Craving the iconic taste of McDonald's Big Mac sauce while sticking to your keto lifestyle? This article provides the perfect copycat recipe, offering a low-carb twist on the famous sauce. This keto Big Mac sauce captures the savory, creamy, and bold flavors of the original without compromising your carb count.
What is Keto Big Mac Sauce?
Big Mac sauce is widely known as the signature sauce of the Big Mac sandwich. The original McDonald's Big Mac sauce recipe is higher in carbs because it includes sugar. This keto version contains keto mayonnaise (such as avocado oil mayonnaise), sugar-free ketchup, dill pickles, pickle juice, a small amount of onion, and a sweetener of choice, such as a monk fruit erythritol blend.
Why Make Keto Big Mac Sauce?
- Keto-Friendly: The original Big Mac sauce contains sugar and other high-carb ingredients, making it unsuitable for a keto diet. This recipe keeps carbs super low, thanks to sugar-free ketchup and relish.
- Quick and Easy: This recipe takes only about 5 minutes to prepare with just a few simple ingredients from your pantry.
- Versatile: This sauce is perfect for burgers, lettuce wraps, salads, and as a dip for veggies.
- Delicious: This copycat Big Mac sauce recipe tastes like the real thing and will take your hamburgers to the next level.
Ingredients
- Keto-friendly mayonnaise (such as avocado oil mayonnaise)
- Sugar-free ketchup
- Dill pickles or dill pickle relish (ensure no added sugar)
- Pickle juice
- Finely diced onion or onion powder
- Sweetener (such as granulated monk fruit or erythritol)
- Yellow mustard
- Garlic salt
- Paprika
- Distilled white vinegar (optional)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Ingredient Substitutions
- Mayonnaise: Use your favorite brand. For a low-fat version, use light or fat-free mayonnaise. You can even make your own mayo with a simple homemade mayonnaise recipe.
- Pickles: If you can’t find sugar-free relish, finely chopped dill pickles make an excellent substitute. Some people prefer sweet pickle relish in place of chopped pickles. If using sweet relish, omit the sweetener and chopped pickles, then add as needed to taste.
- Sweetener: If you prefer a slightly sweeter sauce, add a teaspoon of your favorite keto sweetener.
- Ketchup: Many people use Thousand Island dressing or French dressing instead of ketchup.
How to Make Keto Big Mac Sauce
Conventional Method
- In a small bowl, add mayonnaise, pickles, onion, ketchup, sweetener, yellow mustard, garlic salt, onion powder, and pickle juice.
- Stir until well combined.
- Adjust any ingredient to taste.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving to let the flavors meld.
Thermomix Method
- Place all the ingredients into the mixer.
- Mix 7 seconds/speed 5.
Tips for the Best Keto Big Mac Sauce
- Finely dice the onion and pickles.
- Allow the flavors to blend by refrigerating for a few minutes. If you forget, no worries, it's still delicious.
- Taste and adjust the ingredients to your preference.
- If you don't have or can't find a sugar-free pickle relish, you can just dice chopped pickle and add a touch of pickle juice to the sauce.
- If you can’t find dill relish, just finely chop up dill pickles.
Serving Suggestions
This Keto Big Mac Sauce isn’t just for juicy burgers. It's made for them.
- Serve this healthy big mac sauce with an easy keto beef burger.
- Use this keto special burger sauce in a super simple keto salad recipe.
- Use it as a condiment for homemade burgers or sandwiches, spreading it on buns before assembling your favorite burger.
- It is perfect for elevating your chicken sandwiches and can be used as a dipping sauce for chicken tenders, nuggets, or fries.
- Serve it as a dip for vegetables like carrot sticks or celery.
- Use Big Mac sauce as a special condiment for mini sliders.
- Drizzle it on homemade pizza for a unique and tangy flavor.
- It’s even great as a dip for French fries.
Storing Instructions
Store any leftover sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 7 days. For the best flavor, make your sauce ahead of time to give the flavors time to blend.
Can You Freeze Big Mac Sauce?
This recipe should not be frozen, as mayonnaise is an emulsion that will break down if frozen.
Read also: Low-Carb Cranberry Sauce
Nutritional Information
The answer to this depends upon which recipe you make, but this version contains only 1.2 carbohydrates and 1.1 net carbs. There are 1-gram carbs and .2 grams fiber equaling less than 1gram NET carbs per tablespoon.
Is McDonald's Big Mac Sauce Keto Friendly?
Made with real sugar, the original Mac sauce that you will find at a McDonald's is not going to be a keto-friendly option.
Big Mac Sauce vs. Thousand Island Dressing
Thousand Island dressing does have similar ingredients as the Big Mac sauce and therefore the taste is somewhat similar. Thousand Island dressing is a type of salad dressing that has a mayonnaise or mayonnaise-like base. The standard ingredients for this dressing include mayonnaise, ketchup, and dill pickle relish. While both sauces contain mayonnaise and sweet pickle relish, the specific combinations and ratios of ingredients differ, giving each sauce its own unique flavor profile. For one, Thousand Island contains ketchup, whereas Big Mac Sauce does not. This adds quite a bit of difference in flavor in the two sauces.
Read also: Tangy and Spicy Keto Sauce
Read also: Thickening keto sauces: your options