Big Mac Salad

Enjoy all the flavors of your favorite McDonald’s meal in salad form. Complete with the beloved “special sauce,” this salad version tastes just like the classic drive-thru burger in a much healthier way.

It’s been years, maybe decades even since I’ve had a full on McDonald’s meal. I did go through a fries and diet coke phase about 10 years ago, but even that was sporadic at best.

However, in high school, I won “quickest off the bus to McDonald’s” at our end of year soccer dinner and was quite proud of it. My go-to order was a number two (double cheeseburger meal) supersized with an apple pie. Honestly, I kind of salivate just thinking of that. I miss the days of not caring what I ate and away games taking us to the nearest McDonald’s no matter if we won or lost.

Fast forward about 25 years and this Big Mac salad is how I’m satisfying any McDonald’s cravings. It’s everything you love about the quintessential American fast food meal put into a salad bowl with the “special sauce” as the dressing.

The Rundown

• Major cheeseburger vibes in a bowl.
• Gluten-free and low-carb.
• Ready in 20 minutes.
• Great meal-prep lunch — just keep the salad, beef and dressing all prepped separately and then mix together when you’re ready to eat.

Ingredient Highlights

Everything you’ll find in the ingredient list is what you’d get if you ordered a Big Mac, just minus the sesame seed bun.

• Ground beef – I like the ground meat I’m using to have a bit of fat on it to mimic the taste of the burger better. 85/15 or 80/20 is my go-to but you can definitely use leaner meat if you prefer.
• Salad toppings – This is where the burger toppings shine. The salad version lets you enjoy much bigger helpings of each of your favorites like: pickles, tomatoes, lettuce, onion and cheese.
• Big Mac sauce – The special sauce is what makes a Big Mac. It’s very similar to the sauce I use in these burger bowls, but tweaked to match McDonald’s recipe. You’ll need a light mayo, pickle relish, yellow mustard, vinegar, sugar and spices. Notice there’s no ketchup in that list. McDonald’s doesn’t use ketchup in the Big Mac sauce!

Let’s Make It!

The full recipe and ingredient details are at the bottom of the post in the recipe card, but here’s a quick visual run-through of making this Big Mac salad.

My Pro Tips

Make it Taste Just Like McDonald’s

• Adjust the sauce/dressing consistency to your liking. It can be thinned out with some water if it’s too thick or sauce-like for you. I suggest making the dressing as written (all mayo) the first time and then adjusting from there if you want to use partial Greek yogurt in its place.
• You can make the sauce in a blender instead of whisking by hand for a totally smooth texture without any pickle pieces.
• The dressing gets better as it sits so feel free to make it ahead of time and keep it stored in the refrigerator.
• Add sesame seeds for a garnish as a nod to the Big Mac’s sesame seed bun we’re skipping by eating this in salad form.
• Still missing fries? Try these perfectly crispy baked fries, grill up some potato wedges or go all out with these parmesan truffle fries.

Storage & Leftovers

Once the salad is dressed, it’s not great as leftovers. At most, store it in the refrigerator for up to one day. After that, it will get soggy and unenjoyable.

If you plan to have leftovers or if you’re making extra for meal prep, it’s best to store the dressing separate from the beef and the salad components. I often double the beef and sauce and keep it on hand for easy salads or bowl meals throughout the week. The seasoned beef and special sauce are just as good over rice with sautéed or roasted vegetables as they are in this salad — I highly recommend trying it that way too!

More Hefty Salads Like This to Try

If you love a salad that doubles as a full meal, try this Pad Thai salad, shrimp Caesar salad or my favorite summer salad ever, this watermelon feta and fried scallop salad.