These healthy burger bowls with special sauce are the perfect way to get your burger fix with even more fresh veggies and flavor. These bowls are so easy to make, use only real food ingredients, and the delicious “special sauce” dressing pulls everything together. This recipe is Whole30 compliant, Paleo-friendly, and low carb.
Healthy Burger Bowls with Special Sauce
Burger bowls or “burger salads” were one of the first meals that I regularly made when I switched to a Paleo lifestyle. Years later they are still my absolute favorite thing. Honestly, the burger bun just gets in the way at this point.
These healthy burger bowls with special sauce are packed with all the classic burger toppings and can easily be customized to add even more veggies and toppings. A delicious creamy special sauce ties everything together so you get that perfect burger bite.
Serve your healthy burger bowls with a side of crispy homemade air fryer to French fries or roasted potato wedges with chipotle lime aioli for the ultimate weeknight meal that is Paleo friendly, Whole30 compliant, and so GOOD.
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Flavorful Ground Beef for Delicious Burger Bowls
When it comes to the ground beef in these burger bowls you have a few options. You can go the traditional route and serve your burger bowl with a burger patty or crumble the ground beef as shown here. Both are great options and there is really no “wrong” way. With either option you are going to get perfectly seasoned and flavorful ground beef.
Here are a couple of tips and tricks:
- If you decide to make burger patties you can easily melt sliced or shredded cheese on each patty like you would with a traditional burger.
- Making burger patties is a great option if not everyone wants to go the burger bowl route. You can make both traditional burgers and burger bowls with the patties.
- If you crumble the beef, be sure to drain any excess fat from the meat or use a slotted spoon to remove it from the pan before adding it to the bowls.
- Don’t overcook your beef! There’s nothing worse than dry, tough hamburger meat.
- Don’t love ground beef? You could easily make this recipe with ground turkey!
The Best Burger Bowl Toppings
Next to the juicy ground beef, the toppings are really the best part of any burger. These burger bowls keep things a bit classic and use delicious toppings like:
- Fresh tomato
- Tangy pickles
- Red onion
- Herby dill
Of course, you can get even more creative with your toppings! What is great about burger bowls is that there is plenty of room for even more fresh toppings.
Here are a few more topping ideas to try:
- Crispy bacon
- Grilled veggies like zucchini, peppers, and onions
- Creamy avocado
- Shredded carrots
- Shredded cabbage
- Fresh or pickled hot peppers like jalapeños or pepperoncinis
- Mushrooms
- Shredded cheese
- A fried egg
- Fresh herbs like dill or parsley
- Sliced green onion
How to Make the “Special Sauce”
Since these are burger bowls, there is no place to spread on your favorite condiments like mayonnaise, ketchup, or mustard. So instead, this recipe using a special sauce, that includes all three, as the “dressing” for the burger bowls.
Special Sauce Ingredients
- Mayonnaise
- Ketchup
- Yellow mustard
- Pickle juice
- Dill relish
- Spices and seasonings
To make the sauce, add all of the ingredients to a small mixing bowl and stir until they are well combined. Remember, you can always adjust a recipe to fit your tastebuds! If you want a little more tang in the dressing add more pickle juice. Want more mustard flavor? Add a little more. Do not be afraid to get in there and make this your own!
If you are concerned about making sure this recipe stays Whole30 compliant, be sure to check the labels on your ingredients before using them to make the sauce. You will want to use a Whole30 compliant mayonnaise, ketchup, and dill relish in this recipe to keep it Whole30 friendly.
More Delicious Recipes to Love
- Chicken Bacon Avocado Chopped Salad
- Greek Turkey Burgers
- Homemade Honey Mustard Sauce
- Healthy Homemade Chicken Nuggets
- Whole30 Crispy Buffalo Chicken Wings
- Slow Cooker Chipotle Beef Burrito Bowls
I hope you give these Healthy Burger Bowls a try! This makes a quick and easy dinner that everyone will love!
If you do give this recipe a try, I want to know! Leave a comment with a star rating below. You can also snap a photo & tag @allthehealthythings on INSTAGRAM. Your reviews help support All the Healthy Things and make it possible for me to continue to create the recipes you know and love.
Print
Healthy Burger Bowls with Special Sauce
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Lunch + Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Healthy burger bowls with special sauce are the perfect way to get your burger fix with even more fresh veggies and flavor. These bowls are so easy to make, use only real food ingredients, and the delicious “special sauce” dressing pulls everything together. This recipe is Whole30 compliant, Paleo-friendly, and low carb.
Ingredients
For the Burger Meat
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
For the Salad
- Romaine lettuce
- Tomatoes
- Pickles
- Red onion
Special Sauce
- 1/4 cup mayo
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
- 1 tablespoon pickle juice
- 1 tablespoon dill relish
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
Instructions
- Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Add the ground beef and spices. Brown the beef, breaking it up as it cooks, until it is fully cooked through.
- While the beef is browning, make the special sauce. Add all of the ingredients to a small bowl and whisk together until well combined.
- Assemble your burger bowls. Start with romaine lettuce then add the toppings and cooked ground beef. Drizzle the special sauce over everything and then enjoy!
I made this tonight and it was delicious! I already can’t wait to make it again. I don’t think I ever need a real burger again after finding this recipe!
I’m doing Whole 30 and we had this for dinner tonight. It was amazing. I’m looking forward to making this ASAP along with trying your other recipes 🙂
I am doing my first official Whole30 and am on day 8. I made this burger bowl tonight with the secret sauce and I’m suddenly not feeling overwhelmed about the next 22 days. This was absolutely delicious and a go-to (whole30 or not) from here on out. I can’t wait to dig into your other whole30 recipes. Thank you!
This burger salad is BOMB! Comes together in under 15 minutes INCLUDING a special sauce which is amazing! Definitely my new burger salad recipe!
Love this burger bowl! The special sauce is fantastic, I scraped every last bit into my bowl and licked the spoon! This recipe will be on repeat in my weekly meal plans all summer.
On day 26 of 30 of my Whole30 and I think I’ve made these burger bowls at least 8 times. Burger patties instead of ground beef work well if you’re in a pinch. The protein options are endless! I have a jar of secret sauce in my fridge at all times now!
Oh my goodness! We’ve been doing low carb for years and never thought of burger bowls. I think our diet has just changed for the better!!
Happy to hear that, Juliana! Burger bowls are my favorite!
This was delicious! I used ground turkey that I had on hand and some homemade refrigerator pickles. I’ll definitely make this again.
Using ground turkey is such great idea, Tiffany! So happy you liked it!
This was so tasty! Thank you – Definitely packing this for lunch in the future.
So happy you loved it, Kara! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review!
Absolutely LOVED this recipe! I love how it is so simple to make but the flavors from all the seasoning and the burger sauce just really brings it all together. Such a healthier alternative when I’m craving fast food burgers!
This recipe is the best! Burger bowls have become a favorite among my husband and I. It is so easy and you can truly use whatever you have on hand. So versatile and so tasty!
My husband and kids love these! A great way to use summer greens and the sauce is AMAZING! So full of flavor and perfect for lunch 🙂
This was so delicious, especially the special sauce! I added some banana peppers and they were 🌶👌🏼. Thanks for the inspiration – would never have thought to make a burger bowl if I hadn’t seen it on your lovely Instagram account.
Special sauce is amazing!!!
LOVE the special sauce!
This is delicious! I used the pickled red onions from this site.
The sauce for these bowls is AMAZING! Loved how flexible this recipe was and that I could throw whatever I was feeling into the bowl. I served this with a side of sweet potato fries and it was just the perfect meal. Adding this to our weekly rotation!
So happy you loved it, Melissa! Love the idea of serving it with sweet potato fries!