Summer has arrived in Southern California and that means I’m craving salads and fruit. It’s the perfect time to resume my salad in a jar activities.
Searching around for inspiration, I saw this Grilled Shrimp Avocado Fennel and Orange Salad on Skinnytaste and knew it would be perfect in a jar. Just a few tweaks to an already awesome recipe and a great new salad in a jar was born.
My only hesitation in making this was that I’m never quite sure how to handle avocado with the salad in a jar concept. I have considering just slicing the avocado in half and cutting it into the salad just before eating, but if you’re eating on the go that takes away some of the convenience.
As I was making the dressing/marinade for this salad, I realized that all that citrus juice was the perfect solution to my dilemma. I doubled some of the ingredients so that I’d have enough dressing to submerge my avocado and it turned out fabulous! My avocados are just as green after two days as they were when I put them in the jar!
A few Salad in a Jar notes:
- For Paleo eaters, I’d double the shrimp or add an additional protein for a more filling meal.
- Vegetarians can obviously leave out the shrimp.
- This is a really light meal on it’s own. You might add a piece of crusty bread or even a grilled chicken breast to go along with it at dinner time unless you are really watching your calories.
- To cube the avocado, cut it in half and remove the pit. Using the tip of your knife, make 4 length wise slices to the peel. Repeat in the other direction. Run a large spoon just along the inside of the peel to scoop out the cubes.
- To serve, give the jar a light shake and the empty onto a plate. Super easy!
- 1 lb jumbo shrimp
- 4 cups fresh spring mix
- 1 avocado
- 2 oranges, peeled and sectioned
- 1 bulb fresh fennel, thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- juice of large orange
- 3 tbsp minced shallots
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 4 wide-mouth, quart-sized mason jars with lids
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Mix olive oil, shallots, orange and lemon juice. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Divide dressing in half.
- Marinate shrimp in ½ for 20 minutes.
- Grill shrimp.
- While shrimp cools, divide remaining dressing between jars.
- Cube avocado and ¼ to each jar. Swirl in dressing to cover. This will prevent browning.
- Add orange sections and then fennel.
- Divide shrimp.
- Top with spring mix and then put lids on jars.
- Refrigerate.
- To serve, shake jars and pour on plate or in bowl.
Want more mason jar salads? Click here for an awesome roundup of mason jar salad recipes!
I saw this recipe a few weeks ago and then came back to actually print it and make it and something has gotten messed up. The “recipe” now seems to be instructions for a craft project. Help!
Oh no! You’re right, something is definitely not right. I will try to figure it out but in the meantime, it was based on this recipe – http://www.skinnytaste.com/2013/04/grilled-shrimp-avocado-fennel-and.html