Big Mac flavour, no drive-through: lean beef and a homemade special sauce over rice, with shredded lettuce and tomato. One bowl is 29g of protein for 415 calories — and the same components make a “Mac wrap.”

That special sauce is just yogurt, a little mayo, ketchup, pickles and mustard — batch it and keep it in the fridge.

Ingredients

  • For the rice
  • Brown rice — ½ cup dry [P 7 C 73 F 3]
  • Water (or broth) — 1 cup
  • Salt — for the rice
  • For the beef
  • Ground beef — 227 g (1 cup, 95% lean) [P 50 C 0 F 11]
  • Onion — 1 small, sliced
  • Olive oil — 1 tsp (or spray)
  • Salt, pepper — to taste
  • For the mac sauce
  • Fat-free plain Greek yogurt — ¼ cup [P 6 C 2 F 0]
  • Light mayo or Miracle Whip — 2 tbsp [P 0 C 1 F 8]
  • Sugar-free ketchup — 1 tbsp
  • Chopped pickles (or relish) — 2 tbsp
  • Mustard — 2 tsp
  • Apple cider vinegar — 2 tsp
  • Garlic powder, onion powder, paprika — to taste
  • For the toppings
  • Tomato — 1 medium, diced
  • Lettuce or spinach — 1 cup, chopped

Method

  1. Cook the rice. Simmer in 1 cup salted water, covered, ~25 minutes.
  2. Make the sauce. Combine all the mac-sauce ingredients.
  3. Cook the beef. Brown with the onion 6–8 minutes.
  4. Build. Fold the sauce through the rice (or leave it on top), add beef, then tomato and lettuce.

What to eat it with

  • As a Mac wrap: load into 2 large tortillas with lettuce and tomato, fold and toast.
  • As a low-carb salad: skip the rice, pile on shredded lettuce.
  • Big Mac poutine: over fries.

Variations

  • Any ground meat: turkey works.
  • Cheesy: a little low-fat cheese.
  • Extra pickles in the bowl.

Honest notes

  • Fibre: about 4g a serving, from the rice and veg.
  • Beef note: 95% lean keeps the 11g fat honest.
  • Macros: reconcile with the per-serving 415 cal / 29g protein listed; the mac-wrap version varies slightly.