20 Copycat Recipes You’ll Want To Make Forever
Make your restaurant favorites at home—for less.
Simply Recipes / Ciara Kehoe
If you've ever wished you could recreate your favorite restaurant dishes at home, here's your chance. These 20 copycat recipes—ones designed to mimic the look and flavor you get while dining out—will start you on your way.
From versions of Olive Garden's fettuccine Alfredo and breadsticks to IKEA's famous Swedish meatballs to McDonald's Shamrock Shake (any time of the year!), here are all the copycat recipes to make at home...and save money while doing so. All of those Panera lunches add up, after all.
Copycat IKEA Swedish Meatballs
Simply Recipes / Photo by Jen Causey / Food Styling by Ruth Blackburn / Prop Styling by Hannah Greenwood
Have you ever gone all the way to IKEA just to buy Swedish meatballs? You won't have to once you realize how easy it is to make these copycats with a creamy sauce that you'll want to serve on top of mashed potatoes.
Get Recipe: Swedish Meatballs (Ikea Copycat)
Copycat Pollo Campero Fried Chicken
Marisel Salazar / Simply Recipes
This air-fried copycat of the popular Pollo Campero fried chicken uses lime instead of buttermilk and adds bold seasonings like oregano, cayenne, sazón, and adobo.
Get Recipe: Pollo Campero-Style Air Fryer Fried Chicken
Copycat Chipotle Sofritas
Simply Recipes / Ciara Kehoe
If you love the vegetarian protein that Chipotle uses in burritos, tacos, and bowls, this is the sofritas recipe you need to recreate it at home using tofu.
Get Recipe: Copycat Sofritas
Copy Cat Trader Joe's Cauliflower Gnocchi
You'll be amazed at how easy it is to turn fresh cauliflower into gnocchi like the Trader Joe's version. You'll be even more amazed at how much this low-carb gnocchi tastes like potato gnocchi.
Get Recipe: Cauliflower Gnocchi (Trader Joe's Copycat!)
Copycat Crunchwrap Supreme
Simply Recipes / Ciara Kehoe
It's hard to beat the Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supreme, but this version might take the cake. Especially when you use higher quality ingredients.
Get Recipe: Copycat Crunchwrap Supreme
Copycake Cracker Barrel Hashbrown Casserole
Simply Recipes / Mark Beahm
The secret to recreating Cracker Barrel's hashbrown casserole is using refrigerated hashbrowns, not frozen ones. Once you know the secret, it takes just five minutes to put it together and 30 minutes to cook.
Get Recipe: Copycat Cracker Barrel Hashbrown Casserole
Copycat Starbucks Egg Bites
Simply Recipes / Ross Yoder
These egg bites are so similar to the Starbucks versions in all but one way. They're much less expensive when you make them yourself. Cream cheese makes them fluffy and Gruyère and bacon make them irresistible.
Get Recipe: Copycat Starbucks Egg Bites
Copycat Olive Garden Chicken & Gnocchi Soup
Simply Recipes / Photo by Jen Causey / Food Styling by Ruth Blackburn / Prop Styling by Hannah Greenwood
Olive Garden's roasted chicken and gnocchi soup a creamy broth with spinach is a fan favorite. This version is just as good, is a fraction of the cost, and takes just 30 minutes to make.
Get Recipe: Copycat Olive Garden Chicken & Gnocchi Soup
Copycat Chipotle Guacamole
Chipotle’s guacamole is always fresh and full of avocado chunks and speckled with fresh produce. So is this version made with ripe avocado, garlic, red onion, jalapeños, cilantro, and lime. It tastes remarkably similar to the restaurant's and you won't get an upcharge for it.
Get Recipe: Copycat Chipotle Guacamole
Copycat Wendy's Chili
Simply Recipes / Photo by Jen Causey / Food Styling by Ruth Blackburn / Prop Styling by Hannah Greenwood
This recipe tastes and looks like the fast food version—a mixture of three-bean soup and hamburger tortilla soup. Using RO*TEL is the secret to making sure the homemade version is virtually indistinguishable from Wendy's.
Get Recipe: Wendy's Chili (Copycat)
Copycat Chipotle Chicken
Simply Recipes / Photo by Jen Causey / Food Styling by Ruth Blackburn / Prop Styling by Hannah Greenwood
It's hard to tell the difference between this copycat Chipotle Chicken and the real deal. With it, you can make bowls, tacos, burritos, and more, and save yourself the expense of eating out or delivery fees.
Get Recipe: Copycat Chipotle Chicken
Copycat Shamrock Shake
Now you can enjoy the deliciousness of a McDonald's Shamrock Shake whenever you want by making it yourself with real ice cream. You can add something special you can't at the McD's, too, if you want—vodka, whiskey, or Irish Cream.
Get Recipe: Copycat Shamrock Shake
Copycat Olive Garden Fettuccine Alfredo
Simply Recipes / Photo by Jen Causey / Food Styling by Ruth Blackburn / Prop Styling by Hannah Greenwood
It only takes 20 minutes—less time than it takes to get in the car and drive to Olive Garden—to make this pasta with "legit" Alfredo sauce. So creamy. So garlicky. So like Olive Garden's but from your own kitchen.
Get Recipe: Copycat Olive Garden Fettuccine Alfredo
Copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Bread
Starbucks doesn't always have its pumpkin bread, but you can have all the flavors of its moist, pumpkin-y, baking spic-y bread with this recipe that makes two loaves.
Get Recipe: The Copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Bread I Daydream About
Copycat Panera Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Simply Recipes / Photo by Jen Causey / Food Styling by Ruth Blackburn / Prop Styling by Hannah Greenwood
Panera makes really good soups and its broccoli cheddar is one of the best. This version tastes just like the original with plenty of heavy cream and two types of cheese. Good bread on the side is a must.
Get Recipe: Copycat Panera Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Copycat Olive Garden Breadsticks
Simply Recipes / Nick Evans
Olive Garden's breadsticks are the stuff of legends, in part because they're so fresh and warm. But these copycat breadsticks come out of your oven, hot and ready to brush with melted garlic butter.
Get Recipe: Copycat Olive Garden Breadsticks
Copycat Levain Fall Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Simply Recipes / Mark Beahm
New York City's Levain Bakery makes large chocolate chunk cookies made with ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, and molasses. It's seasonal so even if you're in NYC, you can't always get one. If you make these copycat cookies, you can have them whenever you want.
Get Recipe: Copycat Levain Fall Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Copycat Neiman Marcus Million Dollar Dip
Simply Recipes / Ariel Knutson
Created in the 1950s at a Neiman Marcus restaurant, this dip is like a "zhushed-up pimento cheese." The bacon, cream cheese, mayo, and cheddar cheese mixture is super easy to make, and the perfect dip for a buttery round cracker such as a Ritz.
Get Recipe: This Million Dollar Dip Is a Rich Addition to Any Party
Copycat Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits
Simply Recipes / Ciara Kehoe
Seasoned with garlic and Old Bay seasoning, these cheddar biscuits are easy to make and taste so much like the famous Red Lobster biscuits. Can't eat the entire dozen at once? Freeze unbaked biscuits to bake another time.
Get Recipe: Cheddar Bay Biscuits
Copycat Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake
Simply Recipes / Cambrea Gordon
Top layers of chocolate ice cream, creamy chocolate fudge, crunchy Oreo pieces, and creamy vanilla ice cream with a whipped cream frosting. It's not hard to make, but it does take some time to build and then 8 hours to freeze. Ultimately, you'll be impressed with this super fresh ice cream cake that rivals Diary Queen's cake.
Get Recipe: Ice Cream Cake
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