If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen my story the other day where I was trying to figure out what to do with a pound of ground beef that I had in the freezer. Of course my first thought was, “CHEESEBURGER!” But then my reasonable side kicked in and reminded me that I’m trying to “do better.” 🙄 So, I started thinking about salads. We had just eaten Greek food the night before, and if they can put gyro meat on a salad, then I figured I can put a hamburger on a salad, right? So here it is. I made a Cheeseburger salad. 🤷♀️ And it wasn’t even as weird as I thought it was going to be.
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What is Animal Sauce Dressing??
“Animal sauce” is the dressing on In-and-Out Burgers. For this dressing I mixed up a homemade animal-sauce-like dressing, which as it turns out is a lot like Thousand Island dressing. So again, burger-salad-burger not so different. If you don’t want to make your own dressing, just grab a bottle of Thousand Island. It’s basically the same thing.
Make it Your Own
I think what I love the most about this cheeseburger salad idea is all the variations you can do with it. My mind kind of ran wild with the idea and I had to pull myself back in and remember to keep it simple. BUT if you want to go wild, try adding all the fun things you can add to a burger, like caramelized onions, blue cheese, avocado, sautéed mushrooms, bacon… the possibilities are endless.
Cheeseburger Salad with Animal Sauce Dressing
Servings 4Ingredients
ANIMAL SAUCE DRESSING
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise ($0.66)
- 1/4 cup ketchup ($0.20)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.13)
- 1 Tbsp Relish (sweet or dill) ($0.06)
- 1/2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar ($0.03)
- 1/2 tsp sugar ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- Freshly Cracked Pepper ($0.03)
SALAD
- 1 lb ground beef ($5.86)
- 1/2 tsp seasoning salt ($0.05)
- 1 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.04)
- 2 hearts of Romaine ($1.99)
- 1/4 red onion ($0.25)
- 1 large tomato ($0.65)
- 2 oz cheddar cheese, shredded ($0.75)
Instructions
- Prepare the animal sauce dressing by stirring together the mayonnaise, ketchup, relish, cider vinegar, sugar, olive oil, salt, sugar, and some freshly cracked pepper in a bowl. Set the dressing aside.
- Rinse the Romaine lettuce well, let it drain, and then cut it into 2-inch pieces. Set the prepared lettuce aside.
- Place the ground beef in a bowl, add the seasoning salt, and mix with your hands until the seasoning salt is evenly incorporated. Divide the meat into four portions, then divide each portion into four small ping-pong-sized balls. Flatten the balls into mini burger patties.
- Add a little cooking oil to a non-stick skillet and heat over medium flame. Once hot, add some of the mini burgers and cook on each side until well browned (3-5 minutes each side). Transfer the cooked burgers to a paper towel lined plate and cook the next batch.
- While the burgers are cooking, thinly slice the red onion, cut the tomato into wedges, and shred the cheddar cheese.
- Once all of the mini burgers are cooked, build the salads. Place 1/4 of the lettuce in each of four large bowls and sprinkle the sliced onion and shredded cheddar over top. Add tomato wedges to each bowl along with 3-4 of the mini burger patties. Drizzle the animal sauce dressing over top and enjoy!
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Nutrition
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How to Make Cheeseburger Salad – Step by Step Photos
Prepare the animal sauce dressing first by stirring together 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1/4 cup ketchup, 1 Tbsp relish (dill or sweet), 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar, 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, and some freshly cracked pepper. Set the dressing aside.
Rinse two Romaine lettuce hearts well, then chop them into 2-inch strips. Set the prepared lettuce aside.
Using your hands, mix together 1 lb. ground beef with 1/2 tsp seasoning salt. Divide the meat into four portions, then divide each of those portions into four small ping-pong sized balls. Flatten the balls into mini burger patties.
Add a little cooking oil to a non-stick skillet and heat over medium. Once hot, add some of the mini burger patties and cook until well browned on each side (3-5 minutes on each side). Transfer the cooked patties to a paper towel lined plate and then cook the next batch. While you’re cooking the burgers, thinly slice 1/4 red onion and cut one large tomato into wedges. Shred 2oz. of cheddar cheese.
To build the Cheeseburger Salad, place 1/4 of the chopped lettuce in each of four large bowls. Sprinkle sliced red onion over top along with a little shredded cheddar. Add tomato wedges and 3-4 of the mini burger patties to each bowl.
Finally, drizzle the animal sauce dressing over top and DIG IN.
Summer eats at their best!
Can I make the dressing without the apple cider vinegar? Does it still taste good?
It should still be okay. If you have plain distilled vinegar or white wine vinegar, those would work as well. Maybe even a little pickle juice!
So so good! I made it for my family last night and it was a home run. I brushed a little yellow mustard onto the beef patties before I turned them over and included some sliced dill pickles. One $$ tip: I go to the local restaurant supply store and can get a 10 lb package of 80/20 ground beef for about $39, then divide and freeze the meat.
This is one of our all-time favorite recipes. Every one of our 8 family members really loves this salad. I would just say that we do the dressing 3 to 4 times the amount because its so good.
LURV! This salad is yummo. I love pickles so I add some chopped pickles in the salad, too. I’m also a fan on melted cheese instead of shredded within the salad, so I melt cheese on top of the sliders. Been in the rotation for years. Often pair with Budget Bytes Sweet Potato Fries.
I made the sauce with greek yogurt in a sad attempt to make this healthier. I’ve never had real animal sauce but I thought it tasted fine (and my boyfriend approved). The tiny patties have a surprising amount of flavor. Also served with the sweet potato fries per another commentor’s suggestion. 😋
Another fantastic recipe from Budget Bytes! I made this last night for my husband and I using beyond meat burgers, and your pickled red onion (we didn’t have raw red onion) which turned out fantastic. My toddler had a “deconstructed” salad and ate it all.
We decided this is going on the regular meal rotation. Thank you again Beth for helping keep my family’s belly and wallet full!
That’s awesome Kristin! Thanks for sharing.
Made this tonight and it is a total winner! The salad is delicious and so simple to make. I love that it is not another chicken salad. Served it with some sweet potato fries on the side.
I made it without the cheese and sugar and was still delish! Can’t wait for tomatoes to be in season this summer to make it again.
Beth. This Cheeseburger Salad with Animal Sauce Dressing is on point!!!! I added some grilled onions, chopped tomatoes and shredded cheddar cheese. Honestly, I felt like I was eating a salad from In-N-Out. I’m looking forward to having left overs for dinner and will definitely make this salad again later. Thank you for the amazing recipe!!!! :-)
It’s awesome! I used the Big Mac sauce since it’s pretty similar to the sauce you used and I was in a hurry and it works wonderfully well.
This has quickly become my hubbys favorite! Makes a great lunch for the office too.
I’ve been making cheeseburger salads for years, though usually I just chop up a burger patty. Your little burgers are so cute! I love to add chopped dill pickle to my salad as well.
This looks delicious! I’m currently doing a Whole 30, and this is a great option sans the cheese and sugar in the Animal Sauce. I’m not as worried about the cheese, but do you think it’d taste horribly different with the sugar?
Yes, you probably could get away with it because there is still sugar in the ketchup and the relish. It will just be a bit more tart.
OMG. My mouth is watering right now!!!
Looks great! I think this could also be a good recipe as a “lettuce wrap”, excited to give it a try!
Made this last night for my friends for dinner – they’re doing a low carb diet and this was perfect. I served the patties with lettuce and the dressing, but let everyone choose their own toppings. I offered bacon and avocado in addition to your other recommended toppings, kinda salad bar style. I’d love to try it with carmelized onions and bleu cheese next time. I thought It was a cute idea to do the mini burger patties. Thank you again for another great recipe!
The only change I’d make is to put fries on the salad too. What??? I’m from Pittsburgh. We put fries on everything, even salads. :)
Sounds like Pittsburgh is a great place! :D
Making this tonight! I had a cheeseburger salad in Austin last year that had QUESO as the dressing…it was incredible and I think of it often. It just had one big patty on it, so I’m excited to try this variation since it seems easier to cut up! It’s like a burger with a lettuce wrap instead of a bun. Seems like the salad will be much more filling than a regular burger would be. Thanks for the recipe! And geez Louise, if the name of the sauce is preventing someone from trying it, they’re missing out!
This looks incredible! I would totally add some pickles to this. A cheeseburger isn’t a cheeseburger to me without pickles!
Looks amazing, Beth. One of my favorite low carb meals. I rarely have patience to do more than lettuce, burger, pickles and a few splashes of condiments on my burger salads but your photo is good incentive to put in a little mo work occasionally :).
I don’t know about this one… 🤔
Where are the stars? 5/5. I had to make this as soon as I saw the recipe since In n Out is my favorite fast food place. This salad was SO good. I added bacon. Not sorry.
I’m eager to try this with the patties instead of the crumbled beef. I’ve made similar cheeseburger salads but never with the mini patties. They’re just so stinkin’ cute! Now one more point: BACON!!!
“I like mine with lettuce and tomato
Heinz 57 and French fried potatoes
Big kosher pickle and a cold draught beer
Well, good God almighty, which way do I steer?”
Thank You, Jimmy Buffett
Love this!! Perfect for when you have that burger craving. Thanks for the great idea/recipe!
Why the name Animal dressing? I probably would not be interested in trying this based on the name had I not seen a picture. It looks and sounds a lot like the Big Mac Salad I have made in the past.
That’s the name of the burger sauce at In-n-Out burger, which this is sauce is modeled after. The sauce is fairly well known.
Not to non-Americans it isn’t. I had no idea either (Canadian, for reference) though I had more of “well I have GOT to know what this sauce is” reaction than “um no thanks”.
I know you don’t usually answer questions in the comments, but I wondered why you wouldn’t just crumble up the ground beef and put it on the salad rather than go to the trouble of making patties? Anyway, it looks delicious and can’t wait to try it.
I’ve made one similar before without the patties and just crumbled ground beef. It tastes so good and you don’t have to cut the patties up before eating it. Just dig in!
Thanks!
I try to answer most questions. :) This was just a personal preference. I liked the idea of having mini burger patties.
Love this great blog!!! Amazing looking salad!! So colorful and healthy. Thanks for sharing:)
The dressing name is kind of strange. I probably wouldn’t make it based on the name itself. But I do like thousand island. Maybe a better name for it so it’s less unappetizing.
Alice
I’m guessing that the dressing name is a reference to In N Out’s special sauce (which you get when you ask for a burger or grilled cheese “animal style”). To a native Californian, it sounds totally appetizing!
I, too, immediately thought of In N Out. I’m happy for this recipe, ’cause now I can make my son “animal fries” at home. He’ll be ecstatic. ;)