Burger Salad Recipe

Name: Burger Salad
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 25 min
Ingredients: For the burgers:; 1 pound ground beef (90/10 or whatever leanness you prefer); 2 teaspoons burger seasoning or 3/4 teaspoon each kosher salt and ground black pepper, mixed together; Avocado oil cooking spray; For the dressing/sauce (makes 1 cup):; 1/2 cup mayonnaise; 1/4 cup ketchup; 2 tablespoons yellow mustard; 2 tablespoons dill pickle relish (or finely chopped dill pickle); 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder; 1/4 teaspoon onion powder; 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

At my house, we have a few meals in rotation that we turn to when we want something satisfying and familiar. Burger salads are one of those no-fail favorites. We almost always have everything in the house to make them, it’s easy to do a kid-friendly version (a.k.a. a burger on a bun), and I can throw some store-bought potato or cauliflower tots in the air fryer for a zero effort side dish.

Customize Your Salad

Burger salads are adaptable — just like you can add lots of different toppings to a hamburger, you can use the same ingredients in your salad. Here are some ideas beyond the basic lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and onions:

Crumbled bacon or bacon bits
Sautéed mushrooms
Sautéed onions
Fried eggs
Sliced avocado
Croutons
Tater tots (yup, you can sprinkle them right in the salad!)

You can also switch up the iceberg lettuce base.Try spring mix, romaine, butter or green leaf lettuce, or baby spinach. You can toss in other typical salad veggies if you want to as well, but honestly, I like to keep things simple so that the flavor profile of the salad is most like eating an actual hamburger.

Bowl of Burger Salad Topped With a Hefty Drizzle of Dressing, Sitting on a Table Napkin — Simply Recipes / Coco Morante

Dressing or Burger Sauce?

And as for the dressing, it’s a burger sauce, of course! It’s made with ketchup, mayo, mustard, and chopped dill pickles, super simple and good. To save some effort, you can sub in a store-bought Thousand Island, Russian dressing, burger sauce, or aïoli if you like. I also make sure to have ketchup and mustard at the table in case anyone wants to drizzle them on.

Of course, if a burger sauce isn’t your favorite dressing, you can go in an entirely different direction with barbecue sauce, or a honey mustard or ranch dressing.

An Easy Weeknight Favorite With Minimal Cooking Required

This is such an easy meal to put together. The only absolutely required cooking is to cook the actual hamburgers, and everything else is just assembly. You could even buy a bagged iceberg salad mix if you wanted to make this a zero chopping recipe.

My method for cooking hamburgers is the same as most people— I sear them in a skillet on the stove. Let them sear for about 3 minutes, flip and cook them for another 3 minutes, and they are done.

Tip

Alternatively, you can just cook the ground beef without shaping hamburgers, seasoning and breaking it up with a spatula in the skillet, and top your salads with cooked ground beef. The presentation isn’t as pretty, but it’s even easier than shaping patties! Think taco salad, but burger.

Make It Vegan

This is a very easy recipe to veganize with a few plant-based ingredient subs. To make the recipe vegan, shape the patties from Beyond Beef or Impossible Beef instead of ground beef, sprinkle on vegan cheese shreds instead of cheddar, and stir vegan mayo into the dressing instead of an egg-based mayo.

Impossible vs. Beyond Meat: Taste, Nutrition, Cost, and More

Season Your Burgers

My favorite burger seasoning is this one by Mike Lang, which has a little bit of kick from cayenne and ground mustard, and an extra savory note from ground cumin. I sprinkle about 1/2 teaspoon on each burger patty. You could use your favorite store-bought seasoning blend instead, or just salt and pepper.

Serving and Planning Ahead

Serve the burger salads with fries or tots, or have them on their own for a lighter meal.

These salads are best eaten right away. If you’d like to prep ahead, you can mix up the dressing up to 5 days ahead, and shape the patties and chop up the salad veggies up to 1 day ahead. Keep everything in the fridge until you’re ready to cook the burgers, then season the patties just before cooking.

More Dinners for Burger Fans

Burger Salad

Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 10 mins

Total Time 25 mins

Servings 4 servings

Yield 4 salads

For the burgers:

1 pound ground beef (90/10 or whatever leanness you prefer)
2 teaspoons burger seasoning or 3/4 teaspoon each kosher salt and ground black pepper, mixed together
Avocado oil cooking spray

For the dressing/sauce (makes 1 cup):

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
2 tablespoons dill pickle relish (or finely chopped dill pickle)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

For the salads:

8 cups (about 16 ounces, from one medium head) chopped iceberg lettuce
1/2 medium red or yellow onion, sliced thinly
1 beefsteak or slicing tomato, cut into bite-sized pieces, or 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
24 dill pickle chips (or 2 medium-sized dill pickles, thinly sliced)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I like Tillamook Farmstyle Shreds)
Ground black pepper

Shape the burgers:

Divide the ground beef into 4 even portions. Using your hands or a burger mold, shape them into patties about 4 inches in diameter and 1/2” thick. Sprinkle the burger seasoning onto both sides of each patty (1/4 teaspoon per side).

Simply Recipes / Coco Morante

Simply Recipes / Coco Morante
Cook the burgers:

Heat a large, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes. Spray the pan with avocado oil, then add the burger patties. Let them sear for 3 minutes, or until they are well browned and will release easily from the pan.

Use a thin, flexible spatula to flip the burgers. Leave them to cook for 3 minutes more, without moving them around, until they are well seared on both sides and still just a bit pink in the middle (you can cut one open to test, if you like, or use an instant read thermometer and refer to the temperature guide here). Remove the patties to a dish to rest.

Simply Recipes / Coco Morante

Simply Recipes / Coco Morante

Simply Recipes / Coco Morante
While the burgers are cooking, make the dressing:

In a small mixing bowl, stir together the mayo, ketchup, mustard, relish, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper until evenly combined.

Simply Recipes / Coco Morante

Simply Recipes / Coco Morante
Assemble and serve the salads:

In four wide, shallow bowls, arrange the lettuce, onion, tomato, pickle chips, and cheddar cheese. (I like to sprinkle each ingredient evenly around the bowl rather than making piles of ingredients, so each bite gets some of everything.) Top each salad with one of the burger patties, then drizzle a few tablespoons of the burger sauce onto each salad, to taste. Top each salad with a couple grinds of black pepper and serve right away.

Love the recipe? Leave us stars and a comment below!

Simply Recipes / Coco Morante

Simply Recipes / Coco Morante

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
648	Calories
45g	Fat
22g	Carbs
40g	Protein

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories	648
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 45g	57%
Saturated Fat 16g	80%
Cholesterol 143mg	48%
Sodium 1848mg	80%
Total Carbohydrate 22g	8%
Dietary Fiber 3g	11%
Total Sugars 6g
Protein 40g
Vitamin C 12mg	61%
Calcium 363mg	28%
Iron 5mg	28%
Potassium 857mg	18%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.