This Low Carb Big Mac Salad can be meal prepped in mason jars for lunches – it's a healthy take on the classic cheeseburger!
Ingredients and substitutions
- Extra-lean ground beef – you can totally use ground turkey or chicken to make these jars even healthier.
- Yellow onion – any type of onion will do.
- Dill pickles – any type of pickle will work, but dill pickles will give you that signature burger flavour.
- Plum tomatoes – Big Macs technically don't have tomatoes so feel free to leave these out. I just like to add a bit more colour and nutrition to my salad.
- Cheddar cheese – any type of cheese will work.
- Romaine lettuce – iceberg lettuce is more authentic to a Big Mac but this particular lettuce isn't as nutritious as romaine or other types of leaf lettuce. Romaine has a similar crunch to iceberg but packs more nutrition in per serving so that's why I use it with these jars. Feel free to use spinach, kale, arugula, Boston lettuce or any other type of greens you'd prefer to switch it up!
Big Mac sauce
- Light mayo – feel free to use regular fat mayo or vegan mayo; unfortunately, Greek yogurt or sour cream will not give you that signature flavour, so mayo is the way to go here.
- Ketchup – there's no great substitute for this.
- Relish – you can chop up 1 tbsp of pickles instead.
How to make Big Mac salad
Step 1: Cook the ground beef.
Brown the ground beef in a skillet until the beef is fully cooked.
Step 2: Make the Big Mac sauce.
Mix together the light mayo, ketchup and relish to make the sauce.
Step 3: Assemble your salad.
Toss the ground beef, lettuce, onion, pickles, tomatoes and cheese with the Big Mac sauce and serve, or meal prep the salads for later.
The best Big Mac sauce
Making your own sauce for this Big Mac salad recipe is super easy – all you need is light mayo, ketchup and relish. There are tons of Big Mac sauce copycat recipes out there with other ingredients, but I find that these three are really all you need. There are also now versions of Big Mac sauce that you can buy at the store. Feel free to keep a jar in the refrigerator and add it to your salad!
If you want, you can even try out different salad dressings. These would all be good on this salad:
- Thousand Island dressing (the ingredients are very similar to what you will find in this Big Mac sauce)
- French dressing
- Mustard vinaigrette (it tastes just like one of the burger toppings!)
- Salsa will make it taste more like a taco
- Greek dressing will give it the feel of a gyro
Frequently Asked Questions
A traditional Big Mac is made with iceberg lettuce, but for this Big Mac salad, I used romaine lettuce since it’s a bit more nutritious. You can always use iceberg lettuce, I just find that romaine is a healthier option that tastes pretty much the exact same!
If you're meal prepping this salad, you'll have to eat the beef cold, since it will already be mixed in with the rest of the ingredients. If you'd prefer to have the ground beef reheated, store it separately from the rest of the ingredients and reheat it on its own on the stovetop or in the microwave for 1-2 minutes.
If you want to make this salad vegetarian, swap out the ground beef for your favourite ground meat substitute like Beyond Meat.
I like using these 16-ounce mason jars for my salads. They're the perfect portion size!
Storing this salad
If you've already assembled your Big Mac salad, you can store it in the fridge for 2-3 days with the sauce on the side or for 1 day with the sauce already on. Pull it out of the fridge, toss it in the sauce and dig in!
If you'd prefer to have the ground beef warmed up, store it separately from the rest of the salad and reheat it in the microwave for 1-2 minutes or on the stovetop.
Meal prep tips
One of my favourite ways to meal prep salads is to use mason jars! If you assemble your salads in jars, they'll last in the fridge for up to 5 days. Here's how to layer your salad jars:
- Divide the Big Mac sauce evenly amongst the bottom of the jars.
- Add the ground beef on top of the dressing.
- Layer on the onions, pickles, tomatoes and cheese.
- Finish with the lettuce and store!
Once you're ready to eat your salad, dump everything into a bowl or on a plate and dig in. You can eat your salad straight out of the jar, but it can be a bit tricky.
You can also make the Big Mac sauce ahead of time and store it in the fridge for up to a week in a mason jar. It's a great sauce for burgers and fries, too! The ground beef can also be cooked and frozen up to 3 months in advance. Let it defrost in the fridge overnight, then use it in your fresh salad.
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Meal Prep Tools
- These are the mason jars I use.
- You can even get Big Mac sauce online if you're too lazy to make the sauce.
- And of course I get all my grass-fed beef from Butcher Box!
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Low Carb Big Mac Salad {Meal Prep}
Ingredients
- 1 lb extra-lean ground beef
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1/2 cup dill pickles, chopped
- 2 plum tomatoes, diced
- 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
Big Mac sauce
- 1/2 cup light mayo
- 2 tbsp ketchup
- 1 tbsp relish
Instructions
- Cook ground beef with salt in a medium-sized skillet over med-high heat until fat has absorbed and beef is fully cooked, about 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, mix Big Mac sauce ingredients together. Divide sauce among 4 mason jars. Top with ground beef, then layer with onions, pickles, tomatoes, cheese and lettuce.
- Store in the fridge up to 5 days – serve by dumping into a large bowl and enjoy!
Comments & Reviews
Jill Murtaugh says
What are the amounts of each ingredient per jar of dressing? Or does the batch get divvied up between each jar?
Taylor Stinson says
Hi Jill – the entire batch gets divied up between each jar!
Patti says
All that sugar in the ketchup = high carb – 15 carbs for 1 salad is huge if on a low carb plan.
Ceilidh says
I have just recently stumbled upon your website and quickly have become obsessed! I think I’ve pinned 2/3 of your recipes! I made this salad for myself tonight. My husband, who isn’t much of a salad guy, was ogling over it the whole time. When I told him what it was, he was even more excited by it. Particularly the fact that it had pickles and Big Mac sauce. He told me to make him one next time I make it 😉 Can’t wait! It was delicious.
Taylor Stinson says
Thank you so much!!! I’m so glad you enjoyed!!! 🙂
Jenny says
Would the sauce work without mayo?
Taylor Stinson says
You could try it with sour cream instead although that would make it entirely different tasting. I would not recommend making the sauce with just the rest of the ingredients minus the mayo though.
Jessica says
What kind of relish do you use? I’m assuming a sweet green relish, but I wonder if a dill relish would be even better!
I may try this and report back!
Taylor Stinson says
I use a sweet green relish but you could use dill 🙂
Jennifer says
Making this today for work. Will have to do a Big Mac sauce comparison with the real stuff since that’s where I work. Looking forward to trying this
Taylor Stinson says
So happy to hear that Jennifer! Let me know how you like it 🙂
Sam says
Love this! I prefer this to an actual burger now, the bun just gets me feeling so full. But with this salad I get my burger craving but I don’t feel way too stuffed after. Definitely making this again next weekend – thanks for sharing!
Taylor Stinson says
Yay!! So happy you liked it Sam 🙂
Kristen says
I made these last night for my weekday lunches. As I was prepping I started to question my choices and this recipe…I shouldn’t have! This salad was delicious, I didn’t miss the bun at all and I all but licked my plate clean!
Taylor Stinson says
Ahhh I’m so happy to hear that Kristen!!! I know sometimes it’s hard to cut out carbs but the dressing in this salad makes it worth it I think hehe
Germain Carle says
The big debate between my wife and I is do you eat cold or warm?
I tried both and prefer the warm version, like a warm Big Mac!!!!!
thanks we do enjoy your jar recepies, great to bring to work!!
Nancy says
This sounds so delicious and easy to prepare.. Great idea for work.
You’re a very smart girl! Love all your recipes.
Taylor Stinson says
Aww thank you so much Nancy!!! You just made my day!!! 🙂