Enjoy your favorite fast cheeseburger as a delicious Big Mac Bowl! This has all the flavor as your favorite cheeseburger, with the benefit of extra veggies!
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Why You’ll LOVE This
A classic Big Mac from the golden arches includes two burger patties (with three buns!), shredded lettuce, onion, pickles, American cheese, and big mac sauce.
This cheeseburger salad takes the iconic burger to the next level while maintaining a bit of healthy elements.
- The burger sauce is a base of greek yogurt. This adds some hidden protein without altering the taste!
- Tomatoes are a simple addition to increase the veggie levels!
- A couple slices of avocado provide a serving of healthy fats that will make you feel full and satisfied.
Beyond these ‘healthy alterations’, you’ll also love this recipe because of its flavors! This salad incredibly tastes just as if you are digging in to a drive thru meal.
When to Make this Salad
This salad can be your full on main for dinner, a flavorful side dish, a healthy lunch, or a dish to pass!
This salad has all of the components that can satisfy you for dinner or you can take a smaller portion and use it as a side dish to another main!
It can work as leftovers for lunch (if you keep the dressing on the side) or meal prepped to have at work all week.
If you make this salad as a passing dish, everyone will ask for your recipe! This is not your typical salad you except when you sign up for greens!
Big Mac Bowl Ingredients
This salad has all the components of a burger, with a few delicious additions.
Lettuce: This is the base for your burger bowl! If you want to substitute the lettuce you could also use pasta or rice. You can even use half lettuce and half of your substitute of choice. Just know you are getting further from the iconic Big Mac flavor profile!
Ground Beef: For the most realistic burger bowl use a fatty ground beef option. This may be a 70/30 or 80/20 blend.
Pickles: Dill pickles are the go-to for burgers but bread and butter are my favorite to use!
Cheese: I picked a shredded 4-blend variety.
Corn: Corn is not your typical salad ingredient. If you prefer to not have corn in this dish feel free to omit it.
Avocado: This isn’t 100% required for this Big Mac Bowl. A classic Big Mac doesn’t even had avocado! But, avocado adds a great texture to the bowl.
Tomato: Either dice up a tomato or cut some grape tomatoes in half.
Burger Sauce: This is a combination of greek yogurt, worcestershire, ketchup, and mustard.
Directions to Make A Cheeseburger Salad
Start making this recipe like you would with any salad: washing and chopping all of your veggies!
Once your onion is chopped add it to your pan. Once it becomes translucent add your ground beef. Then, all of the seasonings.
While cooking the beef, mix up your big mac sauce. Place this in the fridge to sit until you are ready to chow down.
Add all of you veggies to your bowl, top with the ground beef, and cheese, then drizzle on the homemade sauce!
Ideas for Additions and Swaps
- Have some tater tots or french fries on the side to get the full fast food effect.
- Try adding in a sprinkle of rice if you aren’t a full on salad person. This addition means the salad will have more carbs and may be more satisfying for you.
- Add some black beans for more protein!
- Want to take this salad to the next level? Add pieces of bacon!
If you end up making any additions or swaps that you end up loving, be sure to leave it in the comments for everyone to try as well!
Expert Tips and Tricks For Salad
- Try adding all of your veggies into your bowl and chopping them up. Then, mix in the burger sauce. This ensures every bit is coated and the flavors will come through in every bite.
- Crunch up your tortilla chips so you get some more crunch!
- Add your cheese to the top of your ground beef and top with the lid just as it is about to be served. The shredded cheese will melt and become ooey and gooey delicious!
Storage
Pulling out all of these ingredients, cleaning, chopping, and cooking can be a lot. To make leftovers easy and convenient place salad and meat servings into separate containers.
This means, grab a tupperware dish and add all your veggies and cheese. In a smaller container add your meat. Now for lunch you can grab the two containers on your way to work to have as lunch. If you have more dinner leftovers you can do this multiple times in order to eat all week!
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this recipe gluten free?
Yes, if you do not use the rice addition and choose a gluten free tortilla chip.
Is this dairy free?
The Big Mac Bowl is dairy free if you do not use the cheese or sauce. You can exclude these or replace them with their dairy free versions.
Is this Big Mac Bowl healthy?
This is a well balanced meal. There are plenty of veggies, protein from the ground beef, carbs in the chips, and fats in the sauce. All you need to do is consume the proper portion for you!
A Word From A Registered Dietitian
This recipe isn’t to give an alternative to enjoying your Big Mac from the source, nor is it to encourage salads over classic cheeseburgers.
This cheeseburger salad is to add into your dinner rotation. Many people avoid salad because they can easily be boring and still leave them hungry. This is the perfect way to make a salad taste delicious and satisfy your hunger.
If you enjoy a Big Mac in its original form, that is completely fine! Have your burger in moderation. Instead of having it many times a month, try using this salad to satisfy this craving without all the additional sodium and dietary fats.
Craving More?
If you make this Big Mac Bowl recipe be sure to leave a 5-star rating and comment down below. It really helps spread the recipe so more can give it a try! Also, tag me in a photo of your creation on Instagram. I would love to see and share it!
Looking for some other meal recipes? Give these a taste:
- Pita Nachos with Tzatziki
- Deconstructed Stuffed Pepper Casserole
- Creamy Chicken Orzo with Lemon
- Easy Vegetarian Enchiladas
Big Mac Bowl (Cheeseburger Salad)
Equipment
- 1 Pan
Ingredients
- 8 Cups Lettuce
- 1 Whole Tomato
- 1 Can Corn
- 1/2 Whole Avocado
- 1 Cup Shredded Cheese 4-Blend
- 1/4 Cup Dill Pickles
- 1 Pound Ground Beef
- 1 Teaspoon Olive Oil
- 1/4 Whole Onion White
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Teaspoon Pepper
- 1/4 Teaspoon Ground Mustard
- 1 Teaspoin Minced Garlic
- Parsley optional
Burger Sauce
- 1/2 Cup Greek Yogurt Plain
- 4 Teaspoons Yellow Mustard
- 4 Teaspoons Ketchup
- 2 Teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
Instructions
- Start by cleaning all of your veggies and opening your can of corn and pickles.
- Begin chopping your veggies. Cut your lettuce into small, bite-sized pieces. Dice up your clean tomato. Open your avocado and use your knife to cut long thin slices into half of the avocado. Dice up the onion into very small pieces.
- Heat a pan to medium heat and add a drizzle of olive oil (~1 teaspoon). Add the chopped onion.
- Once the onion becomes translucent add the ground beef. Next, add in the salt, pepper, ground mustard, minced garlic, and parsley (optional). Stir occastionally.
- While this cooks make the burger sauce. In a bowl combine the greek yogurt, mustard, ketchup, and worcestershire sauce. Set aside. Be sure to keep an eye on your beef!
- Once the ground beef is done and reached an internal temperature of at least 160 degrees fahrenheit, remove from the heat.
- It is now time to build your Big Mac Bowl. In a medium sized bowl add: lettuce, tomato, corn, avocado, shredded cheese, dill pickles, ground beef, and top with burger sauce. Enjoy with some corn tortilla chips, tater tots, or french fries!
Notes
- Store beef and sauce separately from salad ingredients
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