Mason Jar Fruit Salad Recipe

Throw together this easy and refreshing fruit salad, with a citrus dressing drizzled on top.

By Jessica Harlan
From "Mason Jar Lunches"
April 2018

This recipe also includes a citrus dressing you can make yourself.
Photo by Kelley Klein
“Mason Jar Lunches” by Jessica Harlan uses the iconic mason jar to help make your meal prepping for the week easier.
Photo by Kelley Klein

Yield: 1 serving

Mason Jar Lunches (Ulysses Press, 2017) by Jessica Harlan reinvents meal prepping; she shows her readers how to use mason jars to pack healthy on-the-go meals in perfect portions. Harlan takes all of your favorite recipes and customizes them to fit into a fast-paced lifestyle with mason jars. The following excerpt is her recipe for a fruit salad with citrus dressing.

Make a jar or two of these refreshing salads at the beginning of the week, and you’ll be grateful you did. Cool and refreshing, they’re just the right pick-me-up for a mid-afternoon snack or a light breakfast. Pair it with a whole-grain muffin or a yogurt for more substance. I like to combine traditional and tropical fruits, as used in this recipe, but you can use whatever fruit looks good at the market…anything goes!

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice, from half an orange
• 2 teaspoons lime juice, from 1 lime
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 1/2 cup honeydew melon balls
• 1/2 cup halved strawberries
• 1/2 cup fresh pineapple chunks
• 1/2 cup canned mandarin oranges, drained
• 2 tablespoons sweetened coconut

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the orange juice, lime juice, and honey until the honey has dissolved into the juice.

2. Pour the dressing into the bottom of a pint jar. Layer the melon, strawberries, pineapple, and oranges into the jar, sprinkling coconut in between each layer as desired. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

3. To serve, invert the jar to let the dressing coat the fruit. Open the lid and pour into a bowl, or eat straight from the jar.

Note: A melon baller is an inexpensive gadget, and it will transform the honeydew quickly into bite-sized balls. You can get a ratcheting pineapple cutter to easily cut the pineapple, or do it with a chef’s knife, like this: Cut the stem and the base off the pineapple and place it upright on a cutting board. Cut off the rind from top to bottom in thick slices. Cut the pineapple in half vertically, then cut each half into long, wedge-shaped segments. Cut off the inner edge of each segment to remove the core. Then slice each wedge into chunks.