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Taco Chicken Salad in a Jar

Are you looking for a new, portable lunch option? Layered salads in jars are visually stunning and keep your salad fresh and ingredients separate until you eat. The concept involves placing heavier items and firmer vegetables on the bottom of the jar along with the dressing and the lighter, more fragile ingredients on top. This complete meal in a jar keeps fresh and safe up to three days in the refrigerator.
Serves: 4
Prep Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 10 min

Ingredients

⅓ cup onion, raw, diced
½ tsp olive oil
⅓ lb ground chicken, lean
½ tsp chili powder
¼ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp oregano, dried
¼ tsp sea salt
1 ⅓ cup sweet red pepper, fresh, diced
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
2 cups cucumber, quartered and sliced
4 cups romaine lettuce, raw, shredded
1 cup mozzarella cheese, part-skim, 16.5% MF, shredded
1 cup black beans, canned, rinsed and drained (or boiled from dry)
½ cup sour cream, light
½ cup salsa, ready to serve

Food Safety

Before you start, wash all surfaces and your hands with soap and warm water, and remember to wash your hands, utensils and cutting boards after they touch raw meat or eggs. Avoid cross-contamination by using a different cutting board for your meat and other ingredients. Make sure you’re cooking to safe temperatures and chilling any leftovers within two hours. For more food safety tips, visit our Food Safety at Home Section.

Steps

  1. Dice the onion and set aside. Heat oil over medium high heat in non-stick skillet. Add ground chicken and onions and sauté. Use the back of a spoon to break up ground chicken into smaller pieces. Season with chili powder, garlic powder, dried oregano and sea salt. Continue to stir and sauté until ground chicken is broken into crumbly pieces, fully cooked through and no longer any pink visible – about 10 minutes.

  2. Prepare the rest of the salad ingredients: dice red peppers, halve cherry tomatoes, quarter cucumber length-wise and slice, shred lettuce and cheese. Drain the canned black beans under cold running water. Set all aside in individual bowls.

  3. You will need four one-quart (one litre) size clean canning jars and lids. The order in which you place the ingredients into the jars is important. To assemble jars add ⅓ cup (75 mL) ground taco chicken to the bottom of each jar. Top each jar with ⅓ cup (75 mL) red pepper, ½ cup (125 mL) cherry tomatoes, ¼ cup (60 mL) black beans, ¼ cup (60 mL) shredded cheese, 2 tbsp (30 mL) sour cream, 2 tbsp (30 mL) salsa, ½ cup (125 mL) cucumber, and 1 cup (250 mL) chopped romaine lettuce. Store in the refrigerator.

  4. To eat, dump the contents onto a dinner size plate. Toss and enjoy!

Helpful Tip

Use this technique once and you'll soon be coming up with all kinds of colourful, flavourful combinations. The recipe uses ⅓ pound (150 g) of raw ground chicken. If you cook a full pound (450 g) of ground chicken simply triple the oil, onions, and seasoning and freeze for later use in salads or other Tex Mex dishes.

Nutrition Info

Per 435 g serving Amount
Calories310
Protein21 g
Fat15 g
Saturated Fat5 g
Carbohydrate26 g
Fibre7 g
Sugar8 g
Cholesterol55 mg
Sodium500 mg
Per 435 g serving % Daily Value
Potassium25
Calcium30
Iron25
Vitamin A80
Vitamin C150
Vitamin B624
Vitamin B1218
Folate87
Zinc60