These Mason Jar Instant Noodle Soups are the perfect on-the-go work lunch and packed full of raw veggies, quick-cook vermicelli noodles & shredded chicken!
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Ingredients in mason jar soup
I like my mason jar soup to have a little kick to it. To make yours taste like mine, you will need:
- Cooked chicken
- Soy sauce or tamari
- Hot sauce
- Lime juice
- Boullion cubes
- Julienned veggies (my favorite are broccoli stems, carrots, peppers and onions)
- Rice vermicelli noodles
- Garnishes (like sunflower sprouts or cilantro)
How to make mason jar soup
This is a great way to meal prep your lunches for the week. In 15 minutes, you can make as many as you need. You can even make them different flavors by adding unique veggies or spices. But the basic method is the same:
- Cook the chicken and shred it. Layer the chicken in the jar first. (It is super easy if you have left over chicken from another meal. Just shred it and add it to your jar.)
- Pour the liquid ingredients over the chicken. This would be the soy sauce, hot sauce and lime juice.
- Cut and layer the vegetables next.
- Put the boullion cube on the veggies.
- Pack the noodles on top.
These jars now go in the refrigerator until you are ready to eat them. At lunch time, boil water and fill your jar full. Let it dissolve the boullion cube and soften the noodles. This can take up to five minutes, but if you can’t wait, you can pop it in the microwave for a minute to speed up the process.
You will want to pour the soup in a bowl to make it easier to eat.
What can you prep ahead of time?
All of the prep work for these mason jar soup lunches can be done in advance. Take the time to cook and shred the meat as well as cut the veggies on the weekend. Pack everything into the jar and have a stash of healthy lunches ready to go.
How to serve mason jar soup
While mason jars are perfect for storage and travel, they aren’t the best for eating out of. Make sure to take a bowl with you so you can pour your mason jar soup in it. Struggling to get a spoon in and out of a mason jar will lead to less enjoyment of your meal prep plan!
Ingredient substitutions
You can change most of the ingredients in this recipe to suit your tastes.
Use a different kind of meat or skip the meat completely for a vegetarian version.
If you have gluten sensitivities, the rice noodles are a great way for you to enjoy this meal. They keep it lower in carbs for special diets as well. Just use tamari instead of soy sauce to remove any gluten from the recipe. You can also use spiralized zucchini noodles instead of rice vermicelli to make the recipe completely low carb!
Other ingredients you can try in your mason jar soups include:
- Canned beans, chickpeas or lentils
- Cooked split peas
- Spinach or kale
- Miso noodles
- Zucchini or zucchini noodles
- Cabbage
- Cooked mushrooms
And if you prefer your soup more mild, leave out the hot sauce or use seasoning other than hot sauce. Try lemon pepper, Italian seasoning or Old Bay.
What jars to use
Mason jars are about perfect for this meal prep plan.
The one liter jars will hold plenty of food for lunch. Unlike plastic, glass is completely safe and will not leach chemicals into your food. You can find mason jars everywhere and they are easy to clean.
They also work perfectly in the refrigerator. Because they are vertical, you can fit a lot more in a small space.
The tall mason jars keep your liquids at the bottom and away from the noodles. There is no chance of soggy ingredients before you are ready to mix it all together.
What noodles to use
You want to use noodles that don’t require a long cooking time. If you used wheat noodles, you could have to cook them in advance because they need time in boiling water to soften.
Rice vermicelli is a very thin cut of pasta that will cook quickly. Rice noodles don’t require any boiling time. They can soak in hot water for a few minutes and be ready to eat. Make sure that you do indeed use RICE vermicelli as there are some types of bean-based vermicelli that can take up to 8 minutes of cooking time. Just read the label before you buy if in doubt!
Cellophane noodles are also thin enough to be cooked by sitting in hot water for a minute so those are another option.
Storing and reheating
The prepared mason jar soups will last for about four to five days in the refrigerator.
If you don’t eat the entire soup, you have another day or two to heat it up and finish it. Just pop it in the microwave for a minute or two to reheat the leftovers.
If you let it sit for more than a day, the noodles and veggies will get soggier than they would if enjoyed fresh, so keep that in mind!
Can you freeze this soup?
The best way to freeze this soup is to make it completely, including the boiling water. Then you can cool and freeze it in glass bowls with lids up to 3 months.
You can freeze anything right in the mason jar too. They are great for all kinds of storage, including in the freezer. To reheat from frozen, simply microwave for 6-7 minutes, stirring halfway through the cooking time.
More mason jar meal prep
If you're looking for more delicious mason jar soups and meal prep, check out my other fave recipes below!
- Spiralized zucchini chicken noodle soup jars
- Coconut curry lentil soup jars
- Mix and match mason jar salads
Meal prep tools
- These are the mason jars I use.
- These are the vermicelli noodles I buy.
- This is the brand of tamari I like, and I love this low-sodium soy sauce.
- And of course I get all my free-range chicken breasts from Butcher Box!
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Mason Jar Instant Noodles
Ingredients
- 4 (1 L) Mason jars
- 2 chicken breasts cooked and shredded
- 4 tsp soy sauce or tamari
- 4 tsp Sriracha chili garlic hot sauce
- 4 tsp lime juice
- 4 vegetable bouillon cubes
- 1/2 cup each julienned broccoli stems, carrots, bell peppers and green onions
- 1 lb package rice vermicelli noodles
- Sunflower sprouts or cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- To shred chicken, boil breasts in a large pot of hot water for 12-15 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Pull apart with your hands or with a fork once cooled.
- Divide the shredded chicken into each mason jar evenly, then add 1 tsp of soy sauce, Sriracha and lime juice to each jar.
- Layer in vegetables, then drop in bouillon cubes. Finally, finish by dividing vermicelli noodles evenly among each jar and keep in fridge until ready to eat.
- When ready to serve, pour boiling water in to fill jar and carefully stir contents, making sure to dissolve bouillon cube completely and saturate noodles. You may also need to microwave the jar for 1-2 minutes depending on the type of noodles used (some varieties of vermicelli are harder than others). Let the jar sit for 5 minutes before serving.
- Pour contents of the jar into large bowl when ready to eat (should be within 5 minutes of pouring boiling water) and eat right away!
Video
Nutrition
Megan says
Im so excited to try this!
Lorne Hammond says
Love this idea,
Just made it tonight for myself using sealable jars (not mason, the ones with the pop top lid) but honestly, putting them together took all of 15 min for 6 and now I have lunches for the week.
I switched out the siracha for a pepper/garlic hot sauce, added a bit of pepper and tried it with a thicker noodle – I’d bought vermicelli but also a standard higher quality ramen and udon noodles.
Thanks ! what a great grab and go for lunch.
Taylor Stinson says
So glad you like the idea Lorne – isn’t it nice having all your lunches prepped for the week??! Really takes a load off your mind! Interested to see how you like it with the different noodles. Thanks for sharing with me 🙂
JoAnn says
Can you use shrimp as your protein? How well will they store in the fridge for four or five days?
Taylor Stinson says
You can use shrimp for sure! I would say they would only last for 3-4 days in the fridge though.
Danielle says
I think the vermicelli jar is brilliant and so can’t wait to prep this on Sunday as part of my new make ahead lunch meal prep efforts. Fab idea!
Thanks
Jacqueline Benson says
How long can they be stored? Is this something I can put in a canned for my shelf?
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Jacqueline – you can store these jars in the fridge up to 5 days. Unfortunately they are not shelf stable!
Ann says
What brand of boullion cubes do you use? I feel like it would be very salty with the ones I have
Taylor Stinson says
I believe the brand I used was Knorr!
Jenn says
I LOVE this idea! Just a question about the number of servings listed for the recipe (4) and the number of jars called for (2). Is each jar intended to be 2 servings or is this just a typo? I see that the recipe calls for 4 tsp of an ingredient and you mention to add 1 tsp to each jar, so I’m assuming it’s just a typo? Just want to make sure before I do it so I don’t mess it up. THANKS!
Taylor Stinson says
So sorry Jenn it is a typo, it’s 4 jars! Updating that now 🙂
Brussel says
Hi! Looks great. Any thoughts on using loose powdered bouillon versus the cube?
Taylor Stinson says
You can definitely use loose powder – I’d say about 1 tbsp would work!
Vivian says
Looking to change this for working out meal preps.
High protein contents etc.
Any suggestions
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Vivian – you can always double the chicken and leave out the noodles, or use zucchini noodles in place of the noodles while upping the amount of chicken. Hope that helps!