Layered Chicken Caprese Salad in a Jar

Quick and easy, healthy, portable and delicious, this Layered Chicken Caprese Salad is a meal in a jar.  It can be made the night before to save time in the morning or is a perfect prep ahead dinner meal.

Happy Monday Friends.  Another weekend come and go…too quickly.  Isn’t that always how they go?  Kids are off school today, temperatures are freezing and I’m scoring Pinterest for indoor activities!  Anyone have any ideas for a 3 and 5-year-old?

As I mentioned yesterday in the Strawberry Puppy Chow post, we watched a movie with the kids.  We recently purchased Netflix (finally) and we love searching through the old movies to see what the kids might be interested in.  Last night we happened upon “Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves.”  Talk about a flashback!  My kids loved it and can’t wait to see the other 2 in the series!

After the kids went to bed I went to the kitchen to cleanup and meal prep for the week.  What could I make that’s easy, quick and healthy.  Layered Chicken Caprese Salad in a Jar.  Something I can throw into a jar, store in the fridge and be ready at a moment’s notice for tomorrow’s lunch or time. Perfect.

One of my favorite salads is a Caprese salad.  It’s light, quick and can be on the healthier side.  I also love that you can personalize it to make it your own.  I personally love chicken, so I add it to all my salads as it’s such a healthy boost of protein. At any given time you can find a bag of  Tyson® Grilled & Ready Chicken Breast Strips in my freezer. It’s so simple and convenient, they’re already fully prepared so all I need to do is pop in a portion, prepare according to package directions, wait a minute and then I have deliciously grilled chicken ready for my salads, wraps and meals.

I had gone to Wal-Mart this past weekend and picked up a bag when I was in the frozen section (they also sell a refrigerated variety)  I also headed to the salad dressing aisle and was perusing the wide variety when I decided to purchase Wish-Bone® Regular Italian Dressing.  We love this dressing as it’s full of robust flavors and it’s packed with Italian herbs and seasonings which we can’t get enough of.  We like to use it as a marinade, to season vegetables and use it on our salads nightly.  I knew the bottle was about gone at home, so I picked up a new one. You can also score an in store coupon on each product:

• Tyson® coupons will be placed on Wishbone® Italian Dressing bottles – “Save $.75 on ANY ONE (1) Tyson® Grilled & Ready Chicken.”
• Wish-Bone® coupons will be placed on Tyson® Frozen & Refrigerated Grilled & Ready products – , “Save $.75 on ANY ONE (1) Wish-Bone Salad Dressing.”

So last night when I was deciding what to make I was reminded of a Layered Chicken Caprese Salad in a Jar I had enjoyed at a recent cooking demonstration I had attended.  It was so super simple to put together and was absolutely delicious, I just knew it would be perfect for lunch the next day.  The best thing about making salad in a jar is that they can be made the night before and when layered correctly, there is no worry about the ingredients becoming mushy.

For my Layered Chicken Caprese Salad in a Jar I started with fresh mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, whole wheat pasta, Tyson® Grilled & Ready Chicken Breast Strips, spinach and basil.  I decided to keep the Wish-Bone® Regular Italian Dressing in a side container as I made a second jar for my husband to take to work, and he’s known to just throw his lunches on the passenger seat, and I didn’t want to dressing to spread throughout the jar before he was ready for lunch. If you wanted to, you could certainly add the dressing on the bottom, which should keep the ingredients from getting soggy.

There is my Layered Chicken Caprese Salad in a Jar.  Now all that stands between you and a healthy lunch or dinner is unscrewing the jar and dumping it into a bowl.  By layering the dressing on the bottom, it stays far away from the spinach and basil, so it won’t get mushy, so when you dump out the jar, the dressing will evenly coat all the ingredients that were layered on top of the dressing.  Brilliant!

As I said before, I love to add chicken to all my salads and Tyson® Grilled & Ready Chicken Breast Strips are ready for you at a moment’s notice.  They are also made with 100% All Natural Ingredients and White Meat Chicken so you can feel good about the chicken you are enjoying.  What I also love about Wish-Bone® Regular Italian Dressing is it’s not made with high fructose corn syrup like other brands, so again, you can feel good about the salad you are having and feeding your family.  Also, they are both so convenient.  They sell the Wish-Bone® Regular Italian Dressing in a small bottle so you could throw it in your purse or lunch box if you didn’t have enough time to prepare a Layered Chicken Caprese Salad in a Jar the night before.

Did I mention it’s no bake?  Well besides the preparing of the chicken breasts for 1 minute or so.  Does no bake pertain to lunch and dinner or is that just a baking term?  I dunno, but either way this meal is super quick, easy, healthy and 1 bowl, plate or jar.  That’s a win-win-win in my book.

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[ad] Layered Chicken Caprese Salad in a Jar

Cook 1 min

Total 1 min

Author Strawberry Blondie Kitchen

Yield 2

Quick and easy, healthy, portable and delicious, this Layered Chicken Caprese Salad is a meal in a jar. It can be made the night before to save time in the morning or is a perfect prep ahead dinner meal.

Ingredients

• 6 oz Tyson® Grilled & Ready Chicken Breast Strips, prepare according to package instructions
• 4 Tablespoons Wish-Bone® Regular Italian Dressing (divided, 2 tablespoons per jar)
• 4 oz fresh mozzarella cheese, cubed and divided
• 1 cup red cherry tomatoes, halved and divided
• 1/2 cup whole wheat pasta, prepared (I used rotini) and divided
• 1 cup spinach leaves, divided
• 1/4 cup basil leaves, cut into strips and divided

Instructions

1. Start with 2 large mason jars.
2. To each jar add in 2 ounces of mozzarella, 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, 1/4 cup pasta, 3 ounces of Tyson® Grilled & Ready Chicken Breast Strips, 1/2 cup spinach leaves and 1/8 cup basil.*
3. *You can add the dressing to the bottom of the jar if you intend to keep the jar upright. If you think the jar may tip over, place 2 tablespoons of dressing, for each jar, into a smaller container and carry separately.

Notes

Slightly Adapted from: Layered Caprese Pint-Jar Salad

Courses Salad

This Layered Chicken Caprese Salad in a Jar is so good you won’t believe it only took you 2 minutes to prepare.  You could prepare a few jars and keep them in the refrigerator for a quick dinner too.  How do you guys like to prepare mason jar meals?  It’s packed with protein and flavor and makes for a perfectly balanced meal.

Be sure to check out this video featuring other One Bowl Recipes you can make using Tyson® Grilled & Ready Chicken Breast Strips Wish-Bone® Regular Italian Dressing.  Which one will you choose to make first?

If you are looking for more recipes, videos and ways to save when shopping at Wal-Mart, be sure to check out their Dailybreak page.

Enjoy and if you make this recipe, please share a photo on social media and hashtag it #strawberryblondiekitchen  I love to see what you cook up!