Keto Big Mac Bowl
Keto Big Mac in a bowl is a low-carb way to enjoy the flavors of a classic burger without the bun. It makes a great make ahead meal so you have a lunch that is easy to grab and go.
One of the hardest parts of keeping a keto diet is saying goodbye to fast food favorites like the Big Mac. That is one of our favorite meals to get on the go, but with all of the carbs in a Big Mac it is definitely not keto-friendly.
Don’t worry, we have you covered. You know we’re all about that delicious special sauce! We use it in our Keto Big Mac Bites, Keto Big Mac Casserole, and on our Big Mac Keto Meatloaf. For this easy recipe we’re going to use it like a salad dressing for an amazing burger in a bowl!
We love a hot an cold option for lunches and dinner so this in this recipe we subbed out the lettuce you usually find in a Big Mac salad and piled everything on top of perfectly cooked cabbage. But, if want to simplify this recipe even further you can use shredded iceberg lettuce instead.
I’m all about throwing things in a bowl and making them a meal. This chicken gyro bowl and chicken taco bowl are two more keto meals that are in heavy rotation in my house.
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Ingredients You’ll Need
Here’s what you’ll need for these.
For the burger bowls, you’ll need:
- Ground beef – You can use your preferred cut, but we like to use 85/15 or better to reduce the fat content.
- Onions – Yellow, white, or red work well for this.
- Seasonings – Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, salt, and pepper give the ground beef that burger flavor.
- Shredded cheese – We use cheddar cheese because we like that better on a salad but you can use American. cheese if you want the truest Big Mac flavor.
- Cabbage – You’ll want to use green cabbage for this recipe. If you want this to be a keto Big Mac salad you can substitute iceberg lettuce.
- Dill Pickles – If you prefer, you can use dill relish instead.
For the special sauce, you’ll need:
- Mayonnaise – To keep it keto, make sure you use regular, full-fat mayo. Lower fat options have added sugar.
- Dill pickle relish – Just make sure to check the sugar content of the relish and choose ones with no added sugar. If you can’t find dill relish just finely chop up dill pickles. Problem solved!
- Yellow mustard – You can use your favorite brand.
- White wine vinegar – In a pinch, regular distilled vinegar can work too.
- Seasonings – You’ll need paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder.
Instructions
Here’s how to make this yummy bowl.
Step 1 – Brown the beef. In a skillet set over medium-high, heat brown the ground beef. As it’s coking add the worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. When it is almost cooked through, add the onions and continue cooking until it is fully cooked and the onions are translucent.
Drain the grease and set aside while you prepare the cabbage.
Step 2 – Prep the cabbage. Next, add the thinly sliced cabbage to the skillet and cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until softened.
Step 3 – Portion out and serve. Divide the cooked cabbage between 4 bowls and top each with a portion of the ground beef.
Next, sprinkle each with a 1/4 cup of shredded cheese and top with pickle slices or relish. Finally, pour the special sauce over each bowl, serve, and enjoy!
Step 4 – Making the special sauce. The sauce is super simple. All you need to do is whisk the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. You can do this right before serving or first so that the flavors have a chance to combine together.
Is Big Mac Sauce Keto?
The original Big Mac sauce is absolutely delicious and I know lots of people eating low carb love it. But if you’re trying to follow strict keto the version you get it at McDonalds does have added sugar from the sweet relish used in the sauce.
For this recipe, we use dill pickle relish that does not include any added sugar. I promise it’s so good you won’t even notice the change. In fact I like this version better!
Make it a Salad
You can easily make these bowls into big mac salads instead.
You can substitute shredded iceberg lettuce instead of cooked cabbage. Transforming it into a salad makes it a quick and easy to throw together lunch.
It also reduces the amount of cooking you need to do for meal prep for the week.
And as an added bonus, lettuce has fewer carbs per cup than cabbage, so you reduce the carbs even further if you sub cabbage out.
How to Make it Ahead of Time
You can make everything ahead of time, including the special sauce.
Once it is ready, assemble the Keto Big Mac Bowl – just don’t add the special sauce. Place it in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
When you are ready to serve the bowl, you can heat it up in the microwave for 2 to 3 minutes depending on the strength of your microwave.
Top it with the special sauce and you have a quick and easy, low-carb lunch or dinner!
Looking for More Keto Recipes?
- Avocado Tuna Salad Recipe
- Keto Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo Casserole
- Keto Chicken Alfredo Casserole
- Instant Pot Butter Chicken {Low Carb}
- Keto Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole
- Keto Beef Stroganoff
- More Keto Recipes…
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Keto Big Mac Bowl
Ingredients
Big Mac in a Bowl
- 1 pound Ground beef
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Pepper
- ½ cup Diced onions
- 1 cup Shredded cheddar cheese
- 16 ounces Cabbage, thinly shredded
- 16 Dill Pickle slices
Special Sauce
- 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
- 4 tablespoon Dill pickle relish
- 2 tablespoon Yellow mustard
- 1 teaspoon White wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Paprika
- 1 teaspoon Onion powder
- 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
Instructions
- In a skillet over medium-high heat brown the ground beef. As it cooks add the worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
- When it is almost cooked through add the onions and continue cooking until the ground beef is cooked through and the onions are translucent. Drain the grease and set aside.
- In the same skillet add a small amount of olive oil and the shredded cabbage. Saute until cabbage is slightly softened. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Divide the cabbage between 4 bowls, top each with a 1/4 portion of the ground beef.
- Sprinkle each with 1/4 cup of shredded cheese and top with 4 pickle slices each.
- Pour the special sauce over each bowl and serve.
Special Sauce
- In a small bowl whisk together all of the ingredients and set aside.
Nutrition
Could eat this everday! I don’t even miss the Big Mac with bread and grease anymore!
The only substitutes I used was lettuce and chopped fresh spinach for the cabbage, and ground turkey for hamburger..its what I had on hand. It came out absolutely incredible! My new favorite!! ♡♡
Thank you so very much for sharing this recipe!
The Big Mac sauce is life changing!
Did you use dill relish or sweet relish? Also, I don’t have white wine vinegar, would regular vinegar work OK?
Yes it is Dill relish and you can substitute regular vinegar for the white wine vinegar
How much of each ingredient for the Big Mac sauce?
All of the ingredients and measurements are listed under special sauce in the recipe
This was delicious! I substituted ground turkey for the beef and used low fat mayo. I am on low-fat low carb diet so I am always looking for good recipes, this was the best!!!
Is the pickle relish sweet relish or dill relish?
dill relish 🙂
Made this tonight with iceberg lettuce and it was delicious!!! Will be a regular quick go to supper/lunch.
Delicious! Made sauce with sugar-free sweet relish…amazing! Who knew low carb could taste so good!
This was Awesome!! Used leaf lettuce instead of cabbage.. Will definitely make this again!!
So glad you liked it!
THIS IS AMAZING!!! Tastes just like a Big Mac! The only change I made, was I used sweet pickle relish.
Hi Kat! Love this recipe…as for the nutrition facts/macros you put (1 bowl). Is 1 bowl a total of 4 servings?
Hi Alex, This nutrition facts are for 1/4 of the recipe. The recipe makes 4 Big Mac Bowls.
Great! Was in a pinch for time so I used a bag of shredded cabbaage to save time. Will defiantly be making again.
I use that trick all the time. Such a time saver!
Delicious. All my kids declared this was a huge hit!!!
Great tasting food! The mustard was a little much for me so I added a little more mayo and it was better.
Why didn’t you use lettuce instead of the cabbage. Big Macs have lettuce
Hi Tricia, you can certainly substitute lettuce for cabbage but I wanted a dish that every ingredient was cooked so I could make it ahead of time, store it all in one container, and then easily heat it up for lunch at work and lettuce doesn’t work for that. Both ways are delicious so go with lettuce if you pefer 🙂
This was so good! My husband is a meat, potato and bread kind of guy, and he loved it! My kiddos even gobbled it up.
Delicious – totally satisfied my craving for a Big Mac. I even liked it better than a Big Mac.
Super easy to make and fantastic flavor!! Definitely my new favorite.
Big Mac’s and pizza are the 2 things I can’t live without. This was even better than a real Big Mac!!! Next time I’ll try lettuce and 90 second keto bread. But I think this will be better! Thanks!
What is the carb count with lettuce instead of cabbage?
They both have a very low carb amount. Lettuce is about 1 carb per cup and cabbage is 1.9.
Something different. I had to use up some thawed ground beef. I used ACV instead of white wine vinegar. I didn’t like Big Macs back in the day but I like this.
I have a picky preteen. And while I’m not doing actual keto, it’s a nice change up from the usual. I made these tonight for dinner and she let me know that were better than McDonald’s! Huge win! I’m definitely saving this recipe!
Yay! I love hearing that!