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.
More Reader Favorite Burger Recipes
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!
These were amazing! Served with a side of fries and even my kids loved it 🙂 Thanks for the great recipe!
You’re so welcome, Natalie! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review!
This recipe was excellent! I made it ahead of time to take with us camping- it traveled and stored well in the cooler and heated up easily once we were there. It was absolutely delicious. My husband loved it- and he is usually not one to try recipes that would change up his typical burger. This will definitely be a keeper recipe that gets added to our normal menu rotation! Thank you so much for the recipe!
You’re so welcome, Keeya! Glad y’all loved it!
This was amazing! Great for the keto diet but felt like I was eating a Big Mac. Will make again for sure! Thank you!
Happy you loved it, Megan!
This recipe was so good and so easy to make! I love the fact that is still burgers but just with more lettuce 🙂 The sauce is so on point and a really great addition to the dish besides your plain ketchup or mustard. Will be using that sauce for a lot more things! Can’t wait to make this a regular meal!
So glad that you loved it, Theresa!
I LOVE all of Ashleas recipes! This is the second one iv’e made this week alone. It was SUPER easy, fast and simple to make. My husband was obsessed with the special sauce. It definitely completes this meal. Thanks Ashlea!
You’re so welcome, Ashley! I’m so glad you love the recipe! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. -xo
So delicious, quick, and easy! Love this recipe and will make it time and time again
So happy you loved it, Kristin!
I’ve made this recipe a few times now – it’s so fast, easy and GOOD. I love being able to mix up the toppings to use what I have on hand. The dressing will make anything work!!
Happy to hear you love the recipe, Bear!
This is the first recipe I’ve made from All the Healthy Things and it was amazing! Super quick and easy to make, and the sauce is delicious! I’ve already made the sauce again as a dip for sweet potato fries. I’ll definitely be making this meal often this summer!
Glad you love it, Stephanie!
So good! Going into my family’s weekly dinner rotation for sure.
Yay! love to hear that, Erin!
Made this recipe for dinner tonight and it was great! As the name suggests, tastes like a burger in a bowl. I will definitely make it again. Thank you!
You’re so welcome, Maggie! Happy you love it!
I made this for dinner, we all loved it. I think next time I’ll double the special sauce since it was so good. My picky teenagers loved it and asked for seconds. I will definitely be making this again!
Happy to hear that everyone loved it, Leah!
This was my 1st All the Healthy Things recipe, and I’m a fan! This was so easy to make and delicious. I will definitely be making this again.
So glad you loved it, Patty!
Used this as our “Recipe of The Week” in my Diabetes Prevention Class, LOVED IT!!!
Yay! Happy you love it, Aubrey!
Made this for dinner the other night and it was so good! It was so easy and perfect for summer!
Yay! So happy you liked it, Hope. Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. -xo
This is such an awesome idea! Delicious and easy to make…just the kind of recipe I need on these hot summer days!
So happy you love it, Sarah!
This was so good! Easy to make and all the flavors of a burger in a lighter version.
Will definitely be adding this to my rotation of staple meals.
Happy to hear that, Carly! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review!