This low carb and high protein cheeseburger salad is everything you love about a juicy cheeseburger but in a lightened up salad form. Yum! You’re welcome!
I need this cheeseburger salad in my life FOREVER! It’s delicious and beyond easy to prepare. And if you are a busy woman like yours truly then you’ll be happy to know that this scrumptious salad can be made ahead of time. I know…I wish we could hug too. xoxo
These are the types of things that excite me. So often, when trying to lose weight, we think all of our favorite foods need to go bye bye. Nope. You just need to make a few tweaks. Sure, you can’t go to McDonalds every week for a couple cheeseburgers. But… that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a healthier version of a cheeseburger. For example, this new cheeseburger salad will get your taste buds dancing. But if you need something a little closer to the real thing you can try my famous cheeseburger wrap or bacon cheeseburger meatloaf. BTW the meatloaf recipe will get a man to fall in love with and marry you. Haha just sayin. It’s gooood!
Or for a different twist try my cheeseburger quinoa bake or cheeseburger stuffed peppers. Trust me, you can satisfy all your cheeseburger cravings without walking into a fast food joint ever again. I got you!
Let’s chat about this salad…
I seasoned the ground turkey with Worcestershire sauce, granulated garlic, onion powder, salt, pepper, parmesan cheese, ketchup, and mustard. This is the same way I season the meat (turkey or beef) anytime I make a cheeseburger recipe. Sometimes I use hamburger seasoning (1 teaspoon per 1 lb beef) but for this recipe I didn’t have any so I didn’t use it. However, the turkey was still delicious with all the flavor of a hamburger.
For the dressing I used a Thousand Island Yogurt dressing that I found at Wegmans in the produce section. I love this dressing. It almost gives it a Big Mac flavor. Yup!
To keep with the cheeseburger theme I included chopped dill pickles mixed in with the salad. Oh mama! The dressing and the pickles make this salad.
Of course, since it is a CHEESEburger salad, I had to add shredded cheese. In my opinion, no other cheese but extra sharp cheddar will do. 2 tablespoons adds the perfect amount of cheese to the salad without adding to much fat or calories.
This Cheeseburger Salad can be made ahead of time a couple different ways. The first is to make the ground turkey, prepare the rest of the salad ingredients, and store everything in seperate containers in the refrigerator. That’s what I did this week. Once the turkey is cooked this salad comes together in less than 10 minutes.
I use glass pyrex containers and mason jars to store the ground cooked turkey and salad ingredients. In my experience, glass keeps all these ingredients fresh longer. Plastic will work fine but if you have glass I recommend using it.
The second way to prepare this salad ahead of time is to make mason jar salads. I don’t have a picture of this specific salad as a mason jar salad but you can see other examples in my mason jar salad tutorial. But if you choose to make this as a MJS then just cook the turkey first. Let it cool completely in the refrigerator. Divide all the ingredients among 5 mason jars. Layer the salads by starting with the dressing and then add the tomatoes, cucumbers, pickles, ground turkey, shredded cheese, and finish with the romaine. Place the lid on tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Bam! Lunch all week.
If you are trying to include more salads in your life then this Cheeseburger Salad is a must. It’s delicious and will make you smile with each bite.
Lightened Up Cheeseburger Salad
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- 1 tablespoon mustard
- 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
- 10 cups chopped romaine
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes sliced or left whole
- 2 cups sliced baby cucumber
- 5 dill pickle spears chopped
- 10 tablespoons thousand island yogurt dressing
- 10 tablespoons shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Instructions
- In a medium skillet heat olive oil over medium heat until it’s hot. Add the ground turkey, cook for 5 -7 minutes, or until it is almost cooked through and just a little pink. You want to break the ground turkey into small pieces as it cooks.
- Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, granulated garic, onion powder, salt, pepper, ketchup, mustard, and parmesan cheese into the ground turkey. Continue cooking until it is no longer pink. Remove from heat.
- If you are going to prepare mason jar salads I recommend letting the ground turkey cool in the refrigerator before you layer the salads. Putting the turkey into the mason jar salads hot will cause the lettuce to wilt. Layer the salads by starting with the dressing and then layer in the tomatoes, cucumbers, pickles, ground turkey, shredded cheese, and finish with the romaine.
- If you are going to eat the salad immediately then prepare each one by tossing the romaine, tomatoes, cucumbers, pickles, dressing, and cheese together. Drizzle with dressing. Each salad gets about 1/4 – 1/3 cup ground turkey, 2 cups romaine, 1/3 or some tomatoes, 1/3 or so cucumbers, 1 pickle, 2 tablespoons dressing, and 2 tablespoons shredded cheese.
- Or you can store the ground turkey and the rest of the ingredients in the refrigerator separately to eat later in the week.
Notes
Nutrition
Andrew Sydow says
Loved, loved, loved this salad! Thanks for sharing. I added avocado and turkey bacon to mine. 🙂
Samantha says
If you make it in a mason jar, how do you heat it up?
Carol says
Samantha! Excellent question!
Sammie Jo says
Wonderful texture and flavor without velveeta. Reheats smooth. This was delicious and so easy to make. Makes a bigger batch than I was expecting.
Erin says
Great idea. I think I’ll try it with crumbled blue cheese and a Greek yogurt/hot sauce dressing!
Mr.L says
I did a similar recipe but your is very healthy