I love a good chef salad. Hard boiled eggs in a salad are THE BEST. I love my chef salads with thousand island dressing. I don’t know why, but it’s not a chef salad without that dressing.
I didn’t eat chef salads for a long time because I told myself they were too high in calories and I didn’t want to waste points on the dressing, etc. Well no more! These salads are delicious and nutritious, and I genuinely get excited to eat them every time I made them!

Mason Jar Chef Salads
Equipment
- 32 oz wide mouth mason jar
- Collapsible funnel (optional)
Ingredients
- 8 tbsp thousand island dressing
- 1 mini cucumber chopped
- 8 baby carrots chopped
- 8 oz ham diced
- 4 tbsp bacon pieces or bits
- 4 eggs hard boiled
- 8 tbsp cheddar cheese shredded
- 1 bag romaine lettuce chopped
Instructions
- Add 2 Tbsp dressing to the bottom of each jar.
- Add cucumber and carrots (and any other veggies you want) to the jar on top of the dressing.
- Add diced ham, bacon, cheese, and hard boiled egg.
- Top with lettuce.
- Store in fridge until ready to eat, up to 5-7 days.
I used chopped baby carrots in this recipe because it’s what I had on hand, but I also really like shredded carrots. I also want to try adding in mushrooms at some point. I don’t love tomatoes in this salad but that’s just my personal preference. If you want tomatoes, add them in to the bottom layer with the carrots and cucumbers.
I estimated ingredient amounts since I’m more eyeballing than measuring these days… I didn’t realize how hard it would be to share a recipe that I didn’t measure. It’s kinda tough to explain how much “looks right” to me.
If you think 2oz ham is too much per salad, you can reduce it of course. If you use a different dressing, that will affect the nutrition stats as well. The thousand island I use is 130 calories for 2 Tbsp but it’s amazing so it’s worth it for me. I also usually throw a few croutons on top for added crunch and flavor, but that’s totally optional and not included in the nutrition stats.
If you want more info on mason jar salads, check out my original mason jar salads post from back in 2014.
I’d love to hear what you put in YOUR favorite chef salad. What dressing do you use? What other toppings do you include?