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Classic Burger Sauce
If you dig the sauce on Big Macs or the “special sauce” that high-end sandwich joints slather on their burgers, you are going to LOVE this burger sauce!
While I hardly ever eat them, I love a Big Mac every now and then, and I’m pretty sure it’s because of that oh-so-fabulous burger sauce that is slathered on them. I’m a big-time burgers and fries fan, and have been known to order one even at the nicest of restaurants in lieu of a “fancier” meal.
Spoiler alert: I’m not fancy, and I’m certainly not a fancy eater.
Over the last few years, I’ve noticed that most nice restaurants and high-end burger joints have their own “special sauce” that they use on burgers. They tend to taste very similar, and I’m totally addicted. So when I made burgers on Saturday for watching the hockey game, you better believe I was going to whip up a batch of homemade burger sauce!
This is incredibly easy to whip up, and there’s a 98% chance you already have all of the ingredients you need sitting in your refrigerator and pantry. Only six ingredients, one small bowl and a whisk is all you need to get this ready.
It’s the perfect complement to any burger, and I even love using it to dip my fries!
Mmmm bacon cheeseburger with that magical burger sauce :)
Stay tuned tomorrow – I’m going to be sharing an absolute killer cheeseburger recipe (and it doesn’t include the grill!).
One year ago: Top 10 List: Favorite Appetizer Recipes
Five years ago: Scalloped Potatoes
Did you make this recipe?
If you dig the sauce on Big Macs or the "special sauce" that high-end sandwich joints slather on their burgers, you are going to LOVE this burger sauce!
- ½
cup
- ¼
cup
ketchup
- 2
teaspoons
sweet pickle relish
- 2
teaspoons
granulated sugar
- 2
teaspoons
white vinegar
- 1
teaspoon
ground black pepper
In a small bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients.
Serve immediately, or refrigerate, covered, for up to 1 week.
Nutritional values are based on one cup of burger sauce
Calories: 879kcal
Fat: 84g
Saturated fat: 13g
Cholesterol: 47mg
Sodium: 1337mg
Potassium: 189mg
Carbohydrates: 29g
Sugar: 25g
Protein: 2g
Vitamin A: 10.1%
Vitamin C: 3%
Iron: 3.8%
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
We have made this sauce for years with mayo, ketchup, sweet relish, and a touch of mustard. We also add celery seed, which is a secret ingredient they use at one of our favorite burger joints. IT’S AWESOME!!!
Just tastes like vinegar!
Delicious and tastes a lot like the Big Mac special sauce!
I changed the recipe up a little and used 2-1 ratio ketchup being the 2 and mayonnaise being the 1. I also used a little spicy brown mustard and sriracha. I kept the black pepper and removed the vinegar and sugar. Amazing variation of a good recipe.
This is a wonderful sauce. I use it as a dip for carrot sticks. This would work well as a Thousand Island dressing for salads also. I made a double batch.
Can I substitute Miracle Whip for the mayo to give the sauce a little more tang?
Hi Denise, Yes, I think that would be fine!
Just made the sauce. Very tasty. Can’t wait to have for our block party tomorrow!
This sauce was awesome!!! It was SO good on our burgers!
This is a DELICIOUS burger sauce!!! Taste just like the sauce on a BIG MAC :}
This was fabulous.
This sauce. was awesome! I was dipping it in everything…. chips, my burger, etc. The only change I made was I used dill pickle instead of relish. Mine did not come out as thick as yours shows in the picture… any suggestions of how to get the sauce thicker? i did notice after I let it sit a day it got thicker… Thanks for a great sauce recipe!
Hi Jessica, It might have to do with the relish vs chopped pickles. Unless you chopped and drained/dried those pickles REALLY REALLY well, they likely released liquid into the sauce.
We used to use 1000 dressing. That was they used at tasty freeze. The first McDonalds
A truly successful idea with the homemade hamburger gravy .
Since we just treat at school the topic USA and food culture , I will recite this recipe because I like it so well . I hope my English is fine and I express myself properly .
Greetings from Germany
Thank you for this recipe! I added some Worchester sauce and Sweet Chili sauce (in place of relish because I didn’t have any.) I cannot have mayo, but my fiancé LOVED it. Next time I will do it as written, if he will allow. :)
Ooh this recipe looks so simple, but delicious! I’ll be saving this and trying it out next time I have a homemade burger!
Aleeha xXx
http://www.halesaaw.com/
Hey Michelle,
I love your recipes to bits (the rum cake with walnuts is one of my favorites), but I have to reach out to you about the ads on your page.
I do work in the online advertising industry. You are overdoing it. Or the company/person your hired to do it for you overdoes it. Your site is becoming pretty much unusable. More and more people will resort to using adblockers.
In the long run, you will be driving ad revenue down.
Just opening your site in my browser slows the browser down to a crawl.
Here is a post in the AdOperations (an integral part of any online advertising company) subreddit, from just this week:
https://www.reddit.com/r/adops/comments/4fptx3/volume_goes_up_cpms_go_down/
The ads are annoying but you just have to close them…simple.
Yep, special sauce was called Thousand Island dressing in the old days. Wonderful on a burger, and once I already had the tuna opened, when I noticed I had no mayo, so I used the bottled dressing in the tuna salad. Great salad!
I need to give this a try
I also add a teaspoon of yellow mustard. Reminds me of Monster Sauce.
This looks delicious! I bet it’s even better than the burger sauce i currently have in my frig from the high-end kitchen store at the mall. Gotta get burgers into the meal plan soon! Great win last night for the Pens! The Flyers v Caps should be a very interesting game tonight (yikes! I think they play tonight) after everything that went on at the last game. Hockey is on the schedule for this evening :)
Yum! Yep, this sauce really must be on my burgers!
Kari
http://www.sweetteasweetie.com
Mother used to throw together this sauce in the 1960s for burgers and salads. Just never bought bottled dressing in those days.
hope it is like the Big Boy sauce from Eat’n park
Thanks for sharing this. I never would have thought to add vinegar.
Love this sauce — it’s one of my guilty pleasures. Dipping fries in it is my favorite!!
I love this sauce. Try it with a squirt of Siracha. Yum!
Don’t make burgers for another Pens’ game! I was wondering what went wrong on Saturday, and now believe I know the answer. Jinx burgers!
HA! Noted :) Great win last night, though, right? (I didn’t make burgers)
I have to pin this one, the boyfriend and I are crazy about burgers but we’ll definitely level them up with some of this sauce!! Such a good idea for a blog post, I didn’t even know I needed this until I saw the recipe ;)