Make a quick homemade big mac sauce within minutes with pantry ingredients.
This special sauce will add the classic big mac flavor to all burgers.
My Big Mac Sauce recipe was first published on the 6th July 2018 and has been enhanced ever since.
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I am the type, who wished I could use the big mac sauce on all homemade burgers.
Such as in a double cheeseburger, MC Chicken, my Vegan Burgers. I'd use this sauce as a dip for french fries too!
That is why I came up with my own big mac sauce copycat recipe.
Ingredient Notes
I have to admit, for a few years I just used a thick version of the thousand island dressing in my burgers to mimic the Big Mac Sauce.
BUT, in the past years, I came upon a couple of recipes for the big mac sauce, such as the one found in this book.
I also simply looked up the McDonald's website with the Big Mac Sauce ingredients.
Here is what you will need to make this 5 minute big mac sauce.
- White Onion — (optional) White onion is milder and better suited. You can substitute this ingredient with onion powder too.
- Dill Pickle Relish (optional) — Not in the original recipe, but adds a lot of character to your sauce.
- Mayonnaise — I used homemade Mayonnaise.
- Tomato Ketchup
- Dijon Mustard
- Vinegar — Less intense, such as white vinegar.
- Black Pepper
- Salt
Process Overview
Step 1
Chop onion and dill pickle fine.
(this step can be skipped if you don't want fresh chopped onion and pickle).
Step 2
Add to a bowl the mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, vinegar, salt and black pepper.
Add chopped onion and dill to this.
Step 3
Combine all the ingredients to a smooth, well blended sauce.
📖 Recipe
Big Mac Sauce Recipe [Copycat]
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon Onion chopped optional, *see Notes
- 1 Tablespoon Dill Pickle chopped optional
- 2 Tablespoons Mayonnaise
- 1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
- 1 Teaspoon Ketchup
- 1 Teaspoon Vinegar
- ⅛ Teaspoon Salt
- ¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground
Instructions
- Prepare the onion and pickles first by chopping them small and fine.1 Tablespoon Onion chopped, 1 Tablespoon Dill Pickle chopped
- Stir the sauce ingredients, including the mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, vinegar, salt and black pepper in a mixing bowl.2 Tablespoons Mayonnaise, 1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard, 1 Teaspoon Ketchup, 1 Teaspoon Vinegar, ⅛ Teaspoon Salt, ¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground
- Add the chopped onion and pickle to this.
- Mix the sauce. It should be well blended and smooth in appearance.
- Keep in the fridge to cool for later (with a lid or cling film over the container), or use it straightaway on your burger.
Notes
- Instead of freshly chopped onion, use onion powder. For every tablespoon of freshly chopped onion, use about ½ teaspoon onion powder at most. Onion powder is more intense in flavor than freshly chopped onion.
- Use an original store bought Mayonnaise, Ketchup, and Dijon Mustard.
- Make the big mac burger sauce vegan by substituting the Mayonnaise with vegan eggless mayonnaise.
- Make a bigger batch and store your favorite Big Mac Sauce in the fridge!
- Don't limit yourself. Try the big mac sauce on other burger varieties such as chicken or even wild game meat.
Nutrition
More Uses
Besides the obvious, a Big Mac burger Sauce, you get to use this sauce in other delicious ways too:
- A big mac salad as a dressing
- Chicken tenders as a dip
- Chicken nuggets as a dip
- Fish Sticks as a dip
- Tacos as a topping
Storing
You can double or triple the big mac sauce recipe to prepare a bigger batch if you like.
Store the freshly made sauce in your fridge in a simple glass jar or a salad dressing bottle for up to 5 days at most.
That way you will have the sauce on hand whenever you feel like it.
If you want to store your big Mac sauce for a longer period of time, use onion powder instead of chopped onions in your sauce because onions are perishable.
You can freeze your sauce in batches.
What is the Big Mac Sauce?
The Big Mac Sauce is called the Special Sauce or Secret Sauce by MC Donald's.
I saw some people calling it the Magic Sauce. Yep, it's like a famed unicorn at this point!
The Big Mac Sauce Recipe is very similar to a few sauces out there but comes closest to the Thousand Island Dressing.
Which is a popular salad dressing made of mayonnaise, tomato ketchup, vinegar and finely chopped pickled cucumbers.
The sauce is creamy and tastes a bit tangy but well seasoned with a hint of tomato and mayo coming through.
McDonald's big mac sauce is only used on one burger, hence the name, the mighty Big Mac. That's why the sauce is so loved because it's so unique.
It alleviates the flavors of the burger with the two meat patties and the other ingredients. In fact, the special sauce is McDonald's signature sauce!
Making the Big Mac the core product of the global chain.
Unfortunately, MC Donald's doesn't sell the sauce; however, they have placed the recipe under public domain (yay!) and numerous copycat versions exist.
More Sauces like this
- Yum Yum Sauce — for steaks or as a shrimp dipping sauce.
- Louie Dressing — for Shrimp or Crab Louie Salad.
- Sweet Onion Sandwich Sauce — Subway copycat.
- Mayocue — Mayonnaise + BBQ
- Spicy Mayochup — Mayonnaise + Ketchup
Dear Reader, how are you planning to use your big mac sauce?
i hd to triple, approx, ketsup to make it taste right
Hi John. The Ketchup brand will definitely make a difference too. I usually use Heinz only.
Pickled cucumbers can be sweet or dill, etc. What flavor of pickled cucumbers do you use in the Big Mac Secret Sauce recipe?
Thank you!
Hi Nancy, I used Dill flavored pickled cucumber, but you can use whichever you prefer.
Now I want a Big Mac! Lol, thx for sharing Helene!
You are welcome Léa 🙂
I swear your copycat version IS THE BEST! It makes me actually look forward to eating my burger; normally their tasteless without this (even with all the condiments out there such as lettuce tomato, bacon, this topping blows them all out of the park! Makes burgers great with just a slice of cheese and your topping. My picky- eater 13 yo even loves it! Thank you for creating such a great burger topping! -Patty
Hi Patty, thanks for your wonderful feedback! I'm so happy to read that you and your family enjoy the homemade big mac sauce as much as we do. 🙂
Making it again as a dip for tonight's cheeseburger quesadillas. Have been making your sauce every couple months.....tonight I doubled the recipe so we have enough sauce for next weekend! Thanks again!
You are welcome Patty. Thanks for sharing your experience here with us. I think it's a great idea to serve it as a dip too with cheeseburger quesadillas.
Is it really a ‘tablespoon’ of Dijon mustard?? Mine turned out very mustardy and peppery!
Yes, 1 Tablespoon Original Dijon Mustard and black pepper. Did you use the original french mustard from Maille, Edmond Fallot or Amora mustard brand? I tried this recipe once with another random brand and it was a fail.
Mine turned out fine (as seen in the video), but you can reduce the mustard and black pepper by half if you prefer.
What brand of “pickled cucumbers” do you use in this recipe?
Hi Wanda, I used small pickles from Vlasic.
Sweet or dill?
I like to use the dill ones. You can choose, whichever you prefer.
I never knew there are pickled cucumbers in this sauce , very interesting ! Going to try it on the weekend !
I don't eat many Big Mac's, but I do love them! I'm excited to make this sauce at home and add it to my own homemade burgers! Thanks for the recipe!!