Big Mac Sloppy Joes are a delicious one pan meal with a McDonald’s Big Mac Secret Sauce Copycat made in 30 minutes. You’ll never need the drive-thru again.
Classic Sloppy Joes are so popular on this site that there are over 35 versions of Sloppy Joe Recipes you all have enjoyed. Just when you might think there can’t possibly be another way to enjoy Sloppy Joes, here is another recipe to add to the collection!
BIG MAC SLOPPY JOES (W/ SECRET SAUCE)
Big Macs are a nostalgic memory, but you might not often find yourself going through the drive-thru. You can enjoy classic restaurant flavors at home with the ability to control the salt and quality of the ingredients. This is part of the reason why Copycat Recipes receive so much love on the site, you get to enjoy the flavors of eating out without any of the actual going to fast food restaurants.
This Sloppy Joe makes good use of the McDonald’s Big Mac Sauce (Copycat) recipe. You can use it to re-create the beloved Big Mac, but if you’re cooking at home you don’t really need the convenience of a portable burger. You can enjoy all the same flavors with saucy ground beef, which might be messier to eat, but so worth it for the cheesy saucy goodness.
Most Sloppy Joe recipes taste great on a crusty brioche bun, but given the copycat feel of this recipe a sesame seed bun would be the right way to go. You could absolutely serve this as a single layer sandwich, just like most other Sloppy Joes. However, if you really want an authentic Big Mac experience with these Big Mac Sloppy Joes, you won’t regret making it a true double decker sandwich.
MORE DELICIOUS SLOPPY JOES RECIPES:
Ultimate Sloppy Joes
Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes
Bacon, Beer and Cheese Sloppy Joes
Chicken Bacon Ranch Sloppy Joes
HOW TO MAKE BIG MAC SLOPPY JOES:
- Brown your ground beef halfway in your large skillet then add in the chopped onions, salt and pepper.
- Cook the beef until fully browned then add in the chopped pickles and stir.
- Add in the McDonald’s Copycat Big Mac Sauce and stir well.
- Cook 1 additional minute then serve on sesame hamburger bun following this stacking order: From the bottom up:
- Bun bottom
- Secret Sauce
- Lettuce
- American Cheese
- Meat
- Bun Bottom
- Secret Sauce
- Lettuce
- Pickles
- Meat
- Bun Top
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EASY SECRET SAUCE SHORTCUTS:
- You can swap out Thousand Island Dressing instead of the secret sauce – add in additional mayonnaise to make it creamier (about ¼ cup).
- Use mayonnaise and ketchup (½ and 1/2)
- Use Fry Sauce or other secret sauces available at supermarkets.
MORE KID FAVORITE RECIPES:
Tater Tot Casserole
Frito Pie
Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf
Ultimate Slow Cooker Pot Roast
HOW TO MAKE MCDONALDS SECRET BIG MAC SAUCE:
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup French dressing
- 2 tablespoons sweet relish
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- Mix ingredients well.
- Refrigerate for 24 hours before using for best (and most authentic) taste.
SELECTING GROUND BEEF FOR SLOPPY JOES:
- 85/15 ground beef will taste best in this recipe (and is recommended for all sloppy joe recipes) because it is just the right fat percentage to provide enough moisture and fat to cook the onions without leaving too much grease in the pan that you need to drain it.
- If you’re using a fattier ground beef, be sure to drain any excess fat before adding in your sauce or the sauce will be oily and break.
- If you prefer to go leaner you can do that, too. You can also swap in ground chicken or ground turkey for the ground beef.
HOW TO STORE BIG MAC SLOPPY JOES:
- Serve: You can keep the meat at room temperature for up to 2 hours.
- Store: Store leftovers in a refrigerator for up to three days in a sealed airtight container.
- Freeze: Allow to cool completely and freeze in air-tight container for up to 3 months.
Ingredients
Ground Beef Mixture
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef , (85/15)
- 1/2 yellow onion , finely chopped
- 1/4 cup hamburger pickles , chopped
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse ground pepper
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
McDonald's Secret Sauce Recipe:
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup French dressing
- 2 tablespoons sweet relish
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
To Assemble (Double Decker):
- 8 hamburger buns , (with seeds)
- 2 cups iceberg lettuce , shredded
- 12 hamburger pickle chips
- 4 slices American cheese
- Additional sauce , optional
Instructions
- Brown your ground beef halfway, about 3-4 minutes, in your large skillet then add in the chopped onions, salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce.
- Cook the beef until fully browned, about 3-4 minutes, then add in the chopped pickles and stir.
- Mix the McDonald's Copycat Big Mac Sauce ingredients in a medium bowl and stir well.
- Add 1 cup of the secret sauce to the pan, reserve the rest for your buns.
- Cook 1 additional minute then serve on sesame hamburger bun (stacking order in notes below).
Video
Notes
- Bun bottom
- Secret Sauce
- Lettuce
- American Cheese
- Meat
- Bun Bottom
- Secret Sauce
- Lettuce
- Pickles
- Meat
- Bun Top
Nutrition
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Photos from a previous version of this post.
The sauce is za bomb. Next time we will combine the hamburger mixture and fry in patties then add the sauce on top before serving. It was a lot of sauce for us. I am going to use this sauce for Thousand Island dressing. IT is very good!
So glad you enjoyed one of our family favs Krista and thanks for the five stars!
10 out of 10!
We’ve made this twice! The only minor alteration I made was to only put pickles in the sauce and let everyone sauce their own burger. Flavors and ingredients are spot on! This is in my rotation and I love introducing it to new people 🙂
Thank you!
What a lovely comment Nicole. Thanks so much and thank you for the five “10” star review!
Just made these using ground turkey and steamed whole wheat buns. Delicious. I only made single Joes and did not add any salt. They were very flavorful and sloppy. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe.
You’re welcome Isaac and thank you for the five star review!
MY FAVORITE BURGER
Thank you Mary and thank you for the five star review!
Delicious both my husband and I loved it, easy to make
Great! Thank you Nancy for the 5 star review!
I came across this recipe on pinterest and I made the McDonald’s sauce for our hamburger night. I especially have a daughter who has ADHD and her comfort food at times is Big Macs with extra McDonald’s sauce to dunk her fries in. I made this recipe and she loved it. She thought the sauce was right on and perfect. It was a pleasure to see them eat their food. Even my son loved it. Thank you for sharing this recipe. Hopefully, the kids will want me to make homemade burgers at home and skip spending money eating out.
Now that sounds like a “Win” for sure! So happy the recipe was a hit with your children.
I’m going to try them… looks and sounds good !!!!
You gotta drain that grease from thd burger ……!!!
Yep, unless using lean beef. Drain the grease.
I doubled the recipe and caramelized the meat. I added dehydrated onions to the hamburger mix just to cheat. As someone recommended,I added seasoning salt. Also a bit of garlic salt. (Okay a lot)
For the sauce I didn’t have French dressing but had Catalina. I added 2 extra teaspoons of vinegar to the sauce but remember I doubled the recipe. In addition, I added 1 tsp of Real Lemon juice. I didn’t have sweet relish so I cut up bread and butter pickles. I also added a bit of chopped dill pickles. I was pleasantly surprised. I never thought the sauce would come out exactly like MCDonalds but it did.
And my little 4 year old grandson who was helping was excited that I was doing a copy cat recipe for MCDs but thought I was doing nuggets and French fries and would be providing him with a toy as well. I have fried chicken in the fridge so will give him that.
It’s really good! Everyone in my family thought it was a hit!
So glad to hear the family enjoyed the Sloppy Joes. We have a lot of different Sloppy Joe recipes on the site if you’d like to check them out! Thank you Megan for the 5 star review!
I can’t tell you how long it’s been since I had a Big Mac. The flavor here is spot on. I am not a sloppy joe fan and this may have reformed me. Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome and thanks for the great review Melissa!
Would the meat mixture freeze well for a make ahead meal?
Yes, make sure meat is well drained if you are using a fattier meat and store in an air tight container.
What if u don’t have worcestershire? What can be added??
I did a little research to see what folks are using instead of worcestershire sauce. We keep this as a staple in our pantry so haven’t played with substitutes in this recipe. If you decide to use one of these on the list below let me know how the recipe turned out for you!
Balsamic Vinegar. Given that vinegar is the largest ingredient in Worcestershire, balsamic would be my first go-to when I’m looking for a substitute
Soy Sauce + Sugar
BBQ Sauce
Tomato Ketchup
Fish sauce
Coconut Aminos
Anchovies
Hot Sauce
Can I use thousand island dressing instead of French?
You certainly can with the caveat that it may not taste like the secret sauce any longer 🙂
We are not pickle fans, has anyone made this that doesn’t like pickles? Do you notice the taste? Or has anyone left it out and it still taste great?
We use hot dog buns instead of hamburger buns. that way everything isnt falling out.
Really good! Who needs McDonalds anyway!?!
I made this and followed the recipe to the letter (used 85/15 ground beef). Although it was super delicious, I really think it would have been better had the grease been drained from the meat before adding the onions and other ingredients. By leaving the grease, it made them super sloppy and almost runny. We had to eat ours with a fork because they could not be picked up without falling apart. The sauce recipe is a keeper for sure!
Hi Sabrina…do you have the nutrition stats for using ground turkey? Thanx and I love your recipes. Continued success.
Hi Connie, I don’t I’m sorry the program I type the recipe in does the calculations. I do use a lot of ground turkey as I track my macros personally and I use My fitness pal to put my ingredients/recipes in when I adjust them.
OMG!! These BM sloppy Joe’s are so good!!! They taste just like the real thing. I placed our sandwich on wax paper to help with the mess and I cooked home fries. Big Macs at home from now on. What a treat!! Thank you for sharing.
These are pretty good! I used vegan substitutes which was pretty easy. I would use less salt next time but I will make these again.
Do you drain the hamburger when it’s done cooking?
Great recipe thoroughly enjoyed by my entire family and easy to make. Tastes just like a Big Mac only in sloppy joe form Will definitely make them again.
This did taste just like a Big Mac sandwich! I really liked this. I used Catalina French and the special sauce tasted just like the restaurant. I didn’t use a bun, but just toasted some bread and used that for the bun, so it wasn’t a double decker, but still messy to eat Sloppy Big Mac is accurate. Soo tasty! I loved it. My husband did not, but he does not like Big Macs, so I didn’t expect him to like it as much as I did.
Sooo delicious! Husband and I loved it! Definitely tastes like a big Mac but with all the love from a sloppy joe! Now we’re going to call it the Mac Joe dinner!! Thanks for this recipe
This was incredibly delicious. The entire family thought it tasted just like a Big Mac. It’s definitely messy, just the same way a real Big Mac is. Try this recipe. You won’t regret it.
My family devoured this!! It was absolutely incredible. Thank you for the recipe!!! I used everything and the Mac sauce from scratch was to die for.
I don’t eat meat so I used Impossible ground and didn’t have time to make the secret sauce so I used Ken’s Thousand Island and it was soooo good! This will definitely be in our regular rotation now and I’ll make the sauce next time to see how different it tastes but the way I made it was pretty spot-on. Thank you!
Loved this feedback!
My daughter is hard to please, but she loves Big Macs so I gave this recipe a shot and both her and my husband loved it! Quick easy and tasty.
YUM!! I didn’t have French dressing so I just skipped that ingredient. Still turned out delicious!!
Delicious but I used chick fil a Polynesian sauce, single not double stack and on toast
What could I use instead of sweet relish. My family doesn’t care for it?
You can try regular relish but sweet relish is what they use in the secret sauce.
I just used regular dill relish instead.
These are super yummy and easy. Great for a kids week night dinner. They will love these.
Thank you Bonnie!
These are soooooo good and easy to make! Try to make the sauce ahead of time and let sit if you can! My daughter always asks me to make these, and we don’t complain! Thanks for another great recipe!
Delicious! My family and I love it!
This is delicious. Satisfied all my McDonald’s cravings.
I am so excited that you are publishing a cookbook! Already pre-ordered. Your blog has been a god-send thru this pandemic for me and my family. Just getting in the kitchen and making food that makes everyone happy is wonderful.
Excited to try the recipes in your cookbook since everything I have made off your blog is fantastic!
Hi Amanda! It means so much to me that we have helped make the pandemic a little better. Food is truly the way to people’s hearts and I’m glad we’re able to spread some joy during hard times.
Thank you so much for everything <3