Big Mac in a Bowl Recipe (High Protein Low Carb Salad)

Get the flavors of a fast food cheeseburger made healthier with our Big Mac bowl recipe. Topped with a simple special sauce dressing, this hearty salad is high protein low carb, gluten-free, and keto friendly.

One traditional Big Mac has over 500 calories and 41g net carbs—but our deconstructed Big Mac bowl has just 3 net carbs and a whopping 39g of protein per serving!

And while homemade Big Mac Salad has recently become popular on TikTok, this has been one of our most popular reader recipes since 2019! Tens of thousands of readers make this every single year.

Big Mac Salad Nutrition (per serving):

• Calories: 378
• Protein: 39g
• Net Carbs: 3g
• Fat: 32g
  Based on 93/7 ground beef and homemade low carb Big Mac sauce.

Our Big Mac bowls are so good!

Whether you’re eating keto, counting macros, looking for healthy meal prep lunches, or just trying to eat more protein, this is one of our go-to dinners that never gets old.

My husband is obsessed with Big Macs but he's taking a fast food break. Our meal rotation has been alternating between our Big Mac smashed tacos (in a skillet or on a Blackstone when guests come over), and our low carb Big Mac casserole.

The keto burger sauce recipe alone can be used for so many purposes whether you use it as a burger sauce, in wraps, or on any kind of salad.

Salad Bowl Ingredients

For the burger bowl

•  ground beef - either an 80/20 or 93/7 work well. You could even do a ground chicken or ground turkey version.
• cooking spray or oil for your skillet
• salt and ground black pepper
• extra virgin olive oil - used to cook the ground beef, you can skip it if you're using a nonstick skillet.
• minced garlic - fresh garlic, jar garlic, or frozen garlic cubes like Dorot
• sharp cheddar cheese - sharp cheddar has a stronger flavor
• Dill pickles
• minced onion - we minced a sweet onion, white onion, or red onion work well to
• Iceberg lettuce - or use a bag of lettuce like butter lettuce, you could also try shredded cabbage or broccoli slaw.
• Big Mac Dressing - we either make our own (listed below), use Thousand Island dressing, or we buy Sir Kensington's Special Sauce that's low carb.
• Sesame seeds (or Everything But the Bagel Seasoning)

For the Big Mac sauce

•  mayo - use a no sugar mayo
• low carb pickle relish (or chopped pickle with juice)
• ketchup - look for a no sugar brand to keep the carbs low
• yellow mustard
• monk fruit (increase if swapping chopped pickle for the relish)
• garlic salt - or use salt and garlic powder
• onion powder

We also have a lighter high protein Big Mac sauce recipe using blended cottage cheese.

How to make a Big Mac salad

Assembling the salad is as simple as cooking the hamburger meat, prepping the veggies, making the dressing, and putting it all together.

Step 1: Cook the ground meat

Heat a skillet on medium-high and add oil or a nonstick cooking spray, if needed. Add the ground beef, salt, pepper, and garlic.

Stir and cook the ground beef until it's no longer pink in the middle, which will take about 6-7 minutes.  Drain the grease and set the hamburger meat aside.

Make the special sauce while the meat cooks..

Step 2: Make the Big Mac salad dressing recipe

In a small bowl, add all of the ingredients for the Big Mac sauce, including the mayo, pickle relish, ketchup, yellow mustard, sweetener, garlic salt, and onion powder.

Step 3: Assemble the salad

Lay the lettuce in the bottom of 4 bowls for individual portions, or you can make one large bowl of salad.

Sprinkle the burger meat on top of the lettuce. Then add the pickles, onion, and shredded cheese.

Drizzle Big Mac dressing over the salad or serve the dressing on the side. The sauce and yummy toppings are what give the salad so much flavor. Feel free to add as many pickles, onions, and cheese as desired. Enjoy!

Meal prep tips

Big Mac bowls are terrific for meal prep lunches for the week too. Simply assemble the 4 salads in meal prep containers and store the dressing in a separate container so the lettuce doesn't get soggy.

We eat the ground beef cold if we have leftovers or are meal prepping them for lunches. If you'd prefer warm meat, store the hamburger meat separately, heat it in the microwave, and then add it to your salad when you're ready to eat it.

Stored covered, the salads will keep for up to 4 days in the fridge.

Helpful tips

• While a Big Mac traditionally only has lettuce and pickles, feel free to include additional vegetables like tomatoes or anything else that's to your liking.
• You can make this in one large salad bowl or you can make individual cheeseburger salads.

Is Big Mac salad keto friendly?

Yes, Big Mac salad is keto - when you follow the recipe! Using pickles in the sauce instead of relish will keep the dish sugar-free, or be sure to find a relish that is low carb. If you feel it needs to be sweeter, increase the monk fruit a bit.

Just 3 Net carbs per serving!

The ground beef, cheese, and pickles are all zero carb. The carbohydrates are coming from the lettuce and sauce. It's important to shred the cheese from a block since pre-shredded cheese adds potato starch and has carbs. Always check the labels when you're shopping since brands can really vary.

More low carb salads

• Keto Cobb Salad
• Keto Taco Salad
• Low Carb Broccoli Salad with Bacon
• Italian Antipasto Salad
• Low carb Caprese salad
• Chicken strawberry spinach salad
• Kale and avocado salad

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Recipe

Big Mac Bowl Recipe (Keto, High Protein)

Jenni Cole

A high protein keto friendly take on the popular Big Mac burger turned into a healthy salad with cooked beef, shredded cheddar cheese, onions, pickles, seasoning, and our easy special sauce sauce.

4.66 from 128 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Email recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 25 minutes mins

Course Salads

Cuisine American

Servings 4 people

Calories 378 kcal

Equipment

• 1 skillet

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 lb ground beef
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 cup cheddar cheese shredded
• 4 + Dill pickles sliced
• ½ cup onion minced
• 1 head Iceberg lettuce
• ½ teaspoon Sesame seeds or everything bagel seasoning

Big Mac Sauce

• ½ cup mayo
• 2 tablespoon low carb pickle relish or chopped pickle with juice
• 1 tablespoon ketchup
• ½ teaspoon yellow mustard
• ¼ tsp+ monk fruit increase if using chopped pickle for the relish
• ½ teaspoon garlic salt or garlic powder + salt
• ¼ teaspoon onion powder

Instructions

 

Cook the Beef

• Over medium-high heat, warm a large skillet and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan. Add the ground beef, salt, pepper, and garlic clove. Stir and cook the ground beef until it's no longer pink in the middle, which will take about 6-7 minutes.  Drain some of the grease.
• Set aside and let cool down while you prep the remaining low carb Big Mac salad ingredients.

Make the Special Sauce

• In a small bowl, add all of the ingredients for the Big Mac sauce, including the mayo, pickle relish, ketchup, yellow mustard, sweetener, garlic salt, and onion powder.

Assemble

• Lay the lettuce in the bottom of 4 bowls, or for as many low carb Big Mac salad bowls as you're making. You could even one do large bowl.
• Sprinkle the burger meat on top of the lettuce. Then add the pickles, onion, and shredded cheese.
• Drizzle Big Mac sauce over the salad or serve the dressing on the side. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and add salt & pepper to taste. You can also add more pickles, onions, and cheese if preferred. Enjoy!

Notes

• We used 93%/7% beef, 80/20 is also great and will increase the calories per serving to 530 and the fat to 44g.
• Likewise, to reduce the fat you can use lower fat dairy products and low fat mayo.
• Tomatoes typically aren't found on a Big Mac, but feel free to add them for color or extra low carb veggies. Likewise, you could use a different type of green than iceburg or butter lettuce.
• When you're in a hurry, swap out the homemade sauce for low carb Thousand Island or Sir Kensington's Special Sauce (burger sauce).
• Use a sugar-free pickle relish to keep the carbs down.

Nutrition

Serving: 1servingCalories: 378kcalCarbohydrates: 8gProtein: 31gFat: 32gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 140mgSodium: 1143mgFiber: 3gSugar: 9g

Keyword high protein, keto, low carb, meal prep

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