Bacon Cheeseburger Bowls with Burger Sauce Recipe

Bacon cheeseburger bowls are a lighter way to enjoy a fast-food favorite! Our cheeseburger bowl recipe can be made low-carb, keto, and gluten-free, and is ready to eat in less than 15 minutes!

Why You Should Make This Cheeseburger Salad

• Easy dinner or lunch to make ahead for a week of meal prep cheeseburger bowls.
• Healthier than fast food or driving through McDonald's or Five Guys.
• All of the flavors of a burger!
• Cheeseburger bowls have over 25 g protein!
• Quick to make in 15 minutes!
• A keto-friendly and low-carb bun-less burger.
• Customizable - use your favorite burger toppings!
• One bowl means easy cleanup.
• All of the delicious flavors of a rich burger with a fraction of the work.

Ingredients You Need For These Burger Salads

Here are the ingredients you need to make this recipe. Reference the recipe card at the bottom for exact measurements and the notes below for substitution ideas.

• Ground meat: Juicy ground beef, ground turkey, bison, ground chicken, pork, or veggie burgers all work for this cheeseburger bowl.
• Bacon: Add cooked, chopped bacon for a bacon cheeseburger bowls.
• Lettuce: Iceberg or romaine lettuce is the best crunchy lettuce to use as a base for your Big Mac bowl.
• Tomato: Grape tomatoes are easy to cut and use and give a sweet tomato flavor.
• Cheese: Shredded cheddar cheese provides a classic burger cheese flavor.
• Pickles: Chopped pickles add some acidity and a satisfying crunch to these cheeseburger bowls.
• Condiments: Mustard, mayonnaise, BBQ sauce, and honey create a burger sauce similar to Chick-fil-A sauce. Use Thousand Island dressing for traditional Big Mac Sauce.

How to Make These Healthy Burger Bowls

Below are step-by-step instructions for how to cook this recipe. The recipe card at the bottom shows the exact cooking time and temperatures.

1. Season beef with salt and pepper. Cook beef in a large skillet over medium heat in a little bit of olive oil until browned and cooked through. Combine the dressing ingredients in a small bowl with a whisk and set aside. Set aside.
2. Cooking bacon in a skillet over medium heat until the desired doneness. Chop into bite-sized pieces once cooled. While the beef and bacon are cooking, clean and chop veggies.
3. Once all ingredients are cooked, begin to assemble the cheeseburger bowls. Use ¼ of the total ingredients for one serving. Layer in this order - romaine, burger meat, bacon, cheese, tomatoes, pickles. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon (or more depending on your liking) of the dressing.
4. Make the homemade burger sauce Whole30-friendly by omitting honey and BBQ sauce and adding pickle juice and paprika.

Expert Tips

• If you can, use ground beef crumbles rather than ground beef patties in your cheeseburger bowls. Ground beef burger patties tend to dry out and are tougher than ground beef crumbles.
• 90/10 is the fat ratio I generally select for the best beef taste and texture. If using ground turkey, select turkey thigh meat.
• Season the meat with garlic powder, onion powder, or burger seasoning for additional flavor.
• Omit cheese to make a hamburger bowl or use ground turkey to make a turkey Big Mac salad.
• Use a wooden spoon or a slotted spoon to remove ground beef crumbles from the pan to cut down on the grease.
• Serve with air fryer sweet potato fries or potato chips!
• To make low-carb, keto, or Whole30 burger sauce (similar to Big Mac Thousand Island dressing), omit honey and BBQ sauce and add in 1 teaspoon pickle juice and 3 pickles along with 1 teaspoon paprika and ½ teaspoon salt. Blend with ½ cup mayo in a blender.
• Like these cheeseburger bowls? Try our pub burgers, air fryer turkey burgers, and spinach feta turkey burgers.

Recipe FAQs

Other Tasty Burger Recipes to Try!

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