We will definitely have this again!
Made this in the afternoon for lunch and it was so easy! I had banza rotini pasta so used that instead of penne and it was delicious. I added extra lemon juice to the chicken and to the dressing to thin it out and it was perfect. Super light and fresh for this summer heat wave. I may just buy a rotisserie chicken in the future but it was so easy.
I didn’t have a grill so I baked my chicken @ 375 for 19 minutes and it was perfect and juicy.
Even my picky eater ate this and said we should have this again and he would take it for a lunch during the school year! This recipe was so quick to make which during the busyness of the school year I appreciate!
So simple yet so satisfying!! This salad was delicious!
I prepped this over the weekend and just ate my first lunch and it was DELICIOUS! I feel full and satisfied and it was easy to prep. Thank you!