Big Mac Salad
This Big Mac Salad is chock full of ground beef, cheese, fresh veggies and homemade dressing! Like a Big Mac without the bun!
A HEARTY AND FILLING SALAD
If you love a filling salad, this Big Mac Salad is the one for you. It’s a whole of seasoned ground beef and lettuce, cheese and the most delicious dressing. Everyone gave this recipe a 5 out of 5 stars. It is the perfect dinner salad. If you’ve ever tried Dorito Taco Salad, then you’ll know exactly the kind of salad this is.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
It is low carb. It is not zero carb though. Substituting stevia for the sugar will help adjust the carbohydrates.
I think anything you would put as a topping on a burger could be used here. Diced red or yellow onions would work!
I think a fun way to serve these or if you want to carry it for lunch is to put them in mason jars. You would start with some of the dressing on the bottom of the jar. Then top with ground beef, then top with salad ingredients. When ready to eat, you pour all the ingredients into a bowl, stir then enjoy!
I would suggest storing the salad separate from the dressing so the lettuce doesn’t wilt as quickly. This will stay good in the refrigerator for up to 2 days (in a covered container). Leftover dressing needs to be kept in the refrigerator as well.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW FOR THE FULL RECIPE)
- mayonnaise – I am a Hellman’s or Duke’s mayonnaise gal but use the mayonnaise you prefer. I don’t like Miracle Whip at all but if that is your thing, go for it.
- diced dill pickles – obviously because this is a Big Mac salad, there is pickles but if you don’t like pickles, you can leave them out.
- mustard – just regular yellow mustard. I suppose you could use Dijon mustard but yellow mustard works perfect here.
- white vinegar – you can use apple cider vinegar as well.
- smoked paprika – I love the flavor the smoked paprika adds but if you only have regular paprika then just use that.
- sugar – if you are trying to keep this as low carb as possible then you can use a sugar substitute like Stevia.
- ground beef – again, it’a a salt inspired by a hamburger so we’re using ground beef but you could use a beef substitute like Impossible meat or switch it out for chicken or turkey.
- romaine lettuce – I like using a sturdier lettuce like romaine because I think it holds up to the other ingredients in the salad without wilting quickly.
- shredded cheddar cheese – you can switch out the cheese to whatever you prefer.
HOW TO MAKE BIG MAC SALAD
In a blender or a food processor, blend all the dressing ingredients until smooth. If the dressing is too thick for your tastes, just thin it out by adding a little milk. Pop the dressing into a lidded container (like a mason jar) and stick it into the fridge until you’re ready to serve.
Brown and crumble ground beef in a skillet over medium-high heat. Season beef with salt and pepper. Drain excess grease.
Combine all the remaining salad ingredients in a large bowl.
Add the ground beef.
Drizzle with prepared dressing.
Stir and serve! Cook’s notes: You can serve up the salad separate from the dressing so everyone can add the amount of dressing they would like to their own salads.
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Originally published: January 2018
Updated photos & republished: June 2023
Big Mac Salad
Ingredients
For the dressing:
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 2 Tablespoons diced dill pickles
- 2 teaspoons mustard
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 ½ Tablespoons sugar, or Stevia
For the salad:
- 1 pound ground beef
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 head Romaine lettuce, roughly chopped
- 1 cup diced tomatoes
- 1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese
- ½ cup diced dill pickles
Instructions
- In a blender or a food processor, blend all the dressing ingredients until smooth. If the dressing is too thick for your tastes, just thin it out by adding a little milk. Pop the dressing into a lidded container (like a mason jar) and stick it into the fridge until you’re ready to serve.
- Brown and crumble ground beef in a skillet over medium-high heat. Season beed with salt and pepper. Drain excess grease.
- Combine all the remaining salad ingredients in a large bowl. Add the ground beef. Drizzle with prepared dressing. Stir and serve!
Video
Notes
- You can serve up the salad separate from the dressing so everyone can add the amount of dressing they would like to their own salads.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
This is a Great salad. The salad dressing was delicious.
Delicious
This is delicious! We substituted ground turkey because of diet restrictions but you’d never know it! My 90 year old father say it was tasty, just like a cheeseburger! 104 degrees here today, we appreciate a filling salad. Thank you for sharing.
Love hearing that Jerry Lynn! Thanks so much for taking to come back and comment!
I had made this the other night as a side to a homemade soup. It was delicious. I added finely chopped red onion to sprinkle over the salad before adding the ground beef. The dressing alone is very good and would be great added to other food. Thank you for this recipe.
What is the serving size? I love Big Macs, but hate all the calories.
Top recipe! I don’t follow any diet, but made it because I liked the name, during summer we eat this cheeseburger salad at least onece a week!
Thanks so much Elsbeth! I love hearing that. I’m not on any diet either but this salad is just SO good!! 🙂
Been looking for some low carb recipes that can give me the tastes i’ve been missing! Thanks for this. Can’t wait to make it at home.
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This was very good. Highly recommend. My daughter asked me to make this everyday.
I follow a low carb diet and was so happy to see this recipe. It was delicious! I substituted ground turkey for beef but kept everything else the same. Oh! And we topped it with fried onions for a little crunch. Will definitely make again.
Is the nutrition info based on sugar or erithrytol?
Cindy, I plugged in the values based on sugar.