If you’re looking for a fun weekend lunch or dinner, congrats! You just found it. These Big Mac Tacos or Smash Burger Tacos are delicious, easy to make and will amaze anyone who eats them. With golden beef, a delicious Big Mac sauce and briny pickles, they’re a happy meal for sure. These delicious big mac tacos are viral for a reason!
How to make Big Mac Tacos (Smash Burger Tacos)
It doesn’t matter if you call them Big Mac Tacos, Smash Burger Tacos ir Big Mac Smash Tacos. Making them is easy and fun. You start by pressing a thin layer of ground beef mixed with salt and black pepper onto a small soft flour tortilla. Avoid using beef patties since they would be too thick. Then, you place that, beef side down, onto a preheated griddle or medium skillet. To smash it, you need something flat about the size of the tortilla. I used a saucepan or you can also use a burger press. You place that on the tortilla and press down, smashing the burger. Cook it for 2-3 minutes, making a delicious golden crust on the beef. After a minute, you will flip the tortilla and place the cheese slices on top as it cooks on the tortilla side. Cover the pan briefly to let the cheese melt and remove from the pan. Serve with iceberg lettuce and chopped pickles. You will fold it in half to give it that classic taco form.
Ingredients for Big Mac Tacos (Smash Burger Tacos)
For these Big Mac Tacos (Smash Burger Tacos) you will need:
- Small flour tortillas. I like to use smaller tortillas for easy eating. I think per person, two of these are a good amount. You can also use corn tortillas if you prefer.
- Ground beef. Of course, Big Mac Tacos or Smash Burger Tacos require ground beef. I like to use 10-15% fat ground beef for juicy burgers.
- American / Sliced cheddar cheese. This cheese melts extremely easily and is perfect for this dish. You can swap for others but mare in mind they will take longer to melt and the tortilla could burn while you wait.
- Iceberg lettuce. This is the classic burger lettuce but here you can go as creative as you like.
- Pickles. I adore pickles, especially dill pickles. They are crunchy and briny bites that perfectly complement the heavier ingredients in the tacos.
How to make Big Mac Sauce
Making Homemade Big Mac sauce is really simple and the result is delicious. There are many variations for this sauce and just changing brands in the ingredients will yield different results. The base for this burger sauce is a mix of mayonnaise and ketchup. You can easily make it in a small bowl. Then, we add a spicy element which in my case it’s hot sauce, in other cases, it could be cayenne pepper. It also needs a bit of vinegar to balance out the heaviness of the mayonnaise. I add vinegar but other people also add a bit of brine from a jar of pickles. It’s a delicious special sauce that adds lots of flavour to the tacos. It’s definitely a fun taco to make!
Tips for great Big Mac Tacos (Smash Burger Tacos)
Since making Big Mac Tacos (Smash Burger Tacos) is a quick process, you need to nail the recipe at every moment. Here are a few tips to get exactly what we’re looking for:
- Preheat your pan. Since the beef is in a thin layer, it needs to be cooked briefly to prevent it from drying out. That means it has to be cooked at high heat to get the burger golden in very little time.
- Smash the tacos. Smashing the tacos with the beef while it’s in the pan makes a flat surface that’s constantly in touch with the pan. This makes a larger surface with a golden colour and plenty of taste.
- Keep them warm in the oven. To keep the tacos warm as you make more, you can keep them in the oven at 120℃/240℉ on a cooling rack so that they don’t go soggy. Try to minimize the time that they’re there.
- Use a fast-melting cheese. When we flip the tacos, we place the slice of cheese on top along with the lid to help it melt. During this time, the tortilla is in contact with the pan getting golden. However, it will burn easily so you need the cheese to melt fast. That’s why American cheddar slices are perfect for the recipe.
Options for variations
This is a Big Mac Tacos recipe that can easily be varied for different tasting results. Once you get the hang of it, I know your brain will immediately start to think of ways to make them in a different way.
- Tortillas. You can use store-bought flour tortillas or make your own. You can also use other types of tortillas such as spinach tortillas, tomato tortillas, spiced tortillas or others. A corn tortilla can be used as well.
- Bread: I have seen versions where instead of using a tortilla, they use a sesame seed bun. They cut the hamburger buns in half across and use a rolling pin to flatten both sides. Then they use that instead of a tortilla! I myself am not a fan of dense bread, but I have to say the sesame seeds look really nice.
- Lettuce. Iceberg lettuce is the classic choice, but other lettuces and leaves can be used, too. Spinach, kale, and rocket will all yield different results in taste.
- Cheese. You can replace the American cheese slices with other easy-melting cheese such as provolone or mozzarella. You can also add blue cheese for a stronger taste.
- Sauce. Big Mac Sauce is amazing, but other sauces you could use include yellow mustard, ketchup, barbecue sauce, ranch dressing, honey mustard and more.
- Add more vegetables. If you want a fresher flavour, you can add chopped tomatoes, red onion or avocado.
- Sides: I served these tacos as is, but you can definitely serve them with french fries for a classic Big Mac side.
Big Mac Tacos (Smash Burger Tacos)
Ingredients
For the Big Mac Sauce
- 3 tbsp mayonnaise
- 3 tbsp ketchup
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar
- ½ tsp Tabasco or your favourite hot sauce
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp mustard
For serving
- 1 iceberg lettuce leaf finely sliced
- 2 tbsp finely chopped dill pickles
For the Big Mac Tacos
- 200 g ground beef (10% fat)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 4 small flour tortillas
- Vegetable oil for cooking
- 8 slices of American cheese / American cheddar
Instructions
For the Big Mac Sauce
- Use a small whisk to mix together all the ingredients in a bowl. Reserve.
For serving
- Have your lettuce and pickles ready before starting with the tacos. The process for the Mac Tacos is really quick and they get cold easily so have everything ready beforehand.
For the Big Mac Tacos (Smash Burger Tacos)
- Mix the ground beef with salt and pepper.
- Press a thin layer of beef onto the tortillas. Have them all ready before you begin cooking.
- Preheat a hot skillet or griddle over high heat. It should be smoking.
- Add a bit of oil to the pan and place one tortilla with the beef side down. Flatten/smash it using a flat surface. I used the bottom of a saucepan. Leave it there for 1-2 minutes and then flip.
- Place two cheese slices on top of the beef and place a lid on for 30 seconds to help the cheese melt.
- Remove it from the pan and repeat with all the tacos. To keep them warm, you can keep them in the oven at 120℃/240℉ on a cooling rack so that they don't go soggy.
- Serve with the lettuce, Big Mac Sauce and pickles.
20 comments
I am on keto so I made some adjustments to make this recipe work for my diet. Boy I am glad that I did. This turned out amazing. It taste as good as it looks !!!@
What adjustments did you make to your recipe to make it keto friendly?
Here’s what I did: use zero carb thousand Island dressing (Walden farms)
4 low carb tortillas (mission carb balance)
Dill relish
1/2 lb ground beef
4 slices cheddar
Two tacos would be 10 grams net carbs. So… 5 net carbs each taco.
How do these reheat?
Hi! not very well to be honest! They’re best eaten inmediately
Love the recipe!
Amazing recipe!!! 😀
So Good! Very easy, I used shredded cheddar. Do you happen to know the nutrition breakdown for these?
Hi Shelby! Glad you liked them 🙂 No, don’t have the nutritional info, sorry!
Turned out great!
great recipie. i burnt the meat though
Great recipie!!! The kids loved it and I will definitely be making it again.
Delicious, quick, and easy
Hi Lorena. Greetings from France.
The result was so good and tasty; I think I had the same face expression as you had tasting those tacos!
Very easy, very good. Thanks a lot !
I just discovered your blog yesterday, and there are so many dishes I want to cook!!!
Welcome Lucas!! I’m glad you liked them!! 🙂
what size tortilla shell did you use? I made these before but think the shells I used were too large (way more shell than meat LOL)…..
I love these things though and they’re on the menu for this week’s dinner options. Just curious what shells you used. I previously used mission soft taco size but am gonna try the fajita size for this go around.
Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Jenn! They were 20cm/8in in diameter 🙂
they were so delicious and tasty.. I tried these tacos last night and yummmmmm
very tasty indeed!!!!
I cooked the patties on one side and flipped it before putting the cheese and tortilla on, but let me tell you, these were fantastic!! We used the call low carb tortillas to make it really low carb!