Burger Salad Bowl with Special Sauce Dressing

by Kayla Berman on April 21, 2023 4 comments

Burger Salad is an easy, healthy, and delicious dinner or meal prep recipe! Made with seasoned ground beef, a homemade special sauce dressing, and all of your favorite burger toppings – this fresh and flavorful salad is full of veggies and protein, but tastes like a big mac in each and every bite. It is a healthier, low carb version of a cheeseburger!

Looking for more low carb meals? Check out my Italian Grinder Salad, Pizza Inspired Cottage Cheese Bowl, or Tuna Lettuce Wraps next.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Healthier Take On The Classic! This low carb salad is a healthier, lighter take on the classic burger. It’s a way more balanced version – full of fresh vegetables and protein.

Super Easy! This recipe comes together in under 30 minutes. All it takes is some chopping and assembling.

Customizable! You can easily add any of your favorite burger toppings or fixings that are not already included.

Truly Tastes Like A Burger! I promise you this recipe really, truly does taste like a good burger in every bite. Looking for another recipe to get all the classic big mac flavors, try out my Big Mac Casserole next.

Anything But Boring! Nothing is worse than boring salads. This one is anything but that! It is fresh, flavorful, crunchy, and hearty – the entire family will love, even the salad haters.

Ingredients

These burger bowl salads require a handful of simple and fresh ingredients! The list might look a little long, but it’s really not too bad.

You’ll need ground beef, crunchy lettuce, and all of your favorite burger toppings – I’m talking juicy tomatoes, salty sour pickles, a delicious homemade special sauce, and more!

Ingredient Notes

Ground Beef – I like to use the leanest ground beef I can find.
Garlic & Onion
Olive Oil
Romaine Lettuce – Iceberg lettuce could work too.
Tomatoes – Cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes!
Red onion
Cheddar Cheese
Dill Pickles & Juice
Mayonnaise – A great way to make this a lower calorie / lighter meal is to use light mayo!
Ketchup
Seasonings – Onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper

Variations

This delicious salad recipe is incredibly customizable! There are many variations, substitutions, and additions you could make.

It is all about personal preference! Take out any of the ingredients here that you don’t like and add whatever you do.

Burger Meat: The ground beef here could be swapped for ground turkey or ground chicken. You could even crumble up a veggie burger if that is more your speed!

Cheese: I love a good cheddar cheese on my burger, but feel free to use any cheese you enjoy. Perhaps mozzarella, pepper jack, American, or blue cheese.

Burger Toppings: Don’t see your favorite burger ingredients here? Add them! Crispy bacon, caramelized onion, and fresh avocado would all be fabulous.

Kitchen Tools

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

How To Make This Recipe

Salad burger bowls are incredibly easy to make! The easy dinner recipe has 4 simple steps …

Cook the burger meat, make the homemade burger sauce, chop the remaining salad components, and assemble.

Step By Step Instructions

Step 1: Add the olive oil, yellow onion, and minced garlic to a large skillet or pan on the stove over medium heat. Sauté for about 5 minutes until soft.

Step 2: Add in the lean ground beef. Season with salt and black pepper. Cook until the meat is browned and no longer pink.

Step 3: Next prepare the special sauce dressing. Add the mayo, ketchup, pickle juice, onion powder, and garlic powder to a small bowl. Combine thoroughly. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.

Step 4: Assemble the salad. Place the romaine lettuce at the bottom of a large bowl. Top with the burger meat, tomatoes, red onion, cheddar cheese, and pickles. Drizzle the special sauce dressing on top. Alternatively, you could divide the salad ingredients into separate containers for meal prep right away. Or do a salad bar of sorts where everyone can make their own!

Step 5: Serve and enjoy!

Expert Tips

Chop everything nice and small! Especially the crisp romaine lettuce. I find salads to be much more delicious this way, plus it ensures that you get the delicious taste of a burger in each bite.

Soak the red onion in water for a few minutes! I often find the flavor of raw red onion to be too strong, so much so that it can ruin a salad. I always soak it under cold water for a few minutes, which mellows and softens the flavor.

Make more of the homemade salad dressing! I personally don’t use too much, but some may find the amount listed here to be too little. No worries – just make more!

Meal prep this burger salad bowl recipe to have easy meals ready throughout the week! They would make the perfect low carb lunch.

If you’re preparing this recipe ahead of time keep the cooked beef and dressing separate. This way you can heat up the meat when enjoying and the dressing won’t make the salad soggy!

Frequently Asked Questions

How to best store this recipe?

You can store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Although, if the salad is already dressed it won’t keep too well.

If you make this recipe and know you’ll have leftovers, I recommend only dressing the portion of the salad you will be eating at that moments.

Can I meal prep this recipe?

Yes, absolutely! I think these burger bowls are a fantastic option to meal prep.

I personally prepare this recipe at the beginning of the week and add all of the salad ingredients besides the dressing – lettuce, cooked meat, tomatoes, red onion, cheddar cheese, and pickles – to separate containers right away.

I’ll also prepare the dressing, but store that separately. Then I’ll just add the dressing to the salads as I need!

Love this recipe? Check out some more of my favorite recipes below…

Salad Recipes

Healthy & Easy Dinner Recipes

Connect With Me!

If you make this cheeseburger salad recipe or any of my other recipes, I would absolutely love to know! Tag me @wellnessbykay on Instagram so I can see and share your recreations.

Love this recipe? Leave a comment and a rating! I love to see and it helps me continue to develop delicious recipes for this blog.