Big Mac in a Bowl (Printable)

A healthier gluten-free burger bowl with all the classic Big Mac flavors. Ready in 25 minutes.

# What You Need:

→ Beef

01 - 1.1 pounds lean ground beef
02 - 0.5 teaspoon salt
03 - 0.5 teaspoon black pepper
04 - 0.5 teaspoon smoked paprika, optional

→ Vegetables

05 - 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
06 - 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
07 - 0.5 red onion, thinly sliced
08 - 2 dill pickles, diced

→ Cheese

09 - 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

→ Special Sauce

10 - 0.5 cup mayonnaise
11 - 1 tablespoon ketchup
12 - 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
13 - 1 tablespoon dill pickle relish
14 - 1 teaspoon white vinegar
15 - 0.5 teaspoon onion powder
16 - 0.5 teaspoon garlic powder
17 - 0.5 teaspoon paprika

# How-To Steps:

01 - Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add ground beef, salt, pepper, and smoked paprika. Cook while breaking up the beef with a spoon until browned and cooked through, approximately 6 to 8 minutes. Drain excess fat if necessary.
02 - While beef cooks, prepare vegetables by chopping lettuce, halving tomatoes, slicing onion, and dicing pickles.
03 - In a small bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, ketchup, yellow mustard, dill pickle relish, white vinegar, onion powder, garlic powder, and paprika until smooth.
04 - Divide chopped lettuce evenly among 4 bowls. Layer ground beef, tomatoes, onions, pickles, and shredded cheese on top of each portion.
05 - Drizzle each bowl generously with special sauce and serve immediately.

# Expert Suggestions:

01 -
  • You get all those Big Mac flavors and textures without feeling like you're depriving yourself of anything real.
  • It comes together in 25 minutes, which means weeknight dinners stop feeling like a production.
  • The special sauce is the secret weapon—homemade versions blow the bottled stuff out of the water.
02 -
  • Don't skip draining the beef fat—too much grease will make the whole bowl feel slick and heavy instead of fresh and balanced.
  • The special sauce needs to sit for a minute after mixing because the flavors marry and become something more complex than just five things mashed together.
03 -
  • Use medium-high heat and don't crowd the pan when browning the beef—if you dump it all in at once, it steams instead of browning, and that makes a real difference in the final flavor.
  • The special sauce is the entire personality of this dish, so don't be shy with it; every bite should have sauce, which is why drizzling it from above won't cut it—mix it into the lettuce underneath so it's distributed properly.
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