The healthy Big Mac?

Source: Vegan patties: The Buddhist Chef; Big Mac Sauce: Fox Valley Foodie

The Big Mac burger has always been my favourite fast food guilty pleasure. For me, it’s the creamy sauce and tangy pickles.

Imitation Big Mac sauce recipes have been floating around for a while, usually with French dressing as a central ingredient.

But McDonald’s Canada came to our rescue, and shared a make-at-home Big Mac sauce recipe that’s as close as we can get to the genuine sauce. They didn’t provide quantities, so I relied on the measurement estimates from the Fox Valley Foodie. You probably have all the ingredients at home: mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, yellow mustard, white vinegar, paprika, garlic powder and onion powder. For a vegan version, simply substitute the mayonnaise with vegan mayonnaise (store-bought or homemade).

For the burger patties, I used a home-made bean burger patty. These vegan burger patties from The Buddhist Chef are simple, cheap, easy and delicious. (I use red kidney beans instead of black beans. Any bean would work.) Combined with the brown rice and breadcrumbs, this makes a complete protein. (If you want to make a double-decker Big Mac with 2 thin patties, divide this recipe into 8 thinner patties instead of 4.)

Assemble the burger with a generous dollop of your homemade Big Mac sauce, pickle slices and shredded iceberg lettuce. I generally skip the finely diced onion (unless I take the time to thoroughly soak them in water to take the edge off), and the slice of processed (vegan) cheese.

Delicious. Not quite the same as the original Big Mac, but it’s vegan and healthy.