Cheeseburger Bowl

Name: Cheeseburger Bowl
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 15 min
Ingredients: 1 pound ground beef; 3 heads romaine (chopped); 1 cup cherry tomatoes (halved); 1/2 cup shredded cheddar; 4 pickles (chopped); 4 slices bacon; salt & pepper (to taste); 1/2 cup avocado mayo; 2 tbsp mustard; 1/4 cup honey; 1/4 cup bbq sauce

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This cheeseburger bowl is a fun twist on your favorite classic burger! All the best savory burger toppings like tomatoes, lettuce, crispy bacon, pickles, and of course that special sauce - with a healthy low carb twist. This cheeseburger bowl can be made low carb, keto, gluten free and ready to eat in less than 15 minutes!

burger in a bowl with lettuce, bacon, tomatoes, cheese and special sauce

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Why This Recipe Works
Ingredients You Need For This Recipe
How to Make This Recipe
Expert Tips
FAQs
Cheeseburger Bowl

Whether it's summer, back-to-school or even winter, making a filling and healthy weeknight dinner can be hard to make! When I'm not making an easy meal like air fryer taquitos or an easy casserole like walking taco casserole, this cheeseburger bowl is definitely at the top of the list!

If you're craving Five Guys or a Big Mac from your favorite fast food restaurant, these burger salad bowls will satisfy all of your cravings!

Why This Recipe Works

Easy to make: Grab some simple ground beef and some of your favorite burger toppings and dinner is done in less than 15 minutes.
The burger sauce is similar to Chick Fil A sauce but you can also use the Keto or Low Carb Whole30 option to make it more like a recipe with thousand island dressing (hello Big Mac salad!)
This healthy cheeseburger bowl is naturally low carb and keto and you can make it Whole30 by adjusting the special sauce.
All of the delicious flavors of a rich burger with a fraction of the work.
Customizable: You can make it how you want! There are so many burger toppings you can include and you can use whatever protein you want (ground turkey, bison, chicken, pork or a veggie burger would work!)
Make ahead: You can meal prep the ingredients before hand and throw them in a bowl once you are ready to cook the meat.
Family friendly: if your family wants burgers and you are looking for a bun-less option, you can crumble a hamburger patty right into this burger salad.
This cheeseburger bowl is much cleaner than a lettuce wrap burger!

Ingredients You Need For This Recipe

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 beef: I highly recommend ButcherBox meat for this and all of my recipes. You can choose a lower fat 93/7 or 80/20 ground beef, it's up to you.
Lettuce: Romaine lettuce is recommended but you can also use iceberg, green leaf or even make it using coleslaw mix.
Tomatoes: I used grape tomatoes, but Roma or cherry tomatoes would work well too.

How to Make This Recipe

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.

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

Expert Tips

If you can, use ground beef crumbles rather than ground beef patties in your cheeseburger bowl. Ground beef patties tend to dry out and are tougher than ground beef crumbles.
Omit cheese to make a hamburger bowl or use ground turkey to make a turkey cheeseburger bowl.
Use a slotted spoon to remove ground beef crumbles from the pan to cut down on the grease.
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.

FAQs

What can you put in a cheeseburger bowl?

You can literally add any burger topping that you want! I opt for the classic toppings but red onion, mushrooms, sautéed onions, fried egg, avocado or grilled veggies would all be fabulous!

How can I make this cheeseburger bowl low carb or keto friendly?

Use the Whole30 burger sauce and make sure your bacon does not have sugar added. Select higher fat toppings like avocado or a fried egg.

two burger bowls on a tray with special sauce for burgers

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