Big Mac Salad Recipe

Get all the flavors of your favorite McDonald’s burger in this yummy Big Mac Salad with ground beef, lettuce, onions, pickles and of course Big Mac Sauce!

Do you love both a Big Mac AND a salad? If so, you are in for a real treat with this yummy Big Mac Salad! It is over-the-top delicious!

And, the best part is it uses simple, common ingredients to duplicate the flavors in a McDonald’s Big Mac.

You get the flavors of this classic burger in salad form. What’s not to love?

Not only is it over-the-top delicious, but this recipe for Big Mac Salad is super easy to make!

You basically cook the ground beef, chop everything else up (no need to be super neat with it) and then top it with Big Mac Sauce AKA Thousand Island Dressing.

The recipe uses simple, common ingredients to duplicate the tastes you find in a Big Mac including the hamburger, Big Mac sauce, lettuce, onion and dill pickle.

(Optional shredded cheddar cheese and sesame seed toppings add to the flavor.)

How fun (or should I say, tasty) is that?

And, if you are trying to avoid the actual Big Mac because of calories and a diet, then this yummy salad is THE perfect solution!

You still get all the yummy flavors with fewer carbs and calories! Sounds like a win to me!

If you’re looking for keto recipes, with no bread in the meal the carbs are a lot lower than with the Big Mac burger on a bun, but you’ll need to check the other ingredients to see if  they agree with your particular keto diet.

This recipe is enough to feed four people. Thanks to the ground beef it makes a really hearty salad. It’s definitely an entree salad that’s a whole meal in one bowl. No side dish necessary!

If you didn’t already know (or missed the mention above), Big Mac sauce is basically Thousand Island dressing.

You can take the “healthier”/homemade part of this recipe further by choosing better-for-you versions of Thousand Island Dressing such as low fat, sugar free, organic or low cholesterol. 

You can also make your own dressing with our delicious homemade Thousand Island Dressing recipe. It tastes amazing and you might not want to go back to bottled thousand island dressing after trying it.

One other change that will change the flavors a bit, but give you a bigger nutritional boost is to change out the iceberg lettuce for a darker leafy green, which have more vitamins and minerals than standard iceberg. 

Some darker leafy greens you can try are romaine, red leaf or green leaf, butter lettuce, or even spinach. A combination of lettuce types works too!

Another healthier option for this recipe if you’re trying to reduce saturated fat is to substitute ground turkey for the lean ground beef. If you want to turn this into a vegetarian salad, you can use meatless crumbles as a substitute for the ground beef.

This recipe does call for red onions, which we think give a nice robust flavor for salad, but if you prefer to stick closer to the taste of a Big Mac, you can use white onions instead (and dice them up tiny like they do at McDonald’s).

A sweet onion like Vidalia will give it a more mellow taste while still adding flavor.

We did make one other change by adding tomatoes to this recipe (yes, we know there are no tomatoes on a Big Mac) which gives it a nice pop of color and some fresh flavor to this cheeseburger salad. But, if you decide to make your Big Mac salad without tomatoes, it will still be delicious!

McDonald’s Copycat Recipes:

Want another special treat? Be sure and check out our delicious Copycat McDonald’s Big Mac recipe! It is easy to make using fresh ingredients, even the special sauce!

You can make it right at home and skip the drive-thru window AND the expense – plus know EXACTLY what is going into your meal! We have a few more recipes too.

• Copycat McDonald’s Big Mac
• Copycat McDonald’s Apple Pie
• Copycat McDonald’s McGriddle Recipe

More Salad Recipes:

If you’re looking for some more great salad recipes, try these:

• Apple Cider Chicken Salad
• Italian Chopped Salad
• Grilled Corn and Shrimp Salad

Big Mac Salad Recipe

Prep: 10 Minutes
Cook: 15 Minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients Needed:

(See amounts and instructions in recipe card below.)

• Lean ground beef 90/10
• Head of iceberg lettuce
• Roma tomatoes; diced
• Pickles; diced
• Red or white onion; diced
• Thousand Island dressing (Homemade or Bottled)
• Optional: a sprinkle of sesame seeds
• Optional: shredded cheese

How to make a Big Mac Salad:

Place ground beef into a saute pan and cook until meat is browned. Break up any large pieces as you are cooking. Drain grease.

(Side note: This is my favorite pan for browning ground beef and I use it almost every day (not just for browning beef, of course!)

Wash and chop iceberg lettuce. Place into a large bowl.

Dice the tomatoes. Add to the bowl and toss.

Dice the pickles. Slice pickles can be diced. Look for pickles that have a thicker slice. Add to bowl.

Chop the red onion and add to bowl. Toss all vegetables together.

Add ground beef to the bowl and toss with salad tongs. Serve topped with thousand island dressing.

Enjoy!

How to Pack Big Mac Salad for Lunch at Work:

If you’re planning to take your salad for work lunch, don’t add your dressing at home. Pack the dressing in a smaller container and top the salad at work.

If you prefer a salad with the meat warm, you can also pack the cooked ground beef in a separate container to warm in the microwave before adding to your salad.

How to Make a Vegan Big Mac Salad:

Want a vegetarian or vegan version of this salad? All you need to do is substitute a plant-based option for the ground beef. You can use Beyond Meat Beyond Beef, Gardein Ground Be’f or another plant-based crumble. 

For the dressing, you’ll want to choose a plant based bottled dressing our make our Thousand Island Dressing recipe using Veganaise instead of mayonnaise.

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