Pour the dressing into the mason jars. Add the pasta to the jars, followed by the chicken, black olives, tomatoes, and arugula. If you're using 16-ounce jars, you'll need to pack the pasta down in the jars to have enough room for the remaining ingredients. Cover the jars with lids, and refrigerate until desired.
To enjoy, shake a jar to combine the ingredients. Eat the salad from the jar, or pour the contents into a bowl. The salad will keep in the fridge for about 4 days (a salad for each day), if the chicken is fresh.
Notes
*Any pasta will work in this recipe. I use Jovial Einkorn Fusilli. Brown rice pasta will work, or a similar gluten-free pasta, if you can't tolerate gluten. **The recipe makes enough to fill 16-ounce jars; however, if you want to shake the salad in the jar to combine the ingredients I recommend going with a quart-size jar. An 16-ounce jar will be packed full leaving no room to shake the ingredients. This is okay if you plan to pour the salad into a bowl before enjoying. I like to cook a whole chicken on the weekend to use for meals throughout the week. Another option is to cook 1-2 chicken breasts, or purchase a rotisserie chicken. If you want to add additional flavor, and love garlic, add 1-2 minced garlic cloves to the dressing. You could also add some feta cheese to the salad layers. I like to pair each jar with fruit (apple slices with nut butter, grapes, berries, a banana) for a complete meal. I’ve found that the salad keeps well for about 4 days in the fridge, if the chicken is fresh.