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This was a hit in our household. Delicious and super easy to throw together!
Laura
It’s Not Fancy, But My Family Loves Me For This.
In my life as a mom, I have different reasons to pull out different recipes.
- Need more protein? This chicken.
- Want fast flavor? These tacos.
- In a bad mood? This pasta.
- Prepping for the week? These bowls.
- Feeding a crowd? These meatballs.
Then there is the elusive category of “Need Something My Whole Family Will Love.” When I need to feel confident that all kids and adults in the house will enjoy a meal, that’s when I pull these burger bowls out.
Burger bowls aren’t really new concept, but these are the things I’ve been doing over the last few months that make me love them so much:
- The method for cooking the beef (bigger, juicier chunks! thanks to my friend Amanda for introducing me to this idea)
- Ranch fries. (Waffle fries = more fork friendly, and the ranch coating needs no explanation. YUM.)
- House sauce. (Creamy, bitey, delicious.)
Technically the house sauce puts the ingredient list at the higher end of an SOS level, but I wouldn’t be doing right by anyone to not include it. It’s luscious but also kind of sharp and delicious. And, if the homemade sauce is just not doable (been there), grab a store-bought burger sauce!
Hope you love these!
PS. If you love easy dinner recipes, don’t miss these ones!
Burger Bowls with House Sauce and Ranch Fries
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
A burger in a bowl! Ranch-seasoned fries topped with juicy burger chunks and all the fixings, with a drizzle of house sauce to take it over the top!
Ingredients
Burger Bowls:
- 1 lb. ground beef (85/15 for the juiciest)
- 2 teaspoons burger seasoning (one teaspoon per side)
- Shredded lettuce
- Diced tomatoes
- Diced burger pickles
Ranch Fries:
- 1 22–ounce bag frozen waffle fries
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 1-ounce packet ranch seasoning mix (or 3 tablespoons)
House Sauce:
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1 teaspoon horseradish
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1 clove grated garlic
Instructions
- For the ranch fries: Bake the fries according to package directions. Add butter to the sheet pan and toss to get the fries kinda juicy. Then toss those juicy fries with ranch seasoning, adding more or less depending on how many fries you make, and your level of ranch obsession. Yummy.
- For the sauce: Whisk your sauce. Taste and season with salt. Or, use a store-bought burger sauce!
- For the beef: Heat a cast iron over high heat with no oil (use a well-seasoned pan). You want that pan to be very hot so it’ll sear the beef. Season one side of the ground beef with 1 teaspoon burger seasoning. Add the ground beef to the hot pan, seasoning side down (see video for how I did this straight from package). Resist the urge to break it up immediately – leave it undisturbed for several minutes to get a nice browned crust. The fat will start to render and it should start to develop some browning.
- To finish the beef: Sprinkle the exposed side with the other teaspoon of seasoning. After a few minutes, flip the beef in large chunks – you want to break it up into fork-sized bits, but not too small – this just keeps it juicy and makes it more pleasant to eat with a fork. Once it’s well-browned, remove from heat.
- Assemble: Put it all together! The juicy burger crumbles, the ranch fries, the toppings, the house sauce. It’s SO yum.
Notes
Burger Seasoning: This is the one I’ve been using! (affiliate link) But there are many options we’ve tried from the grocery store and they’ve honestly all been pretty good. Hard to go wrong. If you don’t have a burger seasoning and want to use just salt and pepper, I would use 3/4 teaspoon of kosher salt per side on the beef.
About the beef: The goal is juicy, medium-big chunks with a nice golden brown crust. Using a very high heat to get the sear helps do this quickly so the beef doesn’t get dried out. I will even pull the beef off the heat when the insides are still a little pink, if I’ve gotten that nice crust on the outside. Kind of the same way you would do for a regular burger.
About the pan: You can use a different type of pan; the reason I recommend cast iron is because it gets very hot and will be easiest to give you that nice sear. But I’ve also made the beef in a nonstick pan and it still does okay! Not a big deal if you don’t have a cast iron.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: burger bowls, burger in a bowl, burger salad
Family favorite!!! So yummy 😋
These are the perfect summertime dinner. It’s lighter than a full-on hamburger and delicious! This burger bowl recipe will definitely be used on a regular basis at our house
TRULY the best burger bowls. My whole family is obsessed. It is one of our staple meals in our home.
So good that my teen son had seconds! (It was already amazing that he had firsts, so…)
I had some hamburger buns (because, BOGO) so I made croutons out of two buns. What a great salad! No leftovers amongst the three of us.
Huge hit in our house!! Comes together quickly and delicious. Sure to become a regular in the rotation. Thank you!
This was a great weeknight dinner packed with flavor! We really enjoyed this and will be adding it as a staple meal at our house.
This was so good. I know something is delicious when my wife and girls all go back for seconds. To get my cast iron pan ripping hot — and avoid the smell in my house — I put it on the barbecue. It worked great and gave a fantastic crust.
Important to note that the sauce is really non-optional and also that it needs time for the flavours to get to know each other — don’t make it right before serving. Thank you.
Family favorite!!! It’s so yummy and quick to make 🙂
This recipe is AMAZING!!! The sear on the burger is SO good, and the mix of textures from all the ingredients is incredible. 10/10 from my husband and me!
I don’t have a cast iron pan. Can I use stainless steel and cook the burgers in a little butter or oil?
definitely! just know that you’ll want the crust to form before trying to flip, otherwise the meat will stick.
Can attest, as a Minnesotan, that this is delish with juicy lucy’s! It was a request from my husband and so I made the patties as I would, prepped the bowls with all the stuff, and then chopped each burger patty and quickly transferred to the bowls and let the cheese ooze out on the bowls. So good!!
I LOVED this dinner!! Everyone enjoyed it, and it was easy to not screw up with kids pulling on my legs /needing help with homework on a busy weeknight. Chefs kiss!
Came across this recipe in a FB video. Made for the first time tonight and I love how easy it was to throw together! My three kids 5y and under gobbled it up without a fuss, including the one who never eats lettuce or tomato. She even said it was one of my most delicious meals ever, haha!
So, on the rotation for future meals.
Thank you!
These burger bowls were delicious! I used ground turkey and it was just as delicious as if I had made it with ground beef. The secret sauce is delish! I do think though the ranch seasoning and butter was a bit too salty so I will probably scale back on that part. Otherwise a great meal that my family loved!
This was delicious, but for anyone relying on the nutrition listed in the recipe, the calories are way, way off.
These were delicious! First time I got my boys to basically eat “salad” because I added more lettuce. So good!
So easy and delicious!! Added this one into our dinner rotation
Love to hear it!
Made these tonight. They were SO easy and everyone actually liked them (which is nearly impossible for my kids). Thank you!
This is a go to recipe in our household now, too! I love how the beef is cooked in chunks and crisped up. So yum!
Easy and delicious, especially in the winter when grilling feels untenable!
I made these (again!) last night, and they were delicious. Thanks for a yummy recipe that is versatile – mine was a bit of a clear-out-the-crisper version, adding a bunch of chopped broccolini and some carrots, spring onion, and celery to the burger meat. I didn’t have fries, so it was served with a toasted bagel on the side. Everyone was happy, and dinner was on the table in 25 minutes!
I used a homemade burger seasoning of smoked paprika, salt, cracked pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and Italian herbs.
I tried to watch the video on the Burger Bowl. After ad after ad and then a Lean Cuisine ad that blocked the entire page, I gave up.
I understand that you need this to offset some cost for you, but wow! Can’t get to your video is almost like a bait and switch. Your advertisers aren’t doing you any good here.
Sara
I made this for my family on Sunday night and it was a hit! A fun change from the typical hamburgers. The sauce is 10/10 – amazing! Definitely becoming a staple meal in our house. Thank you!
Just made this tonight and it was delicious!!! I was skeptical throughout because nothing looked like it was going quite right (esp the meat!). And I used a little less butter and a little less ranch seasoning on the fries, because it seemed like a lot to me. But we all loved it – will definitely make this one again!
Is it only me that the link to the burger seasoning doesn’t work?