Name: Mexican Kilner Jar Salad
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: 1 lime (juiced); 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil; 1 tsp hot sauce; ½ red pepper (diced); ¼ cucumber (diced); 2 tbsp sweetcorn; ½ red onion (sliced); ½ avocado (cut into large chunks); 1 tomato (diced); 2 tbsp red kidney beans; 2 tbsp coriander (cilantro) (chopped); 2 tbsp iceberg lettuce (sliced)

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This Mexican kilner jar salad is ideal for prepping in advance. When you want to eat it, just turn the jar upside down. It's colourful, healthy and great as a meal in itself or just as a side salad.

When I first created this salad I was taking part in a challenge to create a recipe that could be presented in a Kilner jar. Kilner jars have become incredibly popular recently, not just for canning and preserving food, but for presenting sweets, soups, drinks, desserts, salads and probably many more things.

Of course, I had to make a salad and loved the idea of creating one with Mexican flavours and eye-catching colourful layers of different ingredients. A salad may not be the most original thing to fill a Kilner jar with, but it was very very tasty.

The important thing about preparing a salad in a kilner jar is that the dressing goes in the bottom of the jar, followed by the crunchier vegetables. That means it doesn't make the vegetables soggy.

Ingredient notes for Mexican Kilner jar salad

To make this salad you'll need:

Lime -I use the juice of one freshly squeezed lime
Extra virgin olive oil - Use a good quality olive oil as it gives the salad dressing more flavour
Hot sauce - Use your favourite hot sauce! I used cholula for this one.
Vegetables - I used red pepper, cucumber, sweetcorn, red onion, avocado and tomato. Feel free to vary them a little to suit whatever you want to use up.
Red kidney beans - You could use black beans or even chickpeas instead.
Coriander (cilantro) - I love adding some fresh herbs for extra flavour. Make sure they are at the top so they don't get squashed and go soggy.
Iceberg lettuce - I went for crunchy iceberg lettuce as it's a bit more robust than some salad leaves. It also needs to go at the top of the jar along with the coriander.

Ingredients for Mexican kilner jar salad

How to Make a Kilner Jar Salad

You need to make sure that the Kilner jar is big enough to fit all the salad ingredients in without having to squash them but of course not too big. The size may depend on whether you are making a salad for one or two people. I used a 1 litre jar and it was big enough to serve 2 people generously but could serve up to 4 as a side salad.

It's important to add the dressing to the jar first and then put crunchy vegetables in next. The vegetables at the bottom need to be ones that won't go soggy in the dressing. The lettuce and herbs should go at the top so they don't get crushed. In between you can add whatever extra ingredients you like!

Before serving you can turn the jar upside down for 5 minutes so the dressing runs down and coats all the vegetables. Alternatively, give the jar a bit of a shake, as long as you think the more delicate ingredients can handle it!

Can you adapt this Mexican Kilner Jar Salad?

If you'd like a more fiery salad, add a little sliced chilli pepper or some jalapenos to the jar as well as the hot sauce. Or if you'd like a non-vegetarian salad, a little roasted chicken would go well too. You could use any leftover roasted meats.

How long does a Kilner jar salad keep?

I think this salad keeps well for about three days. You could make a few jars in advance and then just take one to work with you each day. Just use a jar half the size of the one used here so you can make individual servings.

Plate of Mexican kilner jar salad with onions, avocado, kidney beans, tomatoes, bell peppers

What other salads could you put in a kilner jar

Why not try putting one of my other salads into a kilner jar. I would suggest my Spanish bean salad with red peppers, my Caribbean three bean salad or my curried pearl barley salad.

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