Here are 15 ways to use mason jars in the kitchen. Everything from desserts to vases to food storage!
Hi Friends!
Today I thought we’d chat about mason jars for a bit. I was looking in my cupboard the other day and I realized that I have a TON of mason jars of all different sizes. Then I started thinking about all the different ways I use them. I made a list of some of my favorite uses and then did some research to put together a fun little list for you guys of ways you can use mason jars in the kitchen. There are tons of ideas out there because these jars can be used in pretty much any area of the house….but I didn’t want to make the list too overwhelming, so I thought I’d just focus on kitchen uses for this post.
First, a quick review of just a few reasons why I love mason jars:
- They can be used for portion control.
- They’re microwave and oven safe.
- They’re BPA free!
- They come in a wide variety of sizes, shapes and colors.
- They’re relatively inexpensive.
I could go on an on…but let’s get to the list. Here are some easy ways to use mason jars in the kitchen:
Sprouting beans, lentils and grains
An easy way to boost the nutritional value and you can do it right in your kitchen! Check out my post on How To Sprout Lentils post to get started!

Single serve desserts
I almost always use a mason jar when I make my Microwave Sweet Potato Muffin! It’s the perfect way to avoid an overflow and leaves plenty of room to top with ice cream or yogurt! You can also use them to make parfaits, pies, custards and more. It’s super convenient because you can easily make individual portions and they can be baked right in the jars!

Salads and Meals In A Jar
These are perfect for packing in a lunch, picnic basket, etc. My friend Lauren wrote a Salad in a Jar post for me a couple of years ago with three yummy ideas to get you started. Put the dressing on the bottom and the lettuce on top to avoid sogginess and you can prep 4-5 salads at a time, store them in the fridge and have lunches ready for the week!
If you want to go beyond salad, Lexi just wrote a great post with some meal in a jar ideas like a Layered Taco Jar, Cajun Shrimp Jar and more! The possibilities are endless!

Smoothies
Next time you make a smoothie, serve it up in a mason jar! The fact that they have lids make it easy to take one with you on the go! And in case you haven’t seen this cool trick, if you have the right kind of blender, you can attach your mason jar right to the blender, which means no blender jar clean-up for you! Check out this article for more details.

Pantry Storage
Use jars to store pantry items like grains, pasta, beans, nuts and seeds. Larger mason jars can also be used for baking supplies like flour, sugar, chocolate chips, etc and even things like muffin tin liners!
Flower Vase
Brighten up your kitchen with a jar full of flowers. They make a perfect vase. Look for colored mason jars to add even more color to the room!

Serving drinks
There’s just something about drinking out of a mason jar that’s more fun than a regular cup! Try my Healthy Cherry Limeade if you don’t believe me! You can also use them to enjoy your coffee – hot or cold- or a fancy cocktail. Take things a step further and include the kiddos by turning a few mason jars into sippy cups! You can buy the lids or convert your own! If you like DIY projects, here’s an easy video about how to add a straw hole to your mason jar lid.
DIY Shaker
Make a couple of these and use them for things like chia & hemp seeds, powdered sugar, toothpicks and parmesan cheese. All you have to do is pound a few nail holes into the metal lid of a mason jar! Here’s a great tutorial to get you started.
Individual Appetizers & Snacks
Again, these jars can be super helpful for portion control. Try serving up individual veggies and dip jars as an after school snack, or make some individual 7 layer dip jars as an appetizer for your next party! Keep in mind that the wide mouth mason jars are probably best for this!
Kitchen Herb Garden
Mason jars are the perfect size for growing fresh herbs in your kitchen. Here’s a great tutorial for getting started. Set them on your window sill to grow or, if you’re feeling more adventurous, you can grow them on your wall!
Lid Desserts
One of the more creative ways I’ve seen to use a mason jar, my friend Christina used the LIDS to make Mason Jar Lid Tarts!

Gifts In A Jar
Whether it’s layering dry ingredients for a pancake mix or a batch of cookies, filling a jar with trailmix (like my Blizzard Bites) or flipping things upside down and using the jars to deliver a cupcake or muffin, gifts in a jar are perfect for holiday gifts, parties, baby showers and more!

Store Your Leftovers
Mason jars are great for storing things like soup, sauces, broth, salsa, nut butters, etc in the fridge!
You can also use them to take the place of some of your plastic tupperware containers as you make the transition to all glass!

Salad Dressing
Store-bought dressings are often full of unnecessary ingredients. Make your own in a mason jar and store in the fridge. Make sure the lid is on tight and just give it a good shake before each use!

Canning
If you grow your own fruits and veggies or just like to stock up when they’re on sale at the farmer’s market or the grocery store, canning is a great way to store fresh produce and have it on hand when it’s not in season! Try your hand at canning salsas, veggies, jams, sauces and pickling in mason jars!
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[Tweet “Looking for some new ways to use mason jars in the kitchen? Here are 15 ideas from @leangrnbeanblog!”]
And just as an added bonus, here’s a few non-food ways to use them:
- Make a gratitude jar.
- Use them to store leftover paint so you don’t have to keep the paint cans that take up so much space.
- Make a terrarium.
- Use one as a lamp base or make a lantern.
- Store craft supplies.
- Pour your own candles.
Let’s chat:
What are your favorite ways to use mason jars?! Leave ideas in the comments to keep the inspiration flowing!
Enjoy!
–Lindsay–
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We only have mason jars for our glassware (minus wine glasses). It’s all sorts of fun. I store all sorts of goodies in them as well – homemade granola is a favorite.
LOVE this! I use them as storage and to bring food in to work – hot or cold stuff!
perfect! they’re so versatile!
True story- I’ve moved apartments and have no mugs. I’ve been using mason jars. I never thought to use it in the microwave- genius, L.
#mindblown 🙂
I have a thing for mason jars. Decorating, cooking, storage…love em! The herb garden and the lid desserts are brilliant! My mind is spinning with ideas for lid desserts 🙂
woohoo! can’t wait to see how you use them!
Love this! So many good ideas! We don’t really have the ‘mason jar’ culture here in the UK – you can only find them if you hunt them out at a specialist store. However, I do have lots of jars I have saved that would be perfect for some of these ideas!
perfect! any glass jars should do the trick!
Awesome article!
My favourite use for mason jars is the “meal in a jar”. It’s a great way to fit all that fruit into a greek yogurt. Love what you’ve done here!! And thanks so much for linking to our Wall Mounted Mason Jar Herb Garden!
xo
you’re welcome! now to talk my hubby into letting me try that in my house!
These are all great and thank you for sharing. We have a ton of mason jars as well that are just sitting around. I actually wasn’t sure what to do with them but you have inspired me.
woohoo! have fun using them!
love the idea of a gratitude jar!
i thought you might 🙂
Woohoo I’m on top of things. I use them for sprouting all of my grains, storing flours and rices, and other bulk items, and for growing back my green onions!
awesome!
Great ideas! We use ours to store some dry goods in the pantry, and for sprouting and canning- although I haven’t done any canning in awhile. I also freeze soups or chicken broth in them, but it can be tricky not to crack the glass when they’re in the freezer!
yeah i haven’t mastered that either!
I brought homemade infused water to my friends pool the other day in a mason jar. I realized I will never be more of a hipster than I was at that moment.
haha love it!
I wish you lived with me.
I will settle for devouring all your posts and TRYING 🙂 to live them.
These are awesome ideas! We used mason jars in our wedding centerpieces so we have TONS leftover! I’ll have to keep some of these ideas in mind!
perfect!!
yes, i love putting all my salad toppings in a mason jar to bring to work!
great idea!
Great list Lindsay, you have given me soooo many new ideas! Most intrigued by the DIY herb garden. I definitely hope to give that a try! My favorite use is for my homemade almond butter, especially when it stays creamy even in the fridge so my spoon and I can visit a few times a day 😉
i want to try the herb garden too!
Yay mason jars! Thanks for including me 🙂
you’re welcome! that post was brilliant!
Oh my gosh, I totally forgot about that guest post I did on the salads HAHA! Thanks for including it in the roundup! I’ve been loving watching your whole pregnancy journey too Lindsay, I’m so happy for you guys and can’t wait to see pictures of your little bean! <3
awww thanks lauren!
This is awesome, I just pinned so I can come back and remember all the things I can do with the gazillion mason jars I have. I love using big ones for storage too… make it so much easier to get oats/chia seeds out rather than the bags! (I buy them both in bulk at Costco)
so do i! costco for the win!
Okay as if I didn’t love Mason jars enough already… I only have one that I actually use as a glass and I love it. I need to go buy a case. I love the veggies and dip idea the most. that is SO smart and so much cheaper than buying pyrex!
i agree! way cheaper than pyrex!
I use mine to store salad dressings, too! That taco in a jar sounds right up my alley…
mine too 🙂 i want to try them 🙂
I love mason jars! I have one cabinet dedicated to them 🙂 I use the big ones to brew kombucha, I store coconut oil, milk, and other liquidy things in them, and I also use them for making/storing sauerkraut and jam. I used to make the salads-in-a-jar all the time, but got out of the habit. Going back to that would be a good idea for when baby comes.
ooh good idea to store the liquids in them!
I really haven’t used my mason jars for much other than the occasional overnight oats and salads. But some of these ideas are brilliant. I love the idea of the tarts in the lids.
so creative, right?!
This is so awesome! I just ordered mason jars so I can start doing yogurt parfaits for the week. I had no idea you could microwave them! Love all these ideas.
yes!! have fun using them 🙂
Great post, pinned! 🙂
thanks kelly!
I’m obsessed with Mason jars as well and reading this super cute post has definitely made my morning 🙂 Great inspiration! I used a ton of these for my wedding decor, and my current favorite use for them is taking single serving bananas puddings to picnics and making overnight oatmeal for my husband and I. Great for grab n’ go dishes!
omg banana pudding sounds so good right now!
Mason jars are just so pretty! I try not to use plastic in the kitchen, so mason jars have become my “go to” for so many things. You definitely gave me new ideas!
Mason jars are definitely super practical, but honestly I think what I love about them the most is how cute they are!! 😉
i agree. glass doesn’t get much cuter 😉
Awesome post!! I just bought my first mason jar last week and I’m using it to store homemade strawberry jam in the fridge. Pinned!
doesn’t get any better than that!
I love gifts in mason jars! My old roommates family will give homemade jams and preserves as gifts every year, and her niece does her own special hot chocolate in a smaller mason jar – such a cute idea!
all great ideas! love it!
Love mason jars. I use them for just about everything you listed plus I brew and drink cold-brew coffee in them, I mix up and eat my homemade oatmeal packet at work in the morning, make and store homemade spice blends and drink tea from them at work through the day. I save so much unnecessary waste at the office just by keeping a wide mount pint jar in my drawer.
definitely a great thing to have on hand!
Love the appetizers in them so cute!
I love this! Such great, creative ideas. Thanks for sharing!
Great ideas!
I love this!! I recently put a ton of my mason jars to use in my pantry for all my beans and flours 🙂 They are so cute and pracitcal for anything!
i need to use more in my pantry too!
Great ideas! I recently received an infuser from Ball and that’s another fun way to use the jar.
i saw those! they look awesome!
The kitchen herb garden is so on my to do list now! I’m gonna need to make another Costco run for more Mason Jars!
i am too!
I actually never discovered the awesomeness of mason jars until I moved to West Virginia for school. I love how versatile they are! :] Pinned!
i have a few jars but after reading this i want to invest in some more! so versatile. do you put yours in the dishwasher??
yep! sometimes i wash the lids by hand though and dry right away so they don’t rust.
So many great ideas! I used them to sterilize just a few nipples,etc when we were in the bottle phase.
ohh great idea!
Love, Love these ideas, especially the one of the DIY Herb Garden! That will work well in my tiny apartment! Thanks for the tips, Lindsay!
woohoo! happy gardening!
So many great ideas here! Thank you…I just pinned it! So glad I saw Tara’s tweet!
thanks for pinning! glad you saw the tweet as well 🙂
I think I’m going to make all of my dessert-in-a-mugs in mason jars now…so obvious, but I’ve never thought of it! It would make for some pretty foodie photography too! 🙂
Awesome list, Lindsay!
This is awesome! I have so many mason jars laying around that I need to put to good use! I need to be better amount controlling my portions with snacks and this is a great way!
awesome! have fun coming up with new ways to use them as well!