Few sauces are as recognisable as the one on the world’s most famous double-decker burger. Thousands of people in the UK search for a Big Mac sauce recipe every month, and a good chunk of them are takeaway owners trying to recreate that flavour on their own menu.
There is a reason it works so well. It is sweet, tangy, creamy and full of relish, and it sits perfectly against thin beef patties, melted cheese, shredded lettuce and onion. Get a sauce in that style right and your double-decker burger sells itself.
This guide gives you a Big Mac-style sauce recipe you can make at home or in a kitchen, explains what makes that flavour tick, and shows how takeaways use ready-made burger sauces to get there faster and more consistently.
A quick note before we start: Big Mac is a registered trademark of McDonald’s. BurgerPro has no connection with McDonald’s, and nothing here is their recipe. We use “Big Mac-style” to describe a familiar flavour, nothing more.
The sauce on that famous burger is often described as a “special sauce”, and most copycat versions agree on the broad shape of it: a creamy, mayonnaise-based dressing, sweetened, with a noticeable pickle relish and a little tang.
Compared with a standard pink burger sauce, a Big Mac-style sauce usually has:
The result is creamier and sweeter than most burger sauces, and less sharp than a mustard sauce.
This recipe makes a small batch, enough for around 8 to 10 burgers. Treat it as a starting point and adjust the sweetness and tang to suit your customers.
It will keep in the fridge for a short time in a sealed container. Because it is mayonnaise-based, label it with the date it was made, keep it chilled, and use it within the time your food safety plan allows.
A few things trip people up when they try to make a copycat Big Mac-style sauce at home.
Using too much ketchup. Many people assume the secret sauce needs plenty of it, but too much turns the sauce pink and sweet in the wrong way. You only need a teaspoon or so for colour and a hint of tomato.
Skipping the relish. Chopped gherkin alone gives sharpness but not the sweet crunch that defines this style. Sweet pickle relish is doing a lot of the work.
Serving it straight away. Freshly mixed, it tastes of its separate ingredients. An hour in the fridge pulls it together.
Making too much at once. A big batch of homemade mayonnaise-based sauce is a food safety risk if it is not used quickly. Make what you will use, or switch to a ready-made sauce once demand is steady.
Homemade is great for a weekend at home. In a takeaway doing hundreds of burgers a week, it creates a prep job, a consistency problem and a food safety job you could do without.
That is why most burger bars start with a ready-made burger sauce in the same family and, if they want a signature twist, add one ingredient on top.
Nawhal’s Biggy Burger is the closest fit for a Big Mac-style build. Nawhal’s describes it as giving you the impression of being in your favourite fast-food restaurant, with a pearly colour, a creamy texture and plenty of pickles and small onions. It is not anyone else’s recipe, but it is made for exactly this kind of burger.
It comes in every format a takeaway needs: 350ml, 500ml and 950ml tubs, a 5L BiBox, a 10L bucket and 10ml sticks for delivery.
Colona Big Burger is a creamy, slightly sweet, pale sauce with gherkins. It is a little sweeter and smoother than Biggy Burger, and a good option if your counter already runs on Colona formats. It comes in 500ml and 850ml tubs, a 2 x 4L BiBox, a 10L bucket and 10ml sticks.
If you want your sauce to feel like a house special, add one thing to a ready-made base:
Our post on creating a signature burger sauce goes into this in more detail. For an overview of the whole burger sauce family, read what is burger sauce.
The sauce is only half of it. The famous build that this style of sauce belongs to has a few distinctive features that are easy to copy in your own way.
Two thin beef patties rather than one thick one. Thin patties cook fast and give more surface for the sauce and cheese. HMC 100% Smash Burgers 15 x 57g (2oz) are ideal, or the HMC 100% Beefburger 48 x 90g for a slightly bigger bite. The burgers page has the full range, and our smash burger guide covers technique.
A third slice of bun in the middle, often called a club layer, separates the two patties and holds more sauce. It makes the burger taller and gives it that signature look.
Shredded iceberg lettuce, finely diced onion, gherkin slices and a slice of processed cheese. Keep the onion fine and the lettuce shredded so every bite has a bit of everything.
From the bottom up: bun base, sauce, onion, lettuce, cheese, patty, middle bun, sauce, onion, lettuce, gherkins, patty, top bun. Sauce on both bun layers is what makes it.
Call it something of your own. “The Double Decker”, “The Big Stack” or a name that fits your brand works better than borrowing someone else’s, and keeps you clear of trademark trouble.
Price it as a premium double. It uses two patties and three bun pieces, but the sauce and toppings are cheap, so the margin is healthy. Pair it with fries and a drink as a meal deal.
If your customers expect halal, the HMC certification on the smash and beef burger ranges gives you an easy message to put on the menu. Nawhal’s states that its sauces are certified vegetarian and halal compatible, and Colona holds halal certification for its range. See our halal burger sauce essentials post for more.
McDonald’s does not publish its exact recipe. Most copycat versions use mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, mustard, vinegar, a little ketchup or paprika, and onion and garlic powder.
They are similar in style, both creamy with tomato and relish, but copycat Big Mac-style sauces are usually sweeter and use more relish and less tomato.
The original is McDonald’s own product. For a takeaway, a ready-made sauce in the same family, such as Nawhal’s Biggy Burger or Colona Big Burger, is the practical alternative.
Mix mayonnaise with sweet relish, chopped gherkins, mustard, a little vinegar and ketchup, onion and garlic powder and paprika. Chill for an hour before using. It also works as a dip for fries or a sandwich spread.
Creamy pink burger sauces with pickles and onion are the closest style. Nawhal’s Biggy Burger is designed around that fast-food experience.
Because it is mayonnaise-based, keep it chilled in an airtight container, label it with the date, and use it within the time your food safety plan sets. Ready-made sauces carry storage guidance on the pack.
Biggy Burger, Big Burger and HMC smash patties all ship from BurgerPro’s Birmingham warehouse to anywhere in the UK, dispatched within 1 to 2 working days. Browse the Biggy Burger range and the burgers page, or complete the wholesale enquiry form for trade pricing and case quantities.
