This Burger Salad with Dill Pickle Vinaigrette is the perfect easy dinner! Paleo, whole30 and keto friendly – it’s a yummy healthy meal everyone will enjoy! Better than a restaurant, this cheeseburger salad is delicious and quick to make! This post is sponsored by my friends at ButcherBox.
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Bacon Burger Salad with Dill Pickle Vinaigrette.. yea, let that sink in for a second.
This is not your average salad my friends. This is the queen of all salads. We’ve got the BEST burgers ever, piled high on top of a bed of romaine lettuce, with all the best toppings.
Cherry tomatoes, dill pickles, avocado, red onion, and the most delicious crispy bacon.
Oh and then we drizzled dill pickle vinaigrette on top. Ya know, just for good measure. (This is definitely the BEST keto cheeseburger salad dressing)
I promise – you’re not even going to miss the bun one bit!
We’re pretty big burger people. They’re one of our favorite things to enjoy when out to eat, or for a quick dinner at home. But as you know, many burgers often get served on a big bun, with lots of greasy french fries, and they aren’t exactly the healthiest meal option.
If you’re looking for other grilling recipes – check out these Best Healthy Grilling Recipes!
You know I’m always on the hunt for ways to make a healthy twist on a classic meal (like this Cheeseburger Soup Recipe or these Air Fryer Turkey Burgers) – and that’s exactly what this Burger Salad is!
Here’s why it’s better for you than a regular burger.
What makes this burger salad healthy:
- Good quality meat. Good quality meat is without a doubt the foundation of any great meal, especially a burger. When you’re making a burger you don’t just want random mystery meat from a store, you want the best grass fed, grass finished beef. We love getting meat from ButcherBox – everything is humanely raised, has no added antibiotics, and just tastes delicious!
- Low carb/gluten free – If you’re following a keto diet, or need to skip the gluten – this salad is for you.. and I swear you won’t need a bun to make it feel like you’re eating something delicious!
- Whole30/Paleo – This burger salad is also paleo/whole30 – so those of you following this diet won’t feel left out at summer cookouts!
- All the veggies – We’ve got a big bed of romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes + onions here to make sure you get in all the veggies ya need!
Ok..so now that we’ve gotten that cleared up, let’s talk about how to make this yummy salad!
Ingredients for the best burger salad:
You’ll need:
- ground beef
- bacon
- cherry tomatoes, romaine lettuce, onions, pickles, avocado
- These Healthy Caramelized Onions would also make a great addition, along with any other toppings you like (mustard, ketchup, pickles, you choose!)
You can find substitutions for all of these ingredients below in the green shaded box.
Best ground beef for burgers:
We LOVE ButcherBox’s Ground Beef. It’s an 85/15 mix, which gives the burgers just the right amount of fat to lock in flavor while still being lean and tasty.
(PS – Their ground beef isn’t just for burgers! We use it in our favorite taco cauliflower rice bowls, our Whole30 Stuffed Peppers, and even in these Meatballs!)
Their bacon is also the best – it’s from heritage breed pigs, and has no added junk. It’s completely free of sugar, nitrates and is Whole30. Plus it’s so delicious!
If you want to learn more about the subscription, check out the post I wrote: Butcher Box Reviews: – it gives you ALL the details!
We love ButcherBox is giving my readers free ground beef and $10 off when you join today!
Love ground beef? Check out this list of 25+ Healthy Ground Beef Recipes!
How to make a Burger Salad:
There’s really no wrong way to make a burger salad, but we have a few tips to make the most flavorful salad!
- Season/Prep your burgers. We’re going to give you all the details on how to do this in a second, but that’s the first step.
- Heat your grill/cook ’em up! Once your grill is heated, cook these babies up. Scroll down for a guide on how to best cook a burger
- Prep your bacon – While your burgers are cooking, cook your bacon. You could grill your bacon if you’d like, but I recommend following this method for crispy bacon.
- Assemble your salad- We put tomatoes, pickles, onions, the best bacon, and avocado on ours – but go ahead and load it up with your fav toppings!
How to form a burger patties:
- Roll ground beef into a ball. Make sure not to over-pack or press the meat. This will make the burger tougher.
- Gently press the burger into a patty.
- Using your thumb, press an indentation into the center of the burger. This helps the burger cook evenly.
How to season a Burger:
You can simply season your burgers with salt and pepper, but we like to take it a step further and include onion powder and garlic powder. We sprinkle the patties on both sides with seasoning for maximum flavor!
When forming your burgers, we gently press the meat into 5-6 oz patties. We then make a small divot in the patty (this helps the burger when it rises as it cooks. It will give you an evenly flat top vs a domed shape burger!)
How to cook a burger:
- Grill it – Grilling burgers is definitely our preferred way to cook them. We set our grill to about 375 and cook the burgers for about 5 minutes on each side. (For more medium burgers go with about 6 mins on each side)
- The best way to check if your burger is done is to check the internal temp. You’re going to want around 145 degrees for medium-rare burgers, and 160 degrees for medium. *Don’t* cut into your burger to check if it’s done- you’ll lose all the juices and it won’t be as yummy!
- Stovetop – A cast iron skillet will be best for cooking burgers on the stove top. Get your skillet nice and hot with about 1/2 tbsp avocado oil in it. Follow the directions above.
SUBSTITUTIONS FOR BURGER SALAD RECIPE
Ground Beef: Any ground meat will work for burgers. You could substitute ground turkey or ground chicken if you’d like. We also love these Homemade Turkey Burgers.
Toppings: Any topping will work on this salad. Whatever you like to put on your burger, feel free to add to this salad! A fried egg would be delicious!
Cheeseburger salad: To make this a cheeseburger salad, simply add shredded cheddar cheese.
Olive Oil: You can substitute avocado oil for olive oil if you’d like.
If you want a different salad dressing, check out these 11 Healthy Salad Dressing Recipes. You could also top with your favorite burger sauce.
If you don’t want to have a salad you could also do a Lettuce Wrap Burger!
Burger Salad with Dill Pickle Vinaigrette
Ingredients
Burgers:
- 1 lb ButcherBox ground beef
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
Salad/Toppings:
- 8 cups romaine lettuce chopped
- 1/4 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 1/4 cup ButcherBox Bacon chopped
- 1/4 cup pickles chopped
- 1/4 cup red onion chopped
- 1/4 cup avocado cubed
Dill Pickle Vinaigrette
- 1/3 cup pickle juice
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat grill to 375 (medium-high)
- Form ground beef in patties. Roll into balls, gently shape into patties, and press the center of the burger with your thumb to create an indent.
- Place burgers on the grill + cook for 6 minutes. Flip + cook for an additional 6-8 minutes. Check the temperature – you’re going to want around 145 degrees for medium-rare burgers, and 160 degrees for medium.
- While burgers are cooking, cook bacon. Follow this Crispy Bacon tutorial or cook the bacon on the grill.
- Chop vegetables + assemble salad.
- Once salads are assembled, whisk together vinaigrette. Top salads with cooked burgers/bacon and enjoy!
Dianna Sharron says
I just opened up your site to search for another recipe but this caught my attention! Anything dill pickle and I’m in! This is going on my dinner menu this weekend! I’ve tried many of your recipes and they never disappoint!
The Clean Eating Couple says
Yay!! Love hearing that Dianna! Please report back and let me know how you like it 🙂
Janelle says
This is another recipe I will be trying from the website. Every single one I have tried has been a hit! I have a family and I love that I can come here to find easy healthy recipes! I usually just double it! 🙂
The Clean Eating Couple says
Thank you so much Janelle!! This makes me so happy to hear 🙂
Lisa says
We love butcherbox – so glad I heard of them through you. the second i saw this on instagram i HAD to try it. the dressing was so yummy – i made it again for salads this week. delicious!
The Clean Eating Couple says
Love hearing that, Lisa! Makes me so happy to hear that you’re enjoying it!
Jessica Holloway says
I made this for my family over rice rather than salad, because winter. I changed the dressing a bit, added some primal kitchen garlic mayo and made it into a drizzle, DELISH! My 4 teens plus hubby all wolfed it down!
The Clean Eating Couple says
So glad you all enjoyed this! Love serving it over rice – perfect for chilly winter nights!