You read that right, Big Mac Tacos. You know the song, two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun. These Big Mac tacos skip the bun, and use one larger smash burger patty rather than the two individual patties, but otherwise it’s pretty true to the song. A cheeseburger taco, if you will but with the accouterments of the Big Mac. And as a big fan of the Big Mac, I was blown away with how good this was. Stay tuned as we walk you through the step by step, foolproof process. One note, you are going to need a flat top grill or flat top griddle (whichever you wish to call it) of some sort. That can mean one of those Blackstone type grills, or simply an insert or something that goes on top of the grill grates on whatever grill you have.

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Fun with the Flat Top

Since adding a flat top grill to the herd on my deck, I’m having more and more fun experimenting with it. Like these cinnamon roll pancakes or this seafood medley. Stay tuned for tons more content because this cooker is soooooo much fun! I even did a tomahawk steak on this cooker. But don’t sleep on simply cooking simple smashburger or even this insane smashburger.

And if you dig this funky fusion recipe, you have to check out these cheeseburger egg rolls on our sister site CookinFools.com which is a mirror of this site with the step by step, pic by pic, foolproof recipes except everything is cooked inside.

Big Mac Taco Ingredients

18-24 ounces of 80/20 hamburger
6 flour tortillas
Salt and pepper to taste
6 slices of American cheese **
6 tablespoons each chopped pickles and chopped onions
Thousand Island dressing
Lettuce

** When I say American cheese, I don’t mean the slices wrapped individually in plastic. American cheese from the deli is great and melts so well.

Additionally, you will need some sort of flat top. Either a flat top grill like the one I used to make this recipe, or some sort of griddle or skillet.

Start by getting your flat top grill (or griddle or skillet) to 500F.

While the grill warms up, measure out the hamburger into 3-4 ounce patties. We used 3 ounce patties in these pics and they worked perfectly. 4 ounces would cover the tortilla better, but might be overly meaty. Not sure I actually typed that, but there you go. Indeed, 3 ounces was a really good portion size.

How to Make Big Mac Tacos
Place the portioned meat balls on a 500 degree flat top and top with a tortilla. Smash down the tortilla to flatten the burger underneath. Once the smash burger forms a lovely brown flavor crust, flip the burger/tortilla over and season the meat with salt and pepper. Then, top each Big Mac taco with a slice of cheese. Wait a couple minutes for the cheese to melt and then add the pickles, onions, dressing and lettuce. Finally, form into a taco and enjoy some ridonkulous Big Mac tacos!

When the flat top gets to 500F, drop the balls of hamburger on the grill:

Next, top each meatball with a tortilla and smash with the burger press. You can use the backs of a couple spatulas, but if you are making smash burgers any kind of regularly, I highly recommend a burger press. And this link is the exact one I used in shooting to this recipe and have been using for close to 5 years because they are built to last.

Two smash burgers under two tortillas:

Wait until the smash burgers form a nice brown crust. In my case, the browning took about 4 minutes.

Then, use a heavy duty spatula to flip the Big Mac smash tacos and season the hamburger with salt and pepper:

Next, lay down a slice of cheese on each taco:

American Cheese is Not the Devil

I see it all the time on social media. American cheese is the worst thing that has ever happened to the world. Nope. It’s the most common cheese served on burgers the world over and it’s not even close. Those individually wrapped slices of plastic looking cheese are terrible, but the stuff from the deli, like what we used here, is great on a burger or taco or burger taco!

At this point you need to wait a couple minutes for the cheese to melt a little, or you can speed the process up a bit with a cloche. A what?

Pro Tip ~ Procure a melting lid (also known as a cloche) and place it over one of the Big Mac Tacos. Wait about 45 seconds and then put the lid over the second taco and begin doctoring up the first one:

Indeed, it doesn’t take long for that cheese to melt under the melting lid. I wonder where they came up with the name?!?

Time to complete the Big Mac smash tacos. Add the pickles and onion. Make sure to chop them so neither overpowers the taco:

Then add the dressing (special sauce):

Go lighter on the dressing if you like. I am a huge fan of Thousand Island on burgers, thanks to McDonald’s, so I went heavy.

Home Made Thousand Island?

You can also make your own. It’s mainly just mayo, ketchup, minced onion and pickle relish. And while it is fairly easy to make, I’m all about saving time and went with some premade stuff. I’m not one bit ashamed.

Finally, add the lettuce and form into tacos:

Big Mac Tacos Recap

The day we cooked these Big Mac Tacos we cooked 10 different burger recipes. This was by far my favorite. There’s just something about all the components of the iconic Big Mac in a crunchy taco shell that speaks to my soul. I mean I LOVE Big Mac’s and I LOVE tacos, therefore this has to be a home run, right? Don’t believe me? Check out the pics below the recipe card to see me mowing one of these down. The pics say it all.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below or send me an email.

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Recipe Card:

Print Recipe

Big Mac Tacos

Big Mac Tacos are made with everything in the Big Mac except the sesame seed bun and the second patty. A flat top, griddle or skillet is needed for this recipe.

Prep Time10

Cook Time15

Course: Big Mac, Cheeseburger, Entree, Finger Food, Hamburger, Hamburgers, Main Course, Tacos

Cuisine: American, American Fare, Big Mac Tacos, Cheeseburger, Cheeseburgers, Finger Food, Fusion, Grilling, Hamburger, Hamburgers, North American, Street Tacos, Taco, Tacos

Keyword: Big Mac, Big Mac Smash Tacos, Big Mac Taco, Big Mac Tacos, Breakfast Skillet, Burger Press, Cast Iron Griddle, Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger Taco, Cheeseburger Tacos, Cheeseburgers, Cloche, Flat Top, Flat Top Grill, Foolproof, Griddle, Grilled Tacos, Grilled Tortillas, Ground Beef, Melting Lid, Skillet, Smash Burger, Smash Burgers, Spatula, Street Tacos, Taco, Tacos, Tortillas, Turner

Servings: People

Equipment

1 Flat top grill Or griddle or skillet
1 Burger Press
1 Flat edge spatula
1 Melting Lid

Ingredients

18-24 ounces Ground beef 80/20 blend
6 Flour tortillas
Salt and pepper to taste
6 tablespoons Pickles, chopped
6 tablespoons White onion, chopped
6 tablespoons Thousand Island Dressing
Shredded lettuce

Instructions

Set the flat top grill to 500F
Portion out the ground beef to 3-4 ounce balls
When the flat top reaches 500F, set the meat balls on the grill and top with a tortilla for each one. Smash the top down with a burger press until flat
Wait until the burger forms a lovely brown crust and use the spatula to flip over
Season the ground beef with salt and pepper and top each one with a slice of cheese
Cover one of the Big Mac Tacos with a melting lid for 45-60 seconds. Then move the lid to another taco.
Top the taco with the melted cheese with chopped pickles and onions along with the dressing. Add the lettuce and form into a taco
Place in a taco rack and allow to cool for a couple minutes and enjoy

Video

More pics from the cook:

This is one happy guy:

Scott Thomas

Scott Thomas, the Original Grillin’ Fool, was sent off to college with a suitcase and a grill where he overcooked, undercooked and burned every piece of meat he could find. After thousands of failures, and quite a few successes, nearly two decades later he started a website to show step by step, picture by picture, foolproof instructions on how to make great things out of doors so that others don’t have to repeat the mistakes he’s made on the grill.

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