Have you ever tried a low carb Big Mac Salad? This cheeseburger salad is made with seasoned ground beef, keto special sauce dressing, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions but without the sesame bun. Great keto salad for dinner type meal! Only 3.7g net carbs for the whole salad!
You might also like this low carb bacon blue cheeseburger salad.
{Updated 8/20} Who doesn’t like a Big Mac now and then. Actually I haven’t had a Big Mac in nearly 20 years but I have had this low carb Big Mac Salad many times.
I learned about this delicious cheeseburger salad while on The Ideal Protein diet. It’s really quite tasty whether or not you are on a diet and especially if you like the taste combination of a Big Mac burger.
What Is A Big Mac In A Bowl?
If you remember the Big Mac jingle from years ago it went like this: 2 all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame bun.
A Big Mac in a bowl is similar except that it’s missing the bun … and there is much more lettuce. However the taste remains and makes for a really tasty keto dinner.
What Is Big Mac Sauce Made Of?
First of all Big Mac special sauce is not thousand island dressing but you could use a low carb version of that if you want. It very similar. But my low carb version is actually a combination of French dressing, mayonnaise, dill pickles, onions, Swerve sweetener, vinegar and salt. It’s adapted from this recipe.
Making The Keto Big Mac Salad Dressing
First you want to finely mince 1 dill pickle spear and a little onion. You can do this by hand or put them in a mini food processor. Then mix in 2 tablespoons of French dressing, 1 teaspoon vinegar, ⅛teaspoon salt, 1 ½ teaspoon of Swerve sweetener and ½ cup of mayo.
Whisk this all together and set aside while you make the salad. By the way this will make a very thick dressing so if you want to add a little bit of water to thin it that will work. Try 1 tablespoon or 2 at most.
Two Special Ingredients To Try With This Salad
First I use Montreal Steak seasoning when I brown the ground beef. This really gives it that hamburger taste to me. You can get this in any grocery store. I often buy Aldi’s brand and it’s fine.
I used to dress this salad with Walden Farms Thousand Island dressing. It’s very sweet but it goes well with this salad and it has 0 calories and 0 carbs. I can find this in my grocery store but you can find it online as well.
However I now make my own special sauce dressing. But I wanted you to know your options.
Let’s Make That Keto Big Mac Salad!
First brown the ground beef with a little of the steak seasoning. Get it nice and browned and set aside.
For the salad base I used my favorites which are romaine lettuce, radishes and peppers. If you want to be just straight up Big Mac, use shredded ice berg lettuce and then the hamburger ingredients liked some chopped onions and chopped dill pickle.
Spoon the ground beef on top of the salad base. Right away I like to grate some cheddar cheese on top so it starts to melt and the a spoon some dressing on top. It is delicious!
I hope you enjoy this delicious low carb Big Mac salad. Do yourself a favor and brown a lot of meat so you can eat this for the next few days! Enjoy!
The nutritional information for 1 salad is:
378 cals / 22.5g fat / 6g carbs / 2.3g fiber / 34.2g protein = 3.7g net carbs
The nutritional information for 1 tablespoon of dressing is:
73 cals / 7.9g fat / 0.9g carbs / 0.4g fiber / 0g protein = 0.5g net carbs
Low Carb Big Mac Salad
This Big Mac Salad is low carb and delicious. You can make this in minutes and it's very, very filling.
Ingredients
Big Mac Salad (makes 2 salads)
- 3 cups Romaine lettuce, chopped
- ¼ cup bell peppers, chopped
- 2 radishes, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup red onions
- 2 spears dill pickles, chopped
- 8 oz ground beef
- 1 teaspoon Montreal steak seasoning
- ¼ cup cheddar cheese
Special Sauce Dressing (makes 12 tablespoons)
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1 dill pickle spear, finely minced
- 1 teaspoon finely minced onion
- 2 tablespoons French dressing
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 ½ teaspoons Swerve sweetener
Instructions
- Brown the ground beef in a skillet with Montreal Steak seasoning to get that great burger taste.
- Add all the salad ingredients to 2 large bowls.
- When finished browning, put the beef on the salads along and then top with the grated cheddar cheese
- Top with homemade special sauce dressing or try the very low carb Walden Farms Thousand Island Dressing which has 0 carbs.
To Make the Special Sauce dressing
- Finely mince the onion and pickle or put it in a mini food processor to mince.
- Add that to a bowl along with the mayo, vinegar, French dressing, salt and Swerve sweetener. Whisk to combine.
- If you want it a little thinner, add water 1 tablespoon at a time to get the consistency you want. I just added 1-2 tablespoons.
Notes
The nutritional information for 1 salad is:
378 cals / 22.5g fat / 6g carbs / 2.3g fiber / 34.2g protein = 3.7g net carbs
The nutritional information for 1 tablespoon of dressing is:Â
73 cals / 7.9g fat / 0.9g carbs / 0.4g fiber / 0g protein = 0.5g net carbs
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 2 Serving Size: 1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 378Unsaturated Fat: 0g
Lori M.
This is one of my favorite salads as well. You can mince the pickles even finer and put them into the salad dressing instead of the salad. It helps ensure you get that flavor in most bites. Also, you can skip pulling out the AC vinegar and just use the pickle brine for acidity. If you use SF bread/butter pickles(instead of the dill) and SF catsup (instead of the french dressing), you can skip the added sweetener for the dressing as well. Cucumbers do not throw off the flavor profile of the salad not do the radishes you include as well. I don’t use seasoning on the ground but I make dollar coin-sized little burgers and slightly caramelize chopped onion. I am more generous with the cheese than is pictured since I prefer it to be more cheese-forward. This is one time I do not miss the bun/roll. To bad I cannot say that about hotdogs!
Denise
Hi Lori, I so glad you like the the salad and thanks for coming back and sharing your tips. I’ll have to try that with the dressing and pickle juice!
Debbie
Your Big Mac Salad is one of my favorite salads to eat. It is so filling and it tastes so good!