The calories in a Big Mac can sure kill a diet! But this Big Mac Salad is a great alternative!
Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun. Who doesn’t recall that jingle proclaiming the ingredients for the Big Mac?!
Growing up, my Gram and Aunt Di would take me out for Big Macs (no onions so they’d be made fresh!) I haven’t had a Big Mac in quite some time, but just hearing the name brings back such fond memories of two very important ladies in my life.
We eat a low carb diet these days. This means no Big Macs. It also means no buns for our burgers. One night for supper, I was especially craving a Big Mac and sure wanted to enjoy this taste from the past.
I played around with a sauce to get it as close to the “special sauce” as I could. Eating it as a salad means I can have this low carb option and still be satisfied with the “Big Mac’ taste.
Can you taste it? That special sauce? The burger, the cheese, the pickles, and onions? Yum!
I prefer to cook the burger as a patty, cover it with cheese, then crumble the cheeseburger over my salad. Others will crumble the beef as it is cooking and add the cheese to the cooked beef crumbles.
Big Mac Salad:
Combine the sauce ingredients and refrigerate while you cook the burger patty and assemble the salad. (Or whip up the sauce and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days!)
To assemble the Big Mac Salad, simply layer chopped Romaine lettuce, chopped tomatoes, chopped dill pickles, and chopped onions in a bowl.
Top with a burger patty topped with cheese (your choice- American, Cheddar, etc.)
Add the Big Mac sauce and ENJOY!
Big Mac Salad
Stick to your low carb diet and indulge in the yummy taste of a Big Mac with this salad!
Ingredients
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 2 TB low sugar (or sugar-free) ketchup
- 2 tsp yellow mustard
- 2 TB dill pickle relish (or just the juice if you desire a smooth sauce)
- 1/3 pound hamburger
- Chopped lettuce
- chopped onions
- sliced pickles
- tomatoes, if desired
- slice of cheese (American, cheddar, Swiss- your choice)
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients, refrigerate for a few hours for the flavors to mingle.
- To serve, grill a burger patty and top it with cheese.
- Serve over a bed of lettuce, onions, pickles, and tomatoes (not true to the original sandwich, but yummy!). Top with cheeseburger and sauce.
Looking for more recipes like this?!
Since you liked the Big Mac Salad, give some more of our favorite low carb recipes a try!
Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Chicken Breast
Chicken Fajita Salad
Easy Homemade Guacamole
Perfect Deviled Eggs
Skinny Chocolate Fudge
Low Carb, High Protein Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies
Super Simple Low Carb Black Raspberry Cheesecake
What’s your favorite low carb meal? Do share! I love to try new recipes!
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What a clever way to go bunless. Thanks for the idea.
Thank you!
Hope you enjoy it as much as we do! 🙂
That was such a great idea to deconstruct the sandwich this way. Did it still curb your craving?
It sure does!
We make this about once a week. 🙂
oh. my. gracious. oh my soul.
i miss BIG MACs more than i do any REAL SUGAR of any kind.
here is a piece of my heart <3 for you! mwah.
Yay!!!
I hope you love it as much as we do! We have this at least once per week! 🙂
*stomach growling* This looks FANTASTIC!
Thank you for linking up at Trim Healthy Tuesday!
I’m still learning, would this be an S or an E?
This would be an S Jenny… because of the fat amount and keeping it low carb- it would be one delicious S meal!
S (S = fats, and cheddar cheese, mayo, and a hamburger patty are all in the “fats” group) 🙂
Yes, this would be an S meal, Jenny.
Sorry for my delay in replying to you. We’ve had quite a lot of illness in our home this past week. 🙂
Just wanted to thank you for creating and posting this recipe! I saw the rave reviews yesterday on the THM Facebook page and knew I had to try it! Today I had some ground meat that I needed to cook up so had that nice warm meat with the salad. It was wonderful! I am having it for lunch tomorrow for sure. 🙂 Our daughter came home while the sauce was still out and asked what it was. Her eyes lit up and she asked if there was any more lettuce–so she made a salad too and loved it. Thank you! 🙂
I’m so happy that you enjoyed the Big Mac Salad so much! It’s a pretty regular meal for us here. 🙂
How much of the sauce do you use? Do you find you are still losing weight while eating this regularly? I have been eating this at least 2-4 times a week since I tried it because it is soooo delicious. I am worried though that I am eating way too much mayo in one sitting even though I know lots of fat is allowed for an S meal.
I use just enough to make the salad palatable. You could certainly overdo it with the mayo. Sorry I don’t have an exact amount, just really depends upon how large your salad is and how “wet” you like it.
Wow, this looks amazing! Can’t wait to make this!
Hope you like it as much as we do! 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I’m kickin’ myself for waiting so long to try it! 🙂 This will definitely be on our family’s menu often.
Glad you tried it and liked it!! Thanks for sharing!! 🙂
Thank you so much. I loved it! My two year old is still at her plate eating, which never happens! lol. 🙂 It will definitely be my special treat lunch. Hubby liked it, but prefers his southern boy food or tacos. lol (He is a hard one to try new foods on lol.) 🙂 It’s definitely going in my recipe box. 🙂
Oh, you made my day, Jess!!
So glad you all enjoyed it!
By the way, my Honey is a Southern boy too. He’s gradually added some other foods to his most requested list over the years. 🙂
I have NEVER liked a recipe off someone’s blog the way I have liked this one!! My whole family (including a picky eater) told me that they would eat it every week. Thanks so much for sharing!!
Woot!
I’m so glad that you like it so much! I could eat it every week too, and try to! 🙂
Thank you for your sweet compliment!
I wonder how this would be with leftover Cheeseburger Casserole (recipe from the THM book) crumbled on top?
Why not?! Isn’t a recipe just you’re trying something new and sharing it when it tastes yummy?!
If you do try it, please let me know how you like it!