The little red packets of viscous hot sauce at the fast food giant have a cult following of rabid fans who will do whatever it takes to get their hands on large quantities. One such fan of the sauce commented online, "Are there any Wendy's employees or managers out there who will mail me an entire case of Hot Chili Seasoning? I swear this is not a joke. I love the stuff. I tip extra cash to Wendy's workers to get big handfuls of the stuff." Well, there's really no need to tip any Wendy's employees, because now you can make as much as you want in your own kitchen with my Wendy's Hot Chili Seasoning copycat recipe below. 

The ingredients listed on the real Hot Chili Seasoning are water, corn syrup, salt, distilled vinegar, natural flavors, xanthan gum, and extractives of paprika. We'll use many of those same ingredients for our clone, but we'll substitute gelatin for the xanthan gum (a thickener) to get the slightly gooey consistency right. For the natural flavor and color we'll use cayenne pepper, cumin, paprika, and garlic powder, then filter the particles out with a fine wire-mesh strainer after they've contributed what the sauce needs.

My Wendy's Hot Chili Seasoning copycat recipe makes 5 ounces of sauce— just the right amount to fit nicely into a used hot sauce bottle—and costs just pennies to make. Try it on a homemade bowl of Wendy's Chili.

Menu Description: "A pound of steak, chicken or combination on a sizzling skillet. Peppers available w/Fajitas upon request."

Chili's is perhaps the restaurant most responsible for introducing the famous finger food known as fajitas to the mass market. Company CEO Norman Brinker discovered the dish at a small restaurant on a visit to San Antonio, Texas. When Chili's put the item on its menu in the early eighties, sales immediately jumped a whopping 25 percent. One company spokesperson told Spirit magazine, "I remember walking into one of the restaurants after we added them to the menu, and all I could see were whisps of steam coming up from the tables. That revolutionized Chili's."

Today, Chili's serves more than 2 million pounds of fajitas a year. If all the flour tortillas served with those fajitas were laid end-to-end, they'd stretch from New York to New Zealand.

Today just about every American knows what fajitas are—the Southwestern-style grilled chicken, beef, or seafood, served sizzling on a cast iron skillet. And everyone has their own method of arranging the meat and onions and peppers in a soft tortilla with gobs of pico de gallo, cheese, guacamole, lettuce, sour cream, and salsa. The tough part is trying to roll the thing up and take a bite ever so gracefully without squeezing half of the filling out the backside of the tortilla. My Chili's Fajitas copycat recipe is guaranteed to be as delicious and messy as the original.

Try more awesome Chili's copycat recipes here.

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes by Todd Wilbur.

Menu Description: "Delicious blend of buttermilk and real Cream of Wheat."

This nationwide chain, which is known for its big bargain breakfasts, serves an impressive number of non-breakfast items as well. In 1997, IHOP dished out over 6 million pounds of french fries and over half a million gallons of soft drinks. But it's the Country Griddle Cakes on the breakfast menu that inspired this Top Secret Recipe. The unique flavor and texture comes from the Cream of Wheat in the batter. Now with my IHOP Country Griddle Cakes copycat recipe below, you can have your pancakes, and eat your cereal too.

Check here for many more of my IHOP copycat recipes.

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 by Todd Wilbur.

Fans of the Chili Cheese Burrito, AKA Chilito, were thrilled when the chain brought back the discontinued item for a limited time in late summer 2025. Devoted Chilito lovers, who have mourned the loss of their favorite Taco Bell treat for nearly 30 years, experienced an immediate flavor flashback after taking a bite of the soft flour tortilla filled with chili and cheese. However, not everyone was pleased with the reboot.

While many customers were happy to see the product return, most noticed that shrinkflation was clearly evident in this particular item. And I get it. I ordered six burritos at my local Taco Bell, and they were all underfilled, looking nothing like the fully stuffed Chili Cheese Burrito on the Taco Bell website, which apparently was made before tariffs and rising beef prices reduced the fill volume. The burritos are on a value menu, but I was still surprised to find that my $4 burritos contained just two tablespoons of chili!

For my Taco Bell Chili Cheese Burrito copycat recipe, I was determined to make my version more like the Taco Bell photo and Chilito you remember. I created a chili recipe similar to the chili sauce you'd get on a hot dog, using plenty of thickening ingredients. I found it best to combine cornstarch, oat flour, and all-purpose flour with lots of liquid to allow for a 2-hour simmer. This extended cooking time tenderizes the beef like the original and creates a thick sauce that should mostly stay in your tortilla.

After simmering, you’ll end up with about four cups of chili, enough for eight glorious burritos, all stuffed full of chili just like the iconic menu item from your delicious memories.

Find more of my Taco Bell copycat recipes here.

During the holiday months, you'd better get over to Starbucks bright and early if you want to sink your teeth into a delicious pumpkin scone. These orange triangles of happiness are made with real pumpkin and pumpkin pie spices, and they quickly vanish from the pastry case when fall rolls around. Each scone is generously coated with a plain glaze, and then spiced icing is drizzled over the top. To get the crumbly texture, cut cold butter into the dry ingredients, either with a pastry knife or by pulsing it in a food processor until all the butter chunks have been worked in. 

My Starbucks Pumpkin Scone copycat recipe calls for 1/2 can of pumpkin purée. Use the leftover purée to make Starbucks pumpkin bread or a pumpkin spice latte.

Source: Top Secret Recipes Unlocked by Todd Wilbur.

Sugar and spice make this rare McDonald’s sauce very nice, but it was only available for a limited time at the chain. Fortunately, that short time window was long enough for me to procure several samples of the new McNuggets dipping sauce, and reverse-engineer a sweet copycat that can step up now that the tasty original is gone.

This flavorful jelly brings the heat with ground cayenne pepper and cayenne pepper sauce, which, along with the minced red bell, give the sauce its red tint. The real thing also contains Szechuan peppercorn extract which adds a magical numbing effect to the flavor profile. So, for my McDonald's Sweet & Spicy Jam copycat recipe, I’m including just a bit of ground Szechuan peppercorn, which you can grind from whole peppercorns, or buy pre-ground.

When your cooked sauce cools, it will thicken and become jelly, thanks to the magical properties of pectin. Loosen it up by stirring it before serving alongside a variety of finger foods, including crispy chicken strips and nuggets, fried shrimp, eggrolls, jalapeño poppers, baked brie, and lamp chops.

Find more McDonald's famous dipping sauces here.

When choosing which baklava to clone from the top Greek chains, I conducted a taste test, and The Great Greek’s version came out on top. The chain's pastry had a satisfying crunch, two layers of spiced walnuts, and was soaked with just enough honey syrup so each bite was perfectly sweet. I also discovered a clever trick to ensure all the walnuts are soaked in the sweet syrup.

For my Great Greek Baklava copycat recipe, I started by making the honey syrup, flavored with a cinnamon stick and orange peel. I then finely chopped the walnuts in a food processor and mixed them with butter, sugar, cinnamon, and clove. Next, I layered and buttered my sheets of phyllo dough in a baking pan. After placing the final sheet on top, with the walnut mixture in the middle, I sliced through the phyllo with a sharp knife and baked the baklava for just over an hour until it was golden brown.

Right after the baklava came out of the oven, I poured honey syrup over the slices and around the edges of the dessert. I also drizzled some syrup into X-shaped cuts I made in the middle of each piece. This trick helped the syrup reach the top layer of walnuts in the middle for a better bite.

After about 6 hours, the syrup soaked into the phyllo, and the baklava was ready to serve. I added a little extra syrup to each slice of my home version before serving, and sprinkled it with almonds for a finished product that resembled the Greek chain’s famous dessert in every way.

Find more of your favorite dessert copycat recipes here.

Good chili con carne is hard to find at a casual restaurant chain, so this delicious bowl of red from Outback Steakhouse is a real treat. It’s a straightforward recipe made with peppers, onions, tomatoes, and garlic, but it’s the chunks of tender filet mignon that elevate this secret formula way above the rest.

For my Outback Tasmanian Chili copycat recipe, I began by searing the filet. Next, I removed the beef from the pan and sautéed the vegetables in the same pan, which was now infused with fabulous fond. After a few minutes, I added everything else, including a small can of El Pato hot tomato sauce, which is my secret ingredient for great flavor and the perfect level of spiciness in this clone.

After two hours of simmering, I had a fantastic pot of chili, with enough for six big servings, each topped with a blend of shredded cheese and chopped green onion, just like in the restaurant.

Find more of my Outback Steakhouse copycat recipes here.

The PSL is doing A-OK at Starbucks. In 2018, Starbucks moved the release of its seasonal Pumpkin Spice Latte from September to August in anticipation of record sales for the 15-year-old product. According to Nation’s Restaurant News, consumers in 2017 “visited PSL establishments twice as many times as typical patrons,” most likely because they know the drinks are around for only a short time.

The trick here is making a perfect clone of the syrup used in the drink. I found a friendly barista who was willing to squirt a little of the secret syrup into a cup for me to take back to headquarters for examination. Back in the lab, I discovered the mysterious light orange–colored syrup had no spice particles in it whatsoever, meaning the flavors are added as extracts or oils. Most home cooks like you and me cannot get such ingredients, so I had to come up with a formula using easily accessible ground spices and pumpkin purée. 

Using pumpkin pie spice makes my Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte copycat recipe easy, and is much cheaper than buying all the spices separately. Pumpkin pie spice is a convenient blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and either allspice or clove, and it’s found in practically all food stores. For my Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte copycat recipe below, the blend is combined with a sugar solution and cooked until syrupy, then sweetened condensed milk is stirred in. Condensed milk is also used in the original syrup at Starbucks—according to the ingredients list—which is why the syrup they use is opaque and creamy. When your syrup is done, you'll only need a couple of tablespoons per serving to duplicate the real thing, which means you'll have homemade PSL's for days.

Lattes are made with espresso, and in this case you’ll need a double shot, which is about ¼ cup. If you can’t make espresso, then make some strong coffee and use ½ cup of it. If you don’t have a way to steam milk, you can heat it up in the microwave for 2 minutes or until hot, then make it foamy with a milk foamer, immersion blender, or whisk.

Did you know you can also use this syrup to make a Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew? 

Burger King’s giant breakfast offering has staying power. The Egg-Normous Burrito, introduced in May 2016, still successfully satisfies the a.m. cravings of hungry breakfast seekers who want a complete breakfast plate wrapped in a tortilla.

For my Burger King Egg-Normous Burrito copycat recipe, I realized the spicy sauce is the star of the show that ties everything together. Luckily, I found an insider’s photo of a shipping box for Burger King’s “Spicy Spread” that showed all the sauce’s ingredients.

After perfecting a sauce hack, I cooked pork breakfast sausage (I prefer Bob Evans), two slices of bacon, and a hash brown patty. I scrambled two eggs, then wrapped everything in a large flour tortilla with some cheese and the flavorful sauce. The result: a stunning clone of one of the best breakfast burritos in fast food history.

Now, it’s your turn. The recipe here makes one large burrito, but you’ll have plenty of sauce left over for several more. I hope you’re hungry.

Find recipes for more of your favorite items from Burger King here.  

Before, during, or after a shopping trip at Nordstrom, you may have indulged in a hot bowl of this signature soup from the department store's restaurants and cafés that many say is the best tomato basil soup they've ever had. It's creamy, and it's slightly sweet with the perfect balance of basil in the mix. 

Now you can make a clone version yourself at home with very little effort using canned tomatoes, dried basil, and fresh carrots and onions. I've even included the hacked recipe here for the crispy Parmesan toasts that are served on the side. If you're a fan of great tomato soup, you've gotta try this one.

Try my Nordstrom Roma Tomato Basil Soup copycat recipe below, and find more of my soup copycat recipes here.

Source: Top Secret Recipes Step-by-Step by Todd Wilbur.
 

Bill Darden was only 19 when he started his restaurant career in 1939 by opening a 25-seat lunch counter called The Green Frog in Waycross, Georgia. From the start, Bill's business was a hopping success. That success helped Bill springboard into other restaurant acquisitions throughout the years, including 20 Howard Johnson's restaurants. Then, in 1968, as he reached his mid-fifties, Bill took another gamble and opened a seafood restaurant in Lakeland, Florida. When deciding on a name for the new restaurant, someone suggested the name "Red Lobster" since he had great luck in the past with the name "Green Frog." And so it was.

Here are a couple of great dishes to serve as appetizers or on the side with an entrée, such as broiled lobster or fish. These recipes include a stuffing that varies in the restaurants only in the type of seafood used—the stuffed shrimp contains crab meat and the stuffed mushrooms contain lobster meat. If you like, you can use the stuffings interchangeably.

Try my Red Lobster Stuffed Crab and Stuffed Mushrooms copycat recipes below, and snag my recipe for Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits for the full Red Lobster experience.

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes by Todd Wilbur.

It’s not your typical French toast. This national pancake chain makes its version special by using sourdough bread and adding almond essence to the eggy batter. And when the battered bread gets cooked in a hot puddle of clarified butter, the delicious flavor profile is complete.

For my Original Pancake House French Toast copycat recipe, I reproduced the batter with vanilla and almond extracts, and used just enough sugar and salt. I found that Nature’s Own made a loaf of sourdough that’s sliced perfectly for this hack, but any thick sourdough bread you find will do. And if you’re not into sourdough, you can always go with Texas Toast. You’re the boss.

Clarify the butter first to remove the milk solids so that it doesn’t burn on the hot cooking surface. And that’s a good thing. Because you’ll need to be generous with the butter if you want your homemade French toast to be just as tasty as the restaurant version. When it’s done cooking, the French toast is dusted in powdered sugar, and topped with butter and maple syrup. Although, this battered bread is so good you could just eat it plain.

Find more of my Original Pancake House copycat recipes here.

In late 2024, the Caramel Apple Empanada made its return to the Taco Bell menu as one of five new items on the chain’s “Decades” menu. The limited-time menu featured popular items from five different decades, including the Green Sauce Burrito from the 1970s, the Meximelt from the 1980s, and this tasty hand pie from the 2000s.

These pies are fried, like McDonald’s Apple Pies used to be, so the dough is crispy. The apple filling is sweetened with caramel, giving this pie an edge over other chains’ apple pies. It’s a good thing I was quick to buy four of these and freeze them, since they disappeared from all Taco Bells in just a few weeks.

For my Taco Bell Caramel Apple Empanada copycat recipe, I developed a dopugh that was easy to work with and could hold up during frying. For the filling, I chose to keep it simple by using canned apple pie filling instead of making it from scratch. In this recipe, you just chop the canned apples, stir in some caramel topping and salt, and it’s ready to be loaded into the dough.

My final step was to decode the secret method for adding a crispy, blistered crust to fried dough. With a bit of shmoozing I was able to obtain an uncooked, frozen empananda from a friendly Taco Bell manager, and I could see that the dough was coated with a cornstarch solution which is applied after freezing. Sure enough, when I coated my empanandas with cornstarch before frying, they came out of the oil with a blistered crust and a light crunch that perfectly mimicked the real thing. 

Find more of my Taco Bell copycat recipes here.

The Dubai chocolate bar was created by Sarah Hamouda, a British-Egyptian engineer living in Dubai, who conceived of the bars while pregnant in 2021. However, Sarah didn’t discover the right mix of sweetened pistachio paste, tahini, and shredded phyllo dough to fill the milk chocolate bar until 2023. Soon after the bars were perfected in 2024, a social media campaign on Instagram and TikTok went viral, transforming the Dubai chocolate bars into a worldwide sensation.

Noticing the trend, Shake Shack locations in the Middle East introduced this milkshake version of the candy bar in February 2025. The shake was so popular there that Shake Shack brought it to U.S. outlets for a limited run in the summer, where it received rave reviews. Before it disappeared, I snagged several of the shakes and stashed all but one in my freezer. That one went into my belly, and it was worth every calorie.

To make this shake, Shake Shack uses their famous custard as a base. For my Shake Shack Dubai Chocolate Pistachio Shake copycat recipe, you can either use my hack of the chain’s custard (here) or choose a good store-bought vanilla ice cream (such as Häagen-Dazs). You’ll add pistachio paste, which is easily found online, along with toasted, shredded phyllo dough called kataifi.

The most ingenious part of this recipe is the Magic Shell chocolate sauce that coats the inside of the plastic cup before you add the shake. When you squeeze the cup, the chocolate cracks into the frozen shake, recreating the experience of eating the famous chocolate bar. Use a clear 18-ounce plastic cup (like Solo) for the best re-creation of the original shake.

Try my recipe for the Shake Shack Burger here.

This queso dip is smooth and creamy, packed with peppers, onions, and tomatoes, just like the original, which is a popular menu choice at the Mexican chain.

One of the biggest challenges in making my On the Border Signature Queso copycat recipe was finding the right cheese product that would melt easily and provide the best flavor. I tried Velveeta first but was put off by its sweetness, so I looked for a better option. It wasn’t until I found Tostitos Nacho Cheese Dip that I was able to create a knockoff that tasted like the real thing, and I was confident my version would satisfy fans of the original.

For this clone, sauté the peppers and onion until they soften, then mix them with the cheese, lime juice, and seasoning and heat the dip until hot. Once the queso comes off the burner, stir in the tomatoes and cilantro, then serve immediately with a big pile of tortilla chips.

Try my other On the Border's copycat recipes here.

With Crab Your Way, customers can customize their steamed crab meal at Red Lobster by selecting between snow crab or bairdi crab (a sweeter-tasting snow crab) and pairing it with one of two delicious butter sauces: Cajun or roasted garlic. This is a good way to make crab filled with great flavor, and I’ve got all the tips you need to replicate this ultra-satisfying dish at home in just minutes.

In my Red Lobster Crab Your Way copycat recipe, I’ll show you how to duplicate both sauces, including the new Cajun butter sauce, which is currently the most popular. Once your sauce is ready, apply it to your favorite crab, such as Dungeness, snow crab, bairdi, or my favorite, king crab.

Preparing the crab is simple. Steam the legs for 5 to 10 minutes until they're hot, then brush them with the sauce and serve additional sauce on the side for dipping. Each sauce recipe yields enough for one pound of crab, so if you're making more, you can easily adjust the sauce quantities.

Don't forget the Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits. Find all of my Red Lobster copycat recipes here.

When you check in at one of more than 250 hotels run by this U.S. chain, you are handed a bag from a warming oven that contains two soft and delicious chocolate chip cookies. This is a tradition that began in the early 80s using a recipe from a small bakery in Atlanta. All the cookies are baked fresh every day on the hotel premises. The chain claims to give out about 29,000 cookies every day. 

Raves for the cookies from customers convinced the hotel chain to start selling tins of the cookies online. But if you've got an insatiable chocolate chip cookie urge that can't wait for a package to be delivered, you'll want to try my DoubleTree Hotel Chocolate Chip cookie copycat recipe below. Just be sure to get the cookies out of the oven when they are barely turning brown so that they are soft and chewy in the middle when cool. 

Now that you're in the swing of things, try baking more famous cookies from my recipes here.

Source: Even More Top Secret Recipes by Todd Wilbur.

Update 4/10/20: In April, Hilton Hotels released the actual recipe for the DoubleTree Hotels Signature Cookie for the first time. You can view that recipe and compare it to this clone recipe I created in 2002. I got pretty close!