Prep time: 40 min Cook time: 50 min Rest time: 10 mins Total time: 1 hr 40 min
Makes: 4 bowls
Make it…
Paleo and Dairy-Free: Serve without raw cheese
Carnivore: Top with Duck Fat Mayonnaise (Carnivore variation) instead of Tomato-Free Thousand Island Dressing; serve without iceberg lettuce, pickles, and kabocha squash
Zero Carb and Sugar-Free: Make the Tomato-Free Thousand Island Dressing without honey; serve without kabocha squash
With grass-fed beef, sugar-free bacon, crispy kabocha squash, raw cheese, pickles, iceberg lettuce, and a drizzle of Tomato-Free Thousand Island Dressing, these Loaded Burger Bowls will make you forget you ever needed a bun to eat a burger.
What you need to make Loaded Burger Bowls
Ingredients:
For the Tomato-Free Thousand Island Dressing:
- Duck fat
- Eggs (ASHLEY20 for 20% off)
- Lemon
- Apple cider vinegar
- Dijon mustard
- Sea salt (ASHLEYR for 15% off)
- Manuka honey (ASHLEYR for 10% off)
- Minced dill pickles or relish
For the Burger Bowls:
- Ground beef
- Bacon
- Grass-fed ghee (or butter)
- Raw cheese (ASHLEY20 for 20% off)
- Kabocha squash
- Iceberg lettuce
- Pickles
- Sea salt (ASHLEYR for 15% off)
Equipment:
How to make Loaded Burger Bowls
To start – make the Tomato-Free Thousand Island Dressing.
Use this recipe. Store the dressing in the fridge until you’re ready to use it.
Next – pan fry the kabocha squash.
Dice the kabocha squash into 1/2 inch x 1/2 inch pieces.
Measure out 3-4 cups and store the rest away.
Place 1 tbsp of ghee in your cooking pan and bring to medium-high heat.
Once the pan is hot, add the kabocha squash. Sauté for about 5-7 minutes, stirring the squash every 30-60 seconds. Kabocha squash burns easily, so don’t forget to rotate it. The goal is to get it browned and crispy without burning it. When you see the brown color coming up the sides of the squash, rotate it. Even just 15-30 seconds too long without rotating the squash can burn it.
When the kabocha squash is done, salt it to taste. Remove it from the pan and place it in a bowl to cool.
Chop up the bacon into thin slivers (like 1/4 inch x 1 inch).
At medium heat, cook the bacon.
Once the bacon is cooked to your liking, remove it from the pan and place it on a plate to cool.
Add the ground beef to the pan with the bacon fat.
Cook the ground beef in the bacon fat until browned, and salt it to taste.
Next – chop the cheese and iceberg lettuce.
Chop the raw cheese into cubes and the iceberg lettuce into thin slivers.
Now – put it all together.
In each burger bowl, place the beef, bacon, raw cheese cubes, kabocha squash, and chopped lettuce.
Garnish with fresh pickles and drizzle with Tomato-Free Thousand Island Dressing.
Enjoy! These bowls are best enjoyed fresh, although leftovers can be stored in the fridge and are good for 1-2 days.
Tips to make the best Loaded Burger Bowls
For the Tomato-Free Thousand Island Dressing:
- For almost all of my sauce recipes, I recommend storing them in a condiment squeeze bottle. The pickles/relish in this one clog the opening and prevent the sauce from squeezing out of the bottle, so store in an airtight container instead.
For the Burger Bowls:
- Kabocha squash burns quickly at medium-high heat. When sauteing the squash, make sure you rotate it frequently. The goal is to get to a nice golden brown color and not burn it. When you see the brown color coming up the sides of the squash, rotate it. Even just 15-30 seconds too long without rotating the squash can burn it.
Some more of my favorite dinner ideas:
Cobb ‘Salad’ with Duck Fat Ranch Dressing
Loaded Burger Bowls
Loaded Burger Bowls
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Tomato-Free Thousand Island Dressing:
- 1.25 cups Duck Fat Mayonnaise
- 3 tsp raw honey (local or Manuka - ASHLEYR for 10% off)
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 4 tbsp minced dill pickles (or relish; I used relish)
- sea salt, to taste (ASHLEYR for 15% off)
For the Burger Bowls:
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 12 strips bacon
- 1 tbsp grass-fed ghee (or butter)
- 1 block raw cheese
- 3-4 cups kabocha squash
- 1/4-1/2 head iceberg lettuce
- 12-16 pickles (3-4 per bowl)
- sea salt, to taste (ASHLEYR for 15% off)
Instructions
- If you’re interested solely in the recipe, skip this bullet point and keep on reading. For those interested in sourcing nutrient-dense food, low-toxic household products, and discounts on brands that may support your AB journey, you may find value in my product guides. Head over to this page if you’d like to check them out. All are free (and always will be).
Make the Tomato-Free Thousand Island Dressing.
- Use this recipe. Store the dressing in the fridge until you're ready to use it.
Pan fry the kabocha squash.
- Dice the kabocha squash into 1/2 inch x 1/2 inch pieces.
- Measure out 3-4 cups and store the rest away.
- Place 1 tbsp of ghee in your cooking pan and bring to medium-high heat.
- Once the pan is hot, add the kabocha squash. Sauté for about 5-7 minutes, stirring the squash every 30-60 seconds. Kabocha squash burns easily, so don't forget to rotate it. The goal is to get it browned and crispy without burning it. When you see the brown color creeping up the sides of the squash, rotate it. Even just 15-30 seconds too long without rotating the squash can burn it.
- When the kabocha squash is done, salt (ASHLEYR for 15% off) it to taste. Remove it from the pan and place it in a bowl to cool.
- Note: if you go through tons of salt in your household like we do, check out this salt purchasing hack that will save you money + make things more efficient. We started this last year, and I'm so happy we did!
Cook the bacon + beef.
- Chop up the bacon into thin slivers (like 1/4 inch x 1 inch).
- At medium heat, cook the bacon.
- Once the bacon is cooked to your liking, remove it from the pan and place it on a plate to cool.
- Add the ground beef to the pan with the bacon fat.
- Cook the ground beef in the bacon fat until browned, and salt it to taste.
Chop the cheese and iceberg lettuce.
- Chop the raw cheese (ASHLEY20 for 20% off) into cubes and the iceberg lettuce into thin slivers.
Put it all together.
- In each burger bowl, place the beef, bacon, raw cheese (ASHLEY20 for 20% off) cubes, kabocha squash, and chopped lettuce.
- Garnish with fresh pickles and drizzle with Tomato-Free Thousand Island Dressing.
- Enjoy! These bowls are best enjoyed fresh, although leftovers can be stored in the fridge and are good for 1-2 days.
What I used for this recipe:
Looking for other dinner ideas? Try one of these:
Cobb ‘Salad’ with Duck Fat Ranch Dressing
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Ashley Rothstein develops tasty, whole food, animal-based recipes that include a moderate amount of “minimally toxic” plant foods. To fix her own health issues, she bounced around between the carnivore, keto, and paleo diets for a few years. After experiencing and studying each diet philosophy, she learned she feels her best by merging the three and following an animal-based diet. As a glut at heart, she likes to channel her creativity and create meals that are healthy but also satisfy her inner gluttonous spirits.
I am a mom to five tiny humans so having meals that are nutrient dense and protein rich is important for me. Making that easy is even better since I have to bust them out between nursing sessions. I didn’t have the squash so I opted to not substitute it. I added a bit of our pasture pork to the beef for the Vit D rich lard. I will be making this again and again and again.
Author
FIVE tiny humans? Supermom! So glad that you enjoyed these bowls. 🙂
I needed this recipe SO BADLY! I’ve been eating a more animal-based diet for 2 months now and I desperately needed some variety. This recipe was ALL THAT and more. It reminded me of a Big Mac in a bowl… and a healthy one at that. This will definitely be added to the weekly rotation.
Such a great recipe! Especially for a big family of people who are varying degrees of carnivore 🙂 I set out all the toppings and everyone could build their own burger bowl the way they like it! The Tomato-Free Thousand Island Dressing puts it over the top delish!!
Oh my god these are SO GOOD!! I want thirds lol