Let’s get down to business…this bar harbor mason jar salad needs to get in your mouth right now!! And how fun is a mason jar salad?! But honestly you do not need to make this in a mason jar because it tastes totally amazing right off your plate. I can picture myself on the dock in Bar Harbor eating this flavorful salad. When I took my first bite of this salad, I pictured myself back in Maine enjoying the amazingness of that wonderful little town. Bar Harbor, Maine is absolutely amazing just like this salad!
The highlights of this salad are the honey roasted almonds, the freshly picked cucumbers out of my sister-in-law’s mom’s garden (AMAZING!), and the fabulous blueberry vinaigrette! So many great flavors bursting in this salad! This salad is 3 exclamation points worth in this tiny little paragraph. 🙂
Have you had a blueberry vinaigrette in your life? If not, you should probably get on that bandwagon because it has some seriously good things going on. It has just five ingredients and only takes 5 minutes to blend together. You have got to try this stuff!! It makes me shout OH YEAH with some hip shaking in there too!! Don’t judge please, but feel free to join in after you make it!
I feel like I should be on the corner of our street with mason jars handing this stuff out so that more people can experience this fantastic salad. Pretty sure I would get some weird looks..
I do have a confession…this is not a 15 minute salad. The candied almonds make it a bit time-consuming, but they are TOTALLY worth the time spent. And you will have some left over to enjoy later. 😉 BONUS POINTS!!
Time to discuss a few important tips:
- -When putting your mason jar salad together start with the blueberry vinaigrette at the bottom. On top of the dressing, it is best to start with non-absorbent veggies and in this case the cucumbers. Then layer in the red onion, followed by the candied almonds and quinoa. Next you need to add the spinach, blueberries, and finally top with feta cheese. Ta da!
- -You do not need to make this in a mason jar as a make ahead salad. It is okay to eat it right when you are done making it. This salad is a great lunch or dinner salad and you can add meat to it if you want but I thought it tasted great without any meat.
- -To cut down on time, feel free to add plain almonds to the mix instead of taking the time to roast them. The honey roasted almonds are delicious though.
This salad has all the fixings in it that you could imagine for any great tasting salad. It was inspired by our vacation to Bar Harbor a few years ago as well as the Bar Harbor Salad I had at Red Lobster several months back. I hope to get back to that amazing little town in the near future where I will enjoy the morning hikes, the blueberry lattes, endless amounts of lobster, and the trips and falls on large boulders trying to pick lots of fresh blueberries! Oh ya, that happened and there is no need to hide it! That vacation was the best ever! Cadillac Mountain, need I say more!!
So here you go friends! Hope you enjoy this yummy little concoction!!
Bar Harbor Mason Jar Salad
Ingredients
For the Blueberry Vinaigrette:
- 1/2 cup fresh blueberries
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
For the Honey Roasted Almonds
- 2 cups almonds
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar + 1/4 cup for dusting later
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
For the Mason Jar Salad
- 3 small cucumbers
- 1/4 red onion chopped
- 1/2 cup tricolor quinoa
- 2 cups fresh spinach
- 2 tablespoons feta cheese
- 1/2 cup fresh blueberries
Instructions
Blueberry Vinaigrette-
- Add all ingredients to blender or food processor and pulse several times. Then with motor running slowly, pour in olive oil. Set aside in refrigerator.
Honey Roasted Almonds-
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place parchment paper on cookie sheet and evenly place almonds on parchment paper. Toast almonds in oven for 10 minutes. While almonds are in the oven, add honey and sugar to small saucepan and bring to boil. After mixture bubbles for 2 minutes, remove from heat and set aside.
- Once almonds are done toasting in the oven, place them in a medium size bowl and mix with honey and sugar mixture until they are all coated. Place coated almonds back on parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 15 more minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely.
- Add 1/4 cup sugar, salt and cinnamon to large bowl and stir. Break up any almond clumps and mix them up in the salt, sugar, and cinnamon and toss until coated.
Mason Jar Salad
- In a small saucepan, boil 1 cup water with dash of salt. Add 1/2 cup quinoa, mix and reduce heat to simmer. Cover saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes. Fluff with fork and set aside.
- Arrange each mason jar salad as follows with first ingredient on the bottom-1. 2-3 T blueberry vinaigrette 2. 1/2 cup cucumbers 3. 1/4 cup red onion 4. 1/4 cup quinoa 5. 1/3 cup candied almonds 6. 1 cup spinach 7. 1 T feta cheese 8. 1/4 cup blueberries
- Author: 3 Scoops of Sugar
Notes
Have a great day!
Love,
3 Scoops of Sugar 🙂
