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Let’s be real—lunch during the work week can feel like a total afterthought. You either end up dropping way too much money on takeout or eating the same sad sandwich three days in a row. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Cold lunches are seriously underrated—no microwave needed, easy to prep ahead, and still super tasty by day five (yes, really). Whether you’re working from home or packing something to take to the office, these 15 cold lunch ideas are here to save your week. They’re fresh, filling, and way more exciting than whatever’s lurking in the break room fridge.
Keep reading to find your favorite recipes for the week ahead and *bookmark* this post to come back to when you’re looking for more lunch inspo.
READ NEXT: 15 Delicious Hot Lunch Recipes to Meal Prep for Work
15 Delicious Cold Lunch Ideas
1. Peach Tortellini & Arugula Salad with Crispy Prosciutto
This salad takes about 15 minutes to prep everything you need. Made with spinach tortellini pasta and arugula tossed in a tangy vinaigrette and topped with toasted almonds, peaches, feta crumbles and crispy prosciutto “croutons”.
2. Fresh Cold Corn Pasta
A cold orecchiette pasta, tossed with cherry tomatoes, grilled corn, mozzarella and pesto to make a delicious lunch or dinner for your next summer get-together. The textures, colors and flavors of this salad are fresh and bright, which is everything you start to crave as the temperatures heat up.
3. Tahini Kale Caesar Salad with Everything Bagel Croutons
Caesar salad girlies, we are about to turn you on to one of the best Caesar salads ever. We nixed the anchovies and eggs and created a dressing with the same rich and tangy flavor you love so much. If it were up to us, we’d be making this tahini kale caesar salad on repeat.
4. Prosciutto Crudo Focaccia Sandwich with Burrata and Arugula
Meet your new favorite sandwich: the prosciutto crudo focaccia sandwich. A generous amount of salty prosciutto slices, fresh burrata cheese and peppery vinaigrette-tossed arugula, sandwiched between two slices of rosemary focaccia bread. Delish!
5. Jennifer Aniston’s Viral Cobb Salad
First it was the “Rachel” Haircut, Now it’s Jennifer’s Salad. This is all about the One Where We Made Jennifer Aniston’s Viral Cobb Salad! After scrolling through countless posts on our social media feeds showing recreations of this salad, and we had to give it a try.
6. Healthy Chicken Pesto Pasta Salad
There’s truly nothing yummier than a cold pasta salad, and this one is so easy to prep for the work week. Made with a base of bow tie pasta, chickpeas, mozzarella, rotisserie chicken and cherry tomatoes and topped with a creamy, healthy yogurt lemon sauce.
7. Buffalo Chicken Caesar Salad Wrap
Looking for a way to spice up your lunch options? If so, this buffalo chicken caesar salad wrap is the perfect choice. Made with romaine lettuce a creamy caesar dressing and buffalo seasoned chicken.
P.S. If you don’t prefer buffalo chicken, then you could opt to use regular chicken strips instead.
8. Honey Mustard Turkey Avocado Sandwich
Cold sandwiches in the summer just hit different, and this honey mustard turkey avocado sandwich will have you counting down the hours till your lunch break. Made with fresh deli turkey, creamy avocados, chopped tomatoes, honey mustard and crunchy potato chips. YUM!
9. Easy Pepperoncini Tuna Salad
This one is for all the tuna salad lovers out there…it’s a super easy pepperoncini tuna salad that you can make a sandwich with, lettuce wraps or layer on crostini or crackers for lunch. It’s the perfect light and tangy cold lunch recipe.
10. Cobb Salad with Chicken & Green Goddess Dressing
Cobb salads are a classic choice, and they are super easy to meal prep for the work week. However, this one is topped with a delicious green goddess dressing which it makes it even more delicious!
11. Southwest Cream Cheese Chicken Wraps
Our mom makes these southwest cream cheese chicken wraps every spring and summer, and we’ve been eating them for the past 15 years. They quite literally take 10 minutes to make — making them the quickest lunch to take on the go.
12. Classic Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Ugh…these chicken salad sandwiches make us want to eat one right now. Having grown up in the south, we can’t deny a fresh chicken salad sandwich. It’s a top tier cold lunch recipe!
13. Pesto Pasta Salad
This pesto pasta salad makes a large batch for you to portion out for the work week ahead. Made with pasta and fresh pesto sauce which is combined with tomatoes, olives, mozzarella and chickpeas.
14. Cold Ramen Noodle Salad
We are obsessed with cold ramen salads and can’t wait to try this delicious recipe this spring and summer. Made with a blend of crisp cabbage and carrots, sesame soy dressing and tossed with instant ramen, edamame and cashews.
15. Caprese Sandwich
One of our favorite things to eat when the weather warms up is a crapes salad, and we love the idea of adding these flavors to a sandwich. The addition of the pesto truly brings the classic caprese ingredients together.
