Nutritious Big Mac salad with a delicious and light yogurt dressing (no mayo). Easily prepared and delightfully tasty!

Healthy big mac salad with yogurt dressing served in a bowl.

Big Mac salad recipes are all the rage these days – and with good reason!

What’s special about my recipe, you might ask? For starters, the dressing is prepared without mayonnaise, making it, by far, a healthier version while containing fewer calories than the standard dressing.

Nonetheless, this Big Mac salad is, in terms of flavor and the ease with which it is prepared, a force to be reckoned with.

Find the recipe right here:

Healthy Big Mac Salad

Wholesome low-carb Big Mac salad served with a light yogurt dressing.

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Total Time: 20

Servings: 4

Ingredients

Instructions

Using a non-stick skillet, sauté ground beef in olive oil. Generously season with salt and pepper. Allow it to cool after.
Chop the cucumber, tomatoes, and pickles into small chunks. Slice the onion into half-moons or more bite-sized pieces.
Thoroughly rinse and drain your romaine salad, then tear it (by hand) into small bits. Cut Gouda cheese into small cubes.
Combine the remaining ingredients to create your dressing using a fork or a little whisk.
Transfer all ingredients to a large bowl and incorporate well. Season to taste once more.

Nutrition

Calories: 490kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 28g | Fat: 40g | Saturated Fat: 16g

Looking for more details?Scroll down to find extra tips and in-depth info about the recipe.

Ingredients

Here’s a pictorial summary (or little visual cheat sheet) of the selected ingredients:

Additional helpful tips and further information concerning the listed ingredients can be found here:

Ground beef: I personally prefer 100% beef ground meat or mixed minced meat (pork and beef). When possible, choose local and organic meats of high quality.

Tomatoes: It’s highly advisable to stick with a small, firm variety, such as cherry tomatoes. They have a lower water content, thus ensuring your salad doesn’t get watered down.

Cucumber: Simply select whichever English cucumber your store has available. If you’d like to skip having to peel them, grab organic produce instead.

Pickles: I recommend using firmer, crunchier varieties, as they work particularly well here. Many conventional stores carry German- or Bavarian-style pickles. Certain brands refer to them as either crunchy gherkins or barrel pickles. Some of the brands I oftentimes see are Hengstenberg or Deutsche Küche. If neither is available, go with whatever pickles or gherkins float your boat. Problem solved :).

Salad/leafy greens: Stick with your favorite leafy greens. I decided on romaine lettuce.

Cheese: A block of Gouda cheese would be ideal. You may cut the cheese into cubes or, alternatively, grate it. In case Gouda isn’t quite your cup of tea, feel free to go with a different cheese altogether. Another delightful option would be cheddar cheese.

Greek yogurt: Our secret ingredient for a lighter dressing. Opt for your preferred milk fat percentage.

Yogurt dressing is being poured over the healthy big mac salad.

Tips on Preparation

Despite the simplicity of preparation, here are a few additional tips to ensure the best results:

Be mindful about handling, transporting, and storing your ground beef by ensuring a temperature-controlled environment to prevent spoilage. In short, keep it refrigerated (or in a cooler bag for transportation) until it’s time to be processed, and safely follow proper kitchen hygiene practices when handling ground beef.

Make sure your ground beef is thoroughly browned on all sides. Prepare the meat as you normally do, whether you want it slightly softer, crustier, or sharply seared.

If you prefer your salads to be a bit chunkier, meaning you do not want the beef crumbles to be too small, press the ground beef into the pan, creating a large, flat layer. Let it cook undisturbed for several minutes to form a crust before breaking it up into larger pieces.

A person’s preference for acidic flavors is highly subjective. For more tartness, add a few more pickles and/or pickle juice to your dressing.

You live for cheese and have it running through your veins? Add more cheese, please. To keep the calorie intake lower, I stuck to a fairly reasonable amount. You do you, no judgement here. 😉

As you’ve noticed, I’ve deliberately created a healthier dressing using Greek yogurt. Of course, you may also add a little mayonnaise to the dressing. Your kitchen, your rules. Adjust and tweak to suit and enchant your taste buds!

Are you not necessarily set on a low-carb recipe? How about serving the salad with a crunchy slice of bread, baguette, or something similar? It would complement our dish’s flavor profile beautifully.

Storage and Shelf Life

It is best to enjoy the Big Mac salad freshly made or after having rested for only a brief while.

Of course, you may store any leftovers or use this recipe as part of your meal prep from the get-go.

Stored in an airtight container in the fridge, the salad will keep for up to 2 days.

I recommend enjoying it freshly made, as, over time, the texture will lose some of its crunch. Nonetheless, I can assure you that the salad will still be super flavorful even on day 1 or 2 ;).