October 19, 2012

Vegan Big Mac Recipe


OH YES WE DID! We created a VEGAN Big Mac burger!

Jerome and I were driving to the fruit and veg market the other day and we drove past a McDonalds fast food restaurant. I thought of how crazy it would be to make a vegan version of the popular Big Mac burger. So I decided to make one as close to the taste of the original as possible. I thought that if I made a really easy vegan version, people may start making their own "Veggie Macs" at home.  The more veggie macs that are made at home results in less real Big Macs being purchased. What an exciting thought hehe! Not only is this burger healthier and yummier than the original, it is also extremely easy and crazily filling! What a great way to impress your dinner guests with a vegan Big Mac! I would absolutely love for you to try this recipe and tell me what you think. If you are like me and have one meal a week where you can eat whatever you want, why not try your own fast food meal? You could even make some yummy oven-roasted chippies to go with it! Hope you all have a lovely day :) Have a look at the photo at the top of the page... Jerome is a photography genius! It looks so real weeee! ^-^


serves 2

Vegan Big Mac Sauce (Makes 1/2 cup):
   75g silken firm tofu
   ¼ tablespoon water
   ¼ teaspoon salt
   ¼ tablespoon lemon juice
   1 ¾ teaspoons brown sugar
   2 teaspoons dijon mustard
   ¼ tablespoon olive oil
   1 ¼ teaspoons white vinegar
   1 ½ tablespoons French dressing
   3 teaspoons pickle/gherkin relish

    ½ tablespoon finely minced white onion*

Other:
   4 soft bread rolls (2 used for the whole roll and 2 used only for the bottom half)
   1 gherkin, thinly cut into 8 slices
   2 tablespoons minced white onion*
   1 cup thinly sliced iceberg lettuce
   2 vegan cheese slices (I used Toffuti American Cheese Slices)


Veggie Burger (Makes 4 patties):
   1 yellow onion
   2 cloves garlic
   1 tablespoon oil plus 4 more tablespoons for frying
   1 can chickpeas 400g , drained
   1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
   2 1/2 cups tightly packed breadcrumbs
   2 tablespoons barbeque sauce
   ½ teaspoon salt
   ¾ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper


  1. Make the Big Mac sauce – Add all the sauce ingredients except for the minced onion and pickle relish to a bowl or blender and blend until combined. Stir in the minced onion and pickled relish. Taste and add more seasoning if needed. Set aside.
  2. Make the veggie burgers - In a food processor, add all veggie burger patty ingredients and process until roughly combined. Divide the mixture into four parts and roll each into a well-combined ball. Flatten the balls with your hands as flat as you can make them. Add one patty to a fry pan on high heat with one tablespoon of oil and fry for a couple of minutes on each side until browned and crispy on the outside. Repeat this for each veggie patty. Once all patties have been fried, set them aside.
  3. Cut 2 bread rolls in half and set aside. With the two remaining bread rolls, cut them in half and discard the top layer. Keep the two bottom layers for the middle layer of your final burgers. So now you will have two top layers and four bottom layers to use.
  4. Layer your burger – Add one bread roll base layer to a plate, top with 1 ½ tablespoons big mac sauce, ¼ cup lettuce, 1 layer of cheese, one veggie patty, ½ tablespoon onion, 2 pickle slices, then add another bottom layer, top with 1 ½ tablespoons big mac sauce, ¼ cup lettuce, 1 veggie patty, ½ tablespoon minced onion, 2 pickle slices and add the top of the bun. There you have your veggie mac burger! Repeat this step for the other burger.
  5. Serve immediately!

  • Note: this recipe is trying to imitate the popular McDonalds Big Mac burger so it does contain quite a bit of salt to mimic the taste. Feel free to cut down the salt to your own liking. On that note, cut down the oil content too if you want a healthier dish.
  • *Use a fresh white onion. A fresh onion will taste way better raw.
  • Yes this is not an overly healthy recipe, but it is a great alternative to fast food if you are craving a greasy burger!
  • If your bottom bread roll layer is too thick, slightly trim it so it can be a thinner middle layer.
  • If your Big Mac sauce doesn't taste too much like Big Mac sauce, i find that adding more and more dijon mustard and gherkin relish helps to attain the original flavour. 
  • Toffuti American Cheese Slices can be purchase from selected Woolworths stores and some health food stores... they are delicious on this burger!
  • To make the Big Mac sauce easier, you could just use 1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise and add the dijon mustard, minced onion and gherkin relish until you attain the original flavour.

48 comments :

  1. Your recipes are amazing! I get so excited to see your new recipe posts and this one is great! I used to love McDonalds double cheeseburgers (the thought of eating one now just grosses me out!!). This is so fun and creative...and I know my meat eating hubby will love it!

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    1. Hi Kori! Naw thanks for your comment. You made me smile :) I am glad that you like all of our posts. Hehe I hope your husband will love it! You should make it for him :)

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  2. Wow, that picture makes it look like the real thing - not sure whether I should drool or be completely disgusted!

    All joking aside, I must admit that I did have a huge McDonald's addiction before going vegan so I may need to make this recipe one day, just for old time's sake.

    BTW congrats on being on the front page of Finding Vegan!

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    1. Hello,

      I know, it is a bit scary isn't it? Hahah! The picture looks so real.

      Thank you! Finding Vegan is such an awesome site. It is always nice to be published there :)

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  3. We make this at home too. I love that we can mimic the taste without the horror associated with it. I love your recipe and think your picture is awesome! Keep up the harmless work! lol

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  4. I love veggie burgers! To me they taste better than meat-based ones. When my boyfriend was a meat-eater he liked them better too)

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  5. I've never eaten a Big Mac in my life, but I would LOVE to eat this!

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  6. I can't imagine eating that whole thing in one sitting, but a single-decker version of a vegan Big Mac sounds good!

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  7. Sounds good, but if you believe this will lead to people eating fewer of the real Big Macs, you are sadly mistaken. The two are not substitutes.

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    1. Thanks Karen... it is a bit interesting, isn't it? Hehe :D

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  9. Thank you for his... I made it tonight!!
    First I must tell you that your recipe was spot-on and your instructions were so clear. I just followed what you said and had no problems. I just used half an onion, not a whole, for the patties.

    The secret to enjoying this meal is the sauce, mmmmm.
    We loved it. A lot of fun for dinner.

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    1. Hi Shea!
      Thanks so much for your feedback. I love hearing that others enjoy my recipes. This is definitely one of my favourite burgers now :) Have a lovely day!

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  10. I was totally craving some kind of junk food today. I googled this and I made it this evening. I used wholemeal buns though and I didn't actually follow the recipe for the sauce but it still tasted so much like a big mac to me. I have only been vegan for a couple of years so I have found it hard to refrain from craving the foods of old. Anyway even my three year old son was dancing and singing while he was eating this. I use my own vegan mayo and my own ketchup to make a thousand island dressing and used the vegan cheese slices and everything else mentioned.

    I am so happy to have found this recipe!!! thank you

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    1. Hello Edina! I am so happy that you enjoyed it :) I really enjoy it as well. Your three year old son sounds so cute and happy that he was eating it hehe :)

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  11. Made this tonight and it was delicious!! I've never had a big mac so I've no idea how they compare taste wise. But the taste I recall from Maccy Ds as a kid was the barbecue sauce so this was yummy! The only problem I had was they were really soft and squished in the bun but I think if I'd let the patties stand in the fridge before frying they'd have been fine. A recipe I'll certainly be making again!

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    1. Hi Jessica! Oh thank you so much for your feedback. I love to hear how it went for others :) I am not sure why it was too soft for you... Mine stick together really well... refrigerating may help! :)

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  12. I made this again yesterday and it was even better than the last time I made it!!! Great recipe!!!

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    1. Hello! I am so happy that you enjoyed it because I LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE it!!! hehehe :D

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  13. I am DEFINITELY trying this one out. I love me a big mac and will hate to give them up when I go vegan. Now I get the best of both worlds! : )

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    1. Hehe you definitely will! I absolutely love it... so delicious :)

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  14. Does the tofu taste come out? I haaate how tofu tastes. And I was thinking about recommending it to non-veg* friends to lessen the slaughter, but doubt they would go for it if it's tofu-y.

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    1. Hello! I cannot taste the tofu in our mayonnaise at all. I serve it to non-vegans all the time and don't say anything... they never say bad things and always ask where I purchase my mayo from ;) Hehehe. Some silken tofu's taste stronger than others. So purchase one that you like the taste of. But I can never taste it :)

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  15. THIS WAS AWESOME. I can now say goodbye to my big mac cravings. so happy right now

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  16. Making this right now,so excited. Even though is greasy it's healthier and with ingredients we made our selves,less the preservatives that makes mc lasts 2 years eww, but most of all,for the animals. Thank you for sharing!

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  17. Just to let you know we've made this now several times and it's FANTASTIC!!! LOve all of you e-books as well.

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    1. Yay! I am so so so glad that you enjoyed it :) We love it too!

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  18. i love you!
    its the best sand VEGAN i ever had,totally compassionated

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  19. This looks amazing!
    Was just wondering though, would it be possible to bake the burger patty rather than fry it or would it not work quite as well?
    Thanks

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    1. I have never tried it but I would love to hear how it goes :) Thanks so much!

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  20. My boyfriend went vegan with me recently and has been telling me he has been craving cheeseburgers and I think this is the perfect solution, bless you this looks amazing, I love being able to have all the familiar comforting flavors without the bad stuff associated with real fast food. Wonderful, cannot wait to try this!

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    1. Hehe thank you! We LOVEEEEE this recipe... I am sure he will too :)

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  21. We made this last weekend. The recipe made WAY too much burger mix, and it was really dry and crumbly. We ended up adding egg replacer and almond milk to bind it together. End result was still a bit dry, but delicious nonetheless. The sauce was SPOT ON!!! We will definitely make this again, with some modifications. Thank you for pioneering this wonderful recipe!

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    1. Hello! Oh I wonder why it was dry and crumbly? We have only ever had wonderful reviews about it!

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  22. I made this last night and it was fantastic. Followed your recipe to the T and it was amazing. Spot on!

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  23. I can't believe how good this was (and similar tasting), but waaaay better. Even my carnivore husband liked it! You are very talented to be able to come up with a burger like that. I wouldn't even know where to start!

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  24. Hi Madison! I am planning on making this soon and I was wondering if you had a brand of pickle/gherkin relish you could recommend. I live in Australia so I should be able to get anything you suggest. Thanks!! Really looking forward to trying this and many other things from your site

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