Burger Bowl Recipe | Simply Quinoa

This Burger Bowl Recipe gives you your burger fix, without the bun! It’s a protein-packed meal bowl that’s fun to eat and fun to assemble with crispy fries and all your favorite burger toppings.

Burger bowl with fries and special sauce.

I love a good meal bowl recipe, whether it’s a Salmon Bowl or Burrito Bowl. But if you want a meal bowl that scratches that itch for fast food, there’s nothing better than this burger bowl recipe! It’s got French fries, ground beef cooked with burger seasonings to make it delicious, special sauce, and after that it’s a choose-your-own-adventure array of toppings, from lettuce to pickles and onion. So much fun!

Why Burgers in a Bowl Are Better Than Burgers in a Bun

Yes, that’s a bold statement! But I am all in on this burger bowl recipe and once you give it a try, I think you’ll agree. Bowls are the way to go!

Skip the buns. Let’s be real, they just get in the way of what you’re really after in a burger: the meat and the toppings! No buns means fewer carbs and no burger juices to make your buns soggy.
No patties needed. Rather than forming the ground beef into patties, it’s cooked in crumbles, kind of like a taco filling. This means less work for you!
Easier to eat. No juices dripping, no toppings falling out, no burgers piled so high with toppings that you practically have to unhinge your jaw to take a bite. This burger bowl recipe is the best way to eat a burger!

Ingredients for burger bowl recipe with labels.

What You’ll Need

So many of the ingredients you’ll need for this burger bowl recipe are pantry staples. Scroll down to the recipe card to find the ingredient quantities and recipe instructions.

Beef:

Ground beef – I like 80/20 for this recipe. If you prefer ground turkey, you can use that instead.
Olive oil or butter
Seasonings – Garlic powder, onion powder, ground pepper, smoked paprika, and salt.

Homemade Special Sauce:

Mayonnaise – Use any kind you like for the creamy base of the sauce.
Ketchup
Yellow mustard
Dill pickles – These are optional, but I love the tanginess and texture they add to the sauce.
Apple cider vinegar – For a bright, tangy flavor.
Seasonings – Garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper.

To Assemble:

Shredded lettuce – Use iceberg for a classic fast food burger vibe.
Tomatoes – You can use halved cherry or grape tomatoes or chop a large tomato.
Dill pickles
Red onions – Thinly sliced or diced for more evenly distributed onion flavor.
Frozen French fries – Such a fun addition! You can leave these out if you’d like, but I love getting the perfect bite with a fry, some ground beef, and the sauce.

How to Make Burger Bowls

This recipe is super easy! Here’s a step-by-step guide to the process.

Variations + More Topping Ideas

Here are some more ways to make this burger bowl recipe.

Make it vegetarian or vegan. You can crumble store-bought burgers and cook those in a skillet, use a plant-based ground beef substitute, or even make the mixture for Vegetarian Black Bean Quinoa Burgers and crumble that into the skillet.
Switch up the fries. Use sweet potato fries or even tater tots. Or make your own fries from scratch with potatoes!
Add cheese. Sprinkle shredded cheddar on top of the burger bowls to make them cheesy. For melted cheese, sprinkle the cheese over the ground beef in the skillet after taking it off the heat and cover it with the lid for a few minutes until the cheese melts.
Make a version inspired by your favorite burger. Add sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions, pickled jalapeños—anything that’s on your favorite burger can be added to this burger bowl recipe.

Spoon drizzling special sauce onto burger bowl.

How to Store and Reheat Leftovers

Refrigerator: Store leftovers of this burger bowl recipe in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
To reheat: I recommend scooping out the ground beef and fries and heating those in the microwave or a skillet set over medium heat, then adding them back to the bowl with the cold ingredients.

Prep: 10 minutes

Cook: 20 minutes

Total: 30 minutes

For the homemade special sauce:

For the bowls:

Ground beef
Shredded lettuce
Chopped tomatoes
Chopped dill pickles
Thinly sliced red onions
1 bag frozen french fries
Special sauce

Begin by cooking the french fries according to package instructions.
Next, move onto the beef. Cook the ground beef in the oil over medium low heat. Break apart into bite-sized pieces and season with spices. Set aside.
Whisk together all the sauce ingreidents. Taste and add salt or pepper if desired.
Assemble the bowls. Divide all the ingredients by four and start with the lettuce on the bottom. Then add the beef, tomatoes, pickles, onions and french fries. Drizzle with the special sauce and dig in!

Nutritional information includes ground beef and sauce only, as the rest will depend on which toppings and how much of them you use.