Want to make the perfect Big Mac Sauce to top your burgers with? Look no further! I can show you how to make the perfect copycat McDonald’s Special Sauce at home.
Big Mac Sauce
McDonald’s Big Mac Sauce is creamy, full of flavor, a little tangy, and lightly sweet (not to mention downright delicious).
Even better, it’s so easy to make with standard pantry ingredients.
This DIY McDonald’s Special Sauce comes together in just a few minutes, so it’s easy to fit in while you’re grilling to make the perfect burgers at home.
This homemade sauce is the closest thing you’ll taste to a substitute for McDonald’s signature sauce (and honestly, I actually like the homemade version better!).
Some people think that Coles Special Burger Sauce tastes a lot like Big Mac Sauce. I prefer the McDonald’s version, so that’s what this recipe is based off of.
What Is Big Mac Sauce Made Of?
Mayonnaise: The base of this sauce is mayonnaise. It’s the perfect creamy base, but I recommend using a good quality one. The quality of the mayonnaise will definitely affect the overall flavor of the sauce. I use the Kirkland brand from Costco. I wouldn’t recommend using Miracle Whip (unless you prefer a sweeter flavor profile).
Relish: Sweet pickle relish adds the perfect amount of sweetness to this sauce. I prefer sweet pickle relish to dill pickle relish. Not only does it perfectly sweeten the sauce, but you also don’t end up with a grainy texture from sugar like you would if you were to sweeten the sauce with granulated sugar.
Onion: Using grated onion is one of the tricks to make this sauce absolutely perfect! Grating the onion makes it melt in your mouth and helps it kind of disappear into the sauce. It creates such a better texture and flavor than mincing it does.
Mustard: Yellow mustard is the way to go for this sauce. It adds the perfect amount of acid and tartness to balance out the other flavors.
Spices: A combination of paprika, onion powder, fine sea salt, and garlic powder creates the perfect flavor profile in this sauce. You might think it’s surprising to use both grated fresh onion and onion powder, but they add different flavors and the combination is really amazing in this sauce.
Vinegar: I find that the vinegar in the mustard is enough for me, so I normally omit the white vinegar. Even though I prefer this sauce without vinegar, if you want it to taste more identical to the actual Big Mac sauce you’ll probably want to include it. I’d recommend starting with 1/2 teaspoon of white vinegar. After that, add 1/4 teaspoon of vinegar at a time until you get the taste you like. 1 teaspoon should be the max you would need.
Optional: I love this sauce as-is, but if you want to kick it up a notch with some spice, feel free to add some sriracha or creamy horseradish sauce.
How To Make It
This is such a simple recipe to throw together in a hurry. Just measure out the different ingredients into a bowl, and stir to combine. You can eat it right away, but I think the sauce tastes better after it’s had some time to let the flavors mingle in the fridge.
Is Big Mac Sauce Thousand Island Dressing?
McDonald’s Big Mac Sauce is similar to Thousand Island dressing, but they’re not the same. Thousand Island dressing normally incorporates ketchup, while a lot of Big Mac Sauce recipes incorporate French dressing. French dressing gives it a bit of a tangier flavor than ketchup does.
This copycat recipe is made without French dressing because the tangy flavor comes from the mustard and optional white vinegar, and the spices add all the flavor.
Does Big Mac Sauce Have Ketchup?
This recipe is made without ketchup. Some other recipes use ketchup, but I find that it makes the flavor too sweet.
What To Use Big Mac Sauce On
The classic way to use this sauce is on a burger to make your own Big Mac. Just smear it across the bottom bun before you add the burger patty and the rest of your toppings.
Even though I normally use it for burgers, it really tastes great on pretty much any sandwich. I love adding it to fried chicken sandwiches. It’s not quite the same as a McChicken, but it’s still delicious!
You could also use it as a dipping sauce for dipping fries, chicken nuggets, or onion rings.
It even makes a delicious salad dressing. This is especially true if you’re making a Big Mac salad. Just use it the way you would use Thousand Island Dressing.
Keep In Touch
I’d love to hear what you thought of this recipe in the comments or on Instagram! @KeyToMyLime #KeyToMyLime
Copycat Sauce Recipes
If you like this recipe, be sure to check out all of our copycat recipes. Some of our reader favorite sauce recipes are:
BEST Copycat Big Mac Sauce Recipe
Want to make the perfect Big Mac Sauce to top your burgers with? Look no further! I can show you how to make the perfect copycat McDonald's Special Sauce at home.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 2 Tablespoons sweet pickle relish
- 1 Tablespoon grated yellow onion (with juices)
- 2 teaspoons yellow mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar (optional, see notes)*
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Grate the onion using a box grater. Be sure to use any juices that accumulate with the onion.
- In a small bowl, mix all ingredients together.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge.
Notes
*I prefer this sauce without vinegar, but if you want it to taste more identical to the actual Big Mac sauce, then I’d recommend starting with 1/2 teaspoon of white vinegar. After that, add 1/4 teaspoon of vinegar at a time until you get the taste you like. 1 teaspoon should be the max you would need.
Nutrition Information:
Serving Size:
1/8Amount Per Serving: Calories: 101Total Fat: 10.4gCarbohydrates: 1.9gFiber: 0.2gSugar: 1.3gProtein: 0.3g
Nutrition information isn’t always accurate.
Now that you know how to make Copycat Big Mac Sauce, I hope you enjoy making your own!
26 thoughts on “Big Mac Sauce Recipe”
I love this sauce. Thank you for the recipe. I think actual big Mac sauce calls for ketchup rather than mustard. But it’s the mustard that makes me like this recipe better. I don’t really care for ketchup.
Awesome sauce the vinegar is what makes it and I hate onions but this is really good. Thank you
Do a google search for McDonald’s Head Chef makes Big Mac Sauce – video. There is NO ketchup. The copycat recipe is dead on.
I totally agree
Wow! I had to improvise with a couple ingredients and it was still amazing! I only had 1/4 cup mayo, rest was non fat plain Greek yogurt with maybe 1/2 tsp sugar. Then I didn’t have yellow mustard, only Dijon. I could have scaled back since it has a stronger flavor, but we liked the extra zing. Thanks for the recipe! It has been saved in our household
There is no ketchup in Big Mac sauce. The redness comes from the paprika.
Thank you for posting this. The real big mac sauce has no tomato in it, and yours is the first copycat one i’ve found that way. I’m allergic to tomato so i’m very glad to find this. Can’t wait to make it at home.
I have looked up a few different Big Mac copy cat recipes, and u must say this one I really love. Thanks for sharing this recipe 🙂
I Made this sauce for my family today to go with the Big Mac in a Bowl …..It was a Huge Hit!!! We are doing Low Carb so I substituted the sweet relish with dill relish and it was still wonderful! Thank You!
I tried this recipe. I was out of mustard (crime against humanity). Then remembered I had Colman’s Dry Mustard in the spice cupboard. Used that with the optional white vinegar. Squisita!!
I was thinking I should use mustard powder too. I’m going to make this for my son tomorrow
I made this last night. I thought it was spot on. (I did use Vinegar in mine) My family loved it. Super easy to make.
Outstanding and dead on. We used apple cider vinegar in place of white vinegar and you can’t tell the difference. Next step is to perfect our home made mayo so we can actually have a healthy organic Big Mac anytime we want, thank you so much!!!
This is by far the best, and the closest recipe that I have found that actually tastes like Big Mac Sauce. So good. Thank you!!!!
Wow!! It’s way better than the Big Mac sauce. I omitted the vinegar and added a little bit more of sweet relish. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe!
Excellent! Followed recipe exactly including vinegar and literally have not enjoyed a homemade burger that much in ages. Big hit with the family.
WOW! Made this today and it is exactly like Big Mac sauce. Thank you
I am not the the biggest fan of a big mac so I did this more for my husband. I thought the taste was a little too Mayonnaise heavy when I tasted it at first, but when it was on the burger, Wow! A whole other taste sensation. I would definitely recommend it.
Spot on TY
Turned out pretty good. The only changes I made was I used Guldens instead of yellow mustard, because that’s what I had on hand; and instead of grated onion I rehydrated some dried onions and just used a bit of the leftover water from that. Oh, and I used regular salt.
This sauce was amazing! Thanks for the recipe! I will be making this again and again. My intention was to make a salad with this sauce for my burger, but the sauce was so dang good, I just ate my burger with the sauce. No time for buns or salad. I have already told all my friends to run and make this sauce!!
I found this recipe and made the sauce, it was so spot on I decided to do a thing to bring to a party. Instead of making burgers, I scrambles some hamburger, grated lettuce, minced fresh onion, chopped pickles and made my now very infamous big mac wraps. yup, used large pita wraps, and layered everything, wrapped ’em up and brought a bunch to a party. Huge Hit! Big Mac Wraps! This sauce made them a hit. TY
Hi!
I didn’t have relish or white vinegar and my sauce was not tasting like Mac sauce with them so decided to add ketchup (ketchup contains sugar to make up for the relish and vinegar to make up for the white vinegar) and taste is spot on.
This was delicious! I made it vegan with vegan mayo. I only had dill relish so I added just a squirt of ketchup to add some sweetness—perfection!! Thank you!
I have tried a lot of different big mac sauce recipes and this one is by far the best! Made as listed, including vinegar, and the whole family was blown away by how good it was. Will definitely make this again. Thanks for creating this recipe!
I made this using very finely diced onion, dill relish, only1 tsp yellow mustard &1 tsp kerchup , regular salt, and apple cider vinegar. I also used whipped salad dressing spread instead of mayo! It was spot on, and brought back memories, pre gluten free dietary restrictions. I have not had a big Mac in years because I believe the Big Mac sauce contains gluten. Using my own gluten free bun, I was able to enjoy a Big Mac once again! Thanks for the recipe!