If you’re craving a burger but also a lighter meal, these smash burger salad bowls are the real deal. Juicy and delicious these hamburger bowls are going to be in heavy rotation once you give this recipe a try.

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Why You’ll Love This Smash Burger Salad Bowl Recipe

There is a local brewery that does an amazing smash burger, so of course we had to recreate them at home. I found all the right ingredients to make these viral burgers from Trader Joe’s, including the tator tots.

This recipe is a healthier spin on the smash burger craze, made over a bed of greens but still retains all the juicy and delicious flavor of the real thing.

What truly makes this hamburger salad bowl is the special sauce. You could make your own, but the one I got at Trader Joe’s really does turn up the smash burger flavor.

Everything You’ll Need to Make These Hamburger Bowls

ground lean beef
tomatoes
lettuce of your choice
onions
pickles
cheddar cheese
hot peppers (optional)
Magnifisauce (Trader Joe’s)

How to Make these Salad Burger Bowls

I like to use lean organic and grass fed beef for these burgers, using this tool to break up the ground meat.

While the meat browns in the pan, I assemble my salad bowls. You can add whichever greens you like, as well as tomatoes, raw onion, and anything else you like in your salad.

To make this a smash burger inspired salad, I add pickles, hot peppers and shredded cheddar cheese. To really seal the deal and elevate these burger bowls I top with the special sauce which I picked up at Trader Joe’s.

If you don’t have the sauce on hand or Trader Joe’s near by it’s fairly easy to make a smash burger copy cat sauce. It’s essentially Russian dressing. Mix together equal parts mayonnaise, ketchup and relish. You can also add hot sauce for a little heat.

To make these more in line with how our local brewery serves these burgers, I also added a few tater tots. I love how they add a little crunch to this bowl.

Potato chips or regular fries would also do the trick. Or you can skip all together to maintain these on the healthier side.

For me these really satisfy the hankering for a good burger.