This Light, Flavorful Bowl Reinvents The Classic Burger — And It's Perfect Any Night Of The Week

The first bite of a juicy burger is enough to invite a sense of nostalgia and comfort in addition to great taste. With so many unique ways to prepare a burger, it's an easy weeknight or anytime meal that you can fully customize with all your favorite flavors. When you want to lighten up your eats and take your handheld down to a fork-able food, transform a basic burger into a lush mushroom burger bowl with special sauce.

This simple recipe requires both minimal ingredients and effort to come together for a filling and hearty meal. Starting with a batch of cooked mushrooms and ground beef, this burger-turned-salad utilizes standard buns as croutons and a mixture of ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise for a dressing inspired by secret special sauces at restaurants. Using lettuce, tomato, avocado, pickles, and onions for the bowl's base, the meal is built by piling the beef, croutons, and sauce on top for a deconstructed take on a typical burger sandwich.

One of the best things about this recipe is how you can use it as a jumping-off point for your own variations. While the flavors of the mushroom burger bowl err towards a classic American-style burger, you can absolutely change up the taste, texture, and ingredients to suit your preferences. The recipe certainly lends itself to plant-based and vegetarian-friendly varieties, as well as using other burger toppings taken from a range of different cuisines.

Building a burger bowl is simply a matter of leaning into the flavors you love the most and choosing complementary toppings, sauces, and other ingredients. For those who are fond of a lettuce-wrapped burger, this serving style takes the mess out of enjoying it as a handheld, allowing you to ditch the lettuce in favor of other leafy ingredients.

A bowl of spinach, chard, or kale can make an ideal base for your burger bowl. Mixing a few different styles of lettuce and greens together will also keep the taste and texture more varied and interesting. This also opens up the possibilities of adding other vegetables to your burger bowl for extra nutrients. Try pickled vegetables for a bit of crunch or even a couple of forkfuls of kimchi.

As far as your protein goes, while a classic burger is usually made with ground beef, you can get creative with ground turkey, lamb, or even plant-based crumbles to suit your dietary needs. Even a mixture of lentils and cooked mushrooms will do the trick. Dress your burger bowl with a lighter vinaigrette, your favorite salad dressing, or a store-bought copycat special sauce. You can choose to use burger bun croutons or skip the extra bread altogether in favor of other crunchy toppings, including onion straws, garlic chips, or a hearty sprinkle of both. Try a crumble of feta or bleu cheese on top for more briny and earthy notes. This will quickly become a go-to weeknight dinner.