Leftover Lunch: Big Mac Burger Inspired Salad Recipe

Honestly, my kids had never had a Big Mac sandwich from McDonald's until they were in high school. We didn't buy fast food very often. However, the flavors of a Big Mac work great when "deconstructed" from the burger form and made into a (slightly) healthier salad version! We often make these Big Mac-inspired salads during the summer when we have burger leftovers from the grill. During the winter, some days like today, I'll just crumble and cook some ground beef or ground turkey and toss one of these salads together for a quick lunch! Here is my recipe for a quick leftover lunch: Big Mac burger-inspired salads!

Ingredients for My Big Mac Burger-Inspired Salad Recipe 

8-10 oz. Cooked Ground Beef or Ground Turkey

4-6 c. Salad Greens

1/4 c. Finely Chopped Yellow Onions 

1/2 c. Dill Pickle Slices

4 oz. Diced White Cheddar Cheese or your favorite sliced cheese 

1 Hamburger Bun, Toasted & Chopped into Pieces

Thousand Island Salad Dressing or a Big Mac Sauce copycat

 

 

Instructions & Tips for My Big Mac Burger-Inspired Salad Recipe 

 

Prepare the Meat. If you have leftover hamburgers or turkey burgers, just dice the cooked patties up into bite-sized pieces and plan to toss about 4-5 ounces of meat on each salad. If you are making your burger meat now, simply crumble the ground meat, season with salt & pepper or my current favorite steakhouse-style seasoning, and fry over medium heat until the meat is cooked through. Set aside to cool slightly while you build the salad.

Build the Big Mac Burger Inspired Salad Base.  Add the salad greens and onions to a serving bowl or plate. Adjust the amount of onions to your own taste. I like the flavor the onions bring to this salad, so I generally use almost a 1/4 c. in one salad--but, my daughters divide the 1/4 cup between their two salads.

Top the Salad. Top the salads with dill pickle slices, pieces of the toasted, chopped bun and diced cheese.  I prefer to use a bun over croutons because biting into small, softer bits of the toasted bread gives the salad a sandwich texture that makes it seem more like a burger than a salad! I also prefer to diced up slices of white cheddar cheese to shredded cheese, but if you like American or another cheese, just use that instead. You can also use shredded cheese if you have that on hand.

Drizzle with Dressing or Sauce and Serve. I use Thousand Island salad dressing in these salads because it's convenient and "close enough" to Big Mac Sauce for my taste. Yes, it's a not as acidic and the texture is thinner than Mac sauce, but, I think it works well for a quick lunch salad. If you want to make your own sauce, I have had success with this Big Mac Sauce copycat recipe.

Enjoy!