Quick answer: This is a mason jar tuna lunch — about 27 grams of protein at 280 calories per serving, built to keep 4 days refrigerated. Everything layers into a jar except the tuna itself, which stays in its own small container and gets added at lunchtime. Serves 4. Sodium is low, about 355 mg per serving.
Where Tuna Rice Meal Prep Bowl is built around rice, this one is a genuine mason jar salad — dressing at the bottom, sturdy vegetables in the middle, greens on top, and the tuna packed separately so it never sits in the jar’s moisture for days.
Why This Recipe Has About 27 Grams of Protein
| Source | Per serving |
| Canned tuna, drained (110 g) | 21.3 g |
| Chickpeas, rinsed (60 g) | 4.8 g |
| Everything else | 1.3 g |
| Total | 27.4 g |
Kept simple deliberately — two shelf-stable, meal-prep-friendly protein sources rather than anything that changes texture over several days.
A Note on Sodium
About 355 mg per serving, roughly 15% of the WHO’s 2,300 mg daily limit — one of the lowest totals in the cluster, with no cheese or heavily brined ingredients involved.
What You Need
Makes 4 mason jars
- 4 cans (5 oz / 142 g each) light tuna in water, drained (about 440 g drained total), packed separately
- 1 can (15 oz / 425 g) chickpeas, drained and rinsed (about 240 g)
- 1 cucumber, diced
- 200 g cherry tomatoes, halved
- ¼ red onion, thinly sliced
- 4 cups mixed greens
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
How to Make It
- Whisk the olive oil and lemon juice for the dressing.
- Divide the dressing among 4 mason jars, at the bottom.
- Layer chickpeas, then cucumber, tomatoes and red onion.
- Top with the greens, packed down slightly so they don’t wilt into the layers below.
- Pack the tuna separately in small containers, to add at lunchtime.
Tips
The order matters. Dressing at the very bottom, sturdy vegetables next, greens on top — reversing this order is the most common reason a jar salad turns soggy by day three.
Keep the tuna out of the jar entirely. Even drained well, it releases enough moisture over several days to soften everything around it.
Substitutions
Chickpeas: white beans work the same way. Greens: any sturdy lettuce — romaine holds up better than delicate greens like spinach.
Storage
Up to 4 days refrigerated, tuna stored separately. To eat, shake the jar to combine or empty into a bowl, then add the tuna.
Tuna Lunch Meal Prep
Ingredients
Method
- Whisk olive oil and lemon juice.
- Divide dressing among 4 jars.
- Layer chickpeas, cucumber, tomatoes and onion.
- Top with greens.
- Pack tuna separately; add at lunchtime.
Notes
- Layering order (dressing, then sturdy vegetables, then greens) is what makes this last 4 days.
- Keep tuna out of the jar until eating.
Nutrition
Per serving (recipe makes 4):
| Calories | 280 |
| Protein | 27 g |
| Sodium | 355 mg |
Verified against the Tuna nutrition workbook, calculated ingredient-by-ingredient from USDA FoodData Central reference values.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does the tuna stay out of the jar?
Even well-drained, canned tuna releases moisture over several days that would soften the vegetables and greens around it.
How long does this actually keep?
Up to 4 days, provided the dressing stays at the bottom and the greens stay on top, away from direct contact with the dressing.
Can I use a different dressing?
Yes, as long as it’s added at the very bottom of the jar — that positioning is what protects everything above it.
Do I need mason jars specifically?
Any tall, sealable container works — the layering principle matters more than the specific jar.
More High Protein Tuna Recipes
Alongside Tuna Rice Meal Prep Bowl — the rice-based version of tuna meal prep on the site.
Made this? Leave a rating and a comment below.
