How Thousand Island Dressing Became A Burger Chain Staple

It's no secret that, for the most part, when you see "secret sauce" on a fast food restaurant menu, it's Thousand Island salad dressing. It must have been a curiosity when the concept was first approached, but this peachy-hued condiment actually makes total sense on hamburgers, considering it's made with lots of things that work well on burgers anyway, including mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, and pickle relish. But Thousand Island on burgers may have never been a thing if the salad dressing hadn't first been put on Reuben sandwiches.

Despite the ongoing debate on who really invented the Reuben (people tend to believe it was either Arnold Reuben in New York City or Reuben Kulakofsky in Omaha, Nebraska), the original sandwich contained corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and Russian dressing on rye bread. The only difference between Russian and Thousand Island dressings is that the former contains horseradish for a spicy kick. The addition of a tangy, creamy condiment on a meat-filled sandwich proved to be genius. So why not put it on other meat-filled sandwiches, like burgers? Fast food purveyors certainly saw the appeal, and today, the condiment is considered a staple at many burger restaurants.

When McDonald's debuted its Big Mac sandwich in 1968, the company made a brilliant marketing move by advertising the sauce that topped the burger as "special sauce." It created intrigue that translated to sales. Of course, it was later discovered that the secret Big Mac sauce was inspired by Thousand Island dressing, albeit with some tweaks. But Mickey D's wasn't the first to use a pink mystery sauce on its burgers. In 1961, In-N-Out added an extra dose of Thousand Island-like dressing to its "animal style" burgers, making it much more apparent (a light spread of it was already part of the regular burgers).

California-based Big Boy uses a Thousand Island-ish "Big Boy" sauce on its burgers; Shake Shack's Shack Sauce is made with mayo, ketchup, dill pickles, mustard, and spices (in other words, it's Thousand Island as well). You could even argue that the infamous Cane's sauce at fried chicken favorite Raising Cane's is inspired by Thousand Island (but less sweet). Copycat recipes for the Cane's favorite often combine mayonnaise and ketchup with Worcestershire sauce and spices to replicate the restaurant's version.

Thousand Island dressing is so delicious because it blends so many flavors into a cool, creamy condiment. Mayo makes it rich, ketchup gives it sweetness, pickle relish adds tang, mustard contributes spice, and you can even add some heat with hot sauce. That said, the dressing is not only a delicious counterpart to gloriously greasy sandwiches like Reubens and burgers but it's great on several other dishes. Use it to dip french fries, onion rings, fried zucchini, and mushrooms. It can take the place of remoulade on fried shrimp and catfish sandwiches or for your fried green tomatoes. Any rich panini — whether spilling over with cured meats or grilled vegetables — would taste great with Thousand Island. It's a good substitute dressing for ranch or blue cheese on classic wedge salads, and it makes a yummy dipper for roasted Brussels sprouts and grilled asparagus.

While the secret sauce at many burger joints isn't such a mystery anymore, Thousand Island's many uses may be the real surprise here.